01/25/08 Construction Continues

Well much has been accomplished this week. All the tile was ripped out, the frame for the Jacuzzi tub was moved and rebuilt. All the leaks that were discovered were fixed/repaired. The sub-floor under the previous shower pan was replaced and the new drain was put in. The new bench was built - reframed and new board, and the rear wall was reinforced for the tile. All that is left is the rubber undercoating stuff and then the wallboard/tile. It really should be finished by next Tues I think. Exciting stuff.

Not much else is new on the homefront. Had the weekly trip to Missoula for errands (have to go back this weekend!) and am contemplating the daunting task of tackling the dusty, cluttered, overgrown mess that is my scrapbook room. I took a 1 year sabbatical from scrapping and with our houseguests everything was jammed into a storage/toy room. I have moved it all into it's own room, but there is much sorting and organizing to do! But fun.

It is still bone chilling cold, but today (Friday) it was at least above zero all day. We got another 1/2 inch of snow lasts night so it is still white. The dogs and cat are enjoying the snow. Well...maybe not the cat. She goes out for about 5 seconds then runs back in. We are all enjoying her spunky personality, and of course her being able to tolerate the kids is a big PLUS!

The Construction/Reconstruction Begins

Ok so here it is. I have not had a functioning shower for about 9 months. We developed a mystery leak
(not the 1st) and stopped using the shower until we could figure it out. Never did. (We did still shower of course, but 4 of us had to share the bathroom in the hall-not fun) We decided then of course that the entire thing needed to be redone since we could not find the leak. Well guess what? After getting a professional to come in and tear it all out, we found the leak. Oh, but not just one. There
were 5 different leaks! 1 at the drain, 1 on the bench (sit down part in the shower), 1 leak where the
bench and wall met, 1 leak at the tub faucet, and then of course the 1 we found this summer in the
pipe where the tub drained from. It is fun. So now all the tile, wood, everything must come out, and
it must be redone. The good news is I get to pick nicer tile (the old stuff was the beige/white cheap stuff
you can see in the top photo that surrounds where my jacuzzi tub once was!) and even better is that it is
being done by a pro, and not us or a tile guy we found while roaming the isles at Lowes. The bottom photo
is my poor pathetic jacuzzi tub wrapped in a tarp sitting in my bedroom. These photos all depict what was accomplished in 1 day! Yippe, all tile torn out, wood framing removed, etc. Hard to see but if you click on the
2nd picture it is the hole under our tub that looks right down into the basement! Boy was that fun for the kids. Bubba likes to drop cars down there and go downstairs to see where they land. Good excercise for me.
Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated on the progess. Since DeRell is NOT doing this, and he is going out of town
in a week for 10 days we all know that this means it is a project that might actually get completed for once!
(sorry honey, it's the God awful truth). Hoping to get some more "projects" done in his absence =).


Now a little note about the weather. Monday, much to my chagrin, I had to work all day. This meant loading all the kids up for school/daycare, getting myself ready, etc. We had a nice amount of snow and howling winds on Saturday night. Translation - practically snowed in on Sunday. Could only get 1 hand & dustpan out door to try to move enough snow to actually open the door. Which is quite funny for the "Banana Belt" here where it is unseasonably warm with little to no snow in our neck of the woods. Took me 20 min to drive to church...oh but i digress...back to Monday. So DeRell puts on the propane heater in the garage to load up some tools and organize his van before heading out.........this gives us all a false sense of the real temp of course. We get in the truck, open the garage & head out for school. Gotta love the onboard outside temp gauge on mornigs like this. It registers a nice...balmy practically..temp of 36 degrees. (the garage temp i am sure) I can handle that! Oh but by the time we've reached the end of the driveway it's dropping faster than a girls dress on prom night. The at the end of the road it registers -1. Ok, ok i think, glad the kids have the scarves, mittens, etc. with them. It becomes a fun game as i drive and Danielle shouts out the new record low per the little reading on the rearview mirror. It hit -16 and I was ready to go back home. That is not even a civilized numer and WHY am I out in that? UGHHHH. Ilove Montana, I Love Montana, I LOVE MONTANA. Not even all caps can make that statement true! By Tuesday we were only negative 8. Twice as "warm" I tell myself. Ha! Well, it's Weds, and boy were we excited this morning when the reading was -1. Whoopie practically bathing suit weather.

Hope you are warm wherever you are.....just remember....when you think you have it bad someone has it worse.

Can you say "BRRRRR"......???!

Well it's been another week! Uneventful i must admit. Didn't get to much of the organizing as it is a much larger task than i first anticipated. Also, looking for tax stuff is right up there with impossible. The kids "uncleaned" everything i managed to clean...and did i mention that it is 0 degrees today ...yes ZERO. ICK! No snow except on the mountains. DeRells van broke down and was in the shop 2 1/2 days. OMG, $900. later i think we will be eating potatoes all week! The good news is I only have 6 lbs to go to meet my goal weight and it's only been 7 months. I'm not losing so much anymore but maintaining and pretty happy where i am at. I started excercising on Friday which i am hoping will help get me off the plateu. More good news is we finally settled into our stay-home routine. Bubba has finally given in to his naps and wakes up just in time to go pick sissy up from school. Typical days are Bubba playing with his treasured cars on the crappy plastic mat. (Maybe for his Birthday we'll get him a carpet type area rug thing!) Lining them up in perfect little rows of LA type "traffic jams" and the occassional begging for Spongebob on TV. Danielle continues to torture our new kitten - who actually takes it in stride as part of her "job" as entertainer of her master. She covers her with Blankies and takes her for walks by tying her jumprope to her collar. It's quite comical, but no animals are harmed in the making of her happiness so we watch carefully and intercede when necessary.

Just another day in Paradise

Well we awoke this morning to a dusting of snow on the ground. Not much else new here in Montana. Trying to get in the groove of being home - cooked breakfast (Thanks Kelly for the shortcut Monkey Bread recipe) and got dinner cooking in the slow cooker all before 8am. Seemed like a productive morning, then I went into town for a day at the office. The rest of the week i should be busy - working on organizing 1 room at a time in my house! Tomorrow it's the ofc/den/playroom/catch all......i think it might take me ALL WEEK for that room! Danielle has early out Wednesday AND Friday - not sure who makes these rules but sucks for a mom at home trying to be productive - - drop everything and run to pick her up at 12:30. Still cant get the slideshow working..if anyone knows how or has any ideas I would love the help. Have a great week!

Missie and Karen hang out in California
Danielle and Grandma pose at the zoo.
Grandma and Grandkids at the zoo - Atascadero, CA
Danielle reads "Everyone Poops" to her brother. Lets hope it works and that everyone includes her brother Bubba real soon!

Erick gets his BEST present EVER! Grandma racks up serious HUG points and overwhelming excitement ensues over the new PLAYSTATION 3 (kudos to Auntie Lynnette who got him the extra controller and Kelly & Andy who got him the remote! He also got a very high-tech gaming chair from Mom & DeRell along with 2 new PS games for his new system. He is glowing with hapiness!

Well the New Year has been relatively uneventful so I'll recap December to now. In December we went south to California to visit with family over Christmas break. A much needed break and refuge from chilly Montana! Erick was not with us, as he was with his dad about 6hrs. further North in California. So the rest of us enjoyed the beach, parks, a zoo (Heavens! Not SF Zoo - the tiger attack made us opt for a much smaller zoo), and lots of family time. I got to see baby Aubrey still in the NICU and spend time with my other sis a little further South which was also fun. The kids had a GREAT Christmas full of fun and new favorite toys. I couldn't wait to get home and see which ones would hold out as favorites. We had quite the "You Tube" moment with Danielle and her dissapointment over the "Brown Baby" she did not "order" from Santa. It must be "chinese" to paraphrase my dear cutie. It was hilarious and will be a favorite story of mine for years to come!! Bubba is still in love with the John Deere tractor he got from Auntie Darla and Danielle is thrilled to play with her 19 "Littlest Pet Shop" pets and their respective homes/nooks. I am of course happy to be in my size 5 jeans/pants and the wardrobe I have amassed since losing 22 lbs. 8 more pounds to go !!!
All else is status quo here at home. I have begun my 1 day a week work schedule, and am staying home in hopes of finally getting Bubba potty-trained! Baby steps for us. He is loving not having to go to pre-school and getting some mommy time. Danielle loves me picking her up at 3:15 every day instead of staying in after-care until 6pm.
The best news is that my sister got to bring home baby Aubrey today. No longer a NICU senior citizen! Our entire family is rejoicing! Now comes the fun part for Kelly so I send up my heartfelt hugs to her for this fun time of transition. 6 montsh from now she can look back at the days that flew by where the baby slept for like 4 hrs at a time and wonder where that time went...and want it back! We are just happy to have another baby cousin and neice! Yeah.
Well that's all for now. As soon as i can get the slideshow and pictures inserted we will git'r'done. Thanks for visiting!