Various things conquered.

haven't posted in a bit, but i do have a few updates. between working feverishly through the heat to get everything outside done, i have also taken on a few interior projects. i have set a goal of having every exterior item done and crossed off my list by next weekend (*minus the tiki hut). today, i finished painting all of the concrete on the backside of the house to match the sidewalk and steps in the front. i actually spent a fair amount of time today unclogging the shower drain. i bought some screw extractor bits to remove the corroded screw from the overflow plate in order to snake the drain, but they didn't work so i resorted to brute force. i pryed at it a bit until it loosened away from the screw, then loosened the screw with pliers. the resulting horrible goop snaked from the drain made me want to vomit. and then vomit again. the main offender (aside from about 2 pounds of Double E's hair) was some big chunk of metal that looked like maybe it was a bracket of some kind. who knows how long it was in there or what it was from, but pulling that damn thing out pretty much cleared out the drain.

anyway, i have done a bit of traveling of late and really been busy with some other junk, but i did finish the sidewalk 2 weeks back and it looks really good:

the end near the deck. i actually need 2 more bricks cut a little less than halfway to finish right up to the sidewalk. i am going to pick those up this week and put them in ...
















and from the garage:
i had to back fill much of it with dirt and if i had taken pictures of it today, you would see that the grass has already filled in around most of it. given how shitty the back lawn looked when i bought the place, i am amazed at how well it filled in on its own.








the other big thing i did was finish ripping up the flooring in the kitchen and put down the leveling compound (concrete)/ i have sanded it down a fair amount, but there is a little unevenness, so i will patch it some and then use some 60 grit paper to really level it out. i still need to pull out the dishwasher and do that area ... then paint and buy a new fridge. this should all be done 2 weekends from now:

not much to say - this is from the den looking into the kitchen.











and where the fridge will go:
etc.














i am really motivated to get everything wrapped up, so i have been working feverishly to get things done just like when i bought the place. shouldnt be much longer, so the updates might not be that frequent, but when i do post there will probably be a lot to look at and read about. until then ...