TGI.... M?

Progress. We've made substantial progress on the house. Now it's Monday and I'm exhausted.

Friday
After work, I met Ken at the Holiday Ale Festival, a local beer festival held in a heated tent under the lighted Christmas tree in the downtown square. Very fun. 29 different beers along with food and crafts. Ken's going to post a description of the beers on Brian's Sudspundit, but suffice it to say that the holiday spirit was in full effect in that $1 'tasters' bought you a half beer (rather than the $4 full beer). Also, one of my other bests was that we met Pete namesake and creator of Pete's Wicked Ale -- he now makes chocolate that he pairs with beers. And very good chocolate at that. Yum.

For those of you sad to have missed the event, mark your calendars because the bigger Oregon Brewer's Festival is being held on the waterfront here from July 29-31st, 2005. 72 beers. Pack your bags and your advil. We have extra room for visitors. Hooray! I don't think there are any weddings scheduled for that day yet, sorry Karl.

Saturday
Starting the day with some significant hangovers, we began painting the ceiling in the living room. 2 coats. Followed by the ceiling and wall in the bathroom. Two coats. Then taped up the walls in the living room, dining room and cabinets in the bathroom for the following day. Followed by scraping and wood puttying the stair risers. Ken releveled the floor (which dropped an inch from one side of the room to the oter) by bolting in 2x8's to the existing joists. It's nice to have an architect and structural engineer in the family... and a cute and handy one at that. Anyway, we stayed up until 4:30 in the morning doing all of these things. Actually, by the time we were about to go to bed, the bathroom paint was dry and I put the first coat of paint on the cabinetry. Bedtime.

Sunday
Woke up around 10. Ken went to the Viking game while I painted the living room. Sweet success. It looks awesome. Then did the dining room and finished up around dark. With paintbrush in hand, there was a knock at the front door. I climb off my ladder to see our neighbor with a basket of cookies, nuts and fruit welcoming us to the neighborhood. Wow. I felt I lived near Kristen and Jana again. When Ken got back, he finished the upstairs bedroom by laying insulation (it didn't have any before -- sweet old houses). Then we tore off the living room tape, installed a new lightswitch, put up curtains on the lower half of the window and put all the furniture into place. Wow. A room that's actually finished. We both ache... his back, my fingers and feet. Ate dinner and three advil each and went to sleep around 9:30.

Today
The floor guys delivered the old wood on Friday to be installed today. So we should have a floor in that front bedroom by 5 pm today. Then they'll sand it and seal it so that we can move into our bedroom this weekend. Can't wait.