reconstruction[the.conclusion]

picking up where we last left off...

sunday.

sunday was another fun & exciting day of work, although there wasnt quite as much destruction... for the most part anyway, lol!

we got started fairly early again, meeting the masons out at the house around 8:30-9ish to get them access to whatever they needed and get ourselves started on the day. yes, we missed church on sunday [blasphemous i know, but i doubt god will sweat it much, hes got bigger things to worry about im sure]. so first things, finish up the hanging fixtures for petes sake!

well one of them we decided not to modify, the aqua colored one, we just loved it the way it was so we didnt mess with it. we've got plans to design the room somewhat inspired by the fixture, so while karen was putting finishing touches on the fixtures we were messing with, i got started on installing this thing. 

now to preface this, i had never in my life until this point wired up a hanging lamp [or much of anything else for that matter]. but thanks to some awesome d.i.y. books my amazing mother-in-law sent us, i was confident in my ability to decipher brightly colored step by step graphics [lol, isnt that what i do all day at work anyway?]. so i got out the new ladder [yes it is alu-min-ium-as they say 'down under' - and that did worry me a little], my pliers, screwdrivers, etc. and got started. 

well needless to say, anything new with no real prior knowledge has a learning curve [much like the installation of new door hardware], and this was certainly no exception. after a long series of trial and errors [mostly concerning the damned length of the chain vs. the length of the wires, grrr...], a multitude of redos, and a dash of making the friggin thing fit; not only had i installed the aqua fixture, but i had also wired into it one of the other lamps [that we decided wasnt worth the hassle to disassemble in order to modify] in the same box and they were both functional! score! i hadnt even electrocuted myself! =] and karen was a great helper, i assure you. she was a champ at holding the fixture over her head on the little step latter for endless lengths of time while i cursed at the stupid chain links, wires, caps, plaster, and other uncooperative elements - this lamp had a freaking attitude that would rival some family members of mine, lol! ;]

not to mention during some times when i didnt need her help [while i was on the ground splicing wires or experimenting with some part] she had snuck off upstairs and finished disassembling the last studs in the attic that we'd left the night before - double score!

so in the end, the first lamp[s] took a few hours to get up, but i/we was/were successful and i took a step back admiring with pride this thing that i had accomplished. until i felt a tap on my shoulder. hm? i turned to face my wife whos standing there looking at me like im an idiot and holding the fixture that goes in the entryway, lol! we werent finished, this was no time for taking a break, and she wasnt about to let me forget it, lol! ah, wives... so i clambered up the ladder to inspect my next victim. well the entryway fixture was a slightly different situation. there was no nice little electric box pre-installed with all the trimmings and ready to go. this was two wires hanging out of the ceiling, daring me to mess with them. ah, i see. well that was fine by me, no biggie. a half an hour later with the help of my trusty drill [god, i love that drill!] i had this thing wired up, installed, and ready to test. flip that switch baby! *insert awkward silence and darkness* hmm... well what the hell? i know i wired the damn thing right... 

so i climbed back up, switched the wires, try it again sweetie. nothing. shit. alright what am i doing wrong? i switched the wires back to the way i knew they were right and ventured down to the basement. had i tripped the entryway at some point? well when i got down there all the fuses were in order and nothing was out of place, so i thought id just reset a bunch of them and see if that worked the kink out of the system. so i start flipping the switches back and forth and then i hear karen hollering through the floor above me "its on!" sweet! "but..." shit. "but the lights in the parlor[as we've decided we're going to call it from now on] turned off when this one came on." huh? how is this even possible? i have the fuse switched into the off position and the light in the entry is on, while the lights in the parlor are off like theyre supposed to be. wtf...? so i flipped it back to on, they switched back obviously, and i went back up stairs scratching my head...

well, luckily, two of my cousins are electricians by trade, and this is obviously an electrical problem, so i made a few phone calls and called up cousin wade. after his initial shock of finding out id not only bought a house, but did so in cincinnati, with my wife? wife? lol! where has he been lately? haha. anyway after that he talked me through a few things and we discovered that some idiot had wired a 3-way switch wrong and while its not a real fix, we did figure out how to manipulate the switches in a way that we can turn the entry light on and off at the switch we want to control it. good enough, thanks cousin wade! 

well after i got off the phone with wade, i was perturbed with a light switch that im guessing the same idiot had installed up-side-down, and decided to fix it right quick. heh, up until this point i hadnt shocked myself at all when i was actually handling the wires, but of course on the simple task of removing the face plate and flipping the switch right-side-up, i managed to get myself not only once, but twice, lol! yes, thank you, i appreciate the applause. moving on... 

so after i "fixed" the light switch, we moved onto the dining room fixture. this was another one that karen had finished modifying that morning,and possibly my favorite fixture of them all, i might add. im afraid the pictures of these guys dont do the mod justice, but you'll see eventually when we get some better ones. so anyway, back up the ladder, score, this one was in great shape. an even better box to work with than the first one, and the lamp had tons of chord to work with. this one went up like a breeze, 10-15 minutes tops. the only part that took any time was figuring out the two switches in the dining room to get the thing to turn on and off, lol! its a little redundant to have 2 switches that operate the same light on opposite sides of a 12ft space, but nothing surprises me in this house anymore, lol!

at this point we decided to take a quick run to grab some food and run to the hardware store to get a few s-hooks and a plant hook for the second light in the parlor so we could properly hang all these things where we wanted them. a quick check on the masons [moving on fantastically! we had half a rebuilt wall!] and off we went. lunch was the local taco bell, because neither of us had had it in a while, or felt like cooking, and it was 3 doors down from the local hardware store. lunch was delicious, as usual, and the hardware store was fast, and we were home before we knew it, with everything installed and adjusted to our liking. and now the moment youve all been waiting for!

luckily you can see them all if you get at the right angle, heh. 

well, at this point we decided we better move on to other things on our to do list for the day. we hit the grocery store to re-stock the kitchen cabinets for the week, and by the time we had dropped those off at home it was slowly starting to get dark. we went back to the house to see how things were coming along and then milled-about the house trying to decide what else we wanted to tackle in the near future while we waited for the masons to finish up. not too long after we'd assessed the future rehabbing situation, they were finished and we went about paying them and closing up the house for the day. the wall looked great! see for yourself!

happy with the days work and ready to get on with the rest of the day before it was pitch black out, we left them to finish cleaning-up and went on our way to continue the night. 

we ended up doing laundry [no, not yet with our own washer and dryer, we still need working plumbing for that to happen... soon though, this weekend even!] and went home to quickly put away our clothes, get dressed and primped, and have a very, very, short dinner. ...why you ask??

because we went to a concert! lol! i know, on a work-night too! oh, that crazy wife of mine... so sunday night we went to see girl-talk[definitely not parent, grandparent, or closed minded people appropriate - but killer music if youre into this sorta thing]. one of karens absolute favorite bands! ...well... its really more like a guy, a few turn-tables, and a laptop. its kind of an electronica/dj situation. but we had a total blast! karen got her dance fix for a while and we sweated buckets in the dead center of the throbbing crowd as we danced for hours and had a great time. it was a ton of fun, a great concert, and im pretty sure i saved the life of a crowd-surfing girl who i caught from hitting the ground and tossed back up onto the wave of arms, lol! it was so much fun! however, by the time we left we were soaked to the bone with sweat and it was like 34 outside, lol! needless to say we froze all the way home before a quick shower and then jumping in bed. i think i finally drifted off to sleep a little after midnight, but it was totally worth it. if for no other reason that to see the joy beaming off my wifes face. she had the time of her life and im glad i got to be there to share it with her.  =]

well. i think... yeah, thats it. l0l! youre caught up now. yesterday was a total snore of a normal work day, today is proving to be much the same. the only real beacons of excitement in our week are a friend of karen's birthday dinner tonight and the plumber coming on friday to fix our plumbing!! so stay tuned for more updates, go vote in the lightning round if you still havent yet, and ill touch base with you soon!

concluded!