We closed on our loan this week and got the money on Sat (yeah!!!). In one trip to Lowes, we spent ~$875 in lumber and supplies. Amazing! The really good news is that the heat and AC is done for the first floor. As soon as we are ready, they will come back out and get the 2nd floor going.
I've done more work on siding and the entry hallway. Tomorrow night, I plan to rent a drywall jack and put up the ceiling for our master bath and bedroom. Then I can build the walls for the shower and the wall separating the bathroom and bedroom. Weather pending, I may try to get the sliding door installed in our bedroom (for the hottub) as well.
We had the kid's combined b-day party this weekend, which was nice. Brian and Marci came up from St Louis area. Loves in Bloom, their family florist website. Not too bad, I may try to build them something more customized to their shop soon.
Uncle Jim, Aunt Pam, Katie, Grandma Barbara, Grandma Pat, Grandma Mary, Great-Grandma Sampson, Aunt Bonnie, Nate, Scott, Jessica, Trevor, Orion, Donald, Tei, and Claire all were there. Leila and her family came out as well (whom we haven't seen in ages).
Beautiful day for the party, although I felt bad about not being able to work on the exterior of the house (not too many nice days left).

Car commercial

I thought this was pretty funny.... best with sound. (Some things in the back ground are kinda hard to hear)

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040926.html

I bought this domain last night (after several weeks of development, I was getting very nervous about not having the domain name yet)
MidwestOpenHouse.com

Not ready for Prime time yet, but it is quickly getting there.

Things left to do before it can go live.
1) Login system for people to log-in to list open houses
2) Look at text on each page to ensure it looks right.
3) Date functionality (when is the open house happening)
4) Personal information (contact info, etc that will be displayed with the house)

Things I'd like to do
1) Weekly reminders (so people can be emailed open houses of interest on Friday night)
2) Advanced searches (search by # bedrooms, sq ft, etc)
3) Stepping through results if you get lots. (Maybe limit to 25 per page)
4) Listing of houses for sale.

Anyway, it's pretty cool. Been fun to work on. I planning on making it pretty cheap. Maybe $5 to list an open house (per house/date). I'll also have a realtor price so realtors can list any number for $x/month

Video clip of Ashlee Simpson's SNL "performance"

Protecting your PC from internet attacks

Illinois Haunted Houses

Holly's good deed
I forgot to mention Holly's good deed last week. One night (Thursday I think), Holly was coming home from a meeting and found a car at the end of our drive way, there was a younger oriental woman driving who appeared to be upset. Holly stopped and found out that the woman had just bought a new car and was following a friend but had lost them and she was lost.

Holly found out where she lived and started to give her directions, but saw that the woman was pretty confused (she didn't know the area at all). So, Holly decided to 'lead' her to a major road (Mattis Ave) and point her on her way. Seemed to go fine, got to Mattis and Holly told her where to go. For some reason, Holly watched her and saw that she turned West on Curtis (she was supposed to drive all the way to Springfield). So, Holly drove up and found her is a Church parking lot, again upset and a talking with a man in a truck. Taking no chances, Holly went up and led her the whole way to her apartment. The woman was very thankful and I was pretty proud of my wife for taking the time to make sure the woman found her place. (As a side note, Holly suggested to the woman that she buy a map of CU).

Weekend update on the house.
Despite the wind on Saturday and Sunday morning, we got the remaining siding put up on the East side of the addition as well as more done by the hot tub. We also got all the siding (well... not the very top row which will need to be trimmed) done on the South and the West. We've decided not to try to put a roof on the porch this year (we are running out of time). Maybe next year, if things go well.. we can finish that project up.

We also laid down more subfloor in our MasterBath and Bedroom, hung 2 pieces of drywall in the entry hallway, and started to frame in around the shower. Hopefully, the furnance people will get the run done in that room soon so that we know exactly where things can go. I also want to let them finish things up before I close in the floor.

Tonight, I hope to finish up the siding around Bridget's windows on the East. I can't finish that wall until we replace the window in the East side of the office/spare bedroom.

Missed Homecoming
Eric Hutcroft called me Saturday morning (we were at a Cub Scout outting at the Nature center in Urbana) and asked if I was in town and why wasn't I at the meeting. I told him I didn't know anything about a meeting and then he said, well are you in town? I asked asked why on earth would I be in Galesburg, was something going on? He said, "Brett, it's homecoming!".. DOH!!! First time in many years I've missed it. Every homecoming, we have our House Corps meeting for Sigma Nu and I am the president. I can't believe I totally forgot about it.

I guess I am getting old!

We were supposed to close on our loan this Friday to finish up our house remodel (we estimated low for the first loan). Our appraisal came in $15K higher then 4 months ago, but now that the how is ripped apart, they can't finance us. Ironic that the house itself is in much better shape. New electrical, plumbing, HVAC, siding, windows.. some of which are not obvious to the eye.. But, parts of the house look worse (the siding that hasn't been done yet) some rooms are not finished.

Crazy... I honestly don't know what we are going to do. Once it is done, we'll have no problems getting financed. The loan guy is going to try pulling in a few favors to see if he can do something for us, but I'm not holding my breath.

The weekend, we are going to try to get the remaining siding installed on the South and the South-half of the West. We are giving up on the idea of building a porch roof for now... No way we'd get it done by winter in any case.

Carrie found out that her car is being totalled out. In some ways, that is good as things can get settled much faster, but it means she has to go out and buy a new car.

I have to say that there aren't many things that make me nervous in life, even in a global sense, but oil is definitely one of them.

From things I've read, it seems that the world's capacity to pump is just about maxed out and certainly our ability to refine the oil has been at capacity for a number of years (why we don't build more refineries, I just don't understand).

The problem is that the world's demand for oil is growing at an alarming rate. I read somewhere that China is up something in the 30% range. WOW. Even by trying to conserve on an individual level doesn't seem to make much of a dent globally.

I am all for supply and demand pricing... the more expensive gas gets, the less people will use it and look for alternative sources. I filled up the truck this morning at just under $56... I wonder how many miles a more fuel efficient vehicle would travel with that? I'll get about 280 on a good day... My motorcycle takes about $8 to fill up and goes just under 200 miles (but I can't ride it in crappy weather).

Next year, I may have to break down and buy another car, just to have something to drive around. I wish I still had my Altima... maybe I shouldn't have given it away to Donald. :(

Saturday morning was spent at the old Jr High school lot being blown away by the wind and watching Bridget play 4 soccer games for the tournament. Her team ended up finishing 3rd (out of 5) so, not too bad. Thank goodness soccer is over, we can finally have our evenings back!

That afternoon, we put up most of the siding on the East. One more strip left and we'd be done. Unfortunately, I ran out of the window sealing tape and J-Trim for the top of 2 windows. Our loan doesn't go through until the end of this week (appraisal was on Friday afternoon), so we are broke, broke until then. We also hung on of the porch lights (I can't hang the other until the siding is up).

Sunday was a nicer day, but in some ways, we got a lot less done. On Friday, Holly started tearing down dry-wall on the east side of the old living room and we finished the job on Sunday. There is a huge header beam, so 80% of the East wall is totally open... makes it a bit hard to close it back up again. We did get 1 sheet of 4x8 3/4" playwood down on the floor. 1 1/2 more pieces to go (again, we have to buy those, so we are stuck until the loan comes through).

We spent a good chunk of the day trying to figure out where to put the bathroom, closet, and bedroom in that space. We came up with 6-7 different designs, but we finally decided to stick with our original plan (go figure).

Today, 20th Century Heating and Air Conditioning is starting to install our new furnace, vents, AC, humidifier, and air filter. Well... today will be spent tearing out all the old stuff (I got about 2/3 of it already torn out).

But by Friday, the entire downstairs should have heat. We can't hook up the upstairs until we rip out the upstairs bathroom, but this will be a *huge* help.

This week, I have a list of things to do... hang drywall in the ceiling of our bedroom is probably one of the more pressing... I don't have the needed materials to do alot of the other jobs. :(

This morning is really yucky.. I feel very sorry for Lefty out in the rain.

This is pretty cool, add this to your site and you'll get information from my last few posts without having to come here (let's you know when there is something new)

Just paste this into your web page

<a href="http://thebarnharts.org/brett/"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/BentBarnfanReviews.gif" height="67" width="200" style="border:0" alt="Bent Barnfan Reviews"/></a>

And it will look like this

If anyone is looking for an early Christmas present for me.. this is it. This is the same tractor/plow that we used for years to slow out the lane. We never had the back blade.. but still.

I still have the tractor, chains, loader, and some of the cowl that keeps the driver warmer (although it is in very bad shape).

Wow.. this is so cool!!

Link to the store...

Just found out that Carrie is leaving HK next month and moving to DC. Congrats on the new job and best of luck to you!

Saturday morning, Broderick had his last soccer game. They lost, but really played well. Bridget had a double header and won both games. She really likes playing defense.

Trent, Harrison, and Austin came down on Saturday afternoon and we had a really nice time out on the farm. The night ended up getting chilly, so, of course, we had a nice fire. :) Harrison spent the night with us and we watched Green Mile.

It's amazing, on a school day, Bridget is sleeps in, but Sunday morning (after staying up till 1:30) she get's up at 6. She didn't come wake us up though, which is nice.

Marcia and Taylor came down on Sunday. It's the first time Marcia has seen our house in over a year, so a lot has changed. We spent a couple of hours at Aunt Geri's visiting. The kids got in trouble (Not ours really, but the mob). For some reason, they decided to go into the Hay loft and kick down bales to build a fort.

I've started working on fixing up the grainery for lefty and started ripping up the floor. I think this is the best way to try to save it.

In case you missed it on The Tonight Show, here is a link to the latest jib jab.

Trent is coming down on Sunday with his family. Tomorrow, Broderick and Bridget both have their last soccer games. Bridget's is a double header, so I imagine that she'll be pretty tired.

I am *hoping* to get some siding up on the East tomorrow afternoon. We had someone come out and give us an estimate to fix the water damage on the west and it is pretty mild.. about $600-800. (Whew)

Bombs away - chillicothegazette.com

Hmmm... I didn't know I went to Chillicothe, but the form looks good. :)

Last night, I ripped up most of the floor in the old downstairs bathroom. I'll take advantage of the hole in the floor to remove most of the old venting and pipes and maybe install new plumbing for the master bath (at least, get it close to the right spot, to make it easier when the floor is once again sealed.

We went to Lowes today and we'll exchange the 30" cabinate for a 27". I think we are also going to use a less expensive countertop. That will take the price from roughly $8,000 to about $300. Granted it won't be as nice, but then we can put in the fireplace in the west side of the living room. :)

Bridget played an excellent game of soccer last night (she was on defense) and they ended up tieing.

Yesterday, I decided to start saving favorite files that people send me. These might be funny little things, useful utilities, etc. I also added a navigation button to this directory (downloads) or you can view it here.

Well... I got the new Front door installed last night... looks very nice. I am now ready to start putting up siding on the East side of the house.

We also laid out most of the cabinates in the kitchen last night.. They look really good. Looks like we may have to exchange one though... originally, we thought the room was 207" wide and it is only 205". We may take one 30" cabinate down to a 28".

Looks like we've decided on a new loan, so called 20th Century Heating and AC to start work on our new furnance, A/C, and vent pipes. Holly is a bit tired of being cold at home. :)

Broderick had another soccer game last night (only one more to go). Unforuntately, they lost. He is a good player, but not aggressive enough. He tends to stay back or chase the ball instead of trying to steal it away. He had some awesome defensive blocks. 98% of the game was played right in front of our goal and the final score was 2:0

Bridget plays tonight. Drove my truck today... decided it was too cold to ride the bike. (I was being lazy this morning)

Are you registered to vote in Champaign County? Check here to find out....

Check your Registration Status and view your Voting Districts

Just to update everyone on everything. :)

Holly worked very hard this last week to get the kitchen walls mudded, sanded, primed and painted. WOW! What a difference to have a nice looking area instead of studs! This week, we will start installing the kitchen cabinates (much to the delight of Bridget who wants the boxes to make a box city!).

Saturday started on a sour note when both kids lost their soccer games, but they both did an excellent job of playing. One of those cases where the learning got in the way of scoring (people were working on passing, playing the right areas, etc instead of driving to the goal) but those skills will really pay off.

BUT, our cook-out was very nice. There were several people from HK (including Carrie's college roommate Jackie and her new husband Craig). Fun meeting them as Carrie talks about them a fair amount, so now I have faces to go with the names. We also had quite a few people from Wolfram and family and friends. The afternoon/evening's weather was gorgeous...

Yesterday (Sunday) was busy... we took out the old door on the east and ripped up the flooring that had rotted away and then actually replaced the floor, built a new wall, put in a window and framed out the door. When I get home tonight, I'll install the door. This was definitely a milestone as so many other projects depended on getting the door moved... well... now it is done!

Still shopping around for a good mortgage to continue working on the house (and to get our furnance installed!)