September 17, 2011

We intended to be at Menard's when they opened, but THAT didn’t happen. We got up late, watched a movie and then decided to shop local for the projects slated for today. We started at the Levee for (always) a tasty breakfast. This is a place, however, that you DO NOT visit BEFORE any lengthy car ride! Then we went to Do-It Best and right where we parked we saw the stone fire pit design we wanted. We got out to inspect the materials, counted the stones and went inside for our shopping list items and more info on the pit. We found out it was a kit – so we weighed the pros and cons and bought the kit and the rest of our stuff. We’ll pick the kit up tomorrow. Looks like all future bonfires are closer than originally planned!

When we got back we started the bathroom sink project. This project went well and there was barely any yelling! The counter top was cut to size, the hole was cut to make our sink a vessel, the faucet and drain were attached, edge banding applied the counters edge, the shut offs were installed and inspected and then here’s where the betting man won…back to Do-It Best for drain fittings, since the plumber roughed in 1 1/2 “rather than 1 ¼”! Carlo said he’d have to head back there before they closed. I thought not…I was wrong! After he returned, the install got ugly…real ugly. The pieces ended up not tightening and there was lot of leaking. After 2 hours, it dawned on us – not really us, but Carlo – that we were trying to attach American made parts to a metric sink (from Ikea). So he swapped out some parts and got the sucker fixed – WITHOUT LEAKS – the only thing is the drain no longer matches the faucet (that metric problem) but we finally have a bathroom sink – YAY! 

 

 

Carlo then installed the septic alarm and started our last fire in the square, soon to be dismantled fire pit while I baked egg rolls and cooked dinner. I grilled burgers and of course I must say…they were perfect!

Our day did not go as planned or hoped and we never thought the sink install would take most of the day. We can only hope for a better tomorrow especially since the projects we need to finish have some serious, strict time constraints!