Wrap it up!

So I didn't get the project finished BEFORE school began but it was durn close. First day kids went back to school I got the Certificate of Occupancy. Good enough.

It's been exhausting and overwhelming but well worth the trip I have to say. Paid the last contractor yesterday so now it's just buying decorations and all the stuff that makes a house a home.

Kids are in their own bedrooms - and quite content. Will take some getting used to being upstairs with a whole extra room to read/play/craft/sing/whatever but I think we'll manage.

So we added about 900 square feet up top and a screened in porch. Began it in June and finished beginning of August. I was prepared for 3 months of work but happy with 2 months. Cost came in right about $100/sq. ft. ($90,000) which was the goal, though I had hoped to bring that in lower as well. All in all, a good project that didn't end in divorce, fire, or rain of toads.

I'd use all of our contractors again and will gladly share their names with any who ask. Here's a tiny video link of our newly renovated home. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U30Xd2G9X5I

What a difference a week makes

So Danny came back out on Friday and moved the compressor 30 feet and around to the backyard corner of our house. Lou came out Saturday and ran the electrical to get it back up and running. Set up the HVAC inspection for Monday but he didn't make it until yesterday afternoon. Either way it passed. Hooray! That means Building Final is all that remains.

So for Keely's last day of summer she chose to paint her new room (our old room). Fortunately, she chose to just paint an accent wall raspberry. Can you imagine the color? Pix will come soon. She did an amazing job taping it off, cutting it in, and then rolling the wall. Honestly it's a better job than most adults I know could do.

Needless to say, the last day of summer for us was busy with tasks trying to get the house just that much closer to finished. By around 8 I was toast. Took a shower while family started eating and then joined in. A half hour later, when Deacon went to take a shower upstairs, I heard the lilting tones of minor panic: "Dad, the shower's not draining!" Yep. He was right. He was standing in about an inch of water and it had no plans to leave. Then I notice the toilet is backed up. A quick plunge and - nothing. Toilet's clogged and shower's clogged and it's 845 and I'm not sweating again and barely able to think with a naked child standing in an inch of soapy water and all I can do is manage some loud screaming at the ladies downstairs to "give me a minute!" After I calmed down, I called my plumber and he said he'd come out first thing in the morning. Deke got cleaned up and we decided it was back to downstairs living for another night.

5 a.m. came loud and clear with the oddest "PLONG!" sound I've ever heard. Turns out the shower and toilet were slowly draining. Every now and then an air bubble would make it's way upstairs to the toilet where the emitted sound was amplified by the megaphonish bowl and then echoed in our spaciously tiled bath. Not a good night sleep but plumber came this morning and fixed it. Small oversight on his part underneath the house that took just 30 seconds to correct. That was a ray of sunshine on a rainy day.

An hour later I cracked a water line in the basement trying to shut off the old washing machine line that kept slowly dripping. Another call to the plumber (he said he didn't have any jobs today) meant he'd fix that while I could keep working.

Then he came. Yes, the Building Final inspector. I'd scheduled it for Tuesday but the computer system didn't give him the message. When I called yesterday she took the appointment over the phone. Nice man came in, looked around, and asked where the carbon monoxide detector was. I panicked. What? I know the electrician put one in. I remember him saying so. Quick call to Lou and he said it was downstairs as code only requires one per house not per floor. Inspector tested and approved. Then he asked a couple of questions about the unfinished porch and the missing mechanical room door off of the laundry. Both are projects of mine I told him. He said, "If you're good with it, I'm good with it." Signed the permit and left with a smile. The permitting phase has ended. Getting a Certificate of Occupancy is all that remains.

So thanks to a wonderfully creative and patient wife, two resourceful and helpful kids, some very talented contractors, and a whole slew of giving neighbors, friends, and family we're done. Now I've got a punch out list a mile long but the walls are painted and we have electricity and running water. That's finished in my book. We'll have an Open House in the next couple of weeks after I get more finicky stuff finished and kids get settled in their rooms. I'll post pix soon.

A painful 8.5 inch wrinkle

Inspector came today (one guy for 3 inspections) and passed electrical and plumbing but not HVAC/Mechanical. Why? you say.

Well, because our condenser unit is 38" tall and on the 5' side of our house where we requested variance setback, it doesn't meet code. No structure taller than 30" can be on your footprint if you do not have 7.5' between your house and your property line. Makes sense doesn't it?

So I need to either...
a. Find a heat pump unit 30" or less in height (seems like they don't exist)
b. Move unit to back of house where we have tons of room to the property line but then are under our deck which may cause problems or
c. Apply for a new variance to allow my condenser to sit next to my house next to my neighbor's driveway

A & B are big challenges. C is a HUUUUGE time suck and will still cost $150-200. Applying for a variance means filling out paperwork, getting signatures from neighbors, going to two neighborhood meetings to plead my case, and going before the City zoning board in OCTOBER!

Not sure what I'm going to do. Talking with my HVAC guy to find out. Not the best way to get back into the swing of things. No one seems to know why 30" is the rule but I bet there's an interesting story of a neighbor doing something very stupid at around 31" that created this requirement.

Nearing the finish line and one last fling

So we spent a few days in Gainesville but the weather was kind of dreary and rain-filled. Some good sun but rain most days for at least a little bit. Went tubing in Helen (in the rain) and did some fishing on the dock (Wendy caught this catfish's brother and a perch) before packing up and getting back to the house.

Once there we saw the color up inside and out. Looks good but have some tweaks to work out with painting outside original windows and side porch. Lou came and put in most of the lights, plugs, and fans on Wednesday. Mike, and
Lorenzo, came in and got bathroom plumbing hooked up as well (though shower needs some sort of adjustment). On Friday, gutter guys came in the a.m. and knocked them out in just an hour or so. Our shower door came around lunchtime and got installed (though Wendy thinks it may need to be adjusted). Danny came with his helper and got the thermostat in and the HVAC operational. Needless to say, Friday was quite busy and productive. In just a few short days the upstairs took on a very finished look and feel. I'm still working on Wendy's medicine cabinet but hope to finish when I get back.

"Get back?" you say. Yes, get back. Right now I'm writing from New Orleans. Since Wendy has to start back to work on Wednesday, and the lake was so rainy last week, we thought we'd squeeze in one official Vite! Vite! Vacation (Quick, Quick in French). Left Friday afternoon and drove to Pascagoula, MS where we slept and dipped our toes in the Gulf (not as beachy as I'd hoped and the weather was once again rainy). Saturday morning we drove to the Best Western St. Christopher on Magazine Street and began our whirlwind tour of New Orleans. Now we've definitely finished with
vacation. We get back Monday and focus on finishing the house and begin preparations for a new school year.

Color's a-coming

We'd toyed with the idea of taking a tiny family vacation - maybe running to the beach - during painting. Another night or two with overwhelming fumes might crush the buzz of getting things done.

Painters showed up and got right to work scraping

and caulking. I tried to get all our receipts entered while Wendy and kids packed to get away for a few days. Decided a modified "staycation" would be smarter, cheaper, and still relaxing. Key was to get away as a family before Wendy has to get back to school. August 1. Lake Lanier and possibly Helen look like good prospects.

Contacted Electrician, HVAC, and Plumber to see when they could get back to finish up their tasks but don't have anything scheduled yet. Getting close to the finish line but this could be the toughest part.

On the fly

So much of what I've done is just be at the house and answer questions like Where does stuff go? How do you want this done? Where are the materials we need to get it done? At the same time, living in the house while this goes on means that I can see what I didn't plan for and try to come up with a solution of some sort.

One example is that we decided we needed to open up the stairwell door to give us more room to walk and
move stuff upstairs. So I knocked it out just before the trim guys got here so that it could be trimmed. Same for the wacky little "windows" I cut in the stairwell wall. Needed to trim them out with leftover casing before painters showed up. Tons of little things have made the difference in keeping things on track.

Shower was tiled by Peter's helper Brandon. He worked hard but it sure took a long time. He finished around 9pm on Monday. That was good because Gabriel was coming back on Tuesday to put first coat of poly on floors. That went pretty well but we didn't realize how strong the fumes would be, even though it was all upstairs. We survived and then had to deal with a second night that seemed a bit better.


Painters were scheduled for Thursday but rain showers pushed them back to Friday. Turns out another day for the floors to dry couldn't hurt.

The challenge of timing

So Gabriel's red oak floors needed to sit unfinished for about 5 days so they can acclimate (expand/contract)
to the weather. Peter still needed about 3 days to get all tile work done. I was hoping to get the trim crew in to do all the trimwork. Then it'd be a race between getting painting done or floors finished.

Well, Peter came back and tiled the shower curb (Wendy doesn't care if there's a 2nd bathtub in the house) and laid the floor tile on Wednesday. That made room for the trim guys to come in and trim out the bathroom whenever. Fortunately, Tony scheduled them to come hang all the doors and trim it out on Thursday. That meant I needed to find/get all the doors, pocket and bi-fold door jambs, and make sure all the trim was delivered. Made it all happen (except wrong floor trim was delivered and I didn't catch
the mistake until it was installed).

While all the flooring and tile fun was going on I recruited Wendy to help me replace all of our downstairs windows with new double-hungs that were operational (not painted shut) and more energy efficient. Of course we had high efficiency with our storm windows I installed about 10 years ago. But we couldn't clean the windows due to this and we were constantly looking through a haze. Off the shelf windows were 1/4 inch too wide for our existing frames. I decided to try and sand/trim frames to make them fit. It was no fun and very tiring but we got them all done while the kids were at camp. Key was to get them done before house painting began. Last thing I want to do is get on a ladder and deal more with these windows than I already have. That's how we took advantage of our "honeymoon time".

Sheetrock finished!

4th of July Holiday and kids going to sleepaway Camp Toccoa on Sunday took up most of the activity lately. Sheetrockers finished putting up and beginning finish mudding. With the daily rains (wettest summer in history I believe), it was too humid for mud to dry as they'd hoped. That meant they finished on Monday the 8th - same day we got called from Camp saying Deacon had already fallen and broken off part of each of his two front teeth. The fun continues.

Thought they'd be done over the weekend but gave an extra day to schedule Gabriel to do the hardwoods starting Tuesday. He said he'd be in and out by 1pm, so I scheduled Peter to start
bathroom tile at 1pm. Turns out they weren't as fast as they'd hoped and ended up doing floors until 4 due to running short of wood. Peter still showed up and worked on building the shower pan. That was all he hoped to accomplish on this first day back to work after his anniversary cruise.

While Gabriel and Peter were stepping over each other upstairs, Arvydas was working on the chimney building it up 3 feet to meet code. He had a small crew helping get that job done but was done by
early afternoon.

In this one short day we had a Romanian doing the flooring, Polish tiler, Lithuanian chimney, & Mexican bricklayers all at our house at the same time. Quite the international affair I'd say.

2 Weeks of Slackitude...kinda

So it's been over 2 weeks since I wrote and... yes, I suck for not keeping all you voracious fans up-to-date on our progress. Reality is most of you who read this have dropped by the house and know what's up. For those who haven't, I'll try to set things right. Date on this post has been falsified to 7/3 so that it stays linear.

Trip back from Tuscaloosa on Amtrak was painful. Painful mostly because I had the proverbial worst seat in front of the craziest stereotypical ghetto loud gin-drinking-kid-smacking-curse-dropping mom in America. Fortunately, got home on schedule and my lovely wife and daughter met me gleefully at Brookwood Station.

As I got home around 830p, it was starting to get dark. The sheetrockers had begun work and had maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the work done. Amazing how much smaller a room can seem once sheetrock closes in the sticks. Though our bedroom is spacious, it feels much smaller and our closet seems MUCH larger (not that Wendy's complaining). As you can see, the bathroom medicine cabinet is massive. I tried to frame in a space for it and it fits fairly well. Just will need to trim it out once installed.

As I walked up the stairwell in the dark, Wendy noted, "It's so dark!" Had I to do it again, I might have added a suntube in the top of the stairwell. As a poor man's solution, I told W I'd cut holes in the upper wall so that light could filter in from that casement window. Looks wonky but should work in the long run. They can be little tableaus for artwork, action figures, strange knick-knacks, etc.

Progress was being made and Dad was resting peacefully, though uncomfortably in Tuscaloosa.

Almost back on track

Brought Dad home from the hospital yesterday so he's getting used to being back in his bed and among his
things. Hopefully, recovery goes smoothly. I'll be leaving Tuscaloosa today via Amtrak. Should be an interesting piece of old-time Americana for me. Hope to just read and sleep.

Meanwhile - back at the ranch - things are starting to move again. Tony got down to the house on Friday and installed the 2 remaining windows (the contentious egress casement window included) and got the framing for the screened in porch completed. Can't wait to see it

all. Hard to believe I've been gone 5 days and so much will have changed. Should look much more like a home when I get there.

Sheetrock started going up today. No clue how that will progress. Really want to see how they get 12' and 14' pieces up against the wall and on the ceiling. Just got off the phone with Gabriel and he's ready to slot in when he puts in wood flooring. Sounds like I may have a bit of a conflict with Peter/Tile wanting to be first and Gabriel/Wood having an opening. The next 10 days should be interesting.

A new week, a new Boss

Dad's surgery went well and he hopes to be out of the hospital by Tuesday. Seeing as how it's Saturday night, that means a few more days in T-town for me. Tomorrow Wendy and the kids will return to Atlanta and take over as the General Contractor.

Since Insulation Inspector did not show on Friday, they should arrive early Monday. Had to call Brad and tell him sheetrock couldn't start first thing Monday. He was understanding and said to just call. Hopefully, they come early Monday, sign off on everything, we call Brad, and they may even come over sometime the same day. If not, I'm hopeful that they'll be there by Tuesday.

With 4th of July hitting on Thursday, no clue what that means for our timetable. Ideally, they can start sometime Monday and it goes very smoothly. Then they could finish Friday or maybe Monday. That means Peter can come and do bathroom tile by Tuesday and be done by end of week. Got a call into hardwood flooring guy to see what his timetable is. Maybe he could start a day or so after tile and then all flooring would be done by the 19th.

Wishful thinking I know but this whole project has been based on that proposition so why not continue? Pix of the "cloud rooms" are pretty impressive, huh?

TGIF, I hope!

Around noon on Wednesday I got a call from Donna in Tuscaloosa and learned my dad was going to need quintuple bypass surgery on Thursday morning. He'd gone in for a routine physical and they admitted him saying he was going nowhere.

As I hung up I realized my chimney guy was in mid-chimney, Eric was upstairs helping install pocket door, and kids and Wendy were gearing up to go to the pool. How was I going to get everything done AND get to Tuscaloosa tonight? Just get to it was all I could think of.

Asked for help from wonderful neighbors on either side of us, Justin & Whitney. Finished up my fireblocking and caulking. Completed the pocket door since Eric had to leave for another task. Contacted spray foam Josh to say Thursday is a go but I'd leave a key for him at the house. Emailed friends cancelling our night out for Wendy's pre-birthday (Thursday was her big day). Got family to pack up the Prius. Showered and changed clothes and we were on the road by 7:45pm headed west on I-20.

They moved his surgery to first thing Friday morning, so I'm typing from his Tuscaloosa computer at 650am Friday. Waiting to hear what I need to take to the hospital to make Donna more comfortable.

In my brain, I know I've scheduled the insulation inspection for today but have to rely on Whitney & Justin to insure he gets into house. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly. Chimney work should continue as Arvydas tries to raise the chimney 3+ feet. Tony says he'll have a crew there within the next hour to get back porch framing finished and install windows. Sounds like auto-pilot but doesn't feel much like it with me so far away. Thoughts jump back to Dad and the adventure he'll be on today. Need to get over to the hospital now.

Hump Day Humps

It's been an insane few days. Tuesday I used the sprayfoam fire block in holes between the floors, Deacon helped get all other woodwork done, Bryce sent his OK on our framing methods, so I felt pretty ready for Wednesday's inspection.

Asked friend Eric Campbell to come help me put up pocket door and frame in casement window on Wednesday. While I waited, I realized that I needed to use some of scrap Hardie siding to redo the clapboard siding below office windows in front of house. Figure bottom corner should match the rest of the house, right?

Wouldn't you know that I removed those 3 simple runs (5' x 3') and find that the plywood behind is wet. I've got a leak! Nothing is simple anymore it seems. As I started to pull away more and more wood to try and expose the leak, Eric shows up and we decide that it may just be due to having no gutters above window over the past 2 weeks. We leave it to dry out for now.

Here comes the inspector... but it's not the same as the last framing inspector. Well, that's not a problem for him. Will he decide there are other issues that I have to address? My stomach is in my throat as I lead him toward the stairs. He looks at the notes the last guy made and glances around the room. Doesn't care about the LVL support or new casement window (though he agrees that we could have avoided all that if we hadn't named the room "Bedroom" on the architectural plans).

What he does care about is the fireblocking and foamed penetrations. Seems I needed to take that foam and get it in the penetrations going through the roof as well, and every electrical hole drilled vertically in the outside walls. Exterior of bathroom wall needed to be blocked since we're dropping a ceiling in that room as well. Now my stomach was back where it belonged and my heart was right next to it. How many times would I have to do this re-inspecting? Wanted to have spray foam done Thursday.

Then the sun came out and he said, "It looks pretty good. Fix those couple of things and you'll be done. I'll give you a partial but finish that blocking." We talked about kids today and work ethic and summertime. Shook hands and he rode away. I had passed my framing inspection and was on my honor to finish the last things but could stay on schedule. Hallelujah!

Great news!

What a difference a day makes. Heard late yesterday that Dieter was out of ICU and possibly discharged today. So glad to hear.

I worked on hurricane straps on the back of the house (because those pesky Atlanta hurricanes can mess up a roof) and detailing a frame for Wendy's medicine cabinet. Took me surprisingly long but then I'm not a carpenter.

Today it's after 9am and no workers. Got a sense that I may be solo today but that's ok. Read up on fireblocking and feel like I know what needs to be done. Installing the casement window will be more complex but I'm sure there's a way to get it to work. Just need to spend the hours doing it. As Wendy said, "It's gonna be a hot one!" and I'll feel even with our wonderful windows open today. Either way, I'm going to carry on and try to get the framing inspector out here on Wednesday.

Yesterday she pulled 4 tester colors from S-W. Green's almost totally out of the picture as you can tell. The one she did choose wouldn't have made the cut no matter what so I think that speaks to our "blue future". Feel free to weigh in.

Tragic news

Our foreman Dieter Finke had a heart attack on Saturday and was in intensive care as of this morning. Horrible, horrible news. He's in our thoughts and prayers, as is his family.

Nothing more important to say on a day like today.

Crisis? Crises? Or overreaction?

To be honest, Friday afternoon was one ugly scene inside my head. The inspectors notes had me tortured seven ways from Sunday. Sure the fireblocking was not a big deal and he there could have been really big things that we'd be facing, but the window & floor joists had me stymied. Piece by piece though, things seem to fall in place over the past 48 hours.

First, the issue of window egress is something I know far too much about at this point in time. Wish I'd had this knowledge BEFORE but got it now and think I've found a solution that's not terribly painful or expensive. Window I ordered  was wrong size for a fireman to fit through - though I think they'd break whatever was in their way to begin with. In order for a right sized window to be ordered/bought, we'd have to cut the brick and that's doable but no fun. Since this is an existing window on the north side that will be in a corner of a room where we don't frequent, I was focused on simplicity and economy. Something the inspector said stuck in my brain and turned into a solution. He said, "If that were a casement window (one that cranks outward full-sized), you'd have no problem." But casement windows are usually 2 week orders and I really hoped to get re-inspection this coming week so I can keep things moving along with the insulation and sheetrock.

So Saturday morning Wendy and I took off on a hunt. We went to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore where they have surplus and reclaimed building products. Nothing fit our 34x48 brick opening. Then we went to Builders Surplus where they have new and random surplus products. BINGO! A casement window was somehow found amongst the plethora of random windows. Looks like it'll fit the 5.7 cubic feet required and is 32x38. Window just needs to be inserted and trimmed out to fit. Issue #1 resolved.


Saturday night I got an email from my structural engineer Bryce Hattori with a letter attached that vouches for the correct and safe framing of our second floor. Issue #2 resolved. Funny how life can work out from time to time.

Tuesday, Painting Plus will have someone - maybe Pedro - come out to do the fireblocking upstairs and then we'll be ready for reinspection on Wednesday. I've pushed insulation guys to Thursday so we might have that done by next weekend. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I've asked Wendy to decide on a color for the house. All along she's said it'll be some shade of green. Now, for some reason, blue is in the picture. Past two days have included going to Sherwin Williams and scouring the neighborhood for homes in shades of green and blue. This morning we took paint chips and held them against her most favorite homes to see what color they really are. No clue how long this process will take but I see a sample painting party in my future (meaning tomorrow).

and then came the Rough Framing inspection

Crew showed up this morning bright and early. They wasted no time getting to work with hammers, air guns, and more. Even though Wendy, Keely, Spot, and I were up and about, Deacon managed to ignore the fact that the sun was up. How he could sleep through their incessant pounding above our heads, is a true testament to the pre-teen sleep cycle.

We waited eagerly for the Rough Framing Inspector to come so we could learn what may be left to be done before moving on to the next stage of progress. Some minor woodwork (fireblocking mostly) was cited as needing to be done but then we had the egress window issue (window not big enough for fire code) and the fact that he didn't get to see the 2x10 floor joists before the decking went down. Window will be a challenge but I think there's a solution somewhere. Floor joists will be a different matter. Though we can see them through a trim gap along the stairs, not sure that's good enough for City. Hoping Structural Engineer can write a letter verifying their installation to resolve this issue.

Crew worked quickly today getting the rest of the siding up. Looks really good, though really yellow. A good coat of green and white paint will make the thing look finished. Little will people know that there's a whole world of inside work to be done.

Either way, looks like we'll be at least 3 days behind schedule and possibly more. Insulation had to be put off. Met with Peter (tile guy) and talked about how we'd like the bathroom and shower done. Seems like it will be pretty standard for him - about 4 days work. Now I just have to get schedule set to lock in his services. Hoping to find window solution tomorrow and Pedro's supposed to be back Tuesday to get the framing corrections done. This was the hardest day so far for me. Not feeling so much in control of the process right now but I'm sure it'll all work out in the end... at least I hope so.

Wednesday no sides, Thursday brings sides

So the random rain on Monday & Tuesday pushed our siding crew back a day. They got here Thursday and started scampering around. They quickly seemed to solve my window snafu and we could start to see the "face" of the house coming into view. Nice to get a breeze up there too with the windows installed.

Finished repairing the closet a day ago. Painted solid stripes where the plumbing runs behind the wall just to remind us not to put nails into those parts of the walls. Once ceiling holes are patched - from workers clearing out bracing blocks between 2x8s so they could sister in 2x10s - all the rooms can get back to normal. At least normal until we decide they need to be painted.

Workers should be able to finish siding on Friday, but it might be Saturday. Funny how this one part of the process really makes the house look a whole lot more put together.

Tradesmen descend upon us

So most of Monday Lou worked amongst the "sticks" to get all of our electrical needs met. It was taking shape. His work was key for HVAC to install on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning 7am Danny (from Comfortair) showed up like he promised. Lots of HVAC stuff to unload in our yard before his crew showed up to get
it all in the attic.

Not to be outdone, Mike and Lorenzo got here to finish out the plumbing vents through the roof and other such fun. They had good weather to vent through the roof and work out the kitchen vent from the back deck. Part way Still Mike was here until almost 9pm making sure everything was right.

Coolest part of the day was the sheetrock delivery. Seeing as how they had 12 and 14 foot sheets of gypsum that wouldn't make it up our stairs, they came while we were without windows and just lifted it up and through the front of the house. Timing was right since Wednesday they planned to come do siding and install all the windows. Still hard work loading in sheetrock but I can only imagine how much easier life is for these guys with a remote-controlled crane helping get the work done. And their timing couldn't have been better. Less than 30 minutes after they were done, the skies opened up and gave everything a good dousing.

Danny's crew got out by dinner time with all of their pieces set. He'd have to come back Wednesday to add a piece to the unit but it worked out well as he was here at the same time as the inspector. He made sure everything met the inspector's checklist.

I called all 3 rough inspections (Electrical, Plumbing, & HVAC) for the same day. All passed and now it's just waiting for the Rough Framing Inspection.

A little peace and quiet

By Friday after lunch, Pedro and his amazing demo/framing/roofing crew were gone. Their tornado of work was impressive. Again I remind myself how we give too little credit to the hardworking craftsmen who build our homes. They may not have a Masters degree but there are few Masters who could do what they do - especially under the conditions they work. Sylvester, Pedro's brother, managed to staple his thumb on his last day. We put together a M*A*S*H team quickly and got him back to work. Didn't seem to slow him down.

So Friday evening was quiet and peaceful on our back deck under our new porch roof. Elation might be the best way to describe everyone's feelings about our "toddler home". Before long it will be a teen and we'll be even more excited to realize the true adult home we'll inhabit.

Saturday I tackled repairing our closet from where the plumber and electrician ran their conduits between floors. Cleaning up the plaster and cutting sheetrock to fit are not my favorite Saturday hobbies but getting that closet operational would help our clutter factor around here. Deacon helped and listened to me drone on and on about how to cut and install drywall. He saw how un-easy it can be to find studs when screwing in drywall. By the time I started mudding the seams, he was off to Wii land. If the closet wasn't so small, I'd have had him helping but it was too tight and I wanted to get done as fast as I could. As usual, I didn't finish until probably 7pm.

With great weather and Father's Day at my disposal, I asked the family to pack up and let's go jump in the lake on Sunday. The thought of just floating in Lake Lanier made me almost salivate. Turns out it was just the tonic I needed to recharge a bit and Wendy got to see her dad as well. All we have planned for Monday is for Lou to come run more electrical. He's got a key so we spent the night in Gainesville.