Momplex

Most days we are pretty thankful to be working up on top of the Momplex hill.And we are usually pretty happy to just keep right on working into the evening.And sometimes we even run back up to enjoy a beautiful sunset.But beauty has it's price.And after three days of wind, especially terrible hilltop and with no barrier, gusting upwards of 60MPH on the top of the Momplex hill, we were downright frightened as we drove to assess the damage.Imagine holding a sheet of blueboard out the window as you

Mom, we love you, but not this much.  There are trusses delivered and sitting up at the Momplex right now.  And nobody wants to see that roof go up more than me, but with temperatures in the heat of the day rising to "extreme cold" with a feels like temperature of -26 degrees below zero, even if we did love our Mom's enough to work regardless of the weather, our tools don't love Mom that much.  At these temperatures, air compressors act funny, nailers don't nail, drill batterie

The Momplex, she just got her hair done. And now she's already going gray.

There's a heated battle going on up at the Momplex.

Or maybe I should say a battle over what type of heat system we should put upstairs in the Momplex.

 

 

Downstairs, in the bonus areas and the garages, we've got water tubing poured inside the concrete slab.  All we have to do to heat the downstairs is run hot water from a boiler through those pipes, and it will warm the floor, radiating heat throughout the lower floor.

With the interior doors hung,

this trim show can go on ..... it's time to case this joint!

It really is more of a snort than a thingamajigger . . .  Book "Are You My Mother" by PD Eastman But whatever you want to call it, the Ram insisting it's a Excavator with a Thumb, we think it's well worth the $400 a day rental fee. You are going to think so to. While hauling the last of the trees off was certainly a luxury, it's not why we rented the snort.And it's not why we rented a loader for another $500 a day.Sounds like a lot of money for the boys to play on the sand hill fo

For a few weeks now, the Ram has been saying, "When it comes time to pour the slab at the Momplex, I'm just going to hire someone."  And while I've never said no, the do-it-yourself spirit in me felt like if we can get this far with family helping out, why can't we pour our own slab? Don't get me wrong, this is no easy task. The slab at the Momplex is 44 feet by 44 feet - quite large for a residential, and certainly a great challenge. Further progressing the challenge is the slab is p

Boy oh boy did you ever make my day!!!! Thank you so much for all the support and lovely comments on my book! I so hope you love it as much as I do! I know you will! A special thanks to those of you who have preordered. Not only do you get a great discounted price, but the more preorders we get, the lower the preorder price is for everyone! AND Amazon guarantees the lowest price on preorders, so if the price drops between your preorder date and shipment - you get the lowest price! Pre

We are wired. And you know I'm not talking about too many cups of coffee for me, or too much sugar for Grace. I'm talking about the Momplex of course!

When I first started drawing plans for the Momplex, we were really invisioning something along these lines Image from The Petersen GroupOne level.  No stairs.  Senior housing.  You know what I'm talking about.But then things just worked out where we bought this lot that the Moms love.But when we were clearing the lot, I climbed up in the loader and noticed something.  Let's see if you see it too . . .View from ground levelView from the loader.Did you see it?Imagine those

The heat wave isn't here quite yet, but we've heard temperatures are coming that are not preceded with a big fat minus sign .... or followed by "below" meaning how far the mercury drops below the zero line.photo by Larry and June TaylorIt's exciting news, as we've just dealt with one of the coldest November's in Interior Alaska's history, with temperatures staying at the too cold for anyone in their right mind and despite the right cold weather gear to work on roof trusses on top of the notoriou

I've been dreading this step. 

Not because it's going to be long or hard or expensive or anything like that.

I've been dreading this step, because after today, all of the framed mountain views are going to get a mat and glass.

We are putting windows in today.  And our views are going to get a little smaller, a little less clear, a lot less fresher, but certainly much warmer.

As is, the Momplex is certainly a li

When you were growing up, did your parents every talk about someday ... maybe someday, like: "Someday, we'll add on and you won't have to share a room ..." "Someday, we are going to put a pool in the back yard ..." "Someday, we are going to gut and refinish this kitchen ..." And someday just never happened? By the time you moved out, there just wasn't time or budget or motivation to make it happen? Well, here is the big "someday" that never happened when I was growing up. "S

Did you know that roping a house in doesn't mean we actually went out and lassoed a house and roped it in? Apparently, roping a house in means the you pulled wires through the wall. Huh.