Dishwasher!

We have lived without a dishwasher for almost 7 years and I thought we could get by a little longer but I was wrong.  Our dishes that have figured out how to reproduce by themselves and it's time for some birth control!

Today is the day that our new dishwasher will be delivered!  It won't be hooked up but it will be in the house, which is a step in the right direction.  I had hoped that the new kitchen island would have been ready but that didn't go as planned.  Turns out it was better that the island wasn't set because we decided to switch positions of the sink and dishwasher.  It would have been terrible to cut holes in the wrong locations in the cabinets!

We also need to properly vent the island sink.  Of course the original island sink was not vented and only worked because it was a double sink with one of the sinks serving as a vent.  I searched online and found a few ways to vent the sink.

• Use an Air Admittance Valve
• Provide a loop vent according to the Uniform Plumbing Code
• Provide a loop vent according to the International Plumbing Code

The Air Admittance Valve would be the easiest to install and take up the least amount of space under the sink but I wasn't able to determine if it could handle the discharge from the dishwasher.

The loop vents are similar in both the Uniform and International Plumbing Codes.  The difference is that the uniform code has a separate branch out to a vent to the roof.

I'm opting for the International Code, not because it will be easier.  Well, actually I am doing it because it will be easier as running a separate vent 3 1/2 stories up and through the roof is not something I really want to do.  And tying into the existing stack would be equally difficult if not impossible. 

I'm fairly confident that the International Code will work fine but if not I could always add the branch in later.  I will post the results when done.

Blue Jay Update.

It's been about 2 days now with no blue jay incidents to report.  No wait, as I was just starting to fall asleep last night I pictured myself laying on the grass in the backyard with the jays starting to gather around me.  One started to swoop down and instead of pulling up at the last minute, flew right into me.  I quickly woke up and could swear something had hit me.  Freaked me out a little but gave me a good laugh in the end.

I could deal with them outside but now (even if only in my head) inside!  The next home purchase may have to be:

Wait a minute, two posts in one day!

Yes, that's right I actually have something else to post about!

We came to the conclusion that one of the things getting in the way of the bathroom project was the lack of a dishwasher.  How are they connected, you ask?  Well, with 5 of us in the house now the dishes have overrun our kitchen and dining room.  We always seem to be trying to catch up and it just doesn't feel right to work on the bathroom when there are dishes piled up in the sink.

So on Saturday we started to demo our kitchen island to make room for a dishwasher.  I had grand plans to have it all done this past holiday weekend.  But as usual other social activites just got in the way.

We did manage to get the island out and new Ikea cabinets assembled and rough layout complete.  We also managed to get my parents' hand-me-down fridge cleaned and put into place.  The old one that came with the house was just sucking too much power.

BLUE JAYS!!!

Because we didn't have enough issues at home, a group of Blue Jays decided to form a little gang and terrorize us every now and then.  It started when one day last week Mrs. Forest went to the car to get her phone.  She ended up calling me at work and freaking out about being trapped in the car by some crazy birds swooping at her.  Now I have this fear of birds and the smaller they are the worse the fear.  So I was definitely able to sympathize with her but I did have to fight the urge to laugh.

Well, things changed this weekend when I went out the back door and noticed 4 to 5 Jays screaming and looking at me.  One of them swooped towards the back door so that was the end of my time outside.  Then the next day I moved my car to the back and was immediately surrounded by 4 to 5 Jays screaming and swooping at the car.  Talk about Alfred Hitchcock, these guys are NUTS!

I managed to snap a few shots of the craziness.

I know there must be a nest around somewhere but it doesn't seem to matter if we're in the front of the house or the back.  They seem to have lookouts and when one sees us it calls for its buddies and all H#!! breaks loose!  I really don't know how to handle this and don't really want to wear a helmet and eye protection just to mow the lawn.  Maybe I can buy a plastic owl and attach it to my shoulder when I'm outside.

All joking aside, this really is a pain and we're scared to let the kids outside.  I don't want to hurt the Jays but if they end up hurting one of the kids they better watch out! 

Any advice would be welcomed.

LAST POST...

...without any real content! I'm done with posting about what I plan to do. It always ends with the same outcome - NOTHING DONE!

Last Friday was very productive and I had high hopes for Saturday. But of course, Friday night I was feeling the beginnings of a stomach bug and had hoped it would have been better by Saturday. I even posted Saturday morning thinking I would be okay. No luck there. It wasn't too bad if I stayed in one position (standing, sitting...) but everytime I bent over to pick something up it felt like someone punched me in the gut. So I decided to take a little rest which ended up in a 3 hour nap.

NO MORE! Actually, my plan for the bathroom in the next couple of days is to get NOTHING DONE!

More green items!

No, not green as in the environment. Green as in the bathroom "To Do" list! Managed to get the door trim installed.

Also, prepped the doorway for the threshold.

Hope to get the window trim and threshold installed today.

The toilet is in!

Just kidding! At least this gives you an idea of what it will look like when we do put the toilet in. Mrs. Forest is continuing to cruise with the tiling or at least cruise as much as she can with a 21 month old in her face.
I have been spending a good amount of time stripping the window and door trim and I'm just about done. I did finally get to use the sander we bought a few years ago. It seems to be a common theme around here, buy something, let it age for a few years and enjoy! Mrs. Forest and I are wine drinkers so it is kind of fitting, but would you believe, the wine is the one thing that doesn't get a chance to age!

The door trim below doesn't look that great in the photo but it's as smooth as a baby's a$$, I mean bottom, and should look great after it's painted.

Well, the kids finally feel asleep. Time to go create more content to post about.