We ordered this new light for our front porch some time ago, but just got around to installing it.  Looks nice, no?  And the blue bulb is a hit with all our neighbors.  Or so we think.

For some strange reason, persons in the past placed the light switch in Calvin’s room behind the door… not the most convenient location.  When Emily’s Dad, Mike, was here for the birth, he relocated the switch to a more user-friendly location.  Things finally calmed down enough around here that I could tackle the last step of this project: final plaster touch up and paint.  Once that was done, we could finally hang some artwork in his room, including this cool alphabet piece.

Now that we have natural gas in the house, our next priority (after the furnace) was to install a gas range.  The electric range worked OK, and was practically new, but we both prefer gas cooking.  I found this new (still in the box) GE gas range on Craig’s List and installed it in place of the electric range.  Certainly nothing fancy, but it matches our other GE kitchen appliances.  Some day we’d like to do a complete kitchen remodel.

There was only a single, 240VAC 40amp electrical outlet in this space, so I had to run a new 120VAC circuit and install a new outlet.  This task was pretty easy since the basement is unfinished and there’s plenty of access for running electrical wiring.  I also ran a new outlet to the fireplace in the living room for a gas insert (future upgrade).

The electric range sold on Craig’s List for slightly more than the gas range, so as it turned out, the upgrade cost us nothing.