Upright Freezer

Jennifer always finds good deals on bulk frozen goods. The deals are too good to pass up. She will buy more than she should but somehow make all the food fit into our little freezer above the fridge. The problem is when I open the freezer a random piece of frozen meat will come flying out; sometimes landing on my foot. Also, in order to reach the items in the back, large items had to be taken out. Then the whole process of repacking starts over again. We have been looking for an upright freezer for a little while; mostly just on KSL.com. We have seen some good ones in Salt Lake for $300 or so. Most at that price are 14 cubic feet. The other day I was driving to work and went passed a house with a freezer in the front yard for sale. Jennifer was out shopping, so I had her go check it out and get the phone number. She thought it was a good one and in good shape. I called and they had just put it out that same morning. I bought it for $100.

Dad helped me get it into the basement and up on some wooden blocks. We measured it and it was a little bigger than we thought. It is 20.6 cubic feet. It is also not too old. The plaque on the inside shows that it was made 8/06.

We have been told by my parents to get a chest freezer, but uprights seem easier to organize. My opinion is that the stuff on the bottom of a chest freezer never makes it out again. I do not want to have to dig to find my frozen goods. Uprights have shelves and make for easy access to everything.

We plugged it in and tested it the first night. It turned this water into ice, so it was good to go. Jennifer did not want to put food in there and then find out it did not work and have a broken freezer and spoiled food too.

Jennifer moved many things into the new freezer. She has not filled it up yet, but I'm sure soon I'll have random pieces of meat falling on my feet when I open the door.

Donut Bites

The other day we had some donuts at Thomas' parents' house.  The boys loved them.  Grandma sent home the rest of the package.  We got home late.  We dropped everything in the boys' room and they went straight to bed.  The next day I put Carter down for his nap around noon.  I went back in a few minutes later to check on him and this is what I found.

He took two bites out of each one.  That is what happens when you leave donuts on the floor in a boy's room and then leave him all alone with them. 

This is the picture that we sent to the police, just in case they find any of their donuts less than whole.

Carter is Too Helpful

I was doing some sheet rock work the other day. I was sanding down the dried mud. I held my shop-vac underneath to catch the dust. It was not working too well. Jennifer had been using the shop-vac earlier that day to clean up in the basement. I figured that the filter was full of dirt and neeed to be cleaned. When I took the hose off, I found an obstruction. Carter had been helping Jennifer. He sent a screwdriver up the hose while Jennifer was not looking. Once I removed the screwdriver, it worked well again. Carter is sometimes too helpful or too curious whatever you call it.

Front Room Light

 Our front room did not have a light, so we took it upon ourselves to change that. The first thing that had to be done was to make the whole to put the switch box. It was a two switch box and we knocked out part of the cinder block in order to make room for a three switch box.  

The wires here are for the old ones for the porch light and an outlet along the wall. We ran new wire to these areas and used this one to fish wires from the basement up to the box.  The hole in the wall was just the right size for the wires.  We hooked the new wire to the bottom of the old wire and pulled it through.  The shoelace   is so that the wire does not fall down in the wall, leaving us no way to pull up the new wires.

Our next step was cutting and fishing the wires from the light across the ceiling and down the wall. The first hole we cut was in the ceiling. Then we cut the hole in the wall. We needed to cut holes in order to drill a hole in the top plate, a 2X4, of the wall for the wire to pass through.  There was one brace in the wall about five feet up.  We used the thermostat hole to reach it and drill a hole in it.  We were able to get away with only a few small holes. Thanks to me. 

Thomas kept telling me that he needed to make more holes.  He thought that he was running in to more support pieces running from stud to stud. This was not the case.  I was helping one of the boys and came back to Thomas cutting with his sheet rock knife. I told him to stop. He had already cut about a foot, that was not needed. When he had tried to fish the wire he had run in to just to side stud.  Luckily I got in there before it became a hole.  

It ended up being a full day project but it was great to finally have a light in the front room.  When we turned it on, both Seth and Carter cheered and shouted for joy.

We now have some small holes to patch and it will all be complete.  The front room's electrical is all finished. On to the next room.

CARTER...Where Are My Tools?

Lately Jennifer and I are always working on some project around the house. The boys are right there with us doing their best to help. Carter is the most interested. I must remember to put my tools up when I am not using them. Carter likes to carry them off and set them down in random places. I sometimes waste 10 minutes searching for a tool. Last night I was cutting holes in the wall for some new outlets in the front room. I was using a small level to line up the box and scribe a line on the wall to cut the opening for my box. I cut the first one and then went downstairs to drill a hole in the bottom of the wall for the wire to run through. After I came back up, I could not find my level. I searched all around. I immediately blamed Carter. He had no clue what I wanted. After wasting time looking in vain, I just went on eye balling the level of the next one. I then saw Carter take my pencil and put it in the previous outlet hole in the wall. I stuck my hand in and found my level and another pencil that I had been missing.

I got all the holes cut for 5 new outlets in the front room. Tonight I will run the wires and hook up the outlets. Jennifer did not want Carter dumping random items in the wall, so I put blue electrical boxes in all the holes. I screwed them to the studs, so they can be removed later to allow for fishing of wires.

Always put your tools up where little kids cannot reach them. Dad has told me many times that he had to do the same thing when I was little.