Week 32
The battle of the backdoor has begun. Just when we thought we were in home stretch, the last hurdle is upon us with the portal to the exterior. I think that the kitchen is trying to trap us and never let us leave.
With most of the week spent away from the house with the holiday, most work was executed on Sunday after a morning of sleeping in. Most odds and ends were taken care of first, which proves to be a poor decision. Since the weather was nice we decided to take the door off and sand it on the back porch in preparation for painting. Thinking that we were going to be fancy, and switch out the hardware and hinges to match the rest of the kitchen. Gold is so out.
Everything is sanded except the impossible trim pieces on the door. New hinges were put on and mounted to the frame. Everything is fine until you try to close the door. Which at this point it doesn't do. The door will not shut and will not close not matter how hard you try. So we have removed the center hinge and have the door shut and battened down with the deadbolt.
The door may or may not be painted by the weekend. Not surprisingly, a new door and frame are on Joe's Christmas list. Good thing we have stand by attack cats.
The party is still on for Saturday. So this week will be spent putting the house back together for the Open House. Be sure to stop by and check out our new kitchen. No new pics this week, in anticipation for a big reveal on Saturday.
Week 31
The kitchen is near completion and odds and ends are being completed as the week goes on. There are a few notable kitchen related shenanigans:
Missy vs. Shelf Brackets
In the hutch space of cabinets is room for 2 glass shelves to hang. Not wanting to use the IKEA provided shady hardware that would have to be drilled into the cover panels, we decided to go with shelf wall brackets. Finding decent brackets is much harder than it sounds, unless you are looking for curly wrought iron brackets, then it is easy. At the beginning of the week, multiple trips to big box hardware stores were made looking for hangers. The first set was too big, enough room for only one shelf to be hung. The second set seemed to be the winner.
And by winner, I mean kicking my butt in installation. The shelf brackets came with all of the hardware and simple to follow instructions. Four pilot holes of 3/8" diameter were carefully laid out and drilled. Apparently it was user error installing the first anchor. Handyman Joe then stepped in to "demonstrate proper anchoring" for the second anchor. Installation was a snap for him. So he handed over the drill for me to install the bracket above the solid fixture he just installed. Again, anchor hates me and jacked all up.
Now I have one hanger in and three holes in the wall. Good thing I am a good patcher. So I re-layout three holes around the solid anchor that Joe installed. Again drill some pilot holes. Now I am left with three patched holes, three pilot holes and short 2 wall anchors. So this project was put on hold until replacement anchors were procured.
The battle lives on, now armed with new anchors, solid patched holes, being the smarter worker, passed the installation back to Joe. With ease, the three remaining anchors went in smooth and the rest of the shelf assembly came together. The verdict is still out whether the shelves can actually hold the proclaimed 66 pounds as the package indicates. So now the shelves sit empty until we find something lite to put on it.
Shelves 1, Missy 0
Diesel v Rules
Diesel has also won the battle of a new perch. Despite our intention of keeping the cats off the counters, they manage to lounge on the island at every free moment. And when that gets boring, they jump over the ravine to the other counter and pace back and forth like wild felines that they are. So they have won dominance on the island, but are still scolded when on the preparation counters by the sink. So Diesel is content hanging out in his nest that Grandma Ginger knitted for him last Christmas. I guess the granite is just too chilly to lounge on all day long.
Diesel 1, Rules 0
Another stranger has made its way back into the mainstream, the dining room table. After a joyous celebration of the exodus of tools and wood from the dining room, the table was welcomed with open arms. That is after Joe assembled the legs backwards and had to reassmeble once he thought he was in the clear. The cats now make a fun sport of jumping over the open air from table to
island to counter. 
Week 30
Welcome back kitchen work, how we have missed you. The final punch list is in the process of being executed when time allows. That is when we are not at weddings, a state of being inebriated, or other mishaps that come along. The door trim has been painted, the polyurethene on the window, the window grids stained and sealed, trim pieces in place, the bar cover pieces attached, the list goes on. Most things are in order and the list grows shorter. Also the pile of tools and odds and ends in the dining room grows smaller as the weeks pass.
The kitchen is in full working order, meals cooked and baked goods made. A lot of smaller odds and ends were taken care of as Joe day tripped across the midwest following the Buckeyes to the Northwestern Game this weekend. As one can imagine his contributions to the kitchen are best left as is by napping and not being crabby. We are on track to having Open House on the revised date of
December 2nd, time TBD. 
Week 29
Out of towners preggars Ketchums were in town. So the customary BW3 trip was made and a good time had by all. It was good to see everyone, even though we missed the baby shower on Saturday.
Another trip to Toledo, another wedding under our belts. This time was for a long time friend Katie Thornton and her fiancee Mike. Everything was perfectly fall wedding themed and we enjoyed ourselves. And drove mom crazy to get our own wedding planning under way.
Sunday took us up to Canton with Andy and Alyssia to a trip to IKEA. We returned a lot of the overstock pieces that have been sitting in our house over the course of the remodel. The real goal was to get the remaining 2 cover panels for the back of the bar. Which we got, after an hours wait. What a fiasco. Again, not too much kitchen work was done this weekend either.
Week 28
Week 28 was a big weekend, all outside of working on the kitchen. Most importantly, the week was spent studying for my LEED AP test. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a community of more than 6,900 organizations from every sector of the building industry united by a common purpose: to transform the building marketplace to sustainability. You may ask, what is a LEED AP? A LEED Accredited Professional™ is an individual that has earned the distinction of demonstrating their ability to serve on a LEED project team and provide detailed knowledge of LEED project certification requirements and processes. A LEED AP also has a command of integrated design principles. LEED accreditation is awarded to building industry practitioners who successfully demonstrate these proficiencies on a comprehensive exam. So if you are going green, I am your AP.
Friday started off by passing the test, then the rest of Friday was preparing for the 27th was the annual Horst Haunted Halloween 2006 party. For those of you who know, this does take an entire days preparation. Here are some pics of the highlights from the evenings festivities.
Saturday of course started in the wee hours of the morning mostly intoxicated for the most part. Nothing a sobering car ride to Toledo can't work out. Saturday the 28th brought a family wedding of cousin Heidi and fiancee Jim. Heidi as you may recall also had appendicitis not so long ago. The wedding was good fun and another day of drinking and "getting back on the horse" as my mentors told me while sliding another beer across the table. The most interesting highlight of this evening was Jenny being picked up by a 41 yr old man. No matter a roughly 22 yr age difference.
House Party Dec. 2
Due to some rescheduling and out of town escapades, the house party open house will be over the first weekend of Decembe. (Dec.2)
More updates to come.
