So sorry it’s been so long. I know, I’ve been a slacker around here, but really, I’ve got some good excuses…

First, the kitchen has been coming along nicely. My parents came up right after Christmas, and in a 3-day spurt, my dad and I basically got everything hung up on the walls. Marcie’s happy because now we’ve got enough storage space for all of our kitchen stuff finally. I’m just happy to have that monkey off of my back.

And, of course, work’s been kind of nuts. Last week was my first full week in the office since November (actually, before the last blog entry, even). Six consecutive days in the office…I almost didn’t know what I was going to do with myself, actually.

The holidays were a good time. Spent Christmas Day with Marcie’s family, and then my parents came up for a few days between Christmas and New Years’ Eve. 2006 was rung in at Brian and Becky’s place, and then followed our traditional day of slack on the 1st. Every year on January 1st, we celebrate sloth. We watch movies all day, eat unhealthy food, etc.

And, I got a new toy lately - in preparation for our vacation, I went out and spent my bonus check on a new camera - the Nikon D70s. Then, in front of the body, the Zoom-Nikkor 18-200 f/3.5-5.6G VR IF ED. In a nutshell, a great camera. I went downtown over the weekend to try it out - got some very nice pictures out of it which are over in the Gallery.

Well, it’s been a pretty eventful weekend around here. We’ve started to work on the great kitchen renovation project of 2005. So far, that’s consisted of ripping out the old paneling and drywall on a couple of the walls and installation of roughed-in electrical for the various outlets/appliances that will go on that wall.

(me hard at work)

So far, the work’s been pretty straightforward. The next bits will get a little more complicated, as I’ve got to install a new set of 3-way switches for the overhead lighting, which is going to involve a couple of longer conduit runs. I think I’m up to the task, but I’m getting into undiscovered country here.

Well, we’re moving along on the house, finally. We basically wrote off the month of December between the honeymoon and the Christmas season, but we’ve gotten back into the swing of things as of late. The room’s been re-painted, some new trim installed (crown molding is waiting for a nice day so I can cut and paint out in the garage), the stub wall has been built to allow normal 80″ closet doors, and the doors have been installed. I’ll get some before/after pics up once the molding is done.

Now comes Marcie’s turn - we need to finish furnishing the room…

The massive kitchen gutting will be next on the list…

Yes, I know, it’s been a while since I posted here. It’s been a combination of things:

• I had some problems with Wordpress (the software that runs this blog) that kept me from logging in to make new posts. That’s all fixed now, though.
• Work’s been pretty busy as of late.
• We’ve been getting a lot done around the house. We just painted the master bedroom this week.
• Marcie and I got married! See the pictures over at my photo gallery. Credit for these photos goes to several of our wedding guests, most particularly Marcie’s aunt Julie. If you’ve got some, send me an e-mail at ben (at) ben-johnson.org and I’ll put them up!
• Planning the honeymoon. We’ll be in Australia for 2 weeks. Lots of pictures to come after that!

So, that’s what’s been new lately. Once we’re back from the honeymoon I’ll start posting a little more…really, I promise!

…and I’ve been working like a dog. Well…maybe not quite that bad, but I’ve joked that owning a house has made it seem like I’ve got a 2nd full-time job going on now. Put in my 8-9 hours at Kraft, then I come home, unpack boxes, assemble bookcases, fix little things, yard work, etc.

But, it’s nice to have a place we can call ours. It just feels good to have a sense of ownership over things.

I’ve been a bit of a slacker online and in real-life as a result. I’m a little behind on e-mailing folks, catching up on the phone, etc. I feel kinda bad about it. I’m traveling a lot the next two weeks though, so I’ll have no house-related diversions and I can catch up with everyone a little bit more. My apologies in advance for being a slacker, all…

Weather around the Chicago area’s been a bit freakish as of late. We set a record low at night last night, and daytime temperatures have been hard-pressed to break 60F. Here it’s 12 August, and I haven’t had to run the air conditioning yet this month. Makes me wonder what kind of fall/winter we’re going to be in for…