Ryder Truck Weekend, with Special Guests

Dan was extremely pleased with the Ryder truck's flat steering wheel. The whole weekend, he made comments of wanting to become a professional driver.


My cousin Chris offered to drop off some cabinets from Fullerton ND, for Dan and me, and my Dad joined him so we got to see them both! Then, we went to Dan's dad (another truck), for a pick up- we got a monster taco mattress! Aaaagh! Taco Mattress invading our house!!


Thanks Chris, Ken and Jim!

Jenn's Closet: A Peek Inside

Dan's obsession: The Ceiling Fan, the Conclusion!

Well, he did it. Dan tossed and turned, trying to come up with a pretty solution to installing a ceiling fan onto a peaked ceiling. Here's what he did:

First, he crafted then attached this little piece of sheet rock:




THEN! He did this:

And then he did a bunch of other things, including a lot of swearing, but this was the end result!

She's a beaut, isn't she? And, so quiet! Thanks Danny, I love the new fan!

Master Bedroom: Closets!

Closets in our master bedroom are complete! Ken came over and was a BIG help:


Here's Dan putting the final touches on Jenn's amazing closet:


Here's Diego, supervising how to organize our clothes in our closets:


And here's Dan's closet, which we built just to hold one glass of wine:

CHECK! Master Bath Completed

We finished a room! We finished a room! Here is the master bath before:


...and Dan describing what he's gonna do to install lights in the bathroom:

And after!

Current July Projects: Too Many to List

Back to work. I was going to make this all neat and organized, but, truthfully, this blog will reflect the state of construction in our house- we are ALL OVER THE PLACE! Dan and Ken performed an emergency replacement of our water heater this week. So, in addition to that:

Dan is painting the master bedroom, master bathroom and second bedroom, simultaneously. Here he is next to the skylight in the master bedroom:

What color? Well, for now, Dan's painting closets, ceilings, and the bathrooms all a brilliant, beautiful white.

I made Dan pose for this picture in the second bathroom. I wanted the world to see his painter man image reflected in the mirror:


Jenn is staining and poly-ing sliding wood doors for the master closet:


Dan ordered some vines that he had shipped from California- I think it's a cab franc. He planted the roots in our front yard. We'll now have three different grapes (can't remember one of them, but we have Cab Franc, and Thompson Seedless)


Here is that same root after planted. Within a few weeks, we had buds!


We are headed to Texas on Friday, so again, the projects will pause for a week of SERIOUS sun!

June Was Busy! Warning: Non-Construction related!

So, Yes, there hasn't been a post for all of June- Want to know why? Well, it's because in addition to hosting various BBQ's, we:

1. Had a massive BBQ! Check out them briskets!
If I recall correctly, we had 70-some pounds of meat! Three smokers, and only one fire! New Fullick record!

2. Were visited by Floridians:

That's my aunt and uncle Donna and Dave. We went to The Publican restaurant here in Chicago. I highly recommend the sand dabbers, and, check out these neat booths they lock you into- you must eat...or they won't unlock the wooden cage...

3. Went to the Cubbies:


and Dan's Dad Kenny.

Check out those handsome men!

4, And Dan was studying hard (and passed, hooray!) for his intro sommelier test!

Dan insists that this is only the intro stage, and he has a long way to go, but as you can see, I am very proud of him (and glad the studying is done for now, back to the painting!) Check out his neat lapel pin- the one and only time I will be able to make him wear it!

5. Also, we went camping at Rod's Cadillac Ranch in Wisconsin with our friends Tom, Court (Happy Bday!) and JD- yes, it's a pink Cadillac on a campground:

The ranch owners have these old caddies that they zoom around the grounds- TOO FUN!


So, as you can see, we were just having too much fun to pick up the paintbrush in June!!