Habitat Kitchen Cabinets and Shelves

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Then we put in flooring, doors and trim. Today we installed kitchen cabinets and shelving. Jake got put on the shelf installation crew. He installed shelving in 6 closets plus the laundry room. While installing shelves in one of the bedrooms, we were visited by the family who will be moving into the house. The little girl was very excited to see her new room.
Another team was installing the cabinets in the kitchen. One of the cabinets contained a lazy susan. It just so happened that the two guys who were installing that section, both have wives named Susan. They decided that it would be more appropriate to call that section the efficient Susan rather than the lazy Susan.

So where does the term "lazy Susan" come from anyway? According to wikipedia, legend has it, the term was officially coined in reference to Susan B. Anthony in 1868 by political leaders opposed to her efforts supporting women's suffrage. The term began to surface after an attempted effort by Anthony to make a case for gender equality by denouncing a woman's 'duty' to fulfill cooking needs within the household. However, her adversaries dismissed the idea as an effort to disguise her laziness, hence, referring to her in the papers as 'Lazy Susan.'

Hot Fudge Sundae

Sarah Ray performed in the final concert of the year this week. This was her first year in the band. The beginner band came a long way from the start of the school year. The beginner band performed three selections. They were Hot Fudge Sundae, A Prehistoric Suite and Dr. ROCKenstein. The attached video is Hot Fudge Sundae which was written by David Martin and was conducted by Mr. Kevin Johnson who was student teaching at Sarah Ray's school this year.

Tomato Garden

It is officially spring time now. Jake got his tomato garden going yesterday. He can hardly wait until he can start harvesting those delicious ripe tomatoes.

Habitat Flooring

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And then we painted the house. Today we put in the tile floor throughout the house, painted trim and hung doors. This was actually a pretty easy day. We put glue on the floor and then waited until it dried to a clear consistency. Then we started putting the tile in place. They only thing that slowed us down was cutting around corners. Yes, we were cutting corners, put in a good way.
The tiles were on the floor in just a couple of hours.
Everyone took a break at lunch. Each of the churches that are sponsoring this build take turns providing meals and snacks for the workers. It's almost hard getting everyone to stop and take a break sometimes. After the lunch break, we started hanging doors. Hanging doors is a much more demanding and exacting science than tile laying.

Last Track Meet of the Season

Thursday was the last track meet of the season. Even though it was a varsity meet, Sarah Ray's coach gave the JV team a chance to compete. Sarah ran in 4 x 100 relay. The team gave a pretty good showing of themselves and Sarah ran a excellent leg. Sarah had a lot of fun this season and is looking forward to next year already.

Habitat Painting

First, we framed the house. Then we put siding on the house. And today we painted the house.
Today Jake was not alone though. Today he brought along his painting sidekick Scribbles. Even though she probably did not want to get up at six am on a Saturday to paint a house, she wasn't quick enough to come up with an excuse. Scribbles did a good job and helped get the job done a lot faster. We put two coats of primer paint on all of the interior walls of the house. The place is starting to look pretty good.
Most of the paint got on the walls, but a fair amount that went elsewhere. It was nothing that a little soap and water couldn't fix though.

Destination Imagination 2009 Alabama Competition

Scribble's Destination Imagination Team competed in the 2009 Destination Imagination Alabama State Affiliate Competition this week. They had a great performance which you can see in the video above. Alas, the team was beat out by Dr. Klaw and will not be making a return trip to the Global Finals this year. Here is the link to their performance at last years Destination Imagination Global Finals.

Saint Joseph Will Help Sell Your House

Jake's sister-in-law DJ has been trying to sell her house for a while without much luck. Jake has been doing some research and has discovered this fool proof method of getting the house moving. Hopefully DJ will give this a try.

When it comes time to sell a house, some homeowners rely on St. Joseph, carpenter, earthly father of Jesus and, well, earthly real estate agent. A centuries-old tradition claims that burying a statue of St. Joseph in the yard helps homes sell faster.

Stephen J. Binz believes it works. The author of "St. Joseph, My Real Estate Agent," he became a believer when his own house had been on the market for seven long months. Upon the advice of his Presbyterian real estate agent, Binz buried a St. Joseph statue in his yard.

"I thought it was a rather ridiculous superstition," says Binz, a practicing Catholic. But a week later, he had an offer and sold the house.

Binz now says it's only a superstition if you treat it like one. "The distinction between superstition and devotion is created by the person doing it," says Binz. In other words, if you simply bury St. Joseph and count on that to sell the house, then it's superstition. If you do it as an act of faith, then it's devotion.