Geena helping Mommy and Daddy tape & paint

Woe Kitchen-

Below are a few pictures of what we've been up to. The first shot is a look at a half finished kitchen. The base cabinets are all installed and the countertops have been measured and will be put in this Friday. This week my contractor should have the remaining top cabinets installed. We have run into a few problems, and I've documented those for you as well. Enjoy!


Half & Half


The Infamous Slant Route: The ceilings are...surprise!...not level across. There is more of a slow decline from one side to the other, resulting in a large gap between the cabinets, ceiling and molding. We have decided to put on a kind of "extension" to the cabinet with some filler materials- that way, it will be mostly covered by the molding but should not show any gaping holes/gaps. A good, but complex fix. You can see a small piece above the cabinet here. Note: in this example, the molding will cover the whole thing, so we didn't have to use filler material. The problem is in the top cabinets over the dishwasher.


Hit me in the box! This wonderfully placed electrical box is, surprise!...in the way. So, we're going to have to move it down...more problems...I smell them.



A Kinder Cinder? No. To remove said electrical box down, we (I mean, the contractor) have to use a hammer-drill to chip it out and then place a second box underneath it and pigtail from the one above it. This little side project should all hopefully be done by tomorrow. We'll see. Have a great day- we're hoping and praying for a snow day! We're looking at anywhere from 5 to 9 inches. Yay! Thanks for the pics Mom/Dad and Les!

Bailout?

Ok. I am not a banker, nor an economist. I understand a little about how this works, but I would love to hear from the familial bankers and construction weenie (haha) what their thoughts are on this. My first take on this is that this is not a solid idea. Don't get me wrong, Heather and I are being greatly affected by this. It turns out that the house we put a contract on, the current mortgage holder of that house is Indymac, which is currently owned by the Federal government. Hence, the large amount of waiting we're having to do, since the mortgage process is now like an extended multi-month long trip to the DMV. The Feds at Indymac even told the seller's real estate agent: "It's taking 60 - 90 days to get around to the paperwork, so don't call us, we'll call you. But you can send in letters and faxes." (I guess they need things to burn?) Anyway, Heather and I are being affected by this like many others, and we're financially sound. What I want to know is, how would the government buying all these "troubled assets" be a good thing? Are we simply "passing the buck" (literally speaking) to the next generation? A report said that, "the aim is for the government to buy the securities at a discount, hold onto them and then sell them for a profit." Anyway, I am just not sold on this idea. I think I'd rather pay the heavy "finanical meltdown" pricetag now rather than wait a generation from now and have China effectively blackmail us with all of the treasury note debts we'll be owing them...talk about a meltdown. Enough of my unskilled rants- speak to us, Oh great bankers and weenie.

Five Weeks!

Starting on July 27th, Heather and I have now completed an incredibly busy time of our almost 5 years of marriage (for me possibly THE busiest time of our marriage).  I'll take this very long post and break it up into pieces, as they will get very long and unwieldy.