Thursday's this and that. and the other...

I am feeling rather exhausted today,

and I've wandered aimlessly through the house 

more than once.

There are so many options

of what I could (should) be doing,

I'm not sure which to choose.

I settled on writing up a quick post.

~

Let's see - we have a roof now!

I got kinda tickled when I saw an instruction manual for a harness

lying on the floor;

obviously one of the roofers felt like the occasion called for a new one.

It's a 12/12 pitch
so I'm not surprised.

Thankfully no one fell off...

~

My dad came down last week and parked his camper trailer.

He's been living in it Monday thru Thursday

and going home for the weekends. 

I can't even express how grateful we are for all of his help!

He and Brandon spent a few days adding some structural support

 that we deemed necessary,

but our framer did not.

He may have been right,

but we all feel a bit better about some key walls now,

and the peace of mind is well worth the couple hundred extra dollars

and a few days of work.

They installed the four windows

that needed to be installed before the roofers came.

(well, actually, they did two

 then Brandon needed to leave for TKD,

so I helped Dad with the other two)

Wednesday or Thursday

they started running wires.

There are far more decisions than you would expect 

(if you've never built a house before)

when it comes to electric.

Over the weekend,

Tyler and Brandon did some more framing.

This time, it was just changing things up a bit.

We added a poop closet

to the upstairs bathroom,

to open up the space a bit.

I'm so tickled with that decision

because it creates so much character,

and makes the house feel more 'like us'.

Plus, getting ready for bed

should go quicker. 

And - I get a sliding barn door :-)

Even better - it was Tyler's idea!

We decided to insulate the attic space above the garage

and turn that room into usable space.

It was just too lovely not to...

In order to get to it without going through a bedroom,

they took a few feet from said bedroom,

and turned it into a 'secret' hallway and a closet,

and the space can now be accessed through the playroom.

Like with the bathroom change,

it makes my heart happy to see the house becoming more and more

us.

a little bird has also decided that our house is home.
There are 4 eggs; I need to check on them soon :-)

This week, 

Brandon and my dad continued with the electrical stuff.

They have the house almost completely wired

and most (maybe even all?) of the light/fan boxes installed.

Brandon will be at camp Sunday - Friday for the next three weeks,

so I'll be my dad's right hand gal.

He'd rather work with Brandon

(he told me - this is not speculation ;-)

but

he's stuck with me anyways.

~

Tyler and I have both spent hours

- hours -

light shopping.

Light shopping it tricky for me.

For the most part,

I believe that good lighting isn't really noticeable,

it's just there.

It helps (tremendously) 

to create the feel of the space,

but it doesn't draw attention to itself.

Paradoxically,
when noticed,

it should fit the room perfectly.

Fortunately,

we are doing mostly recessed lighting

so that cuts down on the fixtures we have to choose.

Lowes had a fantastic price on the trim / light kits for the can lights

on Memorial day, 

plus they offer 

- every day - 

a 10% discount for military and former military

(did you know this?? I did not)

so we were able to get the lights for $9 each!

I am so thankful for blessings like that!!

~

I am also filled with gratitude

 when I think of the many hands that have had a part

in the building of our house.

Everyone has been top notch,

from the concrete guys to the roofers.

~

Our front door came yesterday!

(a million thanks to Nicholas for going out of his way to bring it here)

When we went door shopping the first time,

I just wanted a simple 15 lite door.

But I was informed that that

was a back door,

and my front door needed to be much more substantial.

I didn't agree at first

(I mean, really, how many people are even going to see it?

It's not as though we are in a neighborhood...)

but then I got to thinking about the open foyer,

and the fact that the inside of the wall that the door is on 

is about 17 or 18 ft tall 

and I realized.

Umm.

My front door needs to be a bit more substantial....

If I have to go big,

what I really love is a door with sidelites and a transom,

but still nothing fancy,

just wood (or masonite - I don't care) and glass.

lots of glass.

What I ended up with,

is a door waay fancier than what I wanted,

but one that, 

I think,

(I hope!)

suits the house perfectly.

stain or paint?? hmmm

~

We still have a couple of weeks of math left.

I'm ready to be done,

but I'm really proud of the kids for not complaining.

Lily learned long division the other day.
There were tears about 15 minutes in,
but an hour or so later,
she was thinking it was actually kinda fun.

~

Tyler is on flex time again!

yay!!!!

It's only for the summer,

but I'll take it.

~

A 17 yr old girl was backing out of our neighbor's driveway yesterday

and hit the back of my van.

(that's the short version ;-)

Dammit, Bobby!

I really wanted to give her the 'you need to look...' speech

but instead I hugged her while she cried,

and told her it was okay,

and no,

her mom was not going to kill her.

(But seeing that this is her second accident in her short driving career,

hopefully her mother will make her take driver's ed...)

my poor pretty car. 

Josiah's neck was instantly sore.

If it's still hurting on Monday, I'll take him to the doctor,

but I think he's fine.

(I hope he's fine...)

~

I've got it caught up now,

but the laundry situation in this house

was so dire a few weeks ago,

that I had to pull an entire outfit out of the dirty basket,

sprittz it with water,

and toss it in the dryer with a dryer sheet.

I'm having a really hard time

wearing all of my hats

these days.

~

Our 242 group takes a break for the summer.

We had our end-of-the-year cookout last night.

We're going to miss our people,

but it'll be nice to have those few extra hours in the week.

~

I've got a commission quilt that is due in early August.

(so - end of July. I never like to take it all the way to the deadline...)

When I agreed to make it,

I thought I'd be done with months to spare,

but now I think

I'll be cutting it pretty close.

I've finally finished piecing all of my firework blocks for it.

Not surprisingly,

they've taken far more time than I anticipated,

and I was so happy to finish the last one.

there are a couple more. I ran out of wall....
this is not the configuration - I've just taped them to the wall as I make 'em
(This is an awful room to take pictures in!)

I have one more large (non-firework/star) block 

and a few 6 inch  sawtooth stars 

to make for the top,

then I can begin putting everything together.

Hopefully I can make some progress this weekend,

since my clothes will be covered in sawdust

instead of thread

for the next 3 weeks.