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Life has been SO freakin' crazy lately with all of the house stuff going on. The plumber that was GOING to come on Monday didn't make it until THURSDAY. And when he did, they had some problems with the pipe glue, so it keeps leaking. He is a friend of a friend, and he is really doing us a favor, so I feel SO bad. It has turned into such a pain in the ass for all of them. I hope they don't hate us by now! At this point, we're all just hoping it FINALLY stops leaking in time for our inspection tomorrow at 1pm. They've repaired it 5 or 6 times now, and it keeps having issues! Ugh! I feel so bad.

And, the house is a disaster. Anna's bed in in the living room. Every surface of every room is covered with stuff from one closet or another, or a room that had to be emptied for the remodel. We are just beyond hope. So, my mom offered to watch Anna for us while we work, which was awesome. Then, Curtis jokingly said, "Hey, it would be more help if you watched Kodi (our mastiff) - he gets in the way more than Anna." So she took Kodi too! And on top of all that, she and Alisa took ALL of our laundry (about 6 loads I had done, but not folded, and another 6 loads to be washed) and laundered and folded it all and brought it back to us, along with Anna and Kodi. Oh, and in between there Alisa grocery shopped for us and delivered it. Does anybody is the world have a better mom than that??!? Yeah, I didn't think so.

And Curtis' dad has driven an hour and half up here for the past 2 weekends to work with us all day. We're so blessed to have such great family. THANKS GUYS!!! YOU ROCK!!!!

But here is a brief recap and semi-pictorial of our first real "demo" day. We tore out Anna's room. Pulled off all the drywall. Found that when we pulled the drywall out of the closet ceilings that all 14 inches of blown, cellulose loose insulation in the attic fell onto the floor below. Found out that our new fridge (about 2 years old now) has been leaking from the ice maker line and we have water damage behind the wall and into the next room. Various bumps, bruises, cuts, and achy muscles and backs. All to be expected. All things considered - a pretty good day.

"Before" - the pink one is Anna's room (go figure) facing towards the front door (what you see there is her closet - the front door in on the far side of that wall), and the view of the hallway wall from the front door (Anna's room is (or was...) on the other side of the hallway wall).




"Semi-after" - Actually, it's all stacked in the middle of the room now. The hallway light switch in on the wall, at ceiling height, the thermostat in on a door jamb in the living room, and there are garbage bags stapled to the ceiling to keep more CRAPPY insulation from falling down into the air.

Heard from Anna today....

Why does swimming make your pee HOT?!!

For the record, I am happy to report that this observation/query was made, NOT from the swimming pool at swim lessons, but going potty on the TOILET when we got home. Yikes - close call.

I think I’ve created a monster. Long story – but Anna saw these little girl stick on nails at the store, so I bought them for her and she “earned them” by going right to sleep for 5 nights. She finally got them this morning. She is SO pleased with herself. She walks around holding her hand out and looking at it. So funny.

(It's kind of hard to see, but they are glittery little nails with pink and purple hearts on them. They have a "sticker" type rubber cement on the back, so they go on and off easily. They're all ready gone.)

Whose idea was is to act as general on this addition myself? What a dumb ass. Yikes. Don't get me wrong. I didn't go into this thinking that the general contractor's don't earn their money. I know they get paid for knowing what the heck they're doing. It's just that we couldn't AFFORD it that way. And there *is* a lot we can do ourselves. But coordinating our portion with the contractor doing the dry-in has been ugly. And the contractor is great - but I am in WAY over my head! But, we'll get there. I have faith that God got us here for a reason, and I'm pretty resourceful. So far, I've been using my "dumb girl" look a lot, quite believably too. hahaha

So, the foundation is done. Met with our wonderful, amazing friends last night who are helping with the plumbing and HVAC stuff to coordinate them. (God bless, Erik & Kelly.) Cut out the floor portions that we needed to clear before the joists could go in until 11pm last night, with Curtis. Floor joists are going in today on the bottom floor. Then we have to do underfloor plumbing, underfloor HVAC ducts and insulation and get them inspected before the subfloor can go on and work can continue. Deep breath. Deep Breath.

Very exciting. Very scary. But, as Curtis reminded me last night....if we don't get it right for an inspection, nobody dies. We just get another inspection. That's my new mantra. "Nobody is going to die." Unless the inspector isn't looking close enough to see what we'll have f'd up on our electrical stuff. hahaha Then, it's a possibility.

A GUILT trip that is. And Anna is packing my bags. This kids is so funny. This is what happened while we were coloring a Father's Day picture for Curtis.

ME: What color paper do you want to use?

ANNA: Blue. Because it's Daddy's favorite.

ME: Ummm...we don't have blue.

ANNA: Then how about green. And then Daddy can talk to Kyle & Kainoah and they can make green his favorite color too, just like theirs.

ME: (laughing) Sure, that works.

ANNA: And I need a pink pen. Because pink is MY favorite color.

ME: Ummmm....we don't have a pink one. But this one is kind of pink (more like red, but maybe I can sell it....?)

ANNA: No mommy, that's not pink. That is more like the color of BLEEDING.

ME: WHAT??!!!

ANNA: The color of bleeding. Because one time, I put my finger in the hinge side of the closet door in the hallway, and you closed it ALL THE WAY, and then it was the color of bleeding.

Oh, dagger to Mommy's heart. Twist.

I'm a lucky girl. Seriously, I'm due for a bus to run me over or something. I was raised in a Christian home, and that gave me such a wonderful foundation in my own beliefs and morals. I had a great childhood and my parents are, to this day, two of my very closest friends. I had the benefit of higher education at a great school, which my parents supported 100%. While there, I met the love of my life, and my soul mate, Curtis. He is the most incredible man. He is unfailingly supportive, loving, funny...and he loves ME - just for being me. Even when *I* don't like "me" very much sometimes. And I love him...every little thing about him. He makes my life wonderful, just by being in it. Then, top it all off with Anna Catherine. Sweet, smiling, giggling, joke telling, singing Anna Catherine. We have the most beautiful, cheery, smart, funny little girl in the world.

Does it get any better than this?

Wow - this part is moving pretty quickly. The site work is done. We have a big square hole about 18" deep, the entire size of the addition. This will be the creepy, crawly, bug filled space that only my darling husband will see once the floor joists are in. If all goes well - I will NEVER have to see it. Along the edges of the hole, about every 2 or 3 feet, are ~8 ft deep holes, 16" across.




Now the concrete forms are up, and the rebar is in. The city inspector will come tomorrow and they will pour concrete on Monday, if all goes well! Who hoo!!

Since the back yard is full of holes, Anna and the boys and I are relegated to the front yard for potty runs. Kodi is fine - he likes people and dogs and doesn't need a leash. Rigby is a terror and barks at everything that moves, so he gets his little x-pen. Anna wants to "walk" him on his leash, but I was afraid he was going to lose teeth, so we stopped that for now.

There's no turning back now! We have a BIG muddy pit in our backyard, and about a dozen 10 foot deep holes. I have asked Curtis to promise NOT to throw Rigby down one of them before they pour, but he's making no promises. It's very exciting, though.

At this moment, we have a jackhammer, a cement hammer drill and a tractor going outside of our bedroom door. I feel like I'm shaking from the inside out, from all of the noise and vibration. Turns out the little cement steps leading out from our bedroom (which have to go) are the strongest structure known to man, and they refuse to budge or be broken. It looks like, after 2 days and 4 guys later, they may be giving up the fight - but not easily.

Here's a few pics from Day #1.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

Last night to my mom when she didn't repeat prayers along with her:

Grandma, sometimes it is important for some people to tell other people how important it is to teach some other people their prayers if the other people don't know them.

This morning to me, when I wasn't cutting out the Hi Kitty Kitty Picture just right:

Come on, Mommy. You have to do it right. Come on. Work with me, kiddo!

The other day, we were eating left over pizza for lunch (culinary genius that I have been lately). Anna ate a few bites and then wandered off. I said, "OK - I'll just feed the rest to the dog." She immediately protested. "No! No!" A few minutes later, Curtis found her empty plate in front of the dog kennel. He asked where he pizza went, and she said, "Mommy told me to feed it to the dog!"