This and That

 Daughter K came for a visit.  I completely forgot to have her go thru the Christmas stuff in the garage.  I guess that will be next visit.

The living room floor is ready for it to go back in, but not until starting Monday.  He "doesn't work weekends."  Also, he said his back is hurting.  Not what we wanted to hear.

In the meantime, I have a family member coming out to give us a quote on cleaning the gutters.  The leaves are all down, and it needs to be done.

Daughter E's cat Tiger finally got the vet and got his shot. He's is feeling much better and eating again.  I found his special food online and he's a happy cat (can't find it in any store anymore).

Not sure what the weekend will entail, but I do know we need to get all the porch furniture put into storage for the winter.  Right now the porch is literally the only place to sit, other than in our bedroom.  Yes, it's part of my stir-craziness.  I'm trying to be patient, but....

Cold weather moves in . . .

 

Not the best photo, but one half of the living room is getting new joists.  One broke while our handy man walked on the floor after the under layment was removed.  Anyway, the progress is moving along.  We have more supplies we need.  Some blocks need tuck work, but we got 90% of the wood purchased.

We had trouble locating some of the supplies, such as cement anchors, screws, washers, and other items.  At least we have a Menard's and Lowe's in one town, and a Home Depot in another.  We have Ace as well, although they are the last choice due to prices being high.

Thankfully, our handy man has a trailer, making it easy to get the larger supplies to the house.  Of course we pay him gas money as well.  However, the weather was nice, and the last thing (during this big of a project) is "I'm tapping out early today."  He did.  He wanted to get a motorcycle ride in while the weather was beautiful.  I don't blame him, but we are another day behind now.

We now move into 40°F days and 20°F nights.

Bailey's in my Coffee kind of day . . .

 

We had another beautiful sunrise, and weather in the 70's.  Crazy that it will get so cold at night this weekend.

I dried a bit more sage, but had to use my large dehydrator.  My smaller one is buried until the living room is done.

Speaking of the living room, day 3 of floor removal went well.  Nails had to be pulled etc. However, (the part where I needed Baileys in my coffee), our handy man's vehicle has bad wheel bearings.  Now,  if we were doing this ourselves we would still be using our own truck to haul the old flooring out.  The guy we hired is a friend.  He asked to borrow my truck the other day to buy mold spray and and a new blade.  I agreed.  It was for supplies we needed.  I get it.

But....but...he hauled flooring out to the burn pile and then just left yesterday.  Literally, he just left without asking permission.  I mean I want the floor done, but I was not expecting him to use my truck daily for all his needs.  He went for lunch and bought pop somewhere (a case of it) using our gas and truck.  

Anyway, I am, not going to be sitting in this house for the next month without use of my truck.  We live in the boonies.  I had a discussion about this with my husband already.  I am not one to go out for errands at the end of the day, considering the drive and now it gets darker faster.  Note....he has a truck and trailer of his own.

Okay, I just thought it was very rude, not to mention, wrong.

Off my soapbox.  Onto another day of chaos. 

Moon and other ramblings....,

 

Not the best photo, as I should have been up at 5am for a better photo.

Half the living room floor remains to be removed.  Sigh.  I though it would go much faster and it's driving me nutso.

We believe the original part of the house was built in the 30's.  Apparently this is what was typical to support the center of the floor in each room.  In the living room it's a random stack of wood.  There may be a rock or two as well.  Just one more of those "what in the heck" moments of doing repairs and remodeling.

I ordered a crochet hook from Amazon, and the carrier lost the package.  It was one I did not have either, and I need to keep my sanity during all of this chaos in the house right now. 

I typically find myself baking, but even with the plastic sheeting up to block dust out of the kitchen, that's not going to happen. 

 I have to be super strict with my husband's diet anyway.  His last doctor appt. was not good.  He admitted to eating donuts at work of all things.  He has since promised not to eat them, and today....

...he's getting homemade hummus and celery sticks.  He is well supplied with healthy snacking.  I know work has been stressful, so I have to stay on task with having healthy snacks and his meals packed now.

Living room repairs underway. . .

 All the living room carpet has been ripped out, and about 1/4th of the floor as well.  We have it opened enough to access the situation, and well, we have a lot of work on our hands.  Old farm house problems, or should I say the last people cut corners causing us problems.....

Not the best photo, but we knew that there was an issue around the hearth where the woodstove is.  First discovery - they didn't use concrete anchors (or whatever you call them, can't remember what he called them).  Anyway, they did exactly what we thought.  Well, on one side anyway.  On one side they put in blocks with random stacks of wood that sank over the years, and on the other, there was literally nothing holding the floor up between last joist and hearth.

Our handy man got the underlayment boards removed, only to discover they literally put it on top of the houses original floor, and that was it.  Instead of removing the original floor, and replacing it with new, they covered it with thin underlayment boards and carpet.  Shaking my head.  The original flooring rotted, and our handy man almost fell thru in one area.  So we are removing the entire floor, fixing joists, removing broken joists, etc etc.  He's also using my truck to haul it all out of the house, so I am limited to a day to town for errands.

I'm running upstairs early this morning, just to make sure I have enough yarn for the week (or two).  I may not be able to access the stairway, and I cannot get into my office for anything (where the smaller pantry is as well).  Frustrating, but I know we will have peace of mind when it's finished.

We also discovered a huge random copper pipe under the floor.  The last source of heat was a boiler, and the pipes where just left under the floor.  I'm wondering how the pipes were left and no flooring was lifted out....anyway...

We also discovered there was one patch work done on the floor, letting us know they already had an issue but didn't take care of it properly.  

I'm shocked the floor never caved in when we hosted Christmas and had over 50 people in our house.

Half the living room is crammed into our kitchen, office and bedroom for the time being.  Pray we don't lose sanity and don't go broke getting the floor replaced.   I'm told some lumber prices have gone down.  Also pray that we get the old floor all out and at least subfloor all in by the weekend.  It is going to dip to the 20's by the weekend.

Happy Homemaker Monday

 Over the weekend, we got the chicken coop mucked, and ready for colder weather.  We were lucky to be walking around outside in t-shirts.  Oddly warmer weather for November.

They say we may not have to deal with this time change stuff next year.  Let's hope and pray.  We are not happy with dark skies at 5-6pm. 

Our Christmas tree is now up in the master bath.  I need to dig out my tree topper.  It may be the only tree we get up this year, depending on how long it takes to finish the living room.

Speaking of living room, I told my husband that if our handy man delays our work, I will start ripping up the carpet myself.  He didn't come all weekend, and we want this done ASAP.

Joining up today with Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

The weather . .  .

60's and sunny, but weather is all over the map this week, and we dip to the 20's over the weekend.

As I look outside my window. . . 

Sunny.

Right now I am . . .

Getting ready to post this.

Thinking and pondering . . . 

I'm thinking of making my own homemade turkey breakfast sausage.  We have to really watch the lean meat and veggies.  My husband was sneaking donuts at work, and his last doctor visit was not good.  He promised me he'd pass on them from now on.

How I am feeling . . . 

Tired, but excited that my husband only has to work these very early hours for 2 more day.

On the breakfast plate . . .

New recipe.  More on that later.

What I am wearing . . .

Jammies.  Sipping coffee.

On the reading pile. . .

Haven't had time to read.  

On the TV . . .

Lonesome Dove.

On the menu. . .

-crockpot meatballs and home canned sauce, quinoa, and steamed broccoli
-Butternut squash soup 
-Chicken Bruschetta Casserole (new recipe to try)

Looking around the house. . .

Daughter T finally came over to pick up an area rug I needed out of the living room.  By the way, she is in school to become an RN.  She is now working a few days a week in the hospital, and trying to get used to working the night shift.

On the to-do list . . .

-make a breakfast casserole
-work on cleaning up hallway where things were put during kitchen/bathroom repairs.

-take down all the living room curtains

-..still working on the to-do list

From the camera. . .

Devotional . . .

Prayers for Daughter E to have a successful hair salon business.  She's had many cancelations and I'm so worried (as all mothers would) that she won't get enough business to continue to be her own boss.  Her rent for the booth is high, and she still has to pay her apartment rent, and as we all know, everything is extremely high in costs right now.

Donation Drop Day

 

Not the best photos, but I finally got these two scrap yarn lap afghans dropped off.  They went to an assisted living home.  They were very happy to receive them, as many of the folks living there move around in wheelchairs.

The wind was so wicked that we finished up our day and got back home to hunker in.  Power went out in neighboring towns, but we remained with power.

On a good note, we located flooring for not only the living room, but possibly two other rooms, for a much lower price.  We are taking measurements and praying the flooring is still there when we go back to get it.  I'm more excited to get these jobs done after seeing the flooring.

Oh, the wind gave us more firewood for the wood stove.  Luckily, the tree was out by the tree line and not near the house.