The Optimist

A pessimist and an optimist have fallen off a building.  The pessimist is having a hard time thinking "Oh my god, only 15 more floors to live!".  The optimist on the other hand is thinking: "So far, so good"


Although nothing ever goes to plan, such is life. We have been making steady progress in the attic endeavor.  Jeremy has been building the walls.  After many a discussion as per placement/height/suitability we both agreed that we had exactly the same plan and the other person needs to learn to speak better English. Honestly up and forward are two completely different movements!

Most of the framing is done in the attic.  Jeremy has built for both bedrooms to have a nook in the wall where a dresser can be placed.  He is becoming quite the electrician, with 2/3 of the attic wired.  Pictured here is the proposed walls for the half bathroom.

We have a small (28") pocket door for the bathroom.  We have two new windows for each bedroom as well, now if we could only find the time.

 





While cutting the hole in the ceiling for the staircase Jeremy came across this little jewel.

It was kind of a cool find.  It's hard to argue with those rates!

Moving forward, I was getting a little tired of climbing up the closet ladder which has now been dubbed "the climb of death'.  So we switched to stair building.  This is our first staircase.  Stairs really are not that complicated, the math is simple and there are more than enough stair calculators on the internet... but for some reason it just never makes sense. We argued and calculated, calculated and argued:

Me: "Just because you have big freaky feet doesn't mean we have to build the staircase to fit you!".

Jeremy: "My feet are just like any normal person, we need to build it to standard size".

Me: "Well just in case you haven't noticed there is nothing standard about this damn place!"

Jeremy: "If we want the railing to go like this..."

Me: "Railing! I don't want a railing.  Jeeze, I grew up with no railing on either my mom's or grandmother's. We never fell down the stairs".

Jeremy: "Yeah and none of you are scared of heights either right?"

Me: "Ugh, beside the point.  Here look the guy on YouTube said to do it like this, see, you one step short.  That's why this piece of newly created firewood doesn't fit".

Jeremy: "Fine.  Here jump up onto this landing and see if it feels right".

Me: "Shit! I'm going to hit my head on this! Oh crap now what the hell are we going to do! I'm only 5 feet tall!"

We eventually did come up with a plan that works and with a combination of beer, stubbornness, and creative thinking it fits all our personal criteria.

It's even level

We are just going to put some plywood on for treads for now because there is so much drywall to come.  I keep telling Jeremy that I'm ready for drywall any day ("Sure no problem, I can do that, I'm pretty much a pro now").  It's a complete lie, I'm starting to have nightmares nightly.

Sleeping in the living room is getting really old.  So I'm dragging Jeremy out for at least one night of camping this weekend.

Project List:

• Put plywood treads on stairs to circumvent climb of death.
• Build post under last stair (in kitchen) so safe, comfortable, no railing stairs don't become surprise drop of doom.
• Finish last bits of wiring, framing, insulation.
• Make a friend who will help Jeremy pack drywall upstairs...
• blah, blah, blah, CAMPING!