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29 October 2009 ~ One weary but snow happy Girl

We are digging ourselves out of nearly two feet of the wonderful white stuff so I really can’t stay today. I am just ecstatic when I can get a video to post on AARP so I was especially thrilled when the latest one finally posted after repeated tries. You’ll find the pictures there and I just don’t have a lot of time for the words but the Reader’s Digest Condensed Version would say:

In Two Weeks my family (2 grandparents, 4 parents and 5 grandsons):

Met a suicidal deer on a dark, deserted highway and totaled one vehicle

Lost the fuel pump on another vehicle

Killed one dryer

Shopped for a car

Bought one sadly neglected old house with good bones

Took down one wall – Mark with Joshua’s help

Set one beam in place of a bearing wall – Mark with Joshua’s help

Cleaned drywall dust

Installed one dryer outlet and one freezer outlet

Wired switches and outlets

Ran gas line for one stove

Gutted one bathroom

Partially gutted another bathroom

Installed two toilets

Set one bathroom vanity, sink and fixtures

Shopped for a car

Cleaned drywall dust

Tore out miles of antique carpet

Sanded miles of hardwood floors that were hidden by antique carpet

Cleaned sanding dust

Four coats of finish on miles of beautiful hardwood floors

Tore out a kitchen floor

Laid new kitchen subfloor

Laid new kitchen tile

Installed new drywall in one ceiling

Drywall patch and texture throughout main living area

Cleaned drywall dust

Shopped for a car

Tore out bathroom floor

Laid new bathroom subfloor

Laid new bathroom tile

Two coats of paint in two hallways

Two coats of paint in four rooms

Trimmed two overgrown trees and pulled up several bushes

Changed one propane stove to natural gas before it was installed

Shopped for a car

And I almost forgot to add the fact that my 80 year old mother wanted to help so she did in the only way she can right now. She cooked a delicious moving day meal for all of us including all of the family favorites right down to her famous Peanut Butter Cookies!!

Ho, are ya tired yet? I know I am forgetting about two dozen other projects that kept all of us busy for seven straight thirteen hour days. Jim and I would come home late, wolf down a fast food meal and catch a few winks before we groaned our way back to the house the next morning before dawn. Then you have to include moving a whole boatload of furniture, appliances and more boxes than you can count into the new house. And then throw in the constant chore of keeping 5 busy little boys pointed in a constructive direction.

Here at the end of this whirlwind we are still recovering. But the good news is that we only got a few bumps and bruises and slivers and a couple of little boys with hammers stayed out of trouble. The family that hit the deer was a little shook up but the only injuries belonged to the deer that vanished into the night. They are still shopping for a car.

Every single member of this family did their share to build a clean, solid beginning in the new house. Jim was a great straw boss and lined us all out to do what needed to be done. It was hard work but I think each one of us would tell you that we had a ball. Well, maybe you should wait another day or two before you ask that question because some of us are still groaning. But we made great memories together and the best thing of all is that we can still laugh and we are completely snowed in and missing a couple of cars so we really do have to take a break!