Month: December 2010

Electrical

Two trips to home depot today and we made some good progress on the electrical.  We got the front hall light circuit feed run.

Front hall feed goes to a triple box

The blocks for the outside lights put together (Ryan got to use his pocket hole kit).

Blocks for the outside front lights

We also ordered the front outside lights (the one we bought originally for the side was discontinued so we had to pick something new).  We went with these:

http://www.lightingdirect.com/mediabase/specifications/85596MOOB.pdf

Then we put up boxes and wired the sconce lights in the stairway.  We still need to connect them to the center light at the top of the stairs but that involves getting up in the attic so we put that off until Sunday or Monday.

Sconce light boxes installed in stairway

The checklist is finally getting smaller.  Sunday we’ll remove the porch ceiling in the front that’s still up, that way we can run the wire for the exterior fan.  We may wait to put up the exterior light boxes until the lights show up to make sure we get the right type of box installed.  We still have to run the cable/ethernet lines in the livingroom as well but they’re pretty short since they’re right above the patch panel.  We ordered a new wireless router too that I’m hoping to put in the basement (it’s much stronger), can’t wait for that to come Monday too!

A good New Year’s Eve day!  Now I just need to bake a pie and clean up the house a bit since my brother is coming over Saturday night after our family Christmas celebration.  Then we’ll watch a movie until midnight (very exciting) 🙂

Some progress…

It’s been a slow 2 days around here this vacation.  Wednesday started out strong with some electrical work, we finished the outlet circuit in the livingroom.  I then planned out the lighting circuit for the front hall which is pretty complicated because it goes up the stairs with a 4 way switch.

Ryan’s cold was hitting him hard so we took the rest of Wednesday to watch movies and relax.  Today we finished up some shopping for Groudas Family Christmas this weekend.  Then Ryan made his router table while I baked some cookies for the neighbors that plowed our driveway while we were back home for Christmas.

Router table, just needs its wheels

Tomorrow we will work on the electric some more and I’ll get the house cleaned up a bit.  Saturday is our extended family christmas and then we have Sunday and  Monday free to work on the house and relax before it’s back to work!

A little cross stitch for the holidays

My tiny bit of sewing for Christmas this year included an ornament for Aunt Mo and finishing up a small ornament that I stitched a few years ago for myself.  (Just had to had to add the cording to that one).

Ornament for Aunt Mo
A little dragon for me

Also in stitching news, Tuesday I went down to Hoops and Needles with my friends for their after xmas sale!  I picked up a few patterns 🙂

We had a wonderful Christmas with family but got home late on Monday due to the snow storm.  Tuesday I went shopping while Ryan worked, then Wednesday Ryan woke up with a cold, I have been fighting one as well but it hit Ryan harder.   Hopefully the rest of our vacation is a bit better.

Merry Christmas!

Ryan and I celebrated Christmas Thursday night, just the two of us.  He got his planer (Makita) as he wanted, along with a game and a movie and I got new pots and pans and a carport!  I also got some other smaller gifts – but pictures speak louder than words :

My Christmas Gifts!

The pots and pans are Cuisinart Multiclad Pro series which I already broke in by using to make dinner tonight.

Ryan's planer

I can’t wait to put up the carport that arrives next week!  And I know Ryan is excited about using his planer.

JRD Plumbing

My brother-in-law has started his own plumbing business and we’re just now getting his website up and running.  I’m still awaiting more feedback from him and some more information to add to his site but the more I link to his site the easier it will be for the google bots to find it 🙂
JRD Plumbing LLC

The website is pretty sparse at the moment, i really only whipped it up Sunday evening but it’s a start!

Ready for Christmas!

I can’t believe it’s only Saturday night, we’ve had such a great weekend already.  Of course having a cold isn’t great but it’s mostly an annoyance at this point, making me sniffly and tired.

Ryan’s parents came out to visit Friday night we had dinner, watched movies, baked some cookies and relaxed this morning.  After they left Ryan and I ordered our front hallway lights (chandelier and sconces) online.

These will be our sconces:

http://www.lightingdirect.com/royce-rw2195-2-transitional-two-light-up-lighting-wall-sconce-from-the-stalton-collection/p672015

And our chandelier – although picture with shades that match the sconces:

http://www.lightingdirect.com/royce-rc2195-6-tuscan-six-light-up-lighting-chandelier-from-the-stalton-collection/p671777

I was pretty worn out after that so we took a nap while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, getting into the Christmas spirit!  The nap was great, I woke up so refreshed, not cured of my cold but definitely a bit better.  I helped Ryan build his work table for building cabinets, he’s also planning on building a router table but we started with the work table.

Ryan's table on wheels!

His table is a great size for a kitchen island too, so I persuaded him to roll it into the kitchen to help me bake cookies!  In a few hours I had the annual neighbors’ cookie plates all wrapped up and ready to hand out tomorrow:

Christmas cookies 2010

This year I went with gingersnaps, sugar cookies and inside out chocolate chip (white chocolate chips in a chocolate cookie).

So a little more baking in the evenings this week (still got to make greek cookies to bring home) and a few presents to wrap that arrived today and I’m ready to go.

Tomorrow if I’m feeling up to it I’ll work on the electrical a bit.  I’m hoping the sconce lights don’t take long to arrive because I need to figure out what kind of box will work with those before wiring them.

And I’m off to relax for the rest of the evening (which means take NyQuil and go to sleep) 🙂

The tree…

Still standing - even with all the decorations on it.

We both got home a little late from work today but I managed to get the tree decorated while Ryan worked in the livingroom with me.  The only thing I’m missing this year is my Christmas village I usually put out on my sofa table, unfortunately my sofa table is packed up in the “diningroom/closet” since half my house is demolished and I have no place to really put it.  I may pull out the table and put it in the demolished livingroom and set up the village, I’d love to have it in front of the windows all lit up since the tree isn’t out there to be admired.

Off to bed I think, I slept late this morning, I think I need to get on an earlier schedule!

And the tree is up … for now

I was bummed our tree could not be decorated (or brought inside even) while we wait for our new tree stand to arrive in the mail.  Then I talked with someone at work who had made their own tree stand years ago and I got inspired.  A quick trip to home depot for some supplies (I had to hit the grocery store anyhow) and I was in business.  I got the stand put together just before Ryan got home and he helped me attempt to secure the tree.

Home made tree stand - will not leak!

The securing part took a little while however.  I was not able to get a type of wire I was happy with so went with just string.  String however stretches a bit.  Our first attempt to tie the tree failed miserably (i tied it too low).  Ryan did a much better job the second time and it even stayed up while I got some dinner made up.

Finally I decided I would feel better if we secured it with a few more ties – however my attempts made it lean more and more.  At this point (Ryan watching me tie the tree as it leans over me), we changed tacts.  Ryan went for screwing the tree to the paint can around the top.  We didn’t get the tree totally straight (it leans back) but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere either.

And it stands .. on its own!

If the tree is still standing when I get home from work tomorrow I’ll get it decorated.  I was so bummed we wouldn’t have it done until next week, this has made my week now.  The last of the christmas decorating should happen tomorrow and then it’s just cookie baking left to go!

And then there was heat…

in my car that is!  I’ve gone through 2 winters with no heat in my Audi.  On Saturday I went over to my uncle’s house and we changed out the thermostat and replaced the valve cover gasket (oil has been leaking into the first spark plug area.

My car now heats up to the half way mark (which it hasn’t done in 2 years – it was running cold) AND when I’m driving I have heat – real heat – blowing out!  It doesn’t seem to stay hot when my car is idling but that’s fine with me.  I will finally not freeze on my drive to work.

Sunday was mostly a day for Christmas preparation.  Since Ryan had to work all weekend (he did not join me on Saturday), I spent the day Sunday doing all the Christmas shopping I don’t do online.  Unfortunately part of that shopping (for a Christmas tree stand) was not very successful.  Every place I went they were sold out.  Finally at the second home depot they had some plastic ones, however we soon found out that these stands are very low quality.  The screws are very hard to get in (one we couldn’t get in at all).  Finally however we got the tree standing up and filled it with water.  And then as soon as I moved the tree, all the water started pouring out the bottom!  The stand is completely defective!

So the tree is out on the porch now so it doesn’t pour water all over the floor.  I ordered a metal tree stand online (we have one but it’s too small for this tree).  Hopefully the tree will survive for a few days outside until the new stand comes.

No house work this weekend but we are just about ready for Christmas now (just waiting for some gifts to arrive in the mail to be wrapped, everything else is wrapped).  Our tree is not decorated (now we need to wait for the tree stand to arrive) but the house is as decorated as I could do with half of it demolished 🙂

Wreath I decorated.

And it’s back to work tomorrow,  hopefully not a busy week as i’d like to have some evenings home for a change 🙂