74 Days

Things have been crazy the past two weeks.  So much has happened and I feel like I can't keep up with it all.  I left on the 9th to go to Indianapolis for a week for work.  We started Beta for our new claims system and I had to go help train and support the release.  Our anniversary was while I was gone and I was pretty bummed we had to spend it a part, but Nick is going to plan something for us when our house is done for us to celebrate.  Nick has accepted a new job and will be working at Lakewood Middle School this upcoming fall.  We are beyond excited!  Nick loved his old job, but has always wanted to be back at Lakewood.  We have so many fond memories there and Nick really cares about the Lakewood community and wants to be a part of it again.  He starts school on September 10, but had to have his classroom cleaned out at Hastings and his new classroom cleaned and set up as soon as possible, which put some stress on him to get both that done and stay on target with the house stuff.

As you can see, we've been quite busy and I have fallen really far behind on keeping up with the blog.  For the week that I was gone, Nick kept a short entry everyday on his phone what was done everyday.  I wanted him to actually get on and blog, but he was extremely busy so I appreciate him doing what he did.  We now have all of roof and fascia and soffit done.  The trench and tile for the basement has been completed, all of the duct work is in, all electrical boxes are in, and we've started to pull wire for the electrical.  It's still unbelievable to me thinking that we started on June 30 with a whole being dug and on August 23 we are ready to start siding on Monday, and electrical is being put in place.  I sound like a broken record, but I can't stop saying it - Nick and I have been so humbled by everyone who has helped us get to where we are right now.  You guys rock.

Here's the day by day break down for the last forever (at least it feels that way:))

Thursday - August 6: Nick, Grandpa, Grandma and Kellie worked during the day.  Grandpa and Grandma got a wall moved - Nick and I decided that we would rather have the extra space in the laundry room than our small bathroom in the mudroom.  Kellie and Nick worked on the drip edge and worked on the roof off the pick because it was too hot to get up and stand on the shingles.  Scott Stoepker came and drilled the holes for the front and back porch supports.  Ben, Gary, Adam and I came over after we were out of work. Adam brought the skid steer with him and worked on getting dirt moved up by the house for underneath the porches.  Ben, Nick, Gary and Kellie worked on shingling while Grandma, Grandpa and I worked on getting the cement into the holes for the porch supports.

We had a little mishap and Adam's brand new truck got a dent put in it.  Nick and Adam were outside chatting before Adam took off.  When they decided it was time to go, Nick went around back to make sure everything was cleaned up while Adam loaded up the skid steer on the trailer attached to his truck.  When he drove up the trailer, the hitch came off and as he moved forward the hitch slammed into the back of his 1 month old truck.  Adam was very cool about the whole thing, when you know he really just wanted to scream from being so angry.

Friday - August 7: I took the day off on Friday.  Nick and I were able to sleep in a little and that was much enjoyed.  We got up and Nick went out to work on the roof.  I felt so bad because he was up there alone, so I decided to be brave and tried to get up on the roof again.  Anndd guess what?! I was able to do it this time.  We were up there for a little over an hour and I was able to walk around and help hand Nick things that he needed.  We took a break and ran into Grand Ledge to get our doors and siding ordered and grabbed lunch.  Grandma and Grandpa stayed behind and worked on getting the supports for the porch put in.  When we got back, everything was set and we were ready to start working on the porch.  While Grandma and Grandpa were grabbing lunch, Nick and I moved some more dirt to the front porch so we would be ready when they got back.

When they got back, Nick and I got the cement put in for the back porch.  Pete (our heating guy) stopped by and got everything cut out for the ducts to be put in place.  Kellie came over around 4 and moved dirt while Grandpa, Grandma, Nick and I worked on the front porch.  When Gary got here, Kellie, Gary, Nick and I got up on the roof and worked until around 8:45.  Kristin came over on her way home from Saginaw and we all decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and get some food and have some drinks.

Saturday - August 8: Gary, Nick and I worked on the roof.  Jessica came over and helped Grandpa and Grandma with the deck boards.  When Kristin and Kellie came over, they got on the roof and worked with Nick and Gary.  Grandma, Grandpa and I worked on the front porch.

Sunday - August 9: I had to pack and get ready to leave for a work trip, so I did very little to help on Sunday morning.  Kellie, Gary, Nick and Kristin worked on the roof again while Grandma and Grandpa worked on the porch.  Nick and I left around noon and stopped at Qdoba for lunch before I left.  I wasn't super pumped to leave for a whole week with so much going on and having to miss our anniversary, but I had a really nice time with Priscilla and Kayta and enjoyed being at the branch.

This is the part where I have little knowledge of what went on, so please forgive the lack of detail here: 

Monday - August 10: The windows came in the morning.  It rained most of the day and made the basement a mess.  Kellie and Nick spent the morning trying to get the water to run away from the house.  We haven't backfilled yet so because of the slope of the ground, everything was running straight towards the house.  They were able to finish the deck and set two windows.  They got the porch roof shingles and started on the front of the house.  Gary, Kellie, Grandpa, Grandma and Nick were working.

Tuesday - August 11:  Grandpa, Grandma and Nick worked until 5 on the overlays for the drywall, returns, and finishing up other odds and ends.  Fern and Tim came after work and helped with windows.  Fern made enchiladas for dinner.  Gary came after work and helped work on more shingling.

Wednesday - August 12: Grandpa, Grandma and Nick worked on getting more windows set and the returns.  The got the kitchen window and garage windows set and left around 3.  Kellie and Nick worked on shingles.

Thursday - August 13: Nick and Kellie cut the valleys.  Grandpa and Nick worked on the porch sleeves and getting those cut.  Nick had a meeting during the day and had to leave for a couple of hours to go meet with the other 5th grade teachers up at Lakewood.  At night, Grandpa and Grandma worked on the porch.  Tim, Fern, Ryann, Ben and Gary came over after work and helped.

Friday - August 14: I came home on Friday and ended up getting back to Lansing around 2:45.  Nick picked me up and we ran to Menards to pick up our doors and some lumber we needed.  We grabbed Cuginos pizza for dinner and headed home.  Grandpa was there and had been working on back porch.  My mom and dad came over after work and we worked on the back deck.  We were able to get the back deck boards finished.

Friday night Nick and I went up to his new class and started going through things.  This is the first year that the 5th grade classes will be in the middle school because due to budget a couple of our elementary schools were closed and combined into one.  Because of the schools closing, Nick had a ton of boxes of things in his room that were from other schools and classrooms.  It was great because there were a lot of cool things in there that he wanted to keep, but there were also a lot of useless things in there that we had to get rid of.  We were at the school until about 1:15.

I'm back from my work trip now, but I forgot to write things down that we were doing and who was here so I may leave out a lot of detail.

Saturday - August 15: Gary came over in the morning and him and Nick worked on the roof.  Grandpa, my dad, Nick and I worked on getting the back deck posts completely set and the header built.  We also got the front deck poles set and the header finished.  We finished wrapping the back and got the windows put in the breakfast nook.

  

Pete and his sons and a friend came over and got all the duct work put in place.  My dad had to leave at 4 for a wedding, so him and grandpa left and Nick and I went to Menards (because they had their 11% off) and got our wire and some of our light fixtures.

Sunday - August 16: The fireplace came on Saturday, so we were able to get that set and we built the walls around the fireplace and got those set.  My dad and grandpa got to the house around 12 and worked on some odds and ends.  Gary and Kellie came in the afternoon and worked on the roof.

Monday - August 17: Kellie and I put up the boxes for the electrical.  Gary, Nick and Kellie worked on the roof, and I burned some of the extra wood and cardboard that we had.

Tuesday - August 18: I had my work picnic and didn't end up getting home until around 7.  The picnic was great.  Finley's catered and we played some yard games - spike ball got intense, but Subba and I ended up beating J.D. and Kyle.  When I got home, I went over to have Kellie do my hair.  Gary and Nick worked on the roof and finished the vents and cap.  They ended up getting back to Gary and Kellie's around 9.

Wednesday - August 19: Nick and I had to head over to my parent's house for family pictures.  Emily Goodemoot (who was our wedding photographer and is awesome) took the pictures.  After that, we ran up to Penny's and had dinner with Rachel, Phil, Ryann, Ben and my mom and dad.  Gary went over to the house and finished caulking the roof and we could say the roof was completely done on Wednesday.

Thursday - August 20: Nick and Grandpa have been working during the day on the fascia and soffit.  It makes the house start to look really cool because it gives it a sharp contrast with the white fascia and the black roof.  My mom and dad stayed after work for a while to help get the last two windows set.

Gary's dad's birthday was on Thursday.  He turned 87 and they were having a party for him at Mark's house.  We went over and stayed for about an hour and visited with Gary's family.  Nick and I headed home, grabbed a movie and dinner on the way home and just relaxed.  We rented Get Hard (Will Farrell and Kevin Hart) and I would not recommend it.  It was not very funny or entertaining.

Friday - August 21: Nick and Grandpa worked on fascia and soffit during the day.  Kellie and Jessica stopped by and cleaned up the inside of the house.  The siding got delivered on Friday and I was super excited to get home and see the colors.  Nick hadn't even opened the box yet when I got here.  I was really please with the colors and the look and I'm really excited to actually see it up on the house.  Kellie and Gary came over at night and we started running wire.

Saturday - August 22: Gary had to work; Nick and Grandpa worked on finishing the facia and soffit. Kellie, Grandma and I went to get groceries and pick up more things from Menards.  Grandpa and Nick worked on getting the rest of the fascia and soffit done.  Kellie and I worked on getting the rest of the boxes set and cleaned up the garage.  Gary came back after work and we continued working on wiring - we got both guest bedrooms done and some in the hall and bathroom done.  We had to make a trip to Menard's to get the fans for our bathrooms and stopped at Olivera's for dinner.

Sunday - August 23: Gary got here at 8:30ish and the three of us worked on wiring. Grandpa should be here in about an hour to start working on some odd jobs that need to be finished before we can start the siding tomorrow.

74 days down!