Weekend 82

Yes, this past weekend marked our 82'nd weekend in a row of working on the house. Great fun again. Touch up painting, more tiling, carried/lifted 28 - 20 ft timber tech boards up to the south deck ( and that was no easy feat.... pics to come on that one), cleaned out half the basement, and made a trip to the dump. So far, have "installed" about 1700 - 4 inch tiles in the master shower! Believe it or not, it is looking pretty cool. The South deck is done, minus the railings! Looks great but no pics yet. Troy got a touch of the flu so we are on hold for welding stair railings.
Chris will be working on the West deck this week. We are headed to Portland tomorrow to clean out the house and pack up goods and pick up some carpeting. Oh Boy. More cleaning and packing! But, that does mean we will be moving in soon. Matt and Rachel will be coming back with us to help carpet the house.

Our cherry countertop was installed on the kitchen "island" so our kitchen cabinetry is complete. Looks great. Facia board was installed by Chris so we ready to make the railing posts from our spruce wood. Just two pics..... enjoy.

And she's buying a .....

Late Sunday Update. Couple shots of the weekend work. Chris progress on roughing in our stairway.... to Heaven? Sorry. Regardless, they are going to look fantastic! Our plan is to have a carpet runner down the center with maple boards on each side. Steel posts for the railings. Troy will be welding again soon.

D2 started the master bathroom shower tiling. Good grief. A contractor said it would cost two thousand bucks to do it, so that made our decision for us. Once again, sweat equity is where it’s at….. and where it has been for a long time…. :)

Fall update...

Been a bit rough the last week or so. Things just not the same and I suppose they really never will be. Less than three years ago I would say how lucky I was to still have both parents and be in my 50’s. Now I don’t have either one. But I do realize how fortunate I am to have had what I had. Debbie having a very hard time with things too. She keeps saying how she thinks my mom will call to ask her to pick something up at the store for her on the way home, or stop by to do a little something….go to the hair salon, etc.

The Fall Season is in full swing. Things look great. House progress continues to move pretty well. Deb and I spent all weekend painting, touch-up painting, and putting 2 or three coats of finish on window sills, door jams, and window frames. Chris is making good progress on the stairs, counter tops done, sinks and toilets installed but not caulked yet, more electric working, a couple doors hung, etc. Plumbers and electrician will come out once more when we have our last sinks, and lights in… Overall, we are pleased with everything that is in place. Here are a few pics for the latest. Enjoy.

Trying to regroup...

We would be lying if we said things are back to normal building our “dream home.” They are not. No question some of the wind has been taken from our sails when we go down to the house to work. We were so hoping to have my Mom there for her birthday in November and for Christmas in December…..it is not to be. We are trying to regroup... or whatever this is called.
We are trying to move on, but with heavy hearts and the belief that Mom would have wanted us to continue and Live our Life. We have some special plans for when we move in but will talk about them later. Currently we are trying to put it all together with a combination of contractor's work, and our work. We hired a “finish carpenter” to do work that we have no clue how to do such as finishing our stairwell and installing some tongue and groove boards that we stained and finished. We had planned to do this but when Chris made some suggestions on how to “do it right,” we decided to let him run with it…. Glad we did! He is fantastic, honest, and really helpful giving us tips and guidance for us to do our final tasks…. We laid the hallway tile, which was a whole lot of work! In progress photo here, will have finished look on next post. Enough rambling for now… Here are some of our latest pics of the progress. More to follow.

"Live Your Life!"

We had my Mom’s funeral on Saturday in Ohio. Pouring rain. Friends and family attended. It signaled the end of her wonderful life on earth. No one could ever ask more of a Mother. I was, and am, blessed. She gave her unconditional love in every respect, and had an incredible sense of humor. I don’t think there was person she met that she did not make laugh. She told me to “live your life!” I promise to do that, and in many ways I feel I already have. I will miss her every day.
The photo was taken by Debbie two days before my mom went in to the hospital. We rode to our house so she could see the progress. A beautiful early fall day. On the way, she had a box of chicken wings on her lap, and a cup of coke in her hand - eating and watching the scenery go by. She looked like a 15 year-old. I will never forget the ride or the day.

In Loving Memory

We wanted to let you know that Margaret died on Saturday. She was discharged from the hospital Friday afternoon and went back to her apartment in Assisted Living with Hospice care. She was kept comfortable and out of pain. Don and I stayed with her. The LPN left around midnight, giving us the medicines to administer. Don gave his mom a kiss and told her we were going to go to sleep and she should do the same..."I love you" was the last thing she heard from him. This was all very hard to cope with and we were talking for 10 minutes until Don got up to get some aspirin and check on his mom. She had stopped breathing in those 10 minutes and "went to sleep". We called the Hospice nurse and the funeral home and then packed up our pillows and drove home around 3am. We spent the weekend cleaning out her apartment and getting ready for our trip to Ohio for the funeral. We just couldn't face the apartment next week. We have our moments of tears and sadness...Don keeps picking up the phone to call her as usual. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers...they are very much appreciated.

Margaret

Margaret fell on Monday 21 and has been in the hospital ever since (it's Thurs). Her respiration rate was too high for her heart to continue as things were, and there was suspicion of pneumonia, so the hospital put a bi-pap mask on her to help her breathe. Her heart rate increased and her prognosis was not good. The doctor told us even if she got out of the hospital, she would never walk again and be in and out of the hospital / nursing home for 2 years. So, the kids made the decision to follow her wishes and remove the mask. Everyone said an emotional 'good-bye' and we expected her to go quickly and peacefully. However, she's a pretty strong woman and she is still with us. She is even being discharged tomorrow. She's not really responsive and we are following her wishes of "comfort care" treatment at this point. Hospice is being called in and she will go back to Assisted Living with Don and I taking shifts watching over her. It's been a heart-wrenching process to go through and watch her kids go through. We don't expect her to last long - but, as I said, she's a pretty strong person and surprised us all already. Thanks for all of your support, prayers and kind words. We'll keep you posted. (Obviously, things are on-hold at the house).

75

Ever have one of those moments when you think of something and you say to yourself “holy crap!?” I did. In one of my many moments of deep thought, I was coming back from the hospital last Friday and said to myself….”Ok, tomorrow we have to pick up my mom at the hospital and take her back to assisted living, and try to do some work on the house this weekend. Then it hit me. We have worked the past 75 weekends in a row!!! It actually may be a few more than this. I can’t believe it. Still can’t believe it. No wonder we are frazzed….
Mom is doing “ok,” but not great and we are still really worried. Agh! So hard for her!

Pics show our latest efforts…”finish work” on the windows. Sanding, painting, sealing the window boxes, frames, sills, etc. Wow, they really look sharp when done. Sunlight coming in has such an impact! Slow but sure work that is for sure, but better now than after we move in. Really cool to see the window sills with a coat of finish - and to think Dick D. and I made them from “scratch!” Quite a high level of satisfaction..

Trouble

Earlier this week, Don's mom Margaret was admitted to the hospital again. High heart rate is the problem. We are hoping the rate can be brought down and have her released soon. So, more stress, more delay, more worries. Couple pics of the latest. Countertops started. Living room at night with lights down low.....

Peace, D2

Labor Day Labor

In celebration of Labor Day Weekend, we went all out!
First things first. Our kitchen cabinets are pretty much all installed!!! Wow again. We absolutely love them, especially the “live edge” on the upper cabinets. Lights need to be hooked p and they are done. Countertops next.

Saturday – Main goal was to “finish” big windows in living room. Tasks included: sanding, caulking/taping, painting, sealing window frames, washing windows…. All on scaffolding. Also sanded, caulked/taped all other windows in house. Done. 14 hours.
Sunday - Goal was to finish all tiling in pantry and powder room. Did it. 13 hours
Monday - Goal, grout tiling and prep ceiling for area “below loft” More fun included.., unload all 43 – 16ft tongue and groove spruce boards, set up on saw horses, sand them, stain them, and then finish them with a clear sealer. Then, let dry while we worked on the grout. Then Debbie lifts all 43 boards up to Don who is on the upper deck, and then bring them in the house to dry. Extra credit…. Finished both windows in the kitchen to get area ready for counter top installation. Done. 10 hours.
Man, can we ever celebrate!

Hope to install "ceiling" this coming week/weekend.

Getting a bit closer..

Getting closer on the cabinets! Should be a productive long weekend. Finish tile in powder room and pantry, sand, finish and paint picture windows, and maybe start the tongue and groove sanding/staining to prep for install. Oh, the work. Oh, the excitement

Cabinets and lighting progress

Really don’t know what to say on this post - imagine that. Suffice to say we are really excited about the kitchen cabinets. Not all the way in but wow. We pretended again that we were cooking and actually had a fantastic sunset to look at from the stove/kitchen. Another wow as it is really becoming everything we have planned/dreamed it would be. Camera could not capture what we were seeing so had to take close-up to show ya. Cabinets look great, even just sitting on the floor. Lighting is really making everything wonderful. I think when cabinets are fully installed we are going to freak out! Enjoy the pix.