Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Half-Ass Handyman Strikes ...

Living every man's dream to destroy his house, Jason decided to rip out the carpet on the stairs and replace the carpeting with Solid Oak Treads.

What's that you say ... Jason doesn't know how? He's never used a table saw? He has no working knowledge of terms such as "Tread" or "Riser?" "Stringer?" What the hell is a "Stringer?"

Bahh. That's why God made Google. That carpenter guy on TV did it in 30 minutes. Surely I can too ...

Reality is a 4-letter word in the Rupp household.


These first two pictures below show what the stairs looked like with carpeting and the underlying pine construction. I had already put on the painted risers in the picture on the bottom.
















The first treads and the first cuts. Surprisingly, these didn't end up on the editing room floor. They actually became part of the stairs...Even better, I still have all my fingers!! For now.



















Top Picture: The first tread is in place. Brings a tear to my eye.
Bottom Picture: The first three. Wow, this doesn't suck!! It might actually turn our ok!



















It's Done!!! Front view and top view. Still some finishing work to do, but that will come when the stairs to the next level are finished. Too big of a mess left to do the finish work now.




















And, of course, I wouldn't even been able to try to do this without the support from my lovely wife and wonderful assistant, Kristin.


















Sunday, January 11, 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008, Kristin and Jason went to Knoxville, Tennessee to celebrate with Jason's family. Although we spent a lot of quality time cleaning the basement and garage (pictures not included), we also had a wonderful time just hanging out and - of course - opening presents.




Ahhh ... video games. Kristin opening her present for Christmas 2008 & Birthday 2009, a Nintendo Wii. Very fun. Who would have guessed? For some reason, I can't make this bigger ...




When we were in Puerto Rico in the summer, we found these little egg-shaped nativity scenes. This is Grammy's. Cali stalked Grammy for 3 hours hoping to get it over easy.



Staying Alive, Staying Alive ... ah ah ah ah ... Staying Aliiiiiiive






Peirce gets a GPS system for his car!!!! Finally an end to the 3am calls from Pierce trying to get home. Once he stops crying and he realizes that he's in his driveway, things are better ... but I've had enough.



Jenner gets a Guitar! Three minutes after this, she started singing. Two minutes later Pierce was in the driveway crying. Now I understand ...



Draven finished reading these books faster than Cali finished her dinner. And Cali doesn't even chew.



Speaking of Cali ... this is her "I'm hungry look." Of course, all of her looks are "I'm hungry" ... so it doesn't work too well.


And Finally ... the future Rupp Family Minivan. If you think Cali looks unhappy, you are right. She's miserable.