July 1 - Day 23

A crew of four here again today. Woohoo! But I think alot of time was spent cleaning up the yard...and that's wonderful, but...*sigh*

They had most of the plywood (?) sheeting on the roof when I got home, and had already started laying that black paper. RoofDude greeted me for the daily updates and news, and first thing he asked was what color we decided for the j-channels. lol Does he think they're THAT close to beginning the siding that he needs to know right now? Or maybe he's ordering material soon? There has been one small shipment of some siding stuff already, has been sitting here for days, and I've always wondered if he has everything ordered and waiting in storage? Or will he order just before they start? If so, what is the stuff that's already here, and will we end up with different lot numbers and possibly slight variations in color? Good lord, do you see how my mind works and why I'm always whining about stress? LOL

Anyway, he asked if we'd thought about the j-channels and what we'd decided. I had not talked to hubby at all last night (more on that later) and I would hate it if he just made decisions without discussion, but I told RoofDude we'd go with white. But then I quickly made sure he knew the corners of the house itself would NOT be white. He said oh no no no, those would be khaki. I told him I hate houses that have the white corner strips. He agreed, said there are only certain colors that works with and our brown is dark enough *not* to work. I mentioned a house I see everyday I go to work, right on the edge of town, that is similar brown but with those white corners and a hideous black roof. (Tina, it's the house next to the high school, the one that sells flags, if you're wondering.)

This led us into a discussion about roofs. RoofDude said he just doesn't understand why people will put so much money and time and trouble into their siding only to leave the roof as is, and not take into consideration that it might look totally ugly. He said alot of people say they can't afford both roof and siding, and that's kinda ridiculous because the roof is the most important part. He wondered why, if that is the case, why don't people pick siding to work with the roof color that's already there? I said in our case it was the roof that absolutely needed to be done, and we just talked it over and decided what the heck, take the plunge and get it all done. He said ours is in remarkably good shape underneath the surface layer of worn out shingles. We know now why we had so many leaks over the laundry room, and that has been (hopefully, *knock wood*) corrected. And the one other spot we knew was bad has been fixed, but wasn't even as bad as we'd feared.

He mentioned they would be painting all three doors, inside and out. I don't know why it was so easy but I just gave up the fight. I figured heck, they're painting all three, inside AND out, friggen let them go ahead and do it. He already has it planned, and it's easier to accept this than to argue my nitpicky point. I'm still not giving up on my kitchen door yet though!

When I first got home, he was cracking his whip at the guys on the roof, telling them "Quit your gabbing and get some work done! We got rain coming!" After talking about the doors and stuff he explained that they'd be staying late tonight cuz they have to finish the section of roof before the rain gets here. He said there is rain and storms forecast for tomorrow, but they'd be here in the morning to finish up any little odd bits before then. And then he told me he was leaving for camping Thursday-Sunday. I knew this was coming, he'd mentioned it before we ever signed a contract, but I guess I was hoping he'd still work Thursday and take off after that. So in preparation for this long absence they were putting extra effort into cleaning up around the yard. He said he'd move one of his trailors, and take the other home for the weekend, so we could get the lawn mowed. Now we just need to make sure we get off our lazy butts and actually mow. *snort*

They already had the front part of the porch roof done when I got home:


Two of the helpers (WhinyGirl and NewGuy) left before 5pm but RoofDude and UsualHelper stayed until 7:30pm, trying to get that main roof section done. They didn't quite get all of it, but they must feel it's safe enough for the night. He said they'd be back in the morning to finish it.


I don't know if my pics are really showing the roof good enough. I can't wait till it's completely done and I can just stand back and take an overall pic. The shingles are brown with some gray and black spattered in, and they're not all uniform. I mean, the actual piece is, yeah...but they have a sort of old time mismatched look in the end. I think hubby and RoofDude said it kinda looks like shakes, like a shake roof...? Oh well, you're probably bored to death by it anyway.

I mentioned earlier that I had not talked to hubby at all last night. I had gone into work at 3am Monday morning, got done at 3pm. Hubby had thought he was on eight hour days this week because of the holiday, thought he'd be getting home just before I did. Nope. When I got home Ty said he had called and they'd changed his hours so he wouldn't be home till 5pm. Ok, no biggie. Except I was totally drained by my own 12 hour shift. (I'm too old for that crap now!) I knew I had to discuss house things with him so I managed to stay busy (and awake) and watched 5pm come and go. I was losing the battle as each minute passed, and when 6pm came and went with still no hubby, I told the boys I was going upstairs to read for a bit and if he got home anytime soon to send him up.

I didn't read very long and let myself fall asleep. Sometime later I was vaguely aware that he was home now but I just rolled over and went back to sleep. When he came to bed later I tried to wake up enough to discuss the house stuff but never got a word out before I was asleep again. His alarm went off at 4am this morning and I managed to mumble "Do you have to work late again?" He said yes, and I was asleep again. LOL! So much for house talk!

But yeah, I was totally wiped out yesterday.

Today after work I had intended on going to Menards and checking on the doors. That was taken care of when RoofDude said they would be painting them. I thought ooooh, I don't have to go to town now! Then I remembered the other half of my reason was cuz Casey just HAD to get to EB Games in the mall. So after chitchatting with RoofDude for a bit, the boys and I hopped in the car and headed to Fond du Lac. Went to the mall, found what he wanted, considered browsing all the other stores we rarely ever get to, but decided to just get back home instead.

We got home and there was a message from the photography studio that did Ty's senior pics. She said they are in and I can call her back to set up a time to get them. Whoa! It's only been a week. Awesome! It says 4-6 weeks on the paperwork, and she had even told me "about three weeks" last week when I ordered them. Too bad she hadn't called earlier...we could have swung by while in town today and picked them up. So it looks like I'll have ANOTHER running around day. When can I get back to my normal boring routinely dull life?

Hubby got home just minutes after we did. It was like, what happened to working late?? I had nothing planned for supper. I decided it was a fend for yourself night. He made Raman noodles, and I made a sandwich. LOL Boys are locked away in Ty's room with the Xbox, so they don't need food...

I think Tina's comment from my original Day 22 posting was lost when I redid that entry. In it she had wondered just how many days have had house work, how many were off days. They've had seven days off out of 23, which isn't too horribly bad when you look at it like that. I think it's just rather frustrating for us because we have to deal with everything each day, whether they're here or not. I think we're getting to where we just want it done, just want our peace of mind back. (Like we ever had that?!) I was looking at older blog entries, the Day 1 pics from before it all started, and was longing for the empty yard and all the familiar old things.

I guess I have to look it as being closer to done than closer to just having gotten underway. Right??