4.09.04 — How you doin', hon!
As expected and predicted, the house is taking over our lives and has become a full-time job. T has been studying how to wire a house, and really wanted each room to have access to speaker, coax and network cable. Paying the electrician to run all of this wire was out of our budget. So we did it ourselves. Well, he did the hard work, and I helped. Saturday we learned all the hard lessons of what not to do. We also found out that our drill didn't have enough power to do the job.

One of the things I was looking forward to with the house being built was to avoid spending weekends at Home Depot. Instead, we logged quite a few hours there over the past few days. Sunday we got a good bit of work done. We also had our first house guest. Our friend Helen is moving from Baltimore to San Francisco, and stopped in Lincoln to hang out for awhile. T only put her to work for a few hours. Monday afternoon we came close to finishing up, but ran out of time. The drywallers were coming the next day, so we ran string to all of the places we didn't get finished. We'll go back after the drywall is installed and pull the rest of the cable through.

Also on Monday we had our first dinner in the new house. We ate Subway subs and swept up a spot on the kitchen/dining room floor. It was nice to watch the sunset over the trees instead of the Chevy dealership. In other house news, we only have paint colors, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures left to choose. We're a little over budget in the kitchen, but under in both bathrooms, so everything should round out ok.

It was great to have Helen as our first house guest, and to hear another Baltimore accent! After briefly putting her to work at the house, I gave her the Lincoln tour. First, the south part of town where we live (including the Home Depot!) and then we drove up to the Haymarket for a walk and a snack. We went to the Starlight Lounge, which is quickly becoming my favorite hangout. Later we came back home, had dinner, and looked at wedding pictures. She had taken some pictures that day that she gave to us. We didn't stay up too late; all three of us were exhausted!

Monday morning we had a big french toast breakfast and then she pushed on to Colorado. I was worried that our rental was too small to have visitors comfortably, but it wasn't that bad. So if you are going to be in the area, or just want to get away for a little while, give us a call! Just not the last weekend in April. The guest room is booked. My parents are coming to celebrate Swedish Easter!

4.03.04 — Playing catch up
Where to begin? The house is coming along fine. T is running network and speaker cable this weekend. The electricians have been through, as well as the plumbers. The doors are in, and someone was there today to put in insulation. We are almost finished with countertop, cabinet/floor stain, and paint selections. Most important, the water drainage issue has been resolved. At least for us anyway. They are going to fix (tear up, re-grade and re-pave) the road causing the drainage issue, so we won't have anything affecting us in our backyard.

We have our first visitor coming tomorrow. Our friend Helen is driving across country—she's moving from Baltimore to San Francisco (lucky dawg!) and will be spending the night in Lincoln with us for a little break in her trip. And my parents will be coming at the end of April. To prepare, I spent the evening moving kitchen boxes out of the guest bedroom. The rental is really too small for us. The walls are closing in. Can't. Wait. To. Move.

We've been branching out in our search for cheap places to eat out. First, we have to rave about Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches. We were out very late one night and wound up there at 2 a.m. (Don't think we were whooping it up like party animals. We were just up late talking with some friends until the wee hours.) These subs were awesome. And huge! It was a nice night, so we sat outside and watched the local bars shut down as we at our sandwiches out front of the shop. Haven't done that in years. It reminded us of Maria D's, but without cheesesteaks.

The other cheap eats place is a little Mexican drive-thru on the outskirts of town called D'Leons. Well, not as far out as we originally thought. (Anyone reading this from Lincoln—get ready to laugh.) We thought when friends told us it was at 77 and O that it was at 77th St. and O St. So we drove out to 77th St. There isn't anything at 77th St. Not even a sign for 77th St. Just a big field. We headed back to town, and out of the corner of my eye I saw "Mexican Open 24 Hours" as we were driving by Rte. 77. Doh! This place is essentially a kitchen with a drive-thru window. It has an amazing amount of food on the menu and a bunch of women inside cooking up a storm. When we got there, we were fourth in line. When we left, there were eight cars in line. We've since been back and both times have gotten an insane amount of food for less than $15! We're not the only ones raving about it online.

I seem to write blog updates while watching F1 practice or qualifying, and tonight is no different. You must check out pictures of the new circuit in Bahrain. It's beautiful. The top floor of the tower is reserved for the King. Heh. Could you imagine the top floor at Indy being reserved for Bush?

Chloe update: her levels have gone up just a hair—from 2.7 to 2.8 We haven't given her fluids for the past few weeks, and we're watching her closely. You can tell she's happy. Not getting stuck on a regular basis has made her so excited, she takes a regular evening lap around the house every night around 10 pm to celebrate. Lap is putting it mildly. She runs around like a screaming banshee! We hope this can continue. It's great to have our happy cat back! (We think she is having illusions of being a mountain lioness or something. Shhh. Don't tell her she's just a house cat. Thanks.)

And last, but not least, we are officially a one-Starbucks town! Our Starbucks opened on Friday, April 2. Jocelyn and I went for a coffee date that day, and we checked the Starbucks website before we headed out. It still said "Coming Soon" so we went to the Mill. It was so nice out, we decided to go for a walk. Before we knew it, we were in front of Starbucks, and it was open! Oh, well. Just knowing I can once again get my caramel cider drink is enough to make me happy.

Last month's Blog.

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House Update
4.09 - We have drywall. Finishing tile, paint and carpet selections.
4.03 - Have shingles on the roof, a basement floor, plumbing, electricity and doors.
3.15 - Choosing countertops.
3.4 - We have windows.
2.29 - We have a roof.
2.26 - We have walls.
2.19 - Framing begins.
1.31 - Planning the kitchen.
1.22 - Foundation gets brick.
1.15 - Exteriors are ordered.
1.6 - We're waiting for power.
1.3 - Foundation is poured.
12.28 - Hole digging has begun.

Photo Albums
August 18, 2003
September 9, 2003
December 3, 2003

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