Surprise, Surprise!

The Surprise from the street

I apologize for not writing for a few weeks, life has been full of Christmas parties (3) birthday parties (3) and New Years get-togethers (2) in between working on the house and trying to get the gifts wrapped for said parties. I'm going to jump back to Christmas Eve when I had a great crew of 7 arrive and get things done! That wasn't even the best part...

There had been a promise to "Be in by Christmas with a Tree." Well it's pretty easy to see that Ellie and I are not in the house and Christmas has quickly come and gone. The Christmas tree part though still happened thanks to Jeni the designer, her husband and two young girls. As the story goes, she went to the 'lot' of trees (really its a parking lot where there were tress leaned against a old nonworking fire engine and you place $20 in a box and take a tree - only in Iowa folks!) and pried a tree from it's cement-like grip of the ice-covered red-metal host and with much effort managed to adhere it to the roof of her VW Wagon in 30 mph winds and haul it to my house. After wrestling it through the door, they spent the good portion of a very cold evening decorating the tree in hopes to surprise me on Christmas Eve when we were scheduled to work. Needless to say, it caught me off guard and warmed my heart. Thank you Jeni and crew, that really made my Christmas special and Ellie absolutely loved the "big, big, big, big onments".


The tree as we came in/The view in the living room

The 'beeg, beeg onments'/Make a cool view of the room


The crew on Christmas Eve was amazing. Jane M., Shana D., and Margie S. sanded more of the entry room for Grandpa who later stained it. Jonathon V. ran the drills to secure the basement sub-floor in the middle room (bar area) while Russ V. and Ron V. installed the remaining sheets of plywood flooring in the basement. I had the enjoyment of removing the bathroom shower stall walls in the existing bathroom because of the leak in the floor pan not being repairable. Let me tell you that is extremely dusty/dirty work that makes me appreciate ear plugs and dust masks! It really bummed me out to have to make that decision, but in the end it will be the best thing for that room.

Shana & Jane sand the dreaded doors/Jane takes hold

Shana sands quickly/Jon's work from atop the stairs

Jon works hard from every view

Ron cuts and Russ directs/Both install the boards

What's left to complete begins to shrink/I show off another injury


Oh I almost forgot - the kitchen cabinets went in too - the uppers were started and it really makes that room look like a kitchen now. It's not just a pipe dream, it will really be a livable space some day soon! I can't tell you how excited I am about that.

Ooohh Ahhh!


The days in between we took 'off' from the house because of a memorial service in Pella for Leslie at her grave site. It was an event that I had been planning for a couple of months and it was really for all of the family and friends that didn't get to see the site after the burial. Truth be told though, there was a large portion of me that did that for brother Jon and sister Brittany who have both spent the majority of the past year out of country for school reasons and I wanted to 'include' them more. I missed them greatly and wanted something that would bring everyone together. It was a fantastic service that was blessed with great weather, great attendance and an undeniable presence of the Lord. The Lord had a major hand in that day and moment and I know He was honored and Leslie was smiling down on us all.

Fast forwarding life to New Years Eve, I had yet another great day of helpers. Uncle Al, Shana D., Ryan, Elisha, Sean, Sarah and Greg H. were at the house getting me closer to moving in! The girls and Greg all sanded in the dining room and made great strides getting that ready for Grandpa VR. (there is a ton of wood work in that room). Sean spent the day drilling holes and my Uncle Al followed him with the other drill screwing down the sub-floor to the concrete in the 'Man Cave' - meaning all that's left is the fitness room that needs the sub-floor secured and I can start laying carpet/tile! I talked with my mother-in-law Caryn about all of the colors and fabrics and such that are in the plans by Jeni in the rest of the house and she is going to put her interior decorating skills from owning her own successful decorating store and take on most of what Jeni isn't. It's crazy to have this help with the stage in the process that I worried the most about and knowing that it not only will come out MUCH better than I could ever do alone, but that it even will be professionally done by woman that 'know' how Leslie would have done things by their gifts of being able to see someone's style and designing within those parameters to create a similar end product. Both women are extremely gifted and I feel blessed to have them helping me.

I digress, Ryan and I finished framing out the last two walls in the basement bathroom so I can insulate that room soon as well. I won't put that in until after we move in, but we have the walls in place at least. It was a 'short' day ending at 3 but we got a ton done and people wanted to get to their New Years plans as did I - listening to The Nadas (http://www.thenadas.com/) live. Good times as I had never seen them live before - I highly recommend it.