Enjoying the last bit of summer.

With the basement behind us, we spent the last few days celebrating by spending time outside, which we'd done very little of this summer. Tuesday evening we played Tennis with some friends from church. Friday night we went out to supper and played games with Scott & Lia. Saturday we met Loren in Tama and went to the State Fair. It was a long day, but the weather was wonderful and we had a great time!

I start teaching this week. I'm teaching until the baby arrives. Jameson also starts his MBA classes this week. Thus, we probably won't be posting much until the baby arrives- just 7 more weeks!!!

Final Pictures

Monday Jameson stayed home from work and we both worked all day on finishing a variety of things. The electrical and plumbing inspector came to do those final inspections. We had to swap out two breakers for arc fault breakers and turn down how hot the water could get in the shower so it was below 120 degrees. We made those changes and by late afternoon had both of those passed off on. Monday afternoon / evening Kendil, a friend from Cedar Heights Church who does finish work for a living, came and helped us finish up the trim work, put up the stair railing, and make shelves for the bathroom closset. We went to bed with almost everything done!

Tuesday morning I worked at cleaning everything up and sealing the grout. Tuesday late morning, we had the carpet installed. Tuesday afternoon Jameson came home from work early to put up the closset doors, towel bars, and put smoke alarms in the bedrooms upstairs. The electrical inspector told us the final inspector would check to make sure we had all necessary smoke alarms, even though are permit was just for finishing the basement. At 3:30 the final inspector came and 2 minutes later was signed off and heading out the door! He only glanced in the bathroom and didn't seem to look at any details. Needless to say, we didn't need to worry about many of the details we were worried about having done just right for inspection. We were very excited that our work in the basement was done!

Here are some final pictures.









Jameson's sister, Jenessa, and her friend Amanda will be living in our wonderfully finished basement this school year. Amanda moved in late Wednesday morning. Jenessa had marching band all week, so she stayed living in our spare bedroom till she had time to move in over the weekend.

Final Work Weekend! (Friday & Saturday #11)

This weekend both our families came up for the final work weekend. Everyone kept busy and a lot of work got done. My parents and brother came up Thursday night and Friday Jameson and my dad got the ceiling put up in the bathroom. Friday night Jameson's parents, brother Austin, and Jenessa came up. Saturday Jameson's dad worked on putting up trim around doors and windows, Jameson and my dad worked on the banisters for the stairs, Jameson and Jenessa got up the jams in the windows, my dad set the toilet, my mom filled in the nail holes in the trim and repainted.

Monday Jameson stayed home from work again and worked on base trim and other misc. jobs. Monday afternoon a friend from Cedar Heights church came and helped Jameson get the stair railing up, built shelves for the bathroom closet, put up base trim in the rec room, and helped with several other small projects.

Here are some action shots from the weekend.

Friday and Saturday #10

Jameson and I worked several nights last week and this week to get the tile in the kitchenette / dinning area laid. It looks great but took us more time than we anticipated.



My parents and Uncle Paul and Aunt Carol came up on Thursday night and we worked all day Friday and Saturday. Having my uncle and aunt here was a great surprise and helped us feel that our project might get done on time yet! Jameson and my dad focused on the ceiling both days and got the rec room, kitchen/family room, and bedroom all done. Paul installed the sinks in the kitchen and bathroom, completed the related plumbing work, and finished the plumbing for the shower. He also put in all the light switches and outlets, but up the bathroom lights, and put up the upper kitchen cabinets. Carol cleaned out all the compound from the kitchen tiles so it's ready for grout, put up light switch and outlet covers and helped with other misc things and cleaning. My mom painted the bedroom closet, the ceiling/walls in the stairway, more trim, and more. As usual, I helped out where needed, made necessary trips to get materials, and prepared meals.

It was a VERY productive weekend. At the end of the day Saturday, some trim work for around the windows even got started!

Jameson and Dad putting up the ceiling.


Rec room- have the ceiling done makes a BIG difference!


Kitchen cabinets and sink installed.


Bathroom vanity, sink, mirror, and lights installed.

Saturday #9

Jameson's dad and 2 brothers came up for the day Saturday. They got doors up, doorknobs on, the bottom kitchen cabinets in place and countertop on, and the vanity cut down. Here's a picture of the kitchen cabinets.



In other news... my grandpa passed away last week (early Wednesday morning). Fortunatly, I was able to see him and spend time with my family and relatives last week on Monday and Tuesday. Sunday afternoon Jameson and I headed home for the visitation Sunday night and funeral Monday morning.