So close you can taste it…

Well, at least I’d like to say that…
Dad visited this weekend and showed us how to make door headers. I’ve got pictures of that to show those of you who may want to know. Unfortunately, we realized after we’d made up all of the door headers that they were too big, and we’d have to cut them down. Oops. This one was my fault- in our calculations; we were using 72” tall for the doors, when they’re actually 80” tall. Oops. So, anyway, we made door headers and then cut them back down. They’re all waiting to be installed. We won’t have any room for crown molding, but we should be fine for the door and window casings, which is good. I may spice them up a bit, since there isn’t enough room to match the ones in the rest of the house, so I can be creative. Period-appropriate, but still creative. More on that later.
Anyway, we now have a manageable list of things to do before we can be ready to drywall-
1. Finish plumbing to redirect heating exhaust and mortar in new concentric vent
2. Finish plumbing redo behind washer
3. Install door headers on back door and closet door
4. Finish building wall on other side of closet double door
5. Install closet double door header
6. Redo window framing (oops again)
7. Extend wall behind laundry sink (triple oops)
8. Finish toenailing by hand along door headers
9. Run all cable, speaker, and telephone lines to low voltage box
10. Sink all walls into floor with Ramset

I’ve said before that I will cry tears of joy when the drywall goes up! Let’s see if I can be held to that promise anytime soon! Aaron’s parents are coming Easter weekend to assist us with the drywall, so it would be ideal if we were ready to go then. However (there is always a however), Aaron has a trip out of town planned this weekend, so it may not happen. I guess that I need to accept that this “winter project” is rapidly also becoming a “summer project”. We had hoped that we would be able to redo the back porches this year, but we’ve got this one project at a time rule, so we’ll see. We may break that rule to ready the backyard for patio installation though. I made several inquires at different patio construction companies today, so hopefully I’ll have some messages from them when I get home tonight.
As an aside, I’m not feeling my blogger standard template anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on customizing it? I’d like something more unique, but I don’t have any mad internet skillz. I’ve searched around a little bit, but haven’t found much that I liked. Thanks in advance for your help.