Boo Yeha!

Finally, after eight grueling months of waiting we have received an offer on our condominium in Minneapolis. What this means for us is that we can start doing things to our wonderful new home in north Minneapolis. What this means for you is that you will get to hear more about our adventures (and misadventures) in home improvement. On the docket for upcoming projects are putting some color on the walls, refinishing some windows, doing some work to the bathroom and some cleaning and demo work in the basement. All of these projects should prove a good opportunity to showcase our prowess as homeowners.

In the spirit of home improvement, today I renewed the age old Hakala family tradition of going to Menards. Growing up it seemed that my dad was perpetually going to this do it yourself superstore. Where else is one supposed to find lumber, cleaning supplies, furniture, Green Bay Packers paraphernalia and broken pretzel rods under one roof? No matter how bad the customer service we would always return and fill up the vehicle with home improvement supplies.

My trip today was purely out of a desire to "save big money". My wife and I were eating lunch and I had picked up a newspaper. In the center where all of the ads are, there was a brown shopping bag from Menards. The promo was 15% off everything you can fit in the bag. Any of you who own homes (or like to buy tools) know that there is always something that would fit in a paper bag that you NEED.

The fruits of my trip ended up being fairly mundane. I picked up some laundry soap, a bottle of GOOP (everyone's favorite do it all adhesive) and a nail set. What was amazing to me is that somehow it took me an hour and a half to get this stuff. I remember my parents taking forever on their trips, now I know why.

I saw a book about trim carpentry. Since we will be doing some work with crown molding in a few weeks I thought I would flip through it. I saw pictures involving heat guns (for stripping old paint) and compound miter saws (for cutting new and old trim with precise angles). I never thought I would find myself coveting these things but here I am, doing exactly that. Flipping further into the book, I saw articles about refinishing floors, baseboard, putting in wood heating and cooling grates and the list goes on and on.

The morale of this long story, don't follow me to Menards unless you have time to burn. Apparently I too have the gene that acts as a tractor beam to home improvement superstores.