The garage-workshop is starting to look great.

The drywall is all up, and my Dad and I will finish “mudding” it today… then paint this weekend!

There’s still a ton to do, and a few special things I’m hoping for {new pull-down attic ladder, washer, dryer, sink}.

It’s been weird not having my workshop though.

All my projects have been on hold while my table saw slowly rusts under a tarp in the back yard, and my tools are spread in piles throughout the house.

I’ll be inspired to do a project, and in my mind I reach for the tool off my pegboard tool storage book, and then… remember… that it’s somewhere in a pile in the guest room.

I think it’s making me a little depressed.  I was sick for 7 weeks too, with seriously sore ribs from coughing.  Now that I’m finally feeling better I’m ready to build and blog (and maybe clean… maybe ). 

More reason to hurry up and git’er done!

We got a lot done today and I feel good {and tired!}

First I spent Saturday night {with a pair of flashlights} scrambling to finish the electrical work before the insulation went in today.

We got our insulation blowed-in, blew-in, installed, in under 4 hours {‘course it was only 360 sq. feet of wall – so we’re pretty slow}.

It’s a dirty job.  I wouldn’t want to do this in the house…

The vapor barrier held quite well {I was worried the pressure from the insulation might pop it off the wall – it was no problemo.}

I’m glad {really glad} I put 2½” holes in the wall for blowing in insulation – the attachment on the blower was 2½” and the reducer {to 2”} caused a backup {I’d say install was easier on the stud-n-vapor-barrier-wall}. 

Funny story. 

We were using this stupid thing to poke the bale into the thresher.  And the hook fell off into the thresher.  Haha… hilarious, right?  So we unplugged it and scooped out all the insulation into a box looking for the hook.  I got down deep into the thresher poking around for it.  Then I grabbed a flashlight and looked through the output tube.  We searched for 30, 40 minutes.  Couldn’t find it.  Arrggh.  So we gave up and started putting the insulation back in.  Guess where the hook went?  We’d scooped it up with the insulation without realizing it.  It was never stuck inside the thresher mechanism {so that’s good I guess}.

Sound like it was hard, dirty, dusty work?

YUP.  But I’d  do it again.

I love the cellulose we used.  No itchies {which is good because there was dust everywhere!  Looked like we were hit with a blizzard made out of shredded newspaper}.

Unlike fiberglass, cellulose is very “green”, decomposable {so the stuff that ended up all over the yard neighborhood is OK}, and it also has great sound reduction properties {so they’ll forgive me the mess ‘cause they can’t hear my table saw anymore}.

Anyway, we spent the second half of the day “rocking” the room {but you’ll have to wait to hear about that because I need a long nap}.

Spent $1100 adding a 100 amp subpanel to our household electrical system this week… {not gonna DIY that one – ya know?}

Ouch.

   But it sure is pretty yes?

And I also get 4 spots for adding circuits in the future, a spare circuit!, and a dedicated 20 amp line to the garage for my dust collector {whoo – hoo!}.

Still, I am not sure I can afford tic-tacs, much less any new power tools.

Getting ready for the big insulation blow-in tomorrow!!! Eeee!  And I’ll let you know what we’re doing to get ready.

Taking a quick break while working in the garage to send out some pictures of our progress {full post soon I hope}

This is what we are working on right now:

Sorry for the poor quality – the light out here is bad {it’s raining}, and I’m not using my tripod.

We had hoped to blow in insulation today, but it looks like it will have to wait til next weekend!

I have been thinking about getting a fireplace for our family/dining room.

I especially like the thin-style wall-mounted gel-burning types.

Easy to move around, kid-friendly (just hang it high), doesn’t require extensive remodeling (flue, mantel, etc), no smoke or messy cleanup, and they’re pretty affordable!

A dream came true with this giveaway at The Frugal Designer!

A beautiful Milan Wall Art Sunjel Fireplace will go to one lucky winner.

Even if I don’t win, the style and price is right, so I may just have to buy one!

The perfect thing for those cold winter evenings snuggling with your family!