Time to install the floor…

For me, returning home from any trip is always pretty dreadful. It’s not that I hate travelling I actually like it… It’s really just the feeling of having to return and deal with things around the house.. The enjoyment of going on any trips is the excitement of not doing any house work… Although in reality, I’m only delaying my responsibilities for another day… or actually….another week…

The month of October has been pretty exciting in the travelling department. The lower back pain that haunted me during the summer has made me a travelling fool for the month of October… I have to admit, the cold weather has helped with my travelling decisions. I was fortune enough to travel to San Francisco, California and San Juan, Puerto Rico… With the relaxing view below, you can see how the trip was worth it… Ok, I have to admit, the view of my foot and crusty toes may not help in your decision.. But, the warm water, 95 degree weather and cloudless sky might influence you…

My girlfriend and I, sitting by the beach in San Juan taking in some rays…. Boy did I need some sun 

Here I am at Fort San Felipe del Morro “El Morro” in San Juan

Sentry Box at the “El Morro”

A couple of house in Old San Juan

While walking around in Old San Juan, we came across some property that looked pretty interesting and decent (Picture below)…Then of course the gears in my head started to crank… The smoke started to flow from my ears…What if I purchased a vacation home in Puerto Rico? What if I purchase a little house that I could rent year round? What if I purchase a 2 family home in Puerto Rico? One permanent resident and vacation home… HOLD ON!!! Pump the brakes… Pump the brakes… I need to slow things down… I need to finish my original project before I jump onto another one… Ok let’s move on… But the idea is certainly in the back of my mind…

The house on the right is the property we came across…

Anyway, now that I have fulfilled my vacation quota for the year, I guess it is time to really get back to working on the house. I can now say that I have a new motivation in getting thing done. Like the vacation home idea, but also the news that I will be hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve at my house this year… You know what that mean, set a bunch of goals to finish certain projects before the holidays and actually do one project out of 25… 

However this year, I feel pretty confident that my project list will be much least than last years. This year, the biggest project was the kitchen and that is almost completed… After this weekend I’m certainly one step closer in finishing… This weekend I decided to finish the floor.

  The green monster

I first had to clean the room and remove all of the stuff from the floor… After doing so, I realized I had missed painting the base boards…

 

Once the trim was completed, I began to remove the excess shims from the cabinets…

It is certainly not an Angel moment unless I get injured somehow… So here we go… I was using a utility knife to cut a line across the wood shims… After doing making the cut, I would take a flat head screwdriver and lift on the shim and snap, the shim is cut perfectly in line with the kitchen cabinet.. Easy, right? Ok so, I’m on my hands and knees cutting and lifting, tooling along… I’m on the 4th one, when  I’m lifting on the screw driver, my hand slips off… I slip forward towards the floor, my hand instantly tries to brace for the impact against the cabinet and floor… But instead of feeling a solid thud, I feel a sharp pain in my left hand ring finger… As I quickly remove my hand from the sharp object that stabbed my finger, blood trickles down my finger…A shard of glass was momentarily stuck to my finger and fell to the ground…

  Good cut… Bleeding through the bandage..

After cleaning and placing a bandage on my finger, I started to clean the floor. I swept and mopped up all of the dirt prior to placing the peal and stick tiles down.

 So it all started here…

 

Well the kitchen is almost there… About 95% complete thus far… I still need to fix a couple of electrical outlets.. I also need to install the window trim… But until next time, happy building and Happy Halloween… 

I give you cabinet doors...

A couple of weeks ago, I was flying home from San Francisco and had a brief stop in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As I sat by my departing gate, I began to think about my life of travels. At that moment, I happen to notice three young men walking together towards the exit of the airport. The three men were dressed extremely different from each other. However, their stride was together, as if they are going to the same destination. Each person was carrying a vanilla envelope with their military orders taped to the outside.

Seeing these three young men, reminded me of my walk with my vanilla envelope. I remember the bus ride to Sand Hill, Fort Benning, Georgia back in 1993. The moment the bus entered the base, I remember a big knot formed in my throat. I also remember my gut turning when the bus stopped... I remember the Drill sergeant walking onto the bus. The bus was extremely quiet while he stood there… You could have heard a pin drop if it did. The Drill Sergeant inhaled for a second and began to yell. All I remember him saying was, “Get off my bus!!!”

But that was many years ago, as I sat there at the airport, I had looked at their young faces and was reminded of my baby face when I reported for duty. I had such a young face, that I was able to shave every other day. Today, that is a different story... Looking at these young men now, I’m proud to see that young men and women are still answering the call of duty. But, I certainly pray for them. I pray for these young men to come home quickly and safely… These days, the demands on the military forces are extremely high.

I mention this observation because, I’m proud of these young men. But most importantly, when you happen to see a young man and/or woman with a vanilla envelope, you’ll have an understanding what they are about to do. That they have joined a brotherhood of men and women that volunteered their lives to protect us and our way of life…


The layover was really because I took a mini vacation trip to San Francisco. I was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, a Giants Game and Alcatraz. Here are a couple of pictures from my trip.

Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point

Here I am standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

If you ever happen to be in San Francisco and plan on taking an Alcatraz tour… I recommend the night tour. The tour was a lot of fun and extremely informational. Also a little spookie...

But my first free weekend since returning, I was able to install the cabinet doors… Here is a picture of my kitchen with the cabinet doors and hardware installed..

The only thing that is left in the kitchen is the floor and window trim… After that, I can move onto another project within the house.. Until next time, happy building…