Well it’s been three months since we moved and we’re finally looking settled. I thought we’d put together a post highlighting all the work it’s been to get here and all the help we had.
We got the house a month before we moved in. We took a few pictures as we went.
Task: Painting all rooms in house
People That Helped: Grandma and Grandpa Imhoff, Jess, Mom and Dad Laird, Lissa and John, Mom Anderson, Laura, Andrew
We decided to paint every room in the house. A large undertaking, but the house looks so much better now. The new colors really make it feel like home.
Jess, Alex’s girlfriend, helped us paint several rooms and even acted like she enjoyed it.
John and Lissa came and helped us for a weekend. They helped finish up some of the painting and work on the toilet.
New windows
Dad Laird
We got new windows from Lowe’s, but not without challenges. I had set up the windows to come in a couple of weeks before we moved so that we could then have the carpet cleaned after the installation and be cat dander free before we moved in. One of the windows was back ordered and Lowe’s misread the install by date on the windows so the windows still weren’t in three days before moving day. Dad did some of his businessman talk and helped the Lowe’s guys see some sense and they came over and installed all the windows but one staying until 10:45 PM to get them all in.
The big move
Mom and Dad Laird, Mom and Dad Anderson, Grandma and Grandpa Imhoff, Alex, Jess, Jesse, Laura, Andrew
Finally after a month of preparations, with the house looking decent, we got the family together and moved everything from the apartment to the new house. It was the smoothest move we’ve ever had. Grandma Imhoff made us an excellent lunch including rhubarb crisp (which Jess thought was celery).
Spray yard with weedkiller
Grandpa Imhoff
There was an abundance of creeping Charlie in our yard when we bought it and Grandpa Wayne sprayed the first round of weed killer on the whole yard. He mixed it strong and fought the creeping Charlie back to a manageable level.
Repair upstairs toilet
John, Dad Laird, Andrew
The upstairs toilet was sticking when flushed so that the float wouldn’t drop and start the water refill. Dad gave some tips and John (Lissa’s husband) and I spent a weekend replacing the inards of the toilet. It still has some challenges, but we’re closer to a working toilet.
Set medicine cabinet into the wall
Dad Laird
The previous owners had bought a new medicine cabinet. It was larger than the old one, but instead of cutting a larger hole in the sheet rock, they just left it hanging five inches off the wall. Dad and I took an evening and sunk the cabinet. The bathroom felt twice as big just getting that extra five inches. This also gave us access to our laundry shoot!
New shower head
Laura
The old shower head had enough pipe in it to re-plumb the kitchen and it got in the way. So Laura picked out a fancy new one at Walmart.
Split wood in back yard
Dad Anderson
The previous owners of the house chopped a tree down, but left the majority of it in the backyard for us. Wayne came over with his log splitter and split the logs into manageable chunks.
Stack wood in back yard
Dad Laird, Grandpa Laird, Andrew
Grandpa Laird and Dad came over the next weekend and, in a downpour, helped me stack the wood.
Hang pictures and other wall hangings
Mom Anderson, Laura
Jodie helped Laura get all the pictures and wall hangings put back up so the house can look more like a home!
Install weather station
Alex, Jess, Dad, Andrew
I bought a weather station with my birthday money. One evening while Alex was over, I talked him into climbing on the roof with me and installing the mast. After I tested it out, Dad helped me tack the wires neatly out of the way so it would look all proffesional.
Hang new blinds in windows
Laura, Alex, Dad, Jess, Andrew
Only about half of the windows had blinds in them, so Laura and I bought some cheapo blinds at Walmart and spent a couple days putting those up in all of the windows. Now our neighbors can’t spy on us!
Cut down tree in front yard
Andrew, Dad Anderson, J.W.
A tree in the front yard needed to come down since it was already falling apart. Wayne and J.W. took it down and let me help. J.W. gave us a great deal too!
Fill hole left by tree
Dad Laird, Alex, Andrew
With the tree gone, we had a large hole where the roots used to be. Dad gave us some black dirt and helped fill it in. We let it settle for a few days, then Alex brought another load over. By the end of the summer we had spread four to five loads of dirt around the yard (we had more holes than just the tree). This last week we spread grass and straw over the bald patches and we hope the grass comes up soon!
Install utility sink
Dad Laird, Andrew
There was a utility sink in the basement when we moved in, but the sink didn’t have any facet. So one weekend Dad came over and we put in a new one.
Cut down bookcase for basement
Alex, Dad Laird, Andrew
Laura wanted a bookcase moved downstairs into her craft room. Fortunately we measured it before we moved it down and realized it was 3 inches too tall. Alex came over and helped me chop off the bottom and squeeze it downstairs. Then Dad helped anchor it to the wall.
Fix front pillars
Dad Laird, Andrew
The front pillars were rotting real bad. So bad that the overhanging roof had sagged three inches. We cut off the rotten base, jacked up the pillars and put in some temporary bases until we can get a more permanent solution.
Straighten front light pole
Dad Laird
While we were jacking up the front roof, we straightened the light pole out front. It still doesn’t have electricity to it, and needs a new head, but at least it’s straight. Dad also painted it so now it’s solid black.
Hang cabinets in garage
Laura, Andrew
We had to take two cabinets down in the garage because the Radon evacuation system needed to go through that wall. Laura helped me get them put back up in a more usable part of the garage.
The final bedroom
Mom and Dad Laird, Laura, Andrew
Mom and Dad came over and helped us finish up the final bedroom painting.
Before and After
So here is how far we’ve come, as of mid-September.
Kitchen
Dining Room
Living Room
Master Bedroom
Guestrooms 1 & 2
Bathroom
Craft Room
Family Room
Thanks again everyone that helped out! We couldn’t have gotten where we are without all of you!
Ernie got to spend most of Saturday over at Mom and Dad’s causing trouble. Mostly he just runs around the kitchen-living room-dining room circle about 10 times and then gets tired and lays down in whichever room is most full of people.
Ernie has severe anxiety about the rapture happening while he’s not in the room so he has to always move rooms if his people do and this leads to him not getting much rest during the day if people are around.
We had steak for dinner and The Kid was bad and fed Ern some steak fat. He didn’t tell him this until Sunday morning – AFTER Ernie threw up…
The Kid doesn’t get my computer anymore if I die.
Anyway, Ernie didn’t feel good at all Sunday and mostly just layed around looking at Laura and me and making us do things for him with his big eyes. Stuff like carry him outside to go to the bathroom and giving him extra cheese for his breakfast.
Here’s a picture of the Ern looking pathetic, even though it’s not from Sunday – you get the idea.
The good news is, Ern seems a little better this morning…
Ernie is our dog. He’s pretty high maintenance in that he is very needy and has to be in the same room as any humans in the apartment and if he’s not, then he howls expressing his fealing that the world is coming to an end. But that feature of Ernie will be demostrated in a later video.
Today’s video exibits the Ern’s hatred for air blowing on his face. This was realized years ago when he was a puppeh. Last week Laura was blowing up our exersise ball and realized that Ernie was extrememly anxious about the foot pump that blew up the ball. It was blowing air on him and he didn’t like it. We grabbed the camera and got some great reactions from him. Enjoy.
I figured I would take a few moments this morning (now that I’ve got my disclaimer out of the way) to introduce myself into the blogosphere.
My name is Andrew and I live in the beautiful Midwest of the US of A. I have a lovely wife name Laura and we have a dog named Ernie. My family is mostly addicted to blogging and everyone except for myself, Laura and Ernie had a blog. My sister Jenna decided it was high time I entered the great world of bloggers and so she kindly set up this blog for me.
That is the origin of this blog, the title of the blog (I Analyze Things) was also set by Jenna, but feeling comfortable with the fact that I do indeeed analyze things, I don’t plan on changing it. Whether I actually analyze things on this blog or not has yet to be seen.
Hey it's me!
The Family
This picture introduces those who will most likely be referenced in this blog. On the left is my wife Laura, next is myself (after I cut off that hair from the previous picture). Next is Stephen and Ashley Nicole my brother-in-law and sister. Mom is next followed by Dad. Jenna and Joey, my other sister and brother-in-law are next, and my brother alex who can’t decide if he wants to be negative (the thumbs down) or positive (the smiling face) today.
This picture was taken just before we headed into the great wilderness of the Boundary Waters which you can read about on my sister Jenna’s blog where she has tons of pictures and great comments about the trip.
