Whew – what a weekend!

Even before the weekend hit, this was how Hadden looked. This was in the middle of the day and definitely not a normal posture for him. I thought it was cute that he still held onto his baseball bat.

He had not been feeling well since Monday – fever on and off and just not himself. I actually suspected swine flu, but he wasn’t having any respiratory issues, so I was just watching him closely and treating his fever. By Friday there wasn’t any improvement so I took him to the doctor on Saturday morning. After 3 hours and some tests, we found out he has mono and we just have to let it run its course. Poor little guy is pretty much miserable without Advil and Tylenol. Please pray for him to recover quickly – thank you.

John front loaded his week at work and Friday we spent the day forming up for more concrete. We made retaining walls at the sides of the house so that we could backfill and prepare for the heating and air units. The formwork brought back a LOT of memories of about a year and a little ago.

Before and after (I just realized that these are of the different sides).

We also poured the front porch area – that was a huge step in the right direction. No more moat!!! John worked very hard – even into the dark to get it finished.

Before (above) … John working, John working … after

Heart rock! Savannah and Aunt Teresa like them. This one is WAY to big to send, Teresa.

The fun continued on Saturday. After spending the morning at the doctor’s office with Hadden, John told me that the track skid steer was stuck. Boy, he was not kidding! This picture doesn’t really show the extent of it, but after all of the rain from Ida, there were some muddy areas. John was trying to condense and clean up the burn pile … which is really funny considering what we had to do to get the tractor out!

Here we are actually close to getting this bad boy out of the mud! It’s kind of hard to tell by the picture, but that is a fairly steep uphill slope to the right of the picture – which is where he needed to go. We pulled log after log OFF of the burn pile to use to try to keep from sinking in the mud. At one point, we were down about twice as far and stuck on a rock. At one point, the mud was up over the track completely. So at this point, we have come a LONG way.

Oh, and the thing that really helped us? MUD – but this kind was the brick and mud kind – leftover mounds from when the brick masons were here. They were sturdy enough to withstand the beating and weight and had enough grip for the track to grab.

It was frustrating, tiring, slopping, messy and somehow crazy fun and funny at the same time. We were EXTREMELY thankful to get it out just before sunset.

After – on the logpile.

Whew! Ready to get to work.

And … this was the sunset. Absolutely gorgeous!

Painting has had to be postponed, but I can report that the basement is primed and ready for color! Yippee! Ceilings first, though – uggh, I don’t like ceilings.

More news to share tomorrow … we have progress on other areas of the house …

Fit "full" Tuesday ...

I'll admit - today was a really tough day. Building a house can be very stressful at times. Today was a culmination of a lot of little things making a BIG thing and I had to seriously fight off a fit of frustration.

The gutters that were supposed to be on yesterday ... aren't. So, all of the rain that we are getting from Ida feels like it is pouring in our house. I know that is an exaggeration, but that is what it feels like. It is worse off than last week before they put the soffit on - now the water has a place to run back on. So, I spent a good part of the day wringing out towels to try to manage the water. Uggghhh!

The HVAC guy that has not returned multiple calls from John. Finally returned my call when I asked his secretary if we needed to find someone else to finish his job. They are supposed to be coming back Monday to finish.

Painting - delayed because of all of the rain. This is very hard for me - setbacks stink. Major setbacks stink majorly.

We received notification that a registered offender will be moving in nearby soon. Seriously bothers me. I know he needs to live somewhere. I know that as God gives us second (and many more) chances, that we should give others second chances, too. I know that, but I still don't like it - for the sake of my children.

Our garbage can that holds the recyclable metals blew over ... twice. Cans were blowing everywhere while I got soaked trying to chase them down, get them contained and secure the big can to the tree so it wouldn't blow over yet again. I'm sure without all of the other mishaps of the day, I would have found it rather funny - imagining how I might have looked.

Hadden is sick. Nothing too bad, but he is running a fever. John doesn't feel well either.

Except for the wringing out of towels, there was no opportunity to exercise. Those of you who know me well know this is bad news for my attitude.

So, I think it is just time for bed. Ready for a new day tomorrow. The rain is supposed to be finished soon.

Lamentations 3:21-23 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Oh, how I needed this good reminder tonight!

Some recent house pictures …

Jeff returned last week and finished up the stone work around the basement level. We love it! He also brought scaffolding that belongs to the family (John’s Dad was a home builder), so we will be able to use that to paint the interior.

 

Here he is on the home stretch (pun intended :). Yes – the sky can really be that blue sometimes! I didn’t enhance the photo at all. We also had a fun time watching the World Series in the evenings.

Also, notice the soffit is on near the roof line. We are waiting for the gutters still. We are also swapping out these nice double doors in the middle of the back (and front at the kids rooms) because they leak in the rain. We are switching to sliding doors everywhere – except for the basement level where we need a wider entryway. Eventually, the back deck will provide a cover for it, so leaking won’t be an issue.

All in all, the doors are a nice change. Even though it is a lot of extra work to swap them out, the new doors allow more light in, have screens, and are all vinyl. Lesson learned.

Shot of finished side.

 

Close-up of the stone work. This was the final wall. Yippee!

 

Here is a shot up the stairway tower. I LOVE the look of the stairs (again, these are not the final treads). This does not show the basement steps or the steps to the lookout. The lookout stairs are in progress. We will have railings soon, too. With the drywall on, you can actually see the stairs detail better.

Finally – painting!!! I love to paint. In talking to people, it seems that there are two types – those that love to paint and those that hate it. Doesn’t seem to be too many in between. We did go ahead and get a quote to have it painted … $17,000!!! That did NOT include the paint!

Kind of a no-brainer. I love to paint. $17,000 is a LOT of money. I told John that now I know what I’m worth ;)

  

Because everyone has been wanting pictures, the smarty-pants in me just couldn’t resist! Here’s before primer … and after primer. :) I am almost finished priming the basement and will start the first coat on the ceilings. We are concentrating on the basement in order to move in! Yes, that is our goal!

  

Probably the main reason I love painting so much is the chance to listen to worship music non-stop. Savannah suggested it might not be too good of an idea to dance while I’m on the ladder, though. I am currently listening to Selah: You Deliver Me; Todd Agnew: Need; Jeremy Camp: Speaking Louder than Before. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them! I have also preordered Casting Crowns newest release, but I can’t get it until the 17th.

Hope all is well at your end! Thanks for reading.

We had a visitor today – his name is Rupert

 

This is Rupert.

Lilly meets Rupert. Lilly is not at all thrilled with Rupert.

Lilly shows Rupert the way to leave.

The End.

FINALLY – a real editor!

On the tip from another blogger, I learned about Windows Live Writer. If you have ever had troubles with blogger’s editor – this is for you. This is my first post using it, but I already like it much better than blogger.

You need to download the software and install it, then connect your blog to it. If you are interested and have questions, please leave a comment and I’ll let you know.

Here’s the link where I found it … which contains the link to the post (don’t want to leave anyone out :)

Soccer, stone, sheetrock and SO many colors!

In a word ... BUSY!

Soccer:
Soccer season is about to wind down for the year, but we have had a fun year. The rainy weather has made practicing and games challenging, but the kids have enjoyed this season.








Stone:
John's brother, Jeff, came down this week from PA to put stone on the concrete part of our basement walls. It looks great! He will come back in a couple of weeks to finish the one side and the back.


Here he is just starting.


One side almost complete. The part that is not covered (black color) will be covered with dirt soon.

Sheetrock:
Or drywall - I wanted to stick with the 'S' theme :) The drywall is hung and mudded. They will wait for it to dry and then sand next week. Whoo hoo!!! I can't believe the time to paint is nearly here!!!

SO many colors:
Picking paint colors is just a little bit overwhelming. Sherwin Williams offers over 900 colors to choose from! Sometimes, I just need a few less options. I have some general colors in my mind - at least for the main floor. Later today, we are going to run and get some paint chips to work with - to coordinate and make sure the colors go together nicely.

Well, that about sums it up. We are getting closer and closer ...

Oops!

I have been watching my prices pretty carefully at Wal*Mart since I have found a few things that ring up incorrectly at the register. I had planned on a post listing the items that I had found and the savings that I received ... and now, I just don't feel like that would be a good idea.

You see, for the last 3 weeks, I have been "correcting" the price on the milk that I buy. The shelf had $2.00 and it kept ringing up $2.88 - I told the attendant at the u-check line and they would correct it for me. Today, when I picked up my 2 gallons of milk, I had to lean way over to get the jugs from the back of the shelf. And, guess what I found? When I bent all the way over, I saw that the tag indeed said $2.88! OOPS! Since I am tall, from my angle, it seriously looked like $2.00.

After paying for my things, I went to the customer service desk to correct the problem and pay for my mistake. Funny thing, they don't really have anything in place to handle this situation, so they were very kind and thanked me for trying. Awww - grace. How sweet it is to receive. A good reminder to also give it.

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btw - my husband finds this very funny. He was wondering if I was telling "how I scammed Wal*Mart" :) I really didn't mean to - oh, I think I'm going to have to take my camera with me next time and show you. Hee!