Spider!

So I was doing the laundry last night when I noticed this gal hanging around outside my backdoor.



There's nothing in the picture to get the scale correct, but her leg span is nearly 2 inches! According to the internet, she's a Black and Yellow Garden Spider. My first impulse was to grab the bug spray and take it out, but as I was watching it last night she caught and cocooned two other annoying insects. As far as I'm concerned that's enough to make her rent, so I'm going to leave her be for now.

How time flies.

I currently have family visiting, so there's not much progress on the house being made. However, I was able to move that wall over about a quarter inch. Once that was done I started filling in the gaps with drywall.



As I've mentioned before, the trim around the doors was actually put down before the drywall. Since that makes it hard to paint and looks a little sloppy, I went ahead and pulled the trim off from around the doors, so I can build up the drywall beneath it.



Interesting discovery. There's not much holding the door jamb in place except for the trim. I may have to reinforce that some how.

Interesting...

So I was curious how much of an offset there would be between the old and new wall.



There's no way I'm going to be able to be able to hide a quarter inch drop with just joint compound. (At least, not without adding a quarter inch of compound to the entire new face.)



To top it off, the gap widens as it goes out.



I sort of expected that actually. A slightly angled wall probably won't be noticeable.... but since I may have to move the wall to close the gap, I suppose I could try to straighten it at the same time. Fortunately, I used screws instead of nails, so it shouldn't be too hard to partially disassemble the structure and shift it over a little.

Building Walls

My task for the weekend was accomplished! Sort of...

I did succeed in framing, and dry-walling my little three-quarter wall.



I put down a layer of OSB to make it level with the other wall, which has a layer of pine planing under the drywall.



The finished product:





I say it's "sort of" finished, because my plan called for setting down a strip of 1/4" drywall on the narrow piece of exposed pine planking between the old and new sections of all. Home Depot had run out of that type, so it will have to wait until next weekend.

It's okay, really. It gives me a chance to prep the rest of the hallway for patching as well. The existing door trim was put down before the drywall, so replacing it will probably involve adding a layer of drywall underneath the new trim. I'm sure there are other options, but I'm not sure if they would look any better in the end.

Taxes

So after another fun drive out to Killeen and back, I was greeted with a letter from the IRS. I had hoped it was my tax refund, but no such luck. Apparently they decided that I should have completed a Schedule SE. I disagree, and not just because it means that I'd owe more money.

What's frustrating is that there seems to be no clear cut answer as to how I should be filing. I could declare that the extra income was from a sole proprietor business, in which case, I'd have to amend my tax return to include a Schedule C and Schedule SE. Alternately (and preferably), I could argue that because I undertook the money making activity "sporadically", it doesn't constitute a business. If I'm not a business, then I don't file a Schedule C, and the values in Schedule SE are all zeros.

It seems like a sound argument. I just wish there was a more solid definition of what constitutes a "business". As it stands, I feel like I'm trying to weasel out of paying. When really I'm not...after all, if I had known I'd have to file as a business, I would have kept track of expenses for the purposes of deducting them later.

The irony is that I'm only having to worry about this because I reported the income in the first place. I received no 1099, so had I not mentioned it, they'd probably be none the wiser. *sigh*

Tear Down This Wall

So my one real accomplishment this weekend was to clear out the extra material around the corner of the kitchen where I'm going to extend the 3/4 wall.



During the process, I determined I didn't really know what the dimensions of the new wall should be. Previously the idea had been "cover the fridge without closing off the room". After much debate with Catherine, I think that perhaps this rendering below is the best option. (Shown with the rendering of current state for comparison.)



Yes, that is a framed picture of a mule. No, it's not my first choice for wall art.

Furious Day Off

I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but I've gone and had my car's air conditioning fixed. I almost made it to June, but those drives back and forth to Killeen with no A/C were killing me. I guess I'll have to come up with some other reason to buy a new car now.

Also Prince of Persia was so-so. Then again, my expectations weren't that high to begin with.

The more interesting thing was the live action graphic novel they performed before the movie, "The Intergalactic Nemesis". It was like a combination of reading a comic book and listening to one of those old-time radio dramas. It was complete with 3 voice actors, foley effects artist, and keyboardist to provide the score... all live. Apparently they'll be putting on a longer show in September. I'm going to have to see if Catherine wants to go to that.

40 Hours -- One Day Early

So with the combination of working Sunday afternoon, and a couple drives to Killeen, I seem to have met my 40 hour work week 1 day early. Now I'm faced with a 4 day weekend, with absolutely no plans for what to do. I guess I'm lucky that there's plenty to do around the house.

Did I mention that I received a Certificate of Appreciation from the US Government? I don't think I really deserve it, but whatever... I'll take it. Nice to know those long days a month or so ago didn't go unnoticed.

Strawberry Shortcake

So I figured out how to make the strawberry shortcake Catherine normally makes. I think I was driven to do it because the strawberries were about to go bad, and I figured marinating them in the malt balsamic vinegar would hide any problems in their texture.

However, in the process I discovered I was fascinated by the process of turning whipping cream into whipped cream. I think it was the suddenness of the change that caught me by surprise. One second I'm furiously whipping, imagining I see some slight thickening of the liquid. The next second, it's sticking to the top of the bowl and the whisk, no longer really a liquid at all.

... and it was delicious to boot. The presentation left a little to be desired, since it looked like a pile of whipped cream and strawberries. (I considered taking a picture for posterity, but decided it might be better to destroy the evidence.)

In other news, I think I may have sunburned the right half of my face driving back from Killeen. (The A/C is broken, so the sunroof was open.)

Interesting. Between that and the whipped cream fascination, maybe I'm turning into Richard Dreyfuss's character from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

--
2010.05.28 -- Yeah. Balsamic vinegar.... not malt.

The Name of a Rose ... or Blog

No, it doesn't really mean anything.

I did register the domain name. ...a year ago. I thought it would be a cool name for my software consulting company should I ever decided to do some serious private consulting. For now, maybe I'll see if I can get it redirected here.