The ceiling and trim around the beams are FINALLY done.
The stairs are "basically" in. They still have to be trimmed out.
Then this week, I was finally "captured" and forced into "slavery". Actually, I only had to transport one parent for only one medical appointment after a little flurry of activity this past month with Grampa and Grandma both "acting-up" a bit!!
The "SLAVE DRIVER" -note the serious look on his face as he tinkers with the caulk gun. FEAR HIM...His real name is THOMAS EdWORK HOLMES.
So, the weather turned a bit cooler and the bugs died down a bit (or so I thought) and I decided to tackle some of the "unskilled" labor tasks that needed to be done. I don't do anything that requires skilled labor.
First, I had to WASH the entire exterior of the house as due to the Alabama monsoons and the length of time it has been since the structure was erected, the logs had weathered quite a bit. So I proceed to spray off the entire house with a 2 GAL garden sprayer with a special mixture to remove the discoloration and kill any mold or mildew in order to prepare the wood for staining and sealing.
Do you know how many times you have to stop and pump up that silly little sprayer to keep enough pressure to reach up high on the sides? I think that I counted one time and in one full canister, I pumped 6 times at 25 times per episode. That would be approximately 150 pumps per each fill of the sprayer. I lost count, but I think I filled/refilled the container about 12 times. You can do the rest of the math, but my right arm tells me it's somewhere up around 832,654 pumps.
And then the ladder part...my chubby butt lugging that full container up about 25 feet on the ladder which was sitting on the decking which is anywhere from 3-4 feet to 10-12 feet off the ground. And oh yes...the fogged up eye wear which protected my eyes but pretty much rendered me working blind.
After applying the cleaning solution, the house had to be rinsed with the pressure washer. Tom pretty much did this as that thing just about blasted me off the ladder the first time I tried it.
All this was done TWICE....well, except for the back porch...I was TOO tired and since it was covered, the wood looked pretty OK anyway.
So after the house-washing, we cleaned up a TON of trash/wood scraps and burned them. By this time, I had picked Clara up from school and she brought home a couple of friends, Trenton and Jakob. They pretty much ran wild on the property somewhat supervised. They found a puddle with tadpoles which occupied them well until I started the fire, which aroused their pyromania-tendencies.
AND what is the deal about kids and fires???? I read somewhere that pyromania was one of the three signs you were raising a potential serial killer or Timothy McVeigh-type...(probably during my "Columbine-mother-hysteria-years", during which I snooped and spied on my children WAY more than a mom should have, looking diligently for any signs that I was raising a latent school-shooter)
Thank goodness none of them wet the bed past age 12 or were cruel to animals. Well except for maybe a few incidents involving fire ants, army men figurines and firecrackers. And maybe a Barbie or two to just try to get the girls all riled up.
...Sorry Blake...but you should have NEVER planted all that stuff about Che Guevara and the bomb making recipes just for me to find. Oh yes, and don't forget the school newsletter you wanted to publish...was it called "The REVOLUTION"? We could have bought you a MUCH nicer car had we/me not spent three years visiting the counselor weekly to help keep my "bad-mother fears" at bay. And MAYBE one day you will have six children who suck all your brain cells and confidence away. And I will love them.....and laugh...just a little!!! Or maybe a lot.
One of the 6 reasons I am half-crazy....SEE....he's trying to run over me in this very picture!
So, here I am, posting about the house and now I'm rambling on about how you guys DROVE me NUTS...and now you LAUGH because your Mother is CRAZY.
Well, I forgot what I was saying about the house. The above rambling is known in psychiatric circles as "flight of ideas" which is one sign of psychosis. I THINK it's the only symptom I have. I'll post this and shut-up now. Maybe another day I'll finish telling about all the BACK-BREAKING SLAVE LABOR WORK I DID THIS WEEK ON THIS HOUSE!
