Jun. 26th, 2005

qos: (Homemade Queen)
It's been a busy day or two.

I got home from work on Friday, relaxed for a bit, and then started excavating the entire contents of my 13' wide closet, which involved not just finding reasonable places to stow the stuff that has been in storage, but keep the stuff I use handy, and get rid of the stuff I don't need anymore. And "stuff" is the right word. It's not just clothes (some of which I haven't worn in years), it's purses and bags, shoes, some of my daughter's old clothes kept for sentiment (all of which are going to charity), and other odds & ends I stuck in there and mostly forgot.

It took more than three hours, but when I was done, I felt great. Not only was the closet emptied, but the stuff that had accumulated in the corners of my room was also gone.

Saturday morning, Dave came over around 10am and stayed until around 5pm. We took the doors off the closet, removed the doorframes, unscrewed and took down the drywall, and carried it all up out of the basement. Then David took measurements, we talked about exactly what I wanted to do, I made sandwiches for everyone, and then we -- Dave, my daughter, and me -- went off to Home Depot to buy lumber. Dave did most of the work after lunch because it involved cutting the lumber to the proper size and putting it in with a huge nailgun. I helped by occasionally being an extra pair of hands, but that wasn't much.

All the cut wood fit exactly in the lines he sketched on the floor, and it all fit together perfectly. I'm not a construction expert, but I was impressed by how precisely it all went together.

I told him that a couple of people had asked, "Why is this guy going to spend a Saturday putting doing something like this for someone he doesn't know very well? Without being paid for it?" He just grinned and said that he enjoys doing this kind of work. For him, it's fun. And indeed, he was cheerful and grinning all day long.

What's more, once he saw my house, he was full of ideas for how we could re-do the kitchen, widen my entry way, and etc. If we embarked on a major renovation project, we'd negotiate compensation, but he would certainly cost much less than a full-time contractor. He also told me that he's volunteered to do work like this for other people at work, but they haven't taken him up on it. He'd like to do more of this kind of work.

Right now, I have the frame for my new closet -- which is now eight feet wide, and the rests of the space is becoming an alcove for the child's bed. Next Saturday we do the drywall and after that, the new doors go up, and the new moulding.

And after the adventure of home improvement, I took my daughter to see Herbie Fully Loaded which both of us enjoyed very much.
qos: (Default)
When my late Uncle Fred was on the Redmond City Council, he pushed for the creation of a nice theater in the Redmond Senior Center. He helped design it, and then directed the inauguaral production there, back in 1989. Today my family attended a ceremony in which the theater was formally named for my uncle, in honor of his many years of service to the community as a teacher, city councilman, and champion of the arts.

It was a very nice ceremony, with a former student and a former teaching colleague giving tributes, as well as the city's mayor, who also presented the commemorative certificate to my aunt. Four members of the Second Story Rep theater company (the group who recently did Pirates of Penzance) came and performed several lovely pieces. My aunt said a few words at the end. I had never heard her speak in public before, and she was emotional but very clear, and it was very beautiful.

After dinner with the family, the child and I went over to the house of [livejournal.com profile] bookchick and her husband, who loaned me a great frame pack, sleeping bag, cook kit, candle lantern, ponch, tarp, and etc. Yea for good-quality loaner equipment for my quest!

It's now 7:14pm, and I'm pooped. The child is running around upstairs, and I'm going to take a few minutes to chill out, check LJ, and maybe read a little bit. I also have to fill out some more paperwork for the quest so I can mail it back to the guide tomorrow.

I missed several work-outs last week, and need to make sure I get to bed on time -- or early -- tonight so I can get up and do my resistance workout in the morning. I've had a very productive weekend, but I could sure use another day off to recover from it!
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