Bathroom progress

While Mr. was building the vanity for 2bath, 

(Back view, the shelves will be on the right in real life)

Jr. was demonstrating his developing abilities as a plumber.

Why use p-traps when you can use a squiggle trap?

Help Now, Not Later

3M has argued that charitable giving can be deferred until FI.

I disagree.

It is true that a society made of FI individuals could, in theory, give more and do more.  We do not live in a society of FI individuals.  People who need help need it now.  There is an urgency to adoption, to the unwilling homeless, to the abandoned, to charitable giving, that is not about to take a 10-year break until we reach our FI targets and can give 10% of our 4% safe-withdrawal rate.  Thus, giving must continue to happen now.

It seems to me that a disciplined person (I am not really one of them right now) ought to be able to give sacrificially while 'stashing along.  It takes a pretty low-money lifestyle, but that's a good thing, right?  Some friends of ours have a 1/3rd-1/3rd-1/3rd rule - spend-save-give.  This seems about right to me, and still maintains a higher savings rate than almost any household in the US.  Now comes the hard part of doing it.

Lights

In the kitchen...

(Notice that there are no more dreadful fluorescents.)

In 2bath...

Now the green paint finally looks like what I imagined. What a relief.

Poco a poco

We are inching along.  Jr2 is a lot of fun (and work), but Jr likes to help out at the house (climbing ladders, moving tools around, digging in the yard - y'know, 2-year-old help).  A friend from church has been an awesome help, giving me two half-days per week for the last two weeks, and we've made good progress.

THE KITCHEN FAUCET WORKS!  The drain needs one more clamp nut (grumblegrumble - for want of a $0.60 part...) but we are just about in business there.  The 2nd bath has all the new backerboard up, and the TOILET WORKS!  (You don't know how exciting this is...)  On towards tiling the shower and building the vanity. 

We are musing about open or closed shelving in the kitchen.  There's an issue that we need at least one closed shelf in the corner to cover up a PEX transition (block walls are hard to tap into when they are under an eave of the roof and the drill just won't fit in there...).  This could be a smaller, high-up shelf for spices, etc. and still leave room for nice open shelving for our prettier dishes.

After painting a portion of the ceiling I am wobbling on whether to texture it.  We'd just concluded that what the heck, a flat ceiling was not the end of the world.  Now I'm wondering if it is.  So Sr.G, the friendly Baptist jack-of-all-trades who does a lot of work in the neighborhood is going to get me a quote (of course he does drywall...).  I could also hopper-gun it myself, but I have been avoiding air tools to avoid the expense of a compressor.  However, with baseboard and hardwood floors in the future, maybe I should mensch it up and get one...  I'll start Craigslisting for it...

Recent pictures...