Roll Baby, Roll

Neil S. rolls in the good times!

This past week we embarked upon a new stage that is very exciting and very important - painting everything primer-white. It's a glorious occasion that at times during the summer I thought would not come until the 'other' white stuff was outside. Very happily, I can report that we beat the cold stuff, but still have our work cut out for us.

We really started on Wednesday evening when my sister and Ryan came over to vacuum the first floor and basement while Lola and two of her fantastic friends cam over to start priming. It was great, the hum of the vacuums almost drowned out the girlie talk up on the third floor. They were having a great time chit chatting away while painting and got through most of the floor before we all had to call it a night as we were so tired that we could no longer tell where there was and wasn't paint. The dirt and dust was all vacuumed up by the end of the night and now prepared us to 'go full bore' on Saturday with the rollers. On Thursday evening Margie S. came over and continued to prime the 3rd floor where Lola and Co. left off while I did some outside yard jobs during the waning daylight. When it had gotten too dark to work, I moved inside and helped Margie a bit. I had forgotten just how much I don't care for the taste of primer paint, but quickly remembered as I ate more than my share as we rolled the ceilings. We finished the big room in the third floor and called it a night.

Margie goes to town on one of the dormers


Saturday I was up early knowing that I needed to organize the three season porch before the crew came over. I still had quite a few demolition tools in the porch and really wanted to convert everything to painting tools. It just seems everyone is happier and works better when things are laid out for them and are easy to find. A little of my time spent beforehand on organization always pays off later in the day when things are moving along and I don't have to stop to locate this or that. Folks tend to know by now that most things they need 'are over by the sign in sheet' or 'over by the gloves'. MI also had a group that was going to consist of mostly new people and I wanted things to be ready for them as it helps retention of helpers too when they come over and have a good experience.

I ended up having a great crew of about 13 including myself with the majority of folks showing up around 10:30/11:00. Kind of tough that we really didn't get going until 11 or so but we still pushed hard. I tried something new, I had Brad from Pittsburg Paint stop over and give us all a lesson in painting . The walls are all smooth finished which means even the first coat is going to show through the final coat, so it has to be good from the start. He showed up a tad late as well so we waited on him some too. Although we got off a bit slowly, we made great time and most folks worked until 3:30ish and the folks on the first floor worked until about 4:30. Much was achieved and left a manageable amount to hopefully be finished this week.

Tyra B. dips in for more paint/Curtis B. cuts the edges of the walls

Greg S. rolls the ceiling in Ellie's room/Shana & Sarah protect the existing wood

Jeff & Kristen S. finish the 3rd floor/Debbie R. works in the bath

Christine S. paints the master bath/Neil S. rolls the master closet

Shana D. rolls the living room walls/while Sean does the ceilings

Mary cuts in the entry/and Sarah cuts in the French Doors

Mary and Sarah cut in the main Hallway

Next is painting all of the ceilings and then hang the first floor trim work that we took down months ago and I drew diagrams of. Hopefully my brain can make out the hieroglyphics and it all goes back together smoothly! It's exciting to see the solid color of primer white and the formation of actual ROOMS. I can start to see how the house is coming together. I'm sure that will continue to dramatically change as we add real colors to the walls and the floors are repaired and refinished.

The holidays are coming fast and winter is just around the corner. Wrapping up loose ends and getting moved in is starting to be a bit concerning to me. My friends Jim and Karen have been MORE than great friends to open their home to Ellie and me. I just don't want to over stay our welcome. We had originally thought I'd be in my house in September, then October, and now November... I cannot thank them enough. I know there are times that I'm sure they have wanted their own space and times when it's been great to be together. Hopefully the latter have been more prevalent and have outweighed the other. I know Ellie and I have had a great time there and we look forward to our new house, but we will never forget being 'the family in the attic'. It's been a long hard road to this point and I thank the Lord for placing such great, loving people in out paths to help us.

Waiting For The Mud To Dry

This week was a busy one for everyone BUT me. The drywall finishers worked everyday until 9:30 or 10:00. I set up fans and heaters so the patches would be dry for them the next day and it would happen all over again the next day. I awoke Saturday morning with a relatively short list of to do-s that I haven't experienced since December. I really felt out of sorts. I still woke at 6:00 am but just didn't have the crazed, stressed out mind that had to finish 10 things before 10:00 and the crew arrived. It was a great feeling while at the same time was a very disturbing feeling. This week a lot was accomplished on the house, fortunately/unfortunately I didn't do much of it. The plumber also stopped by on Saturday morning and installed the water heater and the 1" line for the irrigation system outside. I'll hook everything up from the heater on. That took a few hours to help him in the morning and then I found myself in a very strange situation, I had free time to myself! VERY weird feeling. What better thing to do on a 72 degree Saturday than catch up with an old friend and play a round of golf?

LOTS of mud/One of the good guys

Working the corners/The other guy mixes the mud

I'd hate to do his laundry every day


I was heading to the driving range when I called Mike about the irrigation system and he mentioned he was headed to the course - well I'll join you, thank you very much! I got there a few minutes early (another first) and stretched out a bit and we were off. It was a perfect day of golf, even though the crowd of people ahead of us looked slow and it would prove to be VERY slow. Oh well, it beat eating drywall dust for 4 hours and pounding more nails into walls. WE had a few cold ones and had a great time. The golf swing hadn't completely disappeared, but it was too bad it took 6 holes for it to surface. Oh well, I found it just in case I find time in the next month to go again.

Mike tees it up/Pete lets it rip

I hope for the best/Then find my swing later

Pete waits.../Then Mike waits...

It's not always bad to wait...



Sunday proved to be another beautiful day and it was 'Daddy Day' so we headed out from church to the pumpkin Patch. Oh wait, Ellie wanted to take a nap first. So we did that and after inviting Aunt Weesy and soon-to-be-uncle Ryan, we all met out at the Pumpkin Patch. The evening had grown a bit windy and chilly but it was great fun anyway as I tried to bundle Ellie up as best I could. She may not have been fashion forward, but she was warm and happy. That's really it for this week.

Having fun in the 'corn box'/Aren't we a cutie?

Ryan & Ellie/Elisha & Ellie in the pumpkin patch

Ellie and I find a keeper!



I'll leave you with the photos and the prospect that all of my walls and ceilings will soon be primer white and ceiling white! It's an exciting time and I look forward to doing the work again myself. Slowing down was very needed and much appreciated but it opened a few doors to the wound that had been covered and as the anniversary of the crash nears I think they might resurface some. I'll let you in on some of the thoughts and discoveries as the days pass. I have so much to be thankful for in the past 10 months with all of the great help that I have received and the progress made on my house to get me in by the holidays. Having the anniversary on the horizon is a scary thing that I ask for your thoughts and prayers. Have a great week!

It All Happens So Fast

God love you Cheryl E.! We'll miss you on Sat. mornings don't be a stranger ;-)

Oh man I don't even know where to start! This past week of work and progress made up for a lot of weeks where things seemed to drag on and on forever. That's not to say that I wasn't' still rushing at the last minute to finish things.

-NOTE TO READERS - Exact days may be off as my brain can hold only so much stuff before getting completely confused.

Let's start with Monday, just me, myself and I starting off the evening with the usual #5 from Jimmy Johns. Cranked away on some plumbing issues and just did small things, Then cam Tuesday night. I was supposed to go to small group but as I was leaving to go, people just kept showing up! I ended up with five helpers, a no-show at small group and a ton of framing, wires pulled and the master bath plumbing completely repaired! Man what a huge night and thank you to Dan J. Elisha, Ryan V., Jane M, & Ryan J for the unexpected help, it was ginormuous! Moving to Wednesday night I had Shana D, Matt B, and Elisha and Ryan again. Again jamming on more bulk heads and running wires and moving can lights for the designers. Then on Thursday we made a huge push to get things doe for the drywallers on Friday morning. Every night was a let night and took everything out of me. I was completely exhausted by Saturday morning, but I still had Friday to go!

It's all a blur until I hit Friday morning and the first of the crew arrived to HANG DRYWALL! I made it, I actually made it to the point that I'm closing the walls and there is no more changing, no more running wires, no more late nights of picking 100-year old grime out of the cracks and putting in new. This is it, I'm actually going to see this house as a solid house soon. Man, I can't tell you the giddiness that I felt that morning. I also felt very nervous. With the drywall comes the understanding that everything is final, no turning back, no what-ifs. All of the wires better be where they need to be, all of the measurements are in place for the next hundred years. Needless to say I didn't sleep much Thursday or Friday nights. I couldn't stop thinking of the last minute things that still needed to be completed before that drywall was hung. The extra stress was also that the crews were large enough that they started on every floor all at the same time instead of working top down. So the time I thought I had to complete the basement box-ins was not existent. I busted hump on Saturday morning trying fervently to get those made before the crews left. I also had ONE MORE wire that needed to be run to the 3-season porch before those wails were installed. I was sweating it a bit and didn't finish until I have put in another 14 hour Saturday. It was worth it in the end, but it left me exhausted. On Saturday I also had the help of Gma and Gpa Vande Ree and Mary who cleaned out the scraps of drywall. That was a dirty and large job that saved me about $2500. THANK YOU. I wish I could go back and put a $$ amount on the help that everyone has given, just for my own knowledge really. I'd have to thinking it's near the $50-60K range easily. That's just ball-parking it in my head, I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting. That of course doesn't include the materials that have been donated or discounted to this point. I bet close to another $60-$70K there.

Installers in the sunroom on the 1st floor

First floor guys measure to be sure

Basement guys in the utility room/3rd Floor master bedroom crew

2nd Floor crew leader cuts ceiling pieces/3rd Floor installers

Grandma & Grandpa VR clean up/Ellie is helping out too!

Ellie learns plumber butt from the best/Then servers the weary


Outside the house I received help from an old friend with the irrigation system. Mike M and his two brothers showed up Friday night (again after coming Tuesday night) and put in the front yard heads and connector box. Most of the heads are now installed and all of the pipe is laid in the ground. Now if the rain would ever stop long enough to dry things out, we'll seed. The only worry I have is that I'm missing the last good weather to do so and it's going to turn too cold before I can do that. Frustrating. It's tough to try and keep so many balls in the air and I can work only so fast, thankfully I have great friends and family that help everyday, every night, every Saturday, I don't know where I'd be without them. Mike and his brothers are perfect examples of how others have kept me on track. He has called around his contacts to make sure things are still able to be planted, the best seed to plant, if any of his friends could do the seeding, etc. I'm telling you he has done so much that when I'm sitting on that mower next spring mowing, I'm not sure if I'll be praising him or cursing him for helping create a gorgeous yard! ;-)

Mike digs the connection/He & Nathan dig together

Brother Andrew digs in control boxes in the front


Also, while he was installing the irrigation lines, I went out with an old girlfriend, her husband and another great friend from high school for dinner to catch up as she was passing through DSM on a 6-week U.S. tour/vacation. Sara Day(Campau and her husband Peter had emailed me months ago asking if I'd be around if they came through. Of course I wasn't going anywhere so I said I'd have a place for them to stay by the time they were planning on driving through. Well as life would have it, I opnly had my great company and good looks to offer them so Deb P. our great friend, put them up for the two nights as they were looking at the remodeled city and Sara relived some old memories. It was fantastic to touch base with her and see where life has taken her over the last 8 years since I last saw her at her wedding at Iowa in Iowa City and they whisked off to Portland. She was my first honest girlfriend that set the bar so high that only a God-given angel named Leslie could surpass it. She has a great family that is finally learning to slow down. Her father was the one that first put the fear of God into me as I showed up in his living room to take out his little girl. Sound familiar Russ? ;-) It was great to see her and catch up and hopefully it won't be another eight years before we cross paths again.

The gang, Me, Peter, Sara, Deb



Cute story for everyone... On Sunday, or 'Daddy Day' as we call them, Ellie and I went to the house to look at her new room. Not that her reaction was really any different than before that she gets excited to know where things are and can point to 'Daddy's room and Ellie's Room'. The really cute part is that when I saw how many scraps were made by the crew after the Saturday folks had left, I needed to pick a few up so the finishers today wouldn't be tripping on them. Well, Ellie starting picking up the small one s too. It was great that she'd pick up a 18"x 9" piece and say "heeeavy Daddy" and carry it over to the window. Try to throw it down the chute and ask for help. Then repeat. The best part is that not only did she have a great time helping me, but she was completely oblivious to how utterly dirty she was getting by pressing the drywall against her tummy as she carried it. She had no idea that messy was messy. She just knew that helping Daddy was important and she was 'big enough' to help. It warmed my heart. That will stay with me for a while.

As I said, the finishers are in the house this week and the process is moving quickly. It seems like we're almost home but I know otherwise. I'm trying to temper my excitement but am having troubles doing so. I'm wondering if that old saying is true "Hang the drywall and you're half way there." Holy crap, if that's true I'm gonna fall over. In that spirit, please keep Ellie and I in your prayers as getting into the house before the holidays is still the goal, but it's going to take more than my recent number of helpers to get there and every time that I've really been down the Lord has provided.

This is a great corner that we have turned and I thank you all and praise the Lord for everyone's generosity, for the safety that have had and for the great love and care that has been given to Ellie and me. Have a great week all, we'll see you soon!