Under Construction…Still

We seemed to hit a lull around the holidays on our house addition.

Partly due to the fact that it was the holidays,

and partly due to the weather.

We had two snow days last week.

The first actually because we got snow--4 or 5 inches.

It was fun because it wasn’t dangerously cold and we could actually go sledding without fear of frostbite.

Ellie, our neighbor Claire and McDaniel.

Ellie, me and McDaniel.

Why is Ellie on our fours?

While we were sledding, a guy from our city paper came out of nowhere and asked to take some action pictures.

We said sure and then McDaniel decided to sled down the hill on our neighbor, Claire’s shoulders while covering her eyes.

Three seconds later, I crashed spectacularly down the hill with both legs straight up into the air and a thick snow beard on my face.

We felt a little nervous about what our pictures would look like if they made it into the paper.

The girls teased me that it could just be a picture of me by myself, zooming down the hill in some sort of sad, “Snow Day for Moms Too” pictorial.

We didn’t make the paper, after all.

A teacher pushing her kids on a sled did with a very familiar sounding title of 

“Snow Day for Teachers Too”. 

But the photographer posted a picture of the girls on Instagram.

How did we know that? 

Claire became instantly enamored with the photographer, looking him up and following him on social media. He does take awesome pictures.

Great picture!

Our second snow day came two days after our sledding day due to extreme cold.

The extreme cold being negative 400.

 Or something close to that.

I know this because I was out in it with Carisa getting her distorted mole removed at the doctor’s office.

8 stitches!! 

And I didn’t have to watch one single one of them! 

THANK GOODNESS, I got to sit in the lobby and see on the TV how a woman found a snake in her toilet.

Like THAT hasn’t been a thought in my head 

EVERY TIME I use a pit toilet.

But this was her HOME toilet!!!

Honestly! Can we please not have to see that in a 3-D attraction coming soon??

“Attack of the Toilet Snake” 

(or something a little more gripping than that). 

Moving on…

Monte and I braved the cold to pick out a light to go over our farm table in the new space. We’d been searching and searching in all types of stores.

Monte ran into an old friend (and her guitar)
in a flea market we went to.

We even combed through online stores on Etsy. We finally decided on this one we found in a local store called Objects For the Home:

It’s made of wood and metal. Monte wants to use Edison bulbs instead because he thinks candelabra bulbs are girly.

But I am so glad we have that done. 

Now only six more lights to pick out.

I finally picked out a kitchen faucet yesterday. It seems it is taking me longer and longer to make a decision on all the little details.

The girls took one look at it and screamed that it was the same exact faucet 

that was on the Disney show “Jonas L.A.”

Well, how about that.

The kitchen sink just arrived in a box so big I expect there might be a mistake and a “a very special award” in it involving a leg and a lamp shade instead of a stainless steel sink.

Back to the house…

In spite of the snow and cold, the dry wall got completed by two brothers who loved to listen to dance club/rave music with a driving beat and no more than four different words sung over and over and over.

It was mind numbing and soul sucking.

And it made me miss “Highway to Hell”,

as much as it pains me to type that.

Drywalling involves sanding which involved me dusting and mopping the floors only to see an hour later that mopping the floors turned the drywall dust into a white pasty film.

Seeing that made me have a moment.

And it wasn’t one of clarity.

Monte bought the girls yoga mats and they started doing workouts in the new space.

Before the yoga mats.

The hardwoods started going in this week.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3--all done!!

It seems so much more like there is a light at the end of this dusty tunnel with a real floor. I love it!

I needed this pay off since Monte was out of town all week and while he was gone

the bathroom sink was clogged,

the bath tub drain wouldn’t plug 

and I REALLY wanted to take a bath,

saw dust coated EVERY. THING,

my phone started acting up

and the cable went out causing American Idol not to be taped.

Now, I’m not a psycho American Idol fan.

But after a week of clogged sinks, no baths and saw dust every where, 

I needed a little American Idol levity.

Had Carisa not decided to stop in for a visit right then, 

I very well may have set the whole house on fire.

I was dangerously close to having another moment.

A BIG ugly moment.

But Monte is home now. The wood floors are completely installed. I’ve dusted and Swiffered everything. And Ellie made me this in Life Skills class.

A super hero apron.

A reversible super hero apron.

A reversible super hero apron with a pocket!

She got a 94% on the project. 

And Monte can wear it when he grills. 

McDaniel made me an apron back when she was in Life Skills 

but she threw it away in the classroom trash can.

I’m afraid she must’ve inherited my sewing capabilities.

The trim around the windows and doors is going up right now while I type this and AC/DC is singing “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” loudly on the worker’s radio.

So all is right with the world.