Picking Up Steam

September had a great start to the month! I had a surprise crew of 6 that got focused and knocked out a lot of work. The crew included Russ V, Ron V, Shana D, Lola K, and Steve N. The weather we perfect that day and the crew took full advantage of it.

Starting off were Russ and Steve carrying all of the tile for the master bathroom floor, shower pan and laundry room up two flights of stairs and placing it in the master crapper until the rooms are fully prepped for tile (and I get a stinking quote from a tile layer). Then they started hanging sheet rock in the master bathroom ceiling and actually got it almost completely hung!
Russ Messes with the plastic/Steve needs a break

Russ & Steve prep the ceiling/Then start cutting drywall

Ron jumps in to help/The finished product looks pretty good

Kind of a tough spot for 3 guys to all fit, but they managed


Ron tore into the master bathroom window and removed it completely taking great care not to puncture the shower pan liner that's been in place for almost nine months. After tearing it completely out, he put in a temporary 'window' (a piece of plywood and caulk) until I can get a block layer to put in the glass blocks for that window. Moving on, Ron started CUTTING drywall in the laundry room to locate a place that we could install the dryer vent that I so mindlessly forgot to put in before all the walls went up 6 months ago. With the floors ready to have tile installed, I thought the time had come to make that a priority and hopefully soon having a working laundry room. He got the hole made and even located a clear path for the vent to exit the room and out the roof (through the 3rd floor crawl space) but didn't quite get to installation.
Buddy admires the view out Ron's handy work

Then Ron cuts bigger holes eleswhere


Lola and Shana spent the day clearing out the fitness room (again) of all the doors other materials (i.e. paintings, counter tops, etc.) and hung plastic from the ceiling so that I could get a painter in to spray all of the doors (and some still-missing trim boards). They went through and organized the doors by floor and located how much paint I have of each kind remaining so that I could order more if needed. It was just up to me to get the painter lined up. To this time, the painter still hasn't followed through on showing up, so I'm currently looking for his replacement;-)
The girls were camera shy


As for me, I worked on the plumbing in Ellie's bathroom and actually got running water in there once again! What an exciting day I tell you. I think in only 3 more weeks I'll be able to take a shower in my own home - yehaa! I also installed another can light in the master bathroom because you can never have too much light!
Getting down into it/The handy work of someone else

My handiwork/Roger - the REAL plumber


This week also brought a bit of sadness for Ellie. Her super cool bed and clubhouse had to be taken out. Through a lot of deliberation and checking of facts, the bed was deemed inappropriate for Ellie and it needed to go. She took the news well, but I guess it hurts me that this happened and we had such a huge build up for something that ended up being a huge pain in the butt. We now have to tear her room apart again, refinish the floors again, patch all the drywall again, paint again and take her out of her bed again. It's a disruption to her sense of normal or 'safe' that just eats at me a little. Mistakes happen, I just wish they'd stop happening to her. I guess I'll stop there and say that I think it's moving along and it was promised to be repaired and I'm sure that it will. I hope sooner rather than later so that Ellie can once again go up to her room and play with her books and dolls without having exposed wires and dusty floors. It'll all get taken care of I'm sure, it'll just take patience.

This was a great week and gives me great optimism for the month and the progress ahead. It was refreshing to get a good sized crew again and actually challenged me again to have enough work for people in multiple locations. I know the end is nearing and I praise the Lord for the many blessings he's given me during all of this.

Ellie's Bath Gets A Floor

That's right a REAL floor!

Hey y'all, it's been a fast two weeks. My brother tied the knot over the weekend in Minneapolis, MN and it was a great time. I'd like to just say out loud that I called it first here! Needless to say that took most of the weekend and progress has been slow, but things are still moving along.

Over the past three weeks Meredith has had someone in the bathroom in the hallway laying in the floor, framing in the tub surround and the tile layer came in to lay necessary tiles so that I could install the plumbing for the tub. It's going smoothly and we're having to wait a few weeks for the tile to come in so that that next step can be taken, but hopefully it's supposed to be here in the next 2-3 days - yahoo!!! Man that means a shower IN MY HOUSE in about a month! I'm so excited I could pee.
Built-in spaces for 'girly junk'/The promise of a tub

And a new shower too



On the burner also was work by yours truly and Shana to discover and decide upon the tile and the layout for the master bathroom. I've ordered that and it's all in today! I'll pick it up probably on Saturday and start working on that room with volunteers this weekend. We'll need to take out the window, move the plumbing to match the NEW vanity, install drywall, move the plumbing to match the tub and install new Durarock for the floor and shower. we definitely have out work cut out for ourselves, but the bus is moving again and it feels great! Hopefully we have some volunteers over the next couple of weeks and we can knock out some of the SIX sheets of to-do-list items. Here's to getting it all done!

Bathrooms Get Pushed Along

It seems that it's every two weeks that I can actually get 'measurable' progress anymore. For many reasons this summer has been a bit slow on progress. There's been two siblings getting married, bachelor parties, helping mom get HER house ready for sale and then just the usual summer hectic schedules that are tough to keep in line all by themselves. SO I try to push as much as possible when I can and just deal with the rest. Many evenings now are spent running around looking for details and now getting used to the new position at Meredith in a different division. AND more time spent with Ellie - but more on that later.

Two Saturdays ago Ron and Kirby showed for the morning to do some work and wouldn't you know it - I had some for them! Ron went to town on some 'smaller' projects that i'm sure when described he was thinking 'oh I'll bang this out in 1-2 hours tops.' Well as I've found out MANY times in this project - that grew to be around 4-5. He assembled a faux wall anchor for the basement bathroom pedastal sink to rest against so the plumbing will look and function better (I now need to tile that to match the floor). Then he installed a board for the data rack to go on and finally pre-drilled the bar puck lights in the back bar.
Ron measures twice and cuts once

Making a wood box is tough/Buddy supervises


Kirby meanwhile installed the remaining switch covers on the first floor that didn't need to be trimmed due to them being too close to the molding. Then moved up to the second floor and installed can light trims to as many lights as I had trim kits.
Some of the switches were stuck WAY back there


I meanwhile installed the toilet flange, the supply lines for the shower and tub and sink drain pipe for the 2nd floor hall bath in preparation for a contractor from Meredith to start on the framing and dry wall in that room! I also picked out some very nice pulls for the bar drawers and cabinet doors.
I have no idea why the pipe is so long


It was a great day weather-wise and we all got to work outside some. These kind of work days really get me along the road to really being able to use the house and finish rooms. I can't state just how important thes days are, without them I will be mired in the painfully meticulous details of this house and I'll never get to spend weekends with Ellie.

Speaking of spending time with Ellie, I have tried very hard over the past few months to really add more time with her and just 'deal' with the lack of progress on the house in favor of not missing so many important moments. To be clear, the important moments are every moment of every day. It's the skinning of the knees while climbing things she shouldn't and the squeals of laughter as her tummy gets tickled or the soft tune her voice sings as she happily plays with her dolls or draws another masterpiece that gets hung on the refrigerator.

She is a lot of the reason I pushed forward, her future, the ability to tell her of her mom in the years to come, the stories that hopefully OTHERS tell her over the years ahead - all of this because they helped me to create a home of love for Ellie. A home that started out as a dream of two people and in many ways has grown to be a dream of sorts for over 200 people. It's humbling to think of that great blessing and that love that has been shared over the past 18 months. Thank you all for helping me, for praying for us and for sharing yourselves with us. That has been an amazing thing to experience and has changed who I am and who I raise Ellie to be. The time I now share with Ellie is cherished and still not always as much as I want, but the end is nearing and you are all responsible for helping to make that happen. Thank you. I hope to see you at the house sometime soon, or the grocery store, or at church, or at work - where ever it is the smile I wear is because I now get to spend more time with my little girl and you helped me get here.