Bathroom floor

One of the things I signed up for was laying the tile in the bathroom. Now, this was something that I had never done. In addition, as usual, I decided to make my introductory project more difficult by getting artistic and laying things on a diagonal.
Before I laid tile, I wanted to get the majority of the walls painted. Here is where my young daughters finally got to help, although we ended up running out of paint before we were done. Since it was New Years weekend the paint store was not open to get more.

I used 1/2" spacers to separate the tiles. In retrospect, I think that 3/8" would have looked better. One-half inch is just a little too wide a grout line. But, I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

I learned a lot though. Grout is hard on your hands ... wear rubber gloves when laying the stuff. My fingers had no feeling in them and it tore the skin up something fierce by the end of the project. A manual tile cutter works pretty well, and I ended up breaking only a single piece in the course of the work. However, small diagonal cuts are tricky, and tile nippers are very useful for cleaning up the bits that do not cooperate.

Merry Christmas

So, what is with the dislike of the greeting, "Merry Christmas"? I understand that some feel it is inappropriate to use, since the recipient of the greeting may not accept the Christian viewpoint. However, do you seriously look for everyone to adapt themselves to you? Or is it more appropriate for each of us to adapt to each other?
I have tried to think about this by considering how would I react to receiving a greeting of "Happy Hanukkah" or "Plentiful Kwanza". I am not Jewish, and I do not accept Dr. Maulana Karenga's alternative holiday. Never the less, if I were to be so greeted I would not subject the greeter to a long discourse about my objections. Nor would I reject their attempt at greeting. Such an effort on the part of another is an expression of blessing, originating in their specific world-view, and intending to communicate friendliness and hope for the future.
What could be wrong with that?

Framing Complete

By December 3rd, the framing was complete.
You can see through the main archway into the media room and through to the archway that opens the library.

Here we can see the framing for the fireplace. This ended up not being the final location for the fireplace. After the framing was in, Jonathan realized that the joists above were not wide enough to pass the 10" flue that the GEM-36 model fireplace required. A quick scramble led us to move the fireplace into the media room, a solution that I actually like better anyway.

Here we're looking into the guest bedroom.

Chocolate Muffins

My daughters love muffins. My daughters also love chocolate. Oddly enough, when I went out to search for a muffin that was all chocolate I had a hard time finding one. Thus, I went on a mission to learn more about muffins! This was the result.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbls cocoa powder
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Add the chocolate chips to the dry ingredients. Blend the egg, milk and oil together and add them to the dry ingredients. Mix very gently until all the dry ingredients have been moistened. Spray muffin pan with cooking spray and divide the batter between the cups. I use a cookie scoop to make this easier. Cook the muffins. The time needed depends on the size of muffin cups you used. The smallest size takes 9 minutes in my oven, the medium (cupcake) size takes 12 minutes and the largest takes 15 minutes. Check the muffins with the toothpick test if you are in doubt.

Start the project

So the summer began on a sour note, I was laid off from Hewlett-Packard. But, by Fall a new job with Qualcomm was in hand, and the severance from HP opened up the opportunity to finally finish the basement.
When we built the house in 2000, we had always planned to finish the basement to provide additional living space. We wanted a library, a media or television room, a guest bedroom, maybe some storage and a shop for my woodworking. The bursting of the tech stock bubble meant that the stock options we had hoped would be available for such work were under water, and so that plan had lain in limbo. However, now we were ready.
We attended the 2004 Home Improvement Show at the Larimer County Fairgrounds, initially just to see if there were any new ideas available. However, on a hunch, I took along some of the plans we had for the basement project. There were three home improvement outfits attending, and I ended up talking with all three. Each took a copy of the plans and offered to get back in touch soon.
Jonathan Brooks with Home Improvement Express was the first responder, and ultimately the general contractor that we chose. He offered a couple ideas to refine the plans, worked with a couple of my own unusual ideas and seemed the most flexible of the three. Additionally important, he was willing to work with me providing some of the work myself. We had enough money to have most of the project done for us, but some of it would have to be DIY to make budget. I ended up taking care of:

• Painting
• Laying the tile floor in the bathroom
• Laying the flooring throughout the main living spaces
• Installing and painting the moldings