You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2009.
Friday evening we all went to Ikea for dinner and then purchased furniture for our basement. We ended up filling three carts and took advantage of Ikea’s home delivery. To our delight, Ikea said that they could deliver the following day. The delivery truck arrived Saturday morning before 10 am. The crew not only delivered the boxes to the house but delivered them to the rooms where they would be constructed, the basement living area and the first floor den.
We spent the rest of the weekend constructing the furniture. My hands are sore and swollen. We finished all the construction Sunday evening. Karen’s brother Eric came over late Sunday afternoon to help us mount on bookshelf on the wall, drill a hole in the back of the TV stand and anchor all the bookshelves to the walls. He is an amazing wood worker.
We have a lot of cardboard to recycle.
The Ikea furniture is really well designed and engineered for easy construction. The particle board and the cardboard backings are pretty flimsy though so hopefully with suitable care and use, we’ll try to get long service from the furniture. Given the price and our needs, we’re very satisfied with how it all turned out.
Stephen Donnelly Company came today to complete the stucco work. They applied the final dash coat. They did the original dashing and had our color on file. The dash coat will darken as it dries and where it has dried it already matches very well with the rest of the house. They did a great job.
John Mohler of Mohler Chimney Repair repaired the stone work on the two corners of the house. They had repaired our chimney a few years back and did a beautiful job with the stone work on the chimney.
This past weekend we went to John’s Antiques in St Paul where we got brackets to mount the two sconces and the ceiling light fixture for the bedroom.
We should have no problem now wiring and mounting these fixtures ourselves. Karen had brought these fixtures to John’s a while back to have them rewired for our basement remodel. We also purchased the ceiling fixture that hangs in the small hallway to the entry ways to the mechanical room, bathroom and bedroom.
John said this light used to hang in his grandmother’s house.
Today no work was done on the basement.
Earl came today to undercut the doors to clear the carpeting.
He also installed the shelf above the toilet and a towel rack by the bathtub.
The electrician will not install the sconces and bedroom light fixture. Since they are both original from our house, they don’t have UL labels and so the electrician will not install them. The bedroom fixture also is designed to be installed on a threaded rod so this will need to be modified. The wall sconces don’t have any mounting brackets to them and will need to be retrofitted with new brackets. They can be installed after the final inspection.
The bedroom closet also needs a shelf and a clothes rack. The bedroom window will need a curtain. We’ll be installing all of those. Some touch-up painting needs to be done done, the basement will get a professional cleaning and the final inspection needs to be performed. There might be a couple of other minor things that need to be done.
Today the carpeting was installed into the basement living area, the bedroom, the stairs and landing.
There is not much work that needs to be done. We should be able to start moving into the basement this weekend.
The bathroom was finished today. All of the plumbing fixtures were installed and the water was connected.
I believe all that remains is to finish installing the light fixtures and laying the carpet. Perhaps the work will be completed by the end of this week.
Today, a carpenter came in to install the bathroom sink and medicine cabinet.
He also installed the towel racks and the shower curtain rod and removed the protective covering off the bathtub.
While I was away this past week at the TWI Summit, Karen and the kids took the opportunity to come visit me during the end of the week. They flew into Cincinnati Wednesday evening and they spent Thu and Fri with me. The Summit was held at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, Ohio which is about a half hour north of Cincinnati. Even though I was taking classes, there was plenty of things for them to do. The Great Wolf Lodge is very family oriented and they have a large water park.
The water park had a wading pool, wave pool, and some fountains that Xia Mei could enjoy. Hua Mei played a lot with Xia Mei but also took advantage of the slides. There was also a lazy river loop that we rode along on inner tubes. We spent a few hours at the water park on both days.
They also had other activities such as a craft club and an animatronic show that the kids enjoyed.
Friday evening Karen took advantage of the spa and got a massage.
The lodge also had a live action role-playing game called MagiQuest that took place on the second, third and fourth floors. Hua Mei got a wand that interacts with various items such as treasure chests, paintings, and video screens. Hua Mei and Karen had a great time running around the three floors performing quests.
Hua Mei got up to the rank of Junior Magi in the couple of days we were there. Karen enjoyed the game so much that she went off finish the rest of the quests that got Hua Mei to the rank of Magi. Hua Mei got to keep the wand and it can be used at other MagiQuest sites and her status is saved. There are other locations around the country and the original one is in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
We had a great time. There is also a Great Wolf Lodge located at the Wisconsin Dells. Several of the others also have MagiQuest. Karen and I were really impressed at how family friendly the place was and it is a place we’ll definitely consider taking the kids to again.
This past week in Cincinnati I had the chance to enjoy a blast from the past and also enjoy a new culinary treat. I was really happy to learn that there are Steak n Shake franchises located in Cincy.
When I was little, growing up in St Louis, our family used to go to Steak n Shake all the time. They had car hops!
It was my favorite and I always ordered a Chili Mac (spaghetti topped with bean-less chili) and an orange freeze (an orange flavored shake). Steak n Shakes are well known for their steakburgers (which were listed in one of Saveur magazine’s Top 100 lists), shakes and shoestring french fries. It was fun to indoctrinate Hua Mei and Xia Mei to the joys of Steak n Shake. The nearest ones to Minneapolis though are in Waukesha WI and Rockford IL.
Chili Mac, being chili served on top of spaghetti, is similar to Cincinnati-style chili and the home for Cincinnati-style is Skyline Chili.
Cincinnati-style chili has quite a different taste than other types of chili since it is flavored with both cinnamon and chocolate, based on the Greek descent of its originator, Nicholas Lambrinides. The 3-way is spaghetti topped with Skyline Chili and and cheese. The 4-way adds either onions or red beans.
Our neighbor, Caroline, who hails from Cincy says that she orders the upside down 3-way which has the spaghetti piled on top of the cheese. Personally, being the chili mac aficionado (and vaguely lactose intolerant Chinese), I prefer the spaghetti and Skyline Chili (a 2-way) with onions. Their chili dogs look really good too.
So, this past week I visited Steak n Shake three times and Skyline Chili twice. That should last me for a while and I think I’ve converted Hua Mei. btw we’re in good company.
After being out of town for a week, it was nice to get back to check out the progress that has been made. The painting was completed this past week. The electricians returned and began installing the light fixtures.
The HRV and bathroom exhaust fan were also connected.
There is still about a week or so of work left. The electrical work will be completed this week, including the sconces and bedroom ceiling light. They are also installing a couple of security lights at the backdoor and garage. The plumbing fixtures still need to be installed, as well as the medicine cabinet. The last piece of work will be the carpeting.
The stucco work also was begun at the end of the week. The base coat was applied and the dash coat remains to be done. That will probably be finished this week also.
