Sorry for the absence!

I guess you could figure that a lot must be happening since I'm not posting anything. Well, I haven't exactly been sitting around with nothing to do, but with a few free minutes and some urging by Heidi, here's an update for whomever may still be paying attention.

Where should we start? We probably have to go way back before Thanksgiving... At that time, we were just starting to think about putting in the floors. I had a little help. In addition to Maddie, Rob came and showed me how to install the wood floors. As long as you had the right tools, it's not that difficult of a task.

While the floors were being installed, Heidi was staining the main floor wood work. Mom helped her out one weekend, but it was still a monster task that Heidi did without a whole lot of assistance. I think she might be getting tired of "my" project. :)

That's not the best photo, but by the time I got around to taking it, that was all that was left being displayed. We had pretty much the whole garage full of doors at one point as well as a majority of the stair parts. Again, it was a big job.

I also installed a laminate tile floor on the main floor. It's the same stuff that was in the laundry room that I showed earlier.

Once the wood floors were in, the focus could shift to the kitchen cabinets...but before we start those, we had to get ready for carpet.

So the trim around the stairs had to go on as well as all the base moulding wherever carpet was going to be installed.

The carpet changed everything! We could all finally walk around without shoes on. Maddie was so giddy she started making a "carpet angel". The older two quickly joined in.

Back to the cabinets! I promised Rob he would be plastered all over the internet. So here he is! Internet take notice! :) He brought along fellow handyman Paul and the two of them have made some terrific progress.

And here is the nearly finished kitchen with the installed countertop and appliances. Complete with a shot of the computer writing this blog post.

While all of this was going on, the electrical was being finished. I can't say how thankful I am for Dad to fill in the gaps while my actual electrician Gene was struggling with some health issues. And to top it all off, we passed our electrical inspection this afternoon!

With the electrical inspection over, Thursday is the next big day. We will have our remaining inspections that afternoon. If we pass all of those, we will be issued a "Certificate of Occupancy" meaning we can finally make this a home!

Goodbye old house...

Last Friday we closed on the sale of our house in Dodge Center. Last Tuesday we made one last trip and cleaned out the last of the remaining stuff/junk. There were lots of emotions from everyone. Maddie was, well, clueless and relatively happy until she got hungry. I think Libby was very unsure of the situation and that exhibited itself in misbehavior. While goofing around with Libby, Martin was a little more introspective and obviously more aware of what was going on. There was even some sniffling and tears about 5 miles down the road as reality set in.

We closed on the purchase of that house on Dec 3, 2004. In ten years, the population in that house almost tripled. Although we leave the house behind, the memories will come with us.

We exist!

...well at least according to the post office. So while we always knew our address, we now have a mailbox. All our mail is supposed to be forwarded there starting sometime next week. With that I think we can say officially that our new address is:

The Paulsen Family
9145 Dalton Court

Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076

Grandma and Grandpa Woller & Ginger showed up to help this weekend. They helped finish the painting, install the steps, install all the handles & levers on the windows (Grandpa & Martin enjoyed that task), and they helped us sweep and vacuum the whole house. That was overdue!

Other notable accomplishments for the week: (1) The kitchen cabinets arrived. (2) The finish work continued. (3) The electrical work continued. (4) The first of the flooring appeared in the laundry room, and (5) The final HVAC installation has begun.

Now for the pictures:

That's a lot of cabinets!

The casing is around the windows and doors. The laundry room has flooring!

Still pink... but the woodwork helps?

My girls on the steps.

I'm not ready for this...

It's a darn good thing that I told Heidi we would be in before Christmas and not before "winter". Argh... I guess I should be thankful we didn't get the forecasted 12".

Painting Days 2 through 8

Heidi and I kept painting over the course of the week. We wanted to get as many colors put away as possible, so we completed all the upstairs bedrooms at night. There were some late nights, but we did get everything done that we hoped. Friday was a busy night as we primed the whole main floor of the house in just a few hours. We wanted to leave nothing but painting for the Saturday "help".

However, by the time Saturday came, our painting help sort of unraveled. John showed up as did my mom, but due to a variety of circumstances, that was all the additional help we were going to see. So we had to improvise. We decided to use the sprayer that was previously used for priming for the actual wall paint. It worked great! And we made real good time. Maddie also cooperated so we had Heidi for the whole day. We completed the office and painted with the light brown (living room, dining room, kitchen, hallways, stairway...) until we ran out. We got more done than we could have imagined.

Heidi told me she would finish up whatever's left. Hooray! I'm done painting!

After lunch we took a quick break and walked to the neighboring lot to take a look at the river. (For a mere $239,000 it can be all yours!)

After we had all taken a look, Martin and Libby decided they weren't done and stood there a little longer either admiring the panoramic view or the train running in the valley below. For once, I wasn't too slow with the camera.

I had mentioned that Mom was helping paint. Well, Dad was busy accomplishing something else... We are now lit up. Those aren't just the temporary lights illuminating the windows anymore!

Mom & Dad didn't come alone either. Rob was there, too, setting doors upstairs. I guess I never went upstairs with the camera, so those pictures will have to wait.

Painting - Day 1

I don't think I need to write a lot of words for this one as the pictures speak for themselves...

The goal was to finish the upstairs, and that didn't quite happen. Heidi and I have been working over the week to finish it up. We're going to get close. So there's still plenty of stuff to do for week 2 if you're still interested in showing up!

We had a good group of people helping. So many thanks go out to (in order of appearance, I think):

-Travis

-Grandpa & Grandma Paulsen

-Neil, Marianne, Kati & Anna

-Denice, Rylee, Olivia, Claire & Bridger

No more walking through walls

Finally, what has been anticipated for weeks, has been accomplished. It seems like forever ago when I hauled all the drywall into the house before the last of the windows was put into place. Now those piles and stacks of drywall are no more. In a matter of three days those piles disappeared and the walls closed up.

Stairs (in case you couldn't figure it out)

Kitchen

Living Room

Family Room

Maddie's Room w/ built-in
shelves over the stairs

Master Suite

Over those same three days, Heidi and I spent time in Mankato purchasing, staining and lacquering the interior trim. Fortunately we had a lot of help. Grandma Woller watched the kids on Thursday and Friday. Grandpa Woller helped stain. Grandma and Grandpa Paulsen helped on and off Thursday through Saturday including some late night staining after the kids were in bed. And on Saturday Luke showed up to help again while we all overwhelmed Grandma with 6 kids to watch. Staining was the far easier task.

I regret not having taken any pictures of any of the staining, but there will be another opportunity. We did get a majority of it done, but there is more to do.

The drywall crew is there taping and mudding right now and I would say there is a chance they finish this week. So, for those that are looking for something to do over the next couple of weekends, there will be an opportunity to help paint. Let us know if you're interested!

Getting ready to insulate and drywall...

I guess you could say that it's been a while since the last post if I had to go back and read the previous one to figure out where we left off...

Let's start with the electrical. It took a little while longer than expected, but today is our second inspection. I'm not going to say we passed until I know for sure, but we fixed everything that the inspector pointed out during the first inspection last Monday. He made a big deal out of a little, but frequently occurring, problem. According to him, you're not supposed to break the tabs out of the back of the electrical boxes. The fix was to place a wire staple as close to the box as possible. Not a big deal. We also were under the impression that we could "get away with" simply running the wires to each of the boxes, but the truth was each box had to be "made up" which means all the wires had to be stripped and correctly connected and ready to receive the switch or outlet. So after waiting until Weds for the inspector to give us our orders, we (mostly Gene and Dad) got busy and got everything finished up Thursday through Saturday. I came back Sunday and finished the low-voltage wiring.

Last weekend Luke and I finished the infloor heat in the garage and found the leak in the infloor heat under the master bedroom. (It was in the gauge - phew!) Luke also got to work on some ground level soffits which I think he preferred. I finished the upper level soffits yesterday so all that is left is the front of the garage. Those are waiting for Luke to come back.

The masons have been busy, too. I don't have any pictures, but they completed the front porch and the garage floor and apron. It looks great and it's another one of those things that reminds us that we are nearing the end. Heidi even pulled the car in the garage last night while she was there. With nothing else in it, there is so much room!

The septic and well guys have finished their work as well. For your reference, the well is 360' deep. They went through 130' of sand & gravel, 11' of broken limestone, 147' of limestone (they said that wasn't any fun) and 62' of sandstone. And to drill that they only charged me $24.50/ft. What a deal!

Finally, the excavator was on site to complete the final grade...and the timing couldn't have been worse. Everything looked great...until it rained...and rained...and rained. The ground had all been packed down and the rain was running off before. Now with the newly stirred-up top layer, it has acted like a giant sponge absorbing every last drop. And with it being so ridiculously cold, evaporation isn't exactly happening at a convenient rate either no matter how windy it's been. It's gotten better over the last couple days, but the ground still can't hold anyone up weighing more than Libby. We need a few good days of heat!

I did take my first video of the house, but decided not to attach it. It's about 10 minutes of me walking through the house aiming at the wires in the walls before they all get covered up. If you'd like to see it, let me know! :)

Odds & Ends

I'm guessing this could be the title to multiple posts here as we start to see the light at the end of this tunnel, so maybe I'm using it too early, but I'm going to anyway.

We currently have about 3 tasks going. The first and biggest by far is the electrical work. Gene had a bit of a medical setback, but is recovered now and ready to go this weekend. However, last weekend, my dad picked up the slack and ran wire just about everywhere. I'm not sure how you show electrical progress via pictures, but here's one to show something is in the walls.

Last weekend I also had my brother-in-law Luke over to help. He seemed quite happy helping out being that Heidi was watching all 3 kids for him. But that was before I put him on the task for the day. Soffits. See, Luke is afraid of heights. Previously I had only witnessed that while on roofs. I - mistakenly - thought that working off a loader platform wouldn't be as terrifying. That being said, he was an awfully good sport and did get plenty done all while I did my best to make him feel nervous. We finished about half of the house, so we still have the other half and the garage to do. But now that he's trained in...

Finally, the other task to get finished before the electrical can be complete are the exterior basement walls. They need to be finished so that the basement can be insulated and drywalled per code. So, on Sunday and now during the week, that has been the task of Martin and me. That is priority #1 for this weekend.

Oh, and if you are paying close attention, you'll notice that the floor in the basement has been finished. Our infloor heat passed inspection and the basement floor was poured the next day.

Plumbing and Heating and Electricity, oh my!

Well, the plumbing is already done - I told you that last week - but I needed it for my corny title.

The electricians showed up on Wednesday (Gene Luedtke and Dad) and the HVAC crew finally showed up on Thursday. I worked with Gene and Dad on Friday and we made some decent headway. I think we still have a long way to go though. Turns out that there are a lot of wires in a house. The HVAC guys (or "tinners" as Gene calls them) are supposed to come back on Tuesday and finish up. Then it's just up to Gene, Dad and me to finish up so that we can bring in the insulators and drywallers.

On Saturday Roger joined in on the fun too. In the morning he and my dad pulled a whole bunch of cat6, coax and speaker wires while I put down the pink foam in the basement. After lunch we all rolled out and fastened the PEX tubing to the foam. With all the hands to keep that unwieldy tubing under control, it couldn't have gone smoother. When we were finished, it looked good too, if we don't say so ourselves.

Too many vacations

And we've been busy too. We've made some key decisions regarding exterior doors and siding and even cabinets. But it's too early to see any of those "major" accomplishments. It's actually been a slow couple of weeks as we've been waiting for the HVAC. The framing is now done. The plumbing is roughed in. The windows and patio door are being completed as I type. I did take some recent pictures including some of the interior, since I never did post the framing upstairs.

And the well is being dug. Today they hit 200 feet before their equipment broke while blasting through limestone. Once they're through that, they expect sandstone and about 100 feet further they expect a good supply of water. A 300+ foot well is the downside to living on the river bluffs - well, that and having to climb to the roof to know that you're living on the river bluffs.

This is a shot of the 2nd floor living area, which Heidi and I have already conceded to the kids. This is the going to be the toy room. And, yes, we know that we're fooling ourselves thinking that the toys can be contained to one room. Through the door in the back left is the 2nd floor laundry, and to the right of that is a bedroom.

This picture was taken standing in the living area and looking toward the 2 kids' rooms and their bathroom.

Above is the master bedroom from the point of view of the master bathroom. Today I hauled all the 2nd floor drywall into the house through that window which is now installed. A huge pile of it is leaning against those boards on the right side.

This is the living room as viewed from the dining room. Heidi thought the windows were too big. I didn't know there was such a thing.

Here's the kitchen. I'm not sure it's going to be as big as I wanted it to be. Good thing I don't spend much time in it! :)

Finally, my accomplishment for last weekend was installing the infloor heat beneath the master bedroom. Initially I was planning on putting it just in the master bathroom but was encouraged to do the whole area above the garage as I was told it will seem colder than the rest of the house due to its location. The last thing I want is for Heidi to sleep in a cold bed. After figuring out how to win the fight against coiled tubing that really doesn't want to uncoil, I think it turned out pretty good. Next weekend I get to put the infloor heat in the basement. If you want to help or if you have a PEX stapler for rent, let me know!

What a week will do...

Probably some of the most significant changes so far were accomplished last week. The final shape of the house is now complete. The rest of the roof framing was accomplished and some headway was made with the shingling. I get to finish that as the week continues... I do enjoy it, but there's a lot to do!

Also, this week the kids finally made it upstairs via a nervous ladder climb. Here they are staring out one of the front bedroom windows. Well, Maddie's trying...

We haven't quite decided whose room is whose. Heidi and I should probably sit down and decide that because it is driving Martin nuts. Libby said she likes all the rooms, so she doesn't care. We're not sure if she honestly feels that way (she probably does) or if she was just saying that to be the "angel" she always is when Martin is upset.

And for those of you who won't be climbing to the peak of the roof to check out the view... here you go.

The shadowy hills in the distance are across the Mississippi River in Cottage Grove/Hastings. So we DO have a river valley view!