dry sink - part 2

Dale painted the bottom of the dry sink tonight.

11 years

On this day 11 years ago Dale and I were married. I do not remember everything about that day; it was HOT, the sanctuary had no air conditioning, lots of family and friends were there, and of course before all we vowed to spend the rest of our lives together, in good times and bad. There have been MANY good times: living in SC, making new friends, sailing, vacations, 3 BEAUTIFUL children, family time- to name a few. And some bad times: our first year teaching in SC, road trips (Kyle and Jenn understand this one!), disagreements, ruptured achilles, fussy newborn, and surviving marathon training. It has been an exciting ride and we are looking forward to what comes next.

floor trusses

Shane and Dale put up floor trusses today.

not-so-funny

Picture this: it is about 10:30 pm on a Wednesday evening. Tired from a long days work man heads to bed. About midnight a much needed gentle rain begins to fall. A little bit later it starts to downpour. Man wakes and remembers that there is a HUGE trench going between his garage and house and just the other day he had to punch a hole in the brick to accomodate the new plumbing. The hole had only a temporary patch (do you see where this is going?). Good thing he thought ahead and built a dam to hold any rain water back. Slowly he goes downstiars to check his work. As he heads down he hears Niagra Falls. Funny, he doesn't live anywhere near there. Now he is running. As he rounds the basement stairs he finds his own version of Niagara. Basement is flooded and water is pouring in! Damn Dam. He bails water, throwing it into trash cans, buckets, the toilet- whatever will hold muddy water. He can't work fast enough. Plus he need to get outside to build a bigger dam. He screams for his beautiful, sleeping wife. She comes to his aide- bailing on the inside while he is on the outside. Knee deep in mud and water he bails and builds a bigger dam. About 3 hours later the Lord slows the rain and the water stops pouring in. Now they have to deal with a flooded basement.

As you can see it was a LONG night. We have been up since 1:30 working feverishly. The kids got up at their normal time ready for a fun day. However the work is not over. These are the times I wish more than anything that family lived close or that Kyle or Ron lived here. I would have NO problem calling them at 2 am to help out. There is not a lot of people I can say that about.

You can laugh all you want. We are not quite there yet......

dry sink

Dale has been working (in his spare time) on the vanity for the bathroom. For those of you who tried to help me decide: we ended up going with the dry sink. That was Dale's favorite all along. Since I am making ALL the other decisions I figured I would give him this one. Tonight he is staining it, then it will be painted black and distressed. I am excited about it. More updates to come...

trusses

The trusses arrived this morning! Shane and Dale got them all installed! Just kidding. They did get started though...

the trench

Today the inspector came and signed off on the trench. We (and I say "we" lightly) filled in the trench. The kids had a blast wearing their new work boots and shoveling dirt. They also enjoyed arguing about who gets what shovel and at what point should they share. After shoveling and taking MANY water breaks we decided to let Dale finish the job (it is a LONG trench!) The trusses are scheduled to arrive sometime tomorrow. That will be much more exciting.

worker men

The kids love to drive past construction sites (which are numerous here) and see the "worker men" doing their jobs. It is equally exciting for "worker men" to be at our house. Grandma Beachy just made the kids their own tool belts complete with hammer, tape, pencil and 1 lb of nails! The moment we got home from her house they found ways to help out with the addition. They are officially "worker men."

Tuesday, 6/19

Well, we got started this morning around 8:30. Yesterday, I said that the wall that we set was heavy....well, today, I learned how to spell heavy.....m-i-c-r-o-l-a-m. We nailed three together before lifting them into place at the front and rear of the garage. Once again, I had to turn my head and cough to make sure that I was ok....here is the progress so far.

Monday, 6/18

After Dad left this morning I worked on the bathroom vanity. Around noon I began helping Shane on the addition. He and I finished building the wall and then we (Shane and I) set it in place. After getting it up and braced I had to stop and check myself for new bulges. I also turned my head and coughed just to make sure that I was all right. That is one big wall!

We then cut two holes in the side of the house for the headers. I say we lightly as Shane did the work up on the ladder and I handed him tools.

a good day

Today we made visible progress. Shane (our contractor), bobcat guy (yes, that is his name) and Dale moved dirt around and added gravel. Here are the picture captions (hopefully in order): 1.Shane is the guy on the far right putting the pipe in. 2.Bobcat guy was fun to watch- best bobcat guy we've ever seen. 3. Our new dirt pile behind the existing garage- huge! (no comments from you dka!). 4. Parked in our new garage.

perspective

Yes. I know the picture does not look very different. Some progress will be unseen throughout the whole process. This parallel's my life. A good perspective...

my son

During the first few weeks of our renovation process I have seen a different side of my sweet boy. He has been working endless hours side-by-side with his dad. He has been shoveling dirt in his mini wheelbarrow and moving it to another location, hammering out sections of concrete and digging a massive hole in the garage floor. He is a hard worker and loves every minute of it. He is becoming more and more like his father. I am so proud!

the beginning of the addition

FINALLY!!!! We are now in the midst of the messy remodeling process. For now it is a good feeling. The kids have been intrigued by everything. They especially like walking across the dirt and throwing clumps in the "hole". Carsyn keeps asking, "when will we be able to move in?" All in good time.....