Why I Oughta...

More than 700 posts later, I've stuck to my 2010 New Year's resolution of posting *something* to this blog every day of the year.   Last year , I celebrated the first time in my life that I actually stuck to my resolution.  Sure, writing a crummy blog post about something silly isn't all that impressive, but it was what I picked and as you can see from the number of posts next to various years, writing 365 posts wasn't always easy. As far as stats go, the most popular post - by far - was this post on the Cedar Summit Playground from Costco . This year, I also made a new resolution - and just like last year - I stuck to this one too.   This one was just as silly - and something that I shouldn't have had to 'resolve' to do, but nevertheless, the process worked and now I'm happy to say that I kept that resolution, too. Here's to a great 2012.  A great wife.  Great daughter.  Amazing family.  A good job.  Even more surprises.  ...

The Babe came out the big winner on our recent trip to the Antique Mall in Coloma.  She scored herself a vintage Wonder Walk-R-Ride Horse for all of $8.60.  Based on some searches on the web, these things go anywhere from $15 all the way up to more than $100 - based on the condition and age. I'm guessing that this thing is the exact same as the one touted here as "from the 1950's" and selling for $75.  Pretty good deal if that's the case. We didn't go home empty handed, though.  I picked up a few vintage Christmas smalls - that I love.

I crushed last year's total of a mere $19.60 in the change jar that I keep on my desk.  The biggest difference was that this year I stuck a bunch of cash in the jar from time-to-time.  I deposit all of the change into The Babe's savings account, so this year I stuck the few Double Sawbucks that she received for her birthday and Christmas in the jar along with the change.   With 3 data points, we can start to make some interesting assumptions on the data. 2011:  $181.15 2010:  $19.60 2009:  $53.51 The cash is the biggest differentiator this year, and looking at the deposit slip, it accounted for $130 of the $181.15 total - which leaves me with $51.15 of coins and puts me right in line with 2009's total.  The 2010 total seems low by comparison.

This week, when we were up in Coloma, we stopped by the newest store on Main Street:  DW Hammond Chocolates and Fudge.  They just moved from Benton Harbor into this cute old building. The place isn't quite that cute inside just yet, but they're going to rip up the gross old carpet and refinish the floors.  They have a lot of space, so hopefully someone with a bit of experience can help them gussy the place up a bit. According to the owner (who told us the story ), these guys are the oldest/original chocolate makers in Southwest Michigan - dating back to the 1800's.   With the  Chocolate Garden already in business across town (Wow...they were just named "Chocolatier of the Year"!), and DW Hammond relocating their business here, maybe Coloma Michigan can become a chocolate hotbed of sorts.  Two chocolate stores make a coincidence.  But...when the third opens up, we'll have ourselves a trend. We bought some coffee and a small box of assor...

Seems like just about every time we get up to Coloma, we find a new local product that we can try to substitute for something in our normal grocery store shopping/dining routine.  This time it was in the frozen section with Hudsonville Ice Cream.  They have a cute 'turn' on the normal "Moosetracks" ice cream that is fitting with the region:  Michigan DeerTraxx (Which...looking at the packaging...they've apparently trademarked!) Turns out, they're based in Holland Michigan and have been around for 85 years. We don't buy a ton of ice cream at the grocery store, but Hudsonville Ice Cream will now join the  ranks of Pioneer Sugar  - which is made from Michigan beets - as a local product we'll give preference to in our shopping.

This is the second year in a row that Christmas came and went and I didn't get this craft project done.  I've been sitting on two packages of rope lights for more than 700 days and things always get to crazy in December and I don't get this done. I'm writing this note to myself so I keep me honest and get this done in 2012.  "Joy" it will be.

This year, I had* Equation Boy/Man in our Christmas Grab-bag.  (By 'had', I mean that in my mind, I was to buy/build for him because I bought/built for my brother-in-law Shaun last year.  It appears that the guys-only Grab-bag may have fallen apart, but I'll soldier on, alternating between the two of them anyway.) Earlier this year, Equation Boy/Man had a really nice basketball hoop installed in his new driveway and I've spent many a late afternoon down at their place playing hoops with my nephew.  Everytime we play, the balls were scattered across the yard or garage.     Bingo!  I knew what I could build him - a rolling basketball rack/cart. I started with red cedar 4X4 beams for the corners.  The rest of the pieces are cedar 2X4s.  An adult basketball has a (just shy of) 10" diameter, so I made the rack 40" long to hold 4 balls.  3 levels means 12 adult balls. I'll have to grab a photo of the finished product (because I forgot to!)...

'Tis the season to get my Lionel Train out and set up in the basement.  This year, the Babe was a bit interested in it - which made it a lot of fun.  I shot that video with my phone yesterday with just a few cars attached.  I'll keep it out for a few days then back it goes into storage until next Christmas season.

Just like last year , one of our neighbors is ringing in the season with an aluminum pole and a sign in their front yard that reads "A Festivus for the Rest of Us!" No feats of strength at our house this year.

The Babe was all geeked up to see Santa when we were waiting in line. But, alas, stage freight set in and she wailed when it was her turn to get on his lap.

Courtesy of my friend Adam comes this neat cover of "Christmas Must Be Tonight" - a song by The Band - covered by My Morning Jacket.  Neat stuff.

Thanks to my father-in-law, we got the TV hooked up and mounted above the fireplace in the corner of the basement.  Still no couch, but the beanbags are fine for me for now.  My mancave has begun to take-shape!

There's a new addition to the community of Mantleburg - Frosty's Christmas Tree Lot.  With the Menard's Dutch Auction sale on all Christmas stuff going on, I couldn't help myself with getting this piece for 50% off the retail price.  I've had my eye on it all season and it fits in nicely with a few of the other buildings in their new home down in the basement on the ledge.

The beadboard *should* hold up better than just regular sheetrock when the kids go crazy down in the basement.  We got it up in *most* places and just have to caulk and paint the boards before we're all done.

After a bit of shaving down, the fridge fit *PERFECTLY* into the hole and with the water and power connections set back into the closet behind the fridge, it looks like the room was built around it. It is a 27 cubic foot box, so there's a lot of space in it.  Can't wait to fill it with various beverages! I'm really quite pleased with how it turned out.  A bit more work left to do around the little counter area and we'll be ready to have the party.

Once the floors were finished up, it was time to get the stairs to match.  After two coats of stain, I'm still not satisfied with the final color, but time is short before the Babe's Second Birthday party so for the next few weeks this will have to do.

Just 2 days ago, I posted this photo of the bare floored hallway in our basement . Last night, here's what the same hallway looked like with the new floors.  It is really starting to feel like a finished space. And here's what the main room looks like with the floors installed.  They're called "hand scraped" - which Nat picked out - and look pretty nice installed.  They're a wide board, too, which is different than what I've seen in lots of places.

That red stuff is the fancy underlayment that they put down before the floors.  They're starting in the southeast corner and hopefully by the end of today they'll have most of the floor installed.  The basement will be totally transformed once these floors go in - and will feel A LOT more finished and useable. The underlayment itself is made up of 3 layers and is called the Roberts 3-in-1 Harmony Underlayment .  The bottom layer is a permeable layer that keeps moisture down, the second layer is this thin section of little styrofoam balls that provide some bounce, noise deadening - and most importantly - the ability for any moisture that is underneath to travel through this layer and out the sides.  The top layer is a vapor barrier that keeps any and all moisture out from the bottom of the boards.

There's paint on the walls.  A lot of it.  Nat picked out the color - and it looks nice.  There's a lot of green right now, but that will change.  We're going to put up wainscoting along the lower half of the walls (below the white shelf), but that will happen after the floors get installed. Here's a view of the hallway as you come down the stairs and head towards the main room.

It is now beginning to feel a bit more like a finished space.  We have doors in!  Most of them had to be cut/hacked to get to fit because of headroom considerations or other funky framing decisions we made earlier, but...all but one of the doors is *in*.  The last one will wait until after the party this weekend when we can slow down a bit and catch our breath with the construction.

We sat for our annual photobooth family photo last weekend at the Renegade Craft Fair.   Here's a post that shows some of the other family photos .  It is pretty amazing that we coordinated all four panels jsut about perfectly with last year's version.  The bottom 2 photos are almost identical - but for the one year difference.  I didn't look at the previous year's version before we went, so this was just PURELY coincidental.  Crazy.  Guess we'll have to plan that for next year.

We're now way past the 48 hour 'acclimation period' - where the wood floors have to sit in the space and adjust to the conditions of the room where they'll be installed - but unfortunately, the self-leveling concrete isn't fully cured yet, so the flooring guys came and went this morning; promising to come back first of next week.  We had a few 'patches' to make in the floor yesterday that caused the delay, but I now have a little space heater running down there, so it should speed up the process. That means that we're going to be busy painting everything - the walls and maybe even some of the trim - before it gets hung - this weekend.

Roberts Harmony 3-in-1 Premium Underlayment is the top of the line laminate flooring underlayment and is perfect for basement laminate floors as it seals out moisture while giving it a chance to breath and push the moisture out the sides instead of trapping it. Home Depot sells the stuff for $60 for a 100 square foot roll, but the web has that beat.  You can buy a 630 square foot roll on Amazon for $210 .  That's more than $150 less than it would cost at Home Depot and it ships for free with Super Saver shipping.  Just plan ahead! The underlayment is made of 3 layers - with a specially designed middle layer made of little styrofoam balls.  You lay the stuff down quickly and this stuff has a really nice 7-inch overlap layer that helps seal the floor from the bottom all the way across the seams. I'd recommend this underlayment to anyone - especially if you're looking to lay laminate floor in the basement where there is bare concrete floors.  I wouldn't...

In this case, a picture doesn't really tell the story, but that reddish-brown stuff is self-leveling concrete that was poured all over our basement floors recently.  The grey stuff is where it had to be "thick" I was told.  There's more needed in the hallway(s), near the bottom of the stairs and in the bedroom/office left to do, and then (hopefully) on Saturday they'll begin laying the floor.  

Here's our tree from 2010 .  It was a bit taller than this year's version.   We put it in the same spot, but made some other changes with the mantle behind it this year.

The look of the blog has changed - once again.  For those reading on email, you can click through on the headline above to see it.  Right here below is what it looked like yesterday, which was a design that lasted 8ish months.  Below that is what the blog looked like for the entire year of 2010.   You'll notice on the new template that there's a ticker.  Yes...a ticker!  I can't tell if the site is loading incredibly slow and if it is, if the ticker is the reason.  I'll leave it up there for a few more days while I work out some of the other kinks.  If you see something that isn't quite right, drop a comment on this post.   JakeParrillo.com (February 2011- December 2011) JakeParrillo.com (January 2010 - February 2011)

For the 3rd year in a row, we spent part of our weekend at the Chicago Renegade Holiday Craft Fair at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse.   Here's my post on our 2010 visit . And, just like in years past, I *really* want to like Renegade.  The bright spot for me was the parking this year:  we found a street spot (which was in a marked zone, but we got lucky with no ticket) and were only 1 block away.  Once we got inside?  It was much better than last year - either the aisles were wider or there were a lot less people milling around. We opted for no stroller - which is the ONLY way to roll at this event but the Babe wasn't that interested in being hauled around and wanted to walk herself. Nat picked up multiple items for gifts - which is a good outcome for her - but I haven't quite come around on the event.  It wasn't as terrible of an experience as it was last year, but I must be outside of the main demographic.  Too many screen printers.  And.....

This place has a magnetic pull.  Perhaps it is because there are 3 of them on the same block, but whenever I get within 6 blocks of Ashland and Division, my mouth starts watering.  Nat was nice enough to satisfy my urge to recently get a carne asada burrito.  Do they put narcotics in these things?

The corners, seams and screwholes have all been hit 2X with drywall mud and tomorrow, we'll have the final coat done and ready to sand.  Monday is the day to prime and Tuesday we'll be painting.  Hopefully.

Worlds are colliding.  Pizza parlors and Christmas Villages.  This one - Gfeller's Pizza Parlor - is at Lowe's and looks like it currently is $34.99 - which isn't terribly cheap.  With the basement project still underway (tapers are there today), Mantleburg hasn't been able to make it's annual appearance yet.  Nat hasn't come right out and said it, but I'm getting from her the desire to push the buildings downstairs.  Once we get the ledge up around the perimeter, Mantleburg will be back in business.

With the Babe getting up to 2 years old soon, this is going to be her 3rd Christmas.  But, this is the first time she has the interest/patience/dexterity to have an advent calendar.  This one (above) is one from Trader Joe's and has little chocolates in it.  Nat would hate it if I didn't tell you guys that we actually have a really nice permanent Advent Calendar (from some place like the Pottery Barn or the link), but we're focusing this morning on this one - because it can't be broken. This morning, the Babe opened up the first door and the proceeded to say "more".  She doesn't quite get that it is one door per day.  Give it a few days and I bet she picks it up quickly and starts to remind us if we didn't give her the chance to open the door in the morning.  Chocolate is powerful stuff.