Week of Jan 18 - and what a week it was

Our week started off in the hospital and end back at the hospital. I haven't had a check up in a few years. Ed had to go to the doctors so we made an appointment for the same time. Then off for blood work. Ed was sent for a chest xray, EKG and an echo cardiogram. We are all fine. A few little tweaks here and there and we will be as good as new.

Since it's been cold the work on the addition we are doing has been going slow. It's going -but slow. We had hoped to be framing by now but at least it's moving forward.

On our house we are close to calling for our next inspection. This one is a big one. We need to install outlets in the bedroom and the smoke detectors. Then we have to disassemble the kitchen and bathroom. We invited ourselves over to Ray and Nancy's for a few days. I can live without a kitchen sink. I can live without a stove. There is no way I am living without a sink, stove, shower and toilet. This is where Ed says "Your such a Princess!"

We also got a call on our car. After the shop inspected the car they found the rear axle is bent. We are back to waiting for the insurance company to see what happens next.

So anyway yesterday we ended back in the hospital. Ed sprained his ankle and is on crutches. I think he did it on purpose just because he needed a rest. He is currently parked on the couch with his foot up. Every once in awhile I hear him call me to get him something. I think we may just be out of eggs, milk or something equally important and I have to go to the store...... for a couple of hours.

The weekend is not for resting

There is no rest for us. Not even on the weekends. We spent this weekend installing a new kitchen and kitchen floor. It's a small kitchen. In fact it's the same as how our house used to look before we took the wall down between the kitchen and the living room. Wow our house was so small before and I mean claustrophobic small. I just love our new layout. I love our house even with the plywood floors. As much as I would like the hardwood floors installed I am sort of glad that they aren't. Our kids make such a mess I know they would destroy it. I guess that's mostly my fault. I let them (I really mean me) ride their bikes and even skate in the house. Since we don't have any of our decor out we play ball in the house. Oh boy I'm going to have a hard time when I'm going to have to limit them (as well as myself) to the playroom.

We are off now to drop off our car for repairs. The insurance company gave us an estimate of $3500 in damage. I know a lot of people hate SUVs but I don't know what I would do with out mine. I can't image putting my babies in any other car. Well maybe Ed's dump truck. That thing is like a tank.

What would it be like to live in a styrofoam cup

I guess I'll let you know soon. Since we found the moisture problem in our walls, we have decided to go ahead with foam insulation. Ed is very excited to "live in a Styrofoam cup" He has since then decided to have our basement walls sprayed as well. Now we have to get busy and finish the electric. Of course the biggest problem is deciding where to run the speaker wire to and making sure I have an outlet every where I think I will need one, before we close up the walls. I never realised how much you have to think ahead. Things like the layout of the living room furniture needs to be considered. I just don't like thinking that far ahead.

I torched the house

Today I torched the house- literally. The foundation we are working on had snow and ice in it. My job today was to go around the foundation with a torch and melt it so we can fill the blocks with concrete. It was mighty darn cold working out side.

I was secretly thrilled when we ran out of portland cement and had to make a run to the store. I'm not so thrilled now because the cement bags burst open all over the car when some idiot ran into the side of my car. Thank God I didn't have the kids with me! Michael would have been seriously hurt. You know that old saying when it rains it pours. Well, what else is coming my way??

Shhhh

Yeah, everyone is asleep and I have the computer to myself. That doesn't happen very much. As soon as they hear the little click, click of the keys the kids are on me fighting to play a game or do their letters on starfall. So, I will try to post fast before one of them wakes.

I just looked and I have about 20 something draft blogs saved that I have never finished. All the way back to Thanksgiving. Let's hope I can finish this one.

We have all been so sick here, that work on our house has been going slow. We just don't have the energy to do much. Ed has been doing some of the electric work in our addition when he pulled some of the insulation off the wall and the plywood was wet. It seems that our house is too warm and humid. We even found some mold in the new walls. Yuck! Could this be why we are so sick or why we aren't getting any better?

Now we have to pull all the insulation out to spray for the mold and let it dry out. When that is dry we are going to spray the inside cavities with 1-2 inches of foam insulation. I would love to do the green thing and use the soy spray but it cost twice as much. I'm hoping this means our days of taking our time to close up the walls are over and we can seal everything up soon. Wow, it has been so long I don't think I can imagine our walls with sheetrock on it.

Time to wake everyone up and get to work.

Taking a break in the park

We took a break the other day and went out geocaching. We've found a total of 75 caches so far. I'm hoping to do a lot more this spring now that the little ones can walk farther and we don't have to carry them as much. It's a great way to explore the parks. The kids enjoy searching for the treasures.

Catching up

Now that the holidays are over, I can try to catch up. Ha! What a laugh! I have yet to do my holiday cards. I just don't know what the heck happened. Yes, I do. I am now working with Ed during the day, the kids even go with us. It is very hard working with Ed. OK, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Oh wait yes I did! I love him to death but he works you hard. I have to admit I am enjoying doing the construction. It's so much different from what I use to do.

This is what we have been working on for the last month. This photo was taken about half way through. That would be me slinging mud there in the front. We just finished back filling this week and we should be framing within the next week or so. It will be nice to have it enclosed and working inside. At least I hope it will be a little warmer.

Happy New Year

Well, Happy 2009 to everybody. We didn't make it to midnight, but I've made my New Years resolution. What is it you ask? Well it's to get back to blogging. Oh, my poor neglected blog. I promised, promised to not ignore you anymore.