Today marks the advent of a new phase! Formerly we’ve only known destruction, but today something was actually constructed. Because there are two homes on the property, there are two separate meters for electricity. Both homes were wired for 100amp, but today they were changed to 200amp. We also changed where the electrical boxes were located to hide them along the side of the guest house which cleans up their former location. My friend Jesus did an awesome job.
I am thinking about blogging my opinion on every hotdog stand in South Tucson. That may take a few years. This morning we had hotdogs for breakfast along with some homemade potato chips. It was so good and so close to our new home. I already feel healthier.
Yesterday I took the day off to head to Mexico with Bruce and Enrique to meet with Josue to inquire of the work with the church plant there. It was an encouraging meeting and I had a great breakfast.
I had a chance to work on the guest house yesterday – still tearing down walls. My friend Jesus stopped by yesterday to map out a plan for my electrical needs. With Jesus’ talent, I anticipate having electricity this week. It requires a permit and a city inspection, but I’m hopeful. Apparently the guest house was not a recent addition – there are indications (from the wiring in the attic) that it was built in the 40s. We now believe the guest house was the original house and the main was the addition. Always fun surprises.
We bought some white corn yesterday on the side of the road. I don’t remember ever having tried this. Yun tells me it is not sweet like the corn I am used to. We paid $4 for 12 ears.
Today Nacho continued the horrible job of removing tile in the main house. This is his third week on this task. Nacho is an incredibly hard worker and we will continue to employ him for as many Saturdays as he is interested. Having electricity will make most of the work substantially easier and will eliminate the need to depend upon battery operated tools.
I did recently purchase a sweet Ryobi cordless reciprocating saw which has proven invaluable. I used it today to slice through some walls.
Yun parents are now on their way up from Mexico and we have big plans for Chinese buffet! My uncle Dennis flies in tomorrow so we hope to see him for dinner.
Yun and I worked on the house Saturday and around lunch time stopped for food at the place in the photo above. Given the scruffy looking animal above, I opted for the carne asada. They were so good and I don’t care how dirty the place looked. These are the only places around town that have authentic tasting Mexican food. None of the so-called Mexican restaurants in town are remotely decent in our opinion.
I watched this movie tonight and found it absolutely horrible. Generally I turn a movie like this off after 5mins. I’m not sure how I ended up watching the entire thing. I highly recommend not watching it.
We had some friends over this evening for some pictionary action. Team Jankowski coupled up with Team Netherton to take on Team Cepin and Team Bateman. The picture above was Phil’s winning drawing of argyle which led our team to victory.
The ladies prepared an awesome dinner.
Tonight I tried to update our prior plans with the idea from my tile drawing below. I like this layout a lot more.
Today was another productive Saturday in regard to home renovations. We had a mountain of trash that I had to get into the dumpster, which I was able to eventually accomplish. Insulation is messy and takes up a lot of space. The house is mostly gutted at this point.
Jeff came over today to help me work out the plumbing situation. The house has undergone renovations and additions in the past which pose some difficulties. One of which is to figure out where the water main enters the home. We think we have an idea, but there will need to be some jack-hammering in the next few weeks to be sure. The drain pipes also present a difficulty in determining what goes where. My intention is to rip out all of the current plumbing once I can tap into the main and then install a PEX system. This will make things clean and easy.
Jeff had some great ideas as to the layout of the house. We essentially have an empty shell at this point with our only limitations being the drainage system. I had previously posted a layout, but today’s planning completely changed that. I had to take notes with a marker and a piece of tile (picture above).
I am excited about the new layout possibility because it should look and function a lot better. We hope to have this resolved in the next few weeks in order that we can get the cement poured to even our floors and then we can begin on the framing.
Today was another productive Saturday. All of the ceilings are now removed along with the nasty insulation that was in the attic. We now mostly have an empty shell. I had to have the roll-off emptied again today which makes it twice for the week. That’s a lot of trash to the dump.
Yun and I then went shopping for some things. We went to Gerson’s per Jeff and Beth’s recommendation. There is a lot of garbage there, but they do have plenty of treasures as well. The store sells used household items; such as sinks, toilets, bathtubs, kitchens, etc. We found a really nice bathtub that was brand new which we intended to purchase, but it was sold while we contemplated purchasing it. What a bummer! They had a lot of windows and doors for a really reasonable price, so we expect we’ll be making plenty of purchases from there.
We did end up getting a really nice kitchen sink today, but it will be quite some time before we’re anywhere near that stage. It was such a good deal we couldn’t pass it up.
We have a lot of stuff we’re trying to sell in the garage as well. I put up one item on ebay this afternoon that sold about an hour later. This is probably an indication that I sold it for too little.
The next step is to remove the toilets and bathtub to prepare the sewage pipes before we pour the cement to level the house. After that we will probably have the new windows and doors installed and then framing can begin.
Yunuen and I woke early Saturday morning to head to Mexico. It was my final visit to the dentist! Afterward we went out to eat with her parents and then headed back to Tucson. It’s freezing this time of year down there.
We bought some awesome flour tortillas and a few kilos of cheese before crossing back. We bought two types of cheese. The type in the picture below is the best for quesadillas.
We had the opportunity to have dinner at Jeff and Beth’s and then later played some Spades. Naturally Jeff and I destroyed the ladies.
I had little time to work on the house this weekend. I did start to tear down the ceiling in one of the rooms and found the attic to be in terrible shape. The roof has some leaks due to various skylights and duct work, so that will need to be repaired/replaced as well.
Here is a before and during photo of one of the rooms.
I was introduced to this album at Liam’s house last weekend over poker night. I liked it a lot and it was probably the inspiration needed to decimate the others and to leave with the pot.
I’ve been listening to the album all week (among others) and am listing my favorites below which you can click on the link to listen.
White Sky (the best song on the album)
Horchata
California English (great song – the video accompanying it is ridiculous)
The above links are for youtube – they may not be functional by the time you click on them, but if you search the song titles, they reappear hourly.
