Curt Price.com - The One and Only

Playset Construction

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 21:40:46 +0000

So the instructions said it would take 2 knowledgeable men (Sexist? Nah...truthful.) about 16 hours to put this playset together.

My dad and I worked on it for about 8 hours the first day and I worked on it about 4 hours the next day. We came in well under their 16 hour estimate. I imagine it would have taken two women about a year and a half to put together (I'm joking...but seriously, it would have.).

Dad was a huge help. It definitely takes at least two people to put this together. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming...and the instructions were really vague in a few spots...and they referenced part numbers that didn't exist a couple times, which was awesome (it's a wonder the Chinese are a world power when they can't even provide accurate instructions for a playset)...but we got it done.

Zoe absolutely loves it...and Cooper likes watching Zoe fly around on it...he also really likes the swings. At first, Zoe couldn't get enough of the slide...but now, she is all about the swings. She also tackles the mini-rock wall quite well.

More Playset Photos

Workshop Updates

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:44:13 +0000

Dad and I used a trencher to run a wire underground from the garage main panel to the shed back in December before it got cold.

The trencher sucked. We literally had to go an inch or two at a time and wait for it to dig down, and then move it another inch or two. It took hours to go 50 ft. Horrible. Digging by hand would have probably been quicker. Not sure if the teeth were dull, if the clay ground was the problem or what.

But it got done.

After that the sub panel went in. We got it wired to the main panel.

Then I discovered the meaning of the phrase, "not to code"...so I had to redo a few things...adding a ground bar at the workshop, removing the bonding strip, adding a grounding rod, pigtailing the hot wire since we ran 12/2 instead of 12/3 and couldn't have two wires under the same lug, downsizing the 30amp breaker in the main panel to 20amps, etc.

No biggie...but it was a learning experience for sure.

Anyway, I have the lights on one breaker and the outlets on another. And best of all...it all works.

And I also ran some of the wire in the workshop through plastic conduit to protect it. It wasn't required, I just thought it was a good idea.

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Other updates:

Two shop lights are up...need to put up four more yet.
The workbench is done...vice and bench grinder are mounted.
Killed a mouse.
Zoe helped by holding screwdrivers, adding sidewalk chalk murals to the shop concrete floor while I worked...and of course, sitting on the riding mower and making sure it didn't go anywhere.

Happy Anniversary!

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:25:02 +0000

11 years, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 goldfish, 1 piranha, 3 homes, and 10,000 memorable moments ago.

Happy Anniversary Sweet T! Love you!

BASEMENT CEILING FINISHED!

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:28:04 +0000

Finally!

On Sunday I finally finished the ceiling in our basement. It only took 5 1/2 months.

I like how it turned out...and Teresa will learn to live with it.

Let me say this, if you ever decide to do a suspended ceiling with recessed tile, you should be aware that the edge panels that need to be cut, take FOREVER. The cuts need to be notched out, not just cut. They have to sit recessed below the tracks like the rest of the tile. It takes about 5 times longer to cut each tile that way, and complicating things were the angled edge panels that needed to be cut in the octagon room. Those took even longer.

The holes in the panels for the can lights were easy, just used my Craftsman 6 in 1 tool (just like a Rotozip) and the circle cutter. Nothing to it. That was the only thing about cutting the ceiling tile that was easy.

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2011 World Series Game 6 Calls

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:41:39 +0000

Mike Shannon - KMOX

David Freese triple in 9th to tie the game

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/freese_9th_triple_shannon.mp3{/audio}

David Freese 11th inning walkoff home run

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/freese_walkoff_shannon.mp3{/audio}

John Rooney - KMOX

Lance Berkman single in 10th to tie the game

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/berkman_10th_single_rooney.mp3{/audio}

Joe Buck - Fox Sports

David Freese triple in 9th to tie the game

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/freese_9th_triple_buck.mp3{/audio}

Lance Berkman single in 10th to tie the game

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/berkman_10th_single_buck.mp3{/audio}

David Freese 11th inning walkoff home run

{audio}http://traffic.libsyn.com/stlouisbluesradio/freese_walkoff_buck.mp3{/audio}

Epic Pottytraining Parenting Fail

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:14:10 +0000

So Zoe is in the early stages of pottytraining.

After lunch yesterday, she says, "poop". So we excitedly put her on her potty.

Nothing.

So after a while she gets up and crawls under the kitchen table...where she poops.

So we pick it up and put it in the potty and try to explain that this is where it is supposed to go.

After the lesson, Teresa takes the bowl out of the potty and takes it over to the toilet to flush it. Zoe then proceeds to sit on the currently bowl-less potty, and pee...which ends up on the hardwood.

I don't think we could have screwed that up any more.

Half Spinach & Cheese...Half Crust?

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 05:19:12 +0000

{jcomments on}Quality control seems to be lacking on the California Pizza Kitchen assembly line.

The pizza on the left is a Califonia Pizza Kitchen White pizza. The pizza on the right is a DiGiorno Rising Crust Sausage...both bought at the same time...both on sale.

We went to cook the CPK pizza first, and when I opened it, I discovered literally over half of the topings we gone...missing...not there. They hadn't all slid to one side, or fallen off and fell under the carboard...they just plain weren't there.

Glad I bought the DiGiorno.

I'll be taking this back to Schnucks...and CPK is going to get a nice little email/phone call about this. Maybe we'll get some coupons or something.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: I have sent CPK (Nestle) an email through their website...complete with a link to this article so they could see the photos.

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UPDATE: Today I received a call from CPK. They said they saw the photos and apologized for the condition of the pizza. They said they are sending me coupons for free pizzas. So...we'll see what I get.

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UPDATE: I received 2 coupons for a free CPK pizza in the mail the other day. We got a Sicilian and the White pizza again. Nestle was quite quick in responding to my email and in sending out the coupons. Good PR on their part.

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Cooper Price Arrives

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:55:51 +0000

After 16 hours of labor, Cooper Price finally arrived at 3:32pm on 8/9/11.

Weight: 7lbs, 12oz.
Length: 20"
Hair Color: Blonde
Condition: Perfect (like anything less than perfect was even possible)

Teresa handled this labor like the seasoned veteran she is, and she was amazing.

Both mommy and baby are doing great! Daddy is very proud.

Now I just need to teach him to watch tv before the NHL season starts.

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Mushrooms? WTF?

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:31:35 +0000

Over the past few weeks we've been battling an issue that has occurred on the shared wall between the garge and the house.

About a month ago, Teresa noticed a small mushroom growing out from under the baseboard. So she pulled it out...didn't mention anything to me about it. I guess she just chalked it up as a..."well that was weird".

A couple days later, there was another mushroom...that's when she showed it to me and told me about the first one she found.

I immediately though...well this can't be good.

The next day I pulled the baseboard off the wall, and sure enough, more tiny mushrooms. So I cut the bottom 2-3 inches off of the drywall (the part originally covered by the baseboard anyway) to see if I could get a better idea as to what was going on.

When I cut that strip of drywall out, I found the bottom plate was wet and blackish in color (I am guessing it is mold) and the insulation on top of the bottom plate was wet as well.

Crap...we have a leak somehwere.

I talked to Charlie (our contractor who built our house 2 years ago). He came over and saw that the drainpipe that runs in that wall was leaking from the cleanout on the garage side...it was missing teflon tape. So he fixed it...or so he said.

Then I tried some minor clean up with bleachwater and a toothbrush and decided to let it sit for a while to dry out and see if the leak was actually fixed.

It seemed to be fixed, as the area I cleaned up remained dry for over a week. But there was still the issue of existing damage from the leak (mold, etc.)

But then, just today, we awoke to a bunch of mushrooms again.

Screw it. I've had enough. I wanted to see if there was a mold issue inside the wall and how bad it was. I decided to cut out a larger section of drywall so I could take out any wet insulation and get a look at the drain pipe in the wall. If the mold wasn't too bad, I could just clean it up, and with it being opened up at least the wood would be allowed to dry quickly and I could replace the insulation and close it back up.

After removing the drywall and the vapor barrier, I noticed something...like a clue in a murder mystery. Just yesterday, Teresa had put some of that toilet cleaner in our toilets that turns the water blue. Well, just below the cleanout, was some blue-stained insulation that was damp.

AH HA!! I guess we still have a leak. And gross...it's toilet water.

I took the insulation out and got a good look at the bottom plate. It was soaked with water, and it was black from mold. So I cut it out...and the subfloor was also wet and somewhat black from mold.

Sonofa...

The plumber was called (not the worthless POS that installed the pipes in our house when it was built...he screwed up a lot of stuff...NEVER call Triangle Plumbing for anything). We called Neal's Plumbing out of Troy. They did a nice job in our basement bathroom, they were nice guys, and they were reasonably priced.

Horrible time for this to happen...Teresa could go into labor any minute.

The plumber is coming by Monday morning, 9am... that's the day Teresa is due. Awesome.

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Baseboard-Lighting-Ceiling Tiles

cprice12@curtprice.com (Curt Price) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 06:39:42 +0000

More progress...

Teresa's dad was over on Monday night and we put in the bathroom door...easy stuff. However... we ran into sizing issues with the utility room door. That door had to be special ordered and will be here on Thursday. Why did it have to be special ordered? Because I'm stupid and didn't check to see what interior doors Lowe's had in stock before I framed the door. I need a 34" wide door for a 36" wide rough opening. Lowe's (and everyone else) only carries 28", 30", 32" and 36" interior doors. How unlucky is that? Not a huge deal though. I called around and Fischer Lumber in East Alton ordered one for me and it will be here on Thursday. It will just go in after the carpet is done instead of before.

Charlie was over all day Tuesday working on wiring the lighting. He does good work, but damn if it doesn't takes him a while to get things done. He was able to wire the tv area and the octagon room, but has some more work to do to finish wiring the lights in the office area, plus add two eyeball lights above the bar area. I put three of the rooms on dimmer switches...so we have three 3-way dimmer switches in the basement.

Also, I noticed that I may have overlit the basement a bit. I put 65 watt flood lights in four of the six can housings in the tv area, flipped them on and it was pretty bright in there, and there are two more flood light bulbs to go yet. I think four lights in each area will be more than enough...either that or use regular bulbs and/or reduce the wattage.

After work on Tuesday I painted the baseboards. Then Chris came over and we put down most of them. Charlie let us borrow his large compound miter saw. Mine was a little small to cut the trim vertically. We also put up all of the full pieces of ceiling tile, and then cleaned up for the carpet and tile guys who are coming on Wednesday morning. They'll more than likely be done on Friday.

The areas without baseboard trim are the walkout wall, which is where the tile is going...and the utility door wall, which doesn't arrive until Thursday, so trim is going to wait on that wall as well. I spoke with the carpet installer and he said not having some of the trim down is fine, he'll just move the tack strips out from the wall a bit on the walls without trim...

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