Bonus Update

Good morning! I thought I'd share my picture I took last night of the house with a garage door. The house is all closed in now. There is a small gap at the bottom of the garage door because we don't have a floor yet. I'm sure we will have to do something to close that off when the ground thaws to keep the neighbors' cats from using it as a litter box. I have seen a lot of kitty prints around my house in the snow, and throughout the house.

We are supposed to head out to the Midland Home Builders show tonight, but Dad's a bit under the weather, so we might skip that.

For those of you not in Michigan...we are getting snow AGAIN today! There is a snow advisory out for 2-4 inches. Today is the last day of February, so hopefully we'll see that snow start to melt and the temperatures to start coming up soon.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Really...We Are Still Working

After a day of basking in the glow of the kind words from Jenn, while simultaneously fretting over loose ceiling fans and orange paint, I figured I should get you the weekly update. We accomplished quite a bit this weekend. I'm hoping to be able to show you quite a bit of progress in the upcoming weeks.

The first thing we accomplished on Saturday was installing my front door. You may remember back in July when I mentioned Dad buying me a $5 temporary door from Menards. This would be the door. It is a little beat up, a bit scratched, and slightly warped. Dad tried to "unwarp" it with a 2x4 and some brute force, but it didn't do much. It serves it's purpose though. It keeps the snow out, the neighborhood cats out, and once a garage door is installed we can lock up the house to keep the riff-raff out.

Dad also finished putting in my last skylight on Saturday. That means we are ready for shingles! The roofers have stopped out a couple times in the last month to see what kind of progress we're making and wondering when they can get up on my roof. Hopefully that will be soon. If this snow, rain, and other misc weather would stop, we could get a roof on the house.

Sunday Dad and I worked on getting the jambs up for the garage door. My garage door is supposed to be installed on Thursday.

Dad is going to have my framing inspection done this week also. Then we can have the plumber and electrician come in to get to work!

My windows are supposed to be here Saturday. So with any luck I'll have some pictures of a house with some windows for you next week. We'll see how that goes. Wish me luck on prompt delivery of the windows and ease of installation!

Until next week...

Light, In the Truest Form

I went to visit Crow and conduct a personal inspection of what she's been up to rather than just trusting what she says on her blog. Photo-shop is an amazing tool, you know. For all intents and purposes, she could just be hanging out at home, watching Star Wars and just saying that she's working.

You'll all be relieved to know that I have verified that, yes indeed, she's been a busy girl. I can hardly wait to start helping her paint. I sort of see it going down like this:

Crow: Um, I thought this was supposed to be "Sandy Beach"

Me: (Whistling) It isn't?

Crow: Um, no, it looks orange to me.

Me: Let me check it out. Huh, nope, looks sandy to me. Maybe your eyes still aren't working right from that sawdust that got caught in them.

Crow: Jenn, that was like six months ago. It was a speck of dirt. It was in ONE eye. I never lost my vision. This is orange.

Jenn: Holy Snikes! What was that?

Crow turns to look, awakens a couple of hours later, a tad groggy with a bump on her head, an orange wall with black and white photos on it in front of her.

Jenn: Crow, are you OK?

Crow: I don't know, what happened?

Jenn: I told you that that ceiling fan didn't look stable. It totally fell and knocked you out. I fixed it, and while you were out, I painted the wall for you.

Crow: It's orange.

Jenn: I know, don't you remember saying you wanted it orange right before that fan fell? You said you wanted it orange, so while you were unconscious, I left you here and ran to the store to get some orange paint, because you're my friend, and I'll be jiggered if I won't do everything I can for you.

Crow: No, but if you say I did, then I'm sure I did. Because you're sweet like that.

Uh-huh. That's totally how it's gonna go down.

But I digress.

Because when I looked up and saw this sky light, I said to Crow, "I feel a post coming on" and snapped the picture and sent it to myself. I didn't tell her what kind of post I was feeling, because if I had, I would have started crying right then and there.

Because when I saw that light, I thought, "That's Crow. That's what she is to me. Light."

Light, when I've needed it most.

Light, when I quit believing that there was a sun.

Light, offering warmth when I was frozen cold.

Light, illuminating some paths that I'd never have navigated without her.

You know how sometimes you say, "Everything happens for a reason"? I understand one of the trails I traversed down; I understand it completely.

It led me to her, and into the light.

Thank you, Crow, for everything you've given the Queen's and I.

That picture is how I'll always think of you; like sunlight streaming into my soul.

And Dad Said...Let There Be Light

I forgot to take my camera out to the house on Saturday, so there are no pictures yet. Hopefully I'll get a couple sometime this week and post them.

Saturday was a beautiful day. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and it was only a little bit cold. It might have been cold because I was laying on a tarp, in the snow, putting styrofoam under my chimney and patio doors. I had to finish the styrofoam around the back of the house. If you look at the picture from last week, the black parts at the base of the wall, that is all covered with styrofoam now, as are the bottom of the chimney and door area. I then moved inside to start screwing the trusses to the top plates of the walls.

Dad went to work on my living room skylights. He cut two big holes in my roof and the sunlight poured in. He was able to finish the two living room lights, but due to the lack of enough sunlight time he was unable to get the one in my bathroom in. Instead he used his time to finish the chimney, putting sheeting on the sides and a roof on it.

The skylights in the living room are going to be fantastic! They let in so much light. With the two big windows on either side of my fireplace and the two skylights my living area will be very well lit with natural light.

Yesterday we had freezing rain and then just plain hard rain. So no progress was made on the house. So...that's the scoop for now. One more skylight to go and then the shingles can go on!

Hell Has Frozen Over...Again

Dad had Friday off of work and spent a good portion of the day and evening working on my house. As you can see I now have a chimney. You can also see my kitchen skylight to the left of the chimney. Yesterday Dad worked on creating a diversion for water and snow on the back of the chimney while I put nailers for drywall in the corners of the house.

Yesterday was very pleasant to work. The temperatures were above freezing, and I didn't even need my coat. Today is a completely different story. It is only 2 degrees outside as I write this. That is a temperature without a windchill. We are planning on skipping the actual construction portion of the house work today. Instead we are heading to Bay City to go to the home builders show. Dad would like some more insulation quotes. We've also been looking at fireplaces and gas logs recently.

So, for those of you here in Michigan...try to keep warm. For those of you in more temperate climates...send some warm weather this way! Vic, you can keep your tornadoes in Tennessee...I just want the warmth.

Another Weekend Gone

This weekend was pretty exciting for me. I saved a boatload of money thanks to a friendly Home Depot employee. We received a phone call Saturday morning from the man in the window department that had done our quote. He let us know that for two days only they were running a promotion for 10% off your first purchase on a new Home Depot credit card. Normally there is a $200 limit on the 10% discount, but this time it was unlimited! So we went in to finalize the window package and make sure we had what we needed.

Before leaving the store we ran through the appliance section real quick. I was just going to check out some prices and see what they had. Another friendly Home Depot employee came over to talk to us and told us about the promotions they had going on for the weekend. As they say in the movies, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse! And believe me, I tried. Mom and I spent all day Sunday shopping anywhere else they have appliances in the Tri-City area. Between the Home Depot gift card rebates, Maytag manufacturer rebate and the 10% off deal, I couldn't find anything else close! So I purchased a washer, dryer, refrigerator, range, dishwasher, and microwave yesterday! They will even hold off delivery until May for me.

Jenn, you will be glad to know that I will have all new appliances in this house and Billy Bob won't have to "borrow" any from his neighbors' porches for me! I know you have been concerned about that. :) If anyone is confused about the Billy Bob reference, please refer to Jenn's Christmas letter to Santa.

While Mom and I were appliance price shopping Dad was working out at the house. He put some more framing in for the rest of my skylights and worked on my chimney walls. He was even home in time to watch his team lose the Super Bowl last night.