It's done.

Finished.

Finite.

The end.

The tomatoes are dead to me.

Now I only have approximately 20 squash, 10 zucchini,  and 30 various peppers to do something with.

Maybe just throw them in the trash.

Har har.

I kid.

We must not waste.

I made four more pots of tomato sauce yesterday and have two more boxes of tomatoes left still.

It's like the boxes keep multiplying!!!!

I think I've done about 100 loads of laundry this week. That keeps multiplying too.

I waited for four hours yesterday for Brad the Hvac Man. He never showed. I'm going to do the same today. Except maybe longer. It's frustrating waiting on someone to show up having no idea if it will even happen.

So I think I've got plenty to do today. I'm gonna go get started on those tomatoes so I can get over to play the waiting game at the house.

Toodles

I Believe in Angels

This week nothing has been going right. The hvac guy is not responding whatsoever to me. I only texted him twice over the course of a week to see where our quote was that he had promised us within on day. He knew we were on a time crunch too, but apparently I must have scared him off because he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

I then Googled "how to hire a reluctant contractor" and surprisingly it worked and brought up a few very helpful articles. After reading for a while, I felt a prompting to attempt to contact the very first hvac guy, Brad, to see if I could get anything from him.

HE TEXTED ME RIGHT BACK!!!!!

I know. Surprise, surprise.

So I have a meeting with him tomorrow, maybe. These contractors are slicker than snot.

And then, we got a knock on our door randomly and when I opened it, there stood a guy with three pumpkins in his arms. I met him last week when he dropped off some extra tomatoes. Word flies in a small town, and apparently the word is that I need everyone's extra produce. So this guy gave me the pumpkins and asked if I wanted more produce. I reluctantly said yes, because I just can't pass up more work. I got Carter and Will and drove to his house where I met his amazing kind wife.

They spoiled the boys and were so kind and amazing to us. We were there for about an hour and a half in which I asked them if they could be our surrogate grandparents and then thanked them profusely and gave them both hugs when we left.

Do you believe in Angels here on earth? I do. I needed that sweet couple on that crappy day and I felt Heavenly Father's love for me through them.

Today I've been trying to get a handle on all of the produce people keep bringing us. It's out of control, but I'd be stupid to let it go to waste. We need all the help we can get right now. So I've been canning, in between homeschooling and working at the house today, I also figured out dill pickles. Hallelujah! I had to stop with my tomatoes because I ran out of fennel and they don't carry that anywhere in town! Can you believe that?

But anyway, I'm pooped.

I hope you notice I've been blogging a lot more lately. It helps me feel less anxious about life to talk about some of our struggles.

Don't worry, I'm not telling you everything. There is still some mystery here.

P.S. still waiting to get that quote...

You know what's disappointing?

When you set out to make dill pickles

Only to find out at the end that you accidentally made sweet pickles

Don't judge

Until you walk a day or even an hour in my shoes

Late Night Thoughts

I had this thought last night and it won't leave my head this morning: Man! I've had a selfish couple of weeks!

I hope we get this electrical and hvac stuff done so I can focus on someone other than myself. I'm feeling pretty icky about it actually.

Do you have thoughts like this too? Or is it just me...

Run-in with the Law

After we left the town house last night, Trevor stayed to work for a few more hours. We have no light, so he was working by headlamp. Just as he was getting ready to leave, the Law showed up shining a giant spotlight into the house to see what was going on in there.

Trevor went outside to talk to the officer and thank him for watching out for our house. Meanwhile, I was calling and texting Trevor to see why he was so late coming home.

I should mention that Trevor is friends with almost every officer in town, so it shouldn't be a surprise that he stood outside talking for over an hour, all the while I was worrying at home.

Funny thing, I almost called the police, which the call would have gone to that officer... heh heh... but instead I got in the car and drove to town to check on Trevor who was still talking to the officer when I pulled up. Urgh!!!

He got a piece of my mind!

Nicely of course, because I was so relieved he was okay!

Late Night Electrical

Our town house neighbor called Trevor last night at 10:30 to see if he was walking around inside the house. Good thing it was him, and thanks to her for watching out for us.

Trevor has been rock-starring it at the town house pulling the electrical this week. It's frustrating having the kids in school and not being able to help him as much. Tonight we went to help until just after 9. Pulling wire in the dark is actually not that terrible.

Still waiting on more hvac bids. I'll update you when I know more, but please continue to pray for a good price for us!

I wanted to say one more thing:

After my second to last post, I had a good cry because the hvac guy's bid was $8000.00. I don't think you could begin to understand what that felt like or even why it was such a big deal. We have sacrificed so much to get this far. This has been so draining emotionally and financially. We made a goal to be finished by a certain time and we have been killing it to make that goal happen, but we did not budget that much money for the hvac. So I had a good cry, and then had a strong impression to call my sister and talk to her about an hvac guy that we had used to replace my parents hvac when we lived in their house. Long story short, my sister called the hvac guy and he was able to give her the names of a few guys who would be much more reasonably priced. It's funny how quickly you can go from hopeless to hopeful. I was also feeling so upset and overwhelmed about winter coming so fast, but I feel calm about it and after bawling my eyes out, I feel like everything will work out and we are doing everything we can to just keep moving forward. Everything will work out the way it's supposed to. We only have control over ourselves and what we are doing to get it done. The rest just has to be put in the Lord's hands.

Waaaaa! I just wrote the longest blog post and it deleted the whole thing!!!!

I don't have it in me to rewrite the whole thing

This is the wood floor I'm redoing. I stained the left different than the right. That's one of my tiles there in the middle. This wood is a sampling of all the different kinds of wood we pulled out of the house. Some of it was water damaged, some covered in glue, and some just regular. I think the stain makes them look pretty uniform. I'm in love.

The end.

Sorry.

I just looked at an extended forecast and it said that on September 22nd the temp would get down to 28 degrees.

Ummmm...

Someone help me out.

That's below freezing, right?

So in my non-insulated house with no heat and water running throughout it, that's bad right?

I'm going to have a panic attack.

I think it's fair to say that I'm stressed.

Homeschool is kicking me in the rear end this year.

As is this house.

The hvac guy will not call me back. I've left him so many voicemail it is ridiculous.

I give up.

I met with a new hvac guy today.

Now I'm waiting for the bid. Please pray that it will be inexpensive.

Is it even possible for anything having to do with hvac to be inexpensive?

Well anyway, I'm stressed about money.

I'm stressed about my time.

I'm stressed about life.

I'm going to go have a nervous breakdown now.

Dust and Sickness

Another Saturday bites the dust.

Yesterday we installed one of the window wells in the morning. The second window well can't go in yet because the hole is not quite the right size. It's close though.

Then we went to the lumber store to purchase some lumber, and came back and Trevor spent the rest of the day building the last of the basement walls. We now have an office nook, a bathroom, and a furnace room. The basement is complete, except for the doorways into the rooms. So it will be complete as soon as two doorways are built, but heck, that's still pretty good!

I worked up in the bathroom again. I finished cutting and installing the drywall and then mudding and taping it. I also worked outside on patching the few places that we needed to fix the stucco (where the old electrical mast was, the new faucets, the old dryer vent).

I'm still up in the air as far as which finish to do on the walls. I don't want to regret picking something that will take 1000 hours to complete. I'm kinda thinking that the knock down finish sounds really good. I'm already going to have to spend a lifetime texturing the ceilings. Hmmm, it's a quandary.

I didn't take any photos yesterday. I know, I know. I should have, but it got dark very fast, and then it was too late.

We are still sick. I'm still quite sick, and every time I move I can feel it in my teeth. Lots of pressure in my head. Pretty much all of my kids are sick too, and Trevor has still managed to get away free from it all. He's so lucky.

Alright then. I'll try to remember to take some photos this week.

Level 5

Yo. I've just been learning about drywall finishes.

Let me tell you about a level 5. Level 5 is the most expensive and sought after finish, because it is completely smooth. Yeah, as in NO TEXTURE.

Pretty cool, right?

I'm thinking about doing a level 5. What are your thoughts? Have you ever thought about texture, and what do you like?

The girls started school this week. It's been so good for them to get back into a routine. I can tell they are much happier too. We are sad having them gone, but the house is a whole lot quieter, and that's kinda nice.

I've been sick all week. I'm so over this, but colds have always stuck to me longer and harder than most normal people. Get lost sickness!

Here We Sit Like Birds In the Wilderness...

Hi everyone.

I've been killing it lately. Tooting my own horn there...

But it has caught up with me, and I've been in bed sick all day today.

I hate having to stop when I'm on a roll.

I can't remember where I left off last time, so I may repeat myself. Sorry if I do.

I've been putting in the hours at the house, with full days of work until dark pretty much every day. Trevor has been joining me there after work every day too. It's a family effort.

I think I left off with cutting out the basement window. Since then, I've been up in the basket of the forklift scraping off old paint and painting all the upper sections of the house.

Trevor framed out the bedrooms and closets in the basement, and all the exterior walls.

I moved on to the small bathroom upstairs. I really want a bathroom at the house soon, because all the trips to McDonalds are getting really old. I finished tiling the bathroom and then built the shelves in the corner by the toilet.

Meanwhile, Trevor has been working diligently to finish all the little details of the plumbing. The permit is expiring in a little over two weeks, so it's go time on that.

We have water at both spickets now and the washer and dryer and one toilet, not that any of that is hooked up right now, but I think that is all that is capped off at this point.

I called our hvac guy who you remember we talked to back in April. I haven't heard from him all summer. I left a message for him to call me back, but it's been almost a week and still no return call. I'm ready to give up on him. We have GOT to get heat installed before the weather turns now that we have water in the house.

Anyway, I've got to stop working at the house so much now because the kids are starting school this week, and we won't be able to push so hard any more. Sad.

I think my fever is returning now, so I'm going to sign off. -later