July 31 - Day 53

RoofDude's guy, Nick, showed up bright and early at 6am this morning. That was surprising. Then as I was leaving for work I noticed RoofDude's black truck just turning onto our road in the distance behind me, so he and UsualHelper got here about 6:40am. Wow.

I didn't talk to them this morning...well, besides Nick's "Good morning." And I worked late tonight so I didn't see or talk to them at all today. It was about 7:15pm when I got home. I grabbed my camera and did a quick peek at the progress, got a quick pic cuz the sun was setting and casting that end of the house in shadows. Looks like they finished up some last bits of siding and stuff on the rebuilt room, and they got busy on that final wall, the one that's bowed and going to be magically evened out. Hehe.

Ty took this first pic for me, earlier in the afternoon:


And this is the one I took when I got home. They got the whole wall evened out (can't see what I'm talking about from this angle), and sheeted with plywood, and the pink insulation, and even started the actual siding way down on the bottom. There is trim around the new door now, and the lower window has the j-channels in place. This is the *last* wall!


They still have some soffit work to do at various points around the house. The windows and doors still haven't been painted. They did have Power & Light out here today and got our meter box thingie reattached to the house. Oooh, I didn't check if they got the outlet redone on the laundry room wall. Hmm. There is no way they will be done by tomorrow like he suggested earlier this week, but it's looking good for next week to be THE END. Woot!!!

Hubby talked to RoofDude a bit today, found out some info about the crazy locks/knobs situation. RoofDude didn't try to say that we'd again bought cheap locks. This time he said something about the manufacturing of (not sure) the locks or the doors... *still unclear* ...and he bought some different, separate, larger 'strike plates' that he'll install. I still don't understand why he's mixing up the knobs though. *sigh*

I had told CoWorker about the powerline situation, and had asked her to ask her hubby what he thought/knew about such things. He is an electrician, but I knew I didn't want him actually involved because he's young and seems a bit too 'by the book.' Like, we're ok with our wiring because of the 'grandfather clause.' As long as we don't change anything, we don't *have* to change anything. I wanted her to ask him about putting the line back up, just to get an idea of the cost. Today she was telling me what he'd said and I knew it had been a wasted effort. She went on about how we'll have to update everything and the PVC alone is x-amount of dollars, and all of the equipment, and time, and parts....we're looking at over $500 at least. I tried explaining that as long as it just needs to be put back up, we shouldn't have to change anything. Yeah, can't tell her anything, so I gave up.

Well, when I got home tonight, I had an email reply from another electrician I'd emailed last night. This guy says it sounds easy enough, can be done from a ladder, and would be maybe $150-200. He lives over here by Buttmunch and will stop by to have a look. Cool. So tomorrow after work I've got GutterGuy and PowerGuy coming over to battle for my affections. *snort*

In non-house news, Ty had his consultation appointment with the oral surgeon today, to discuss having his wisdom teeth removed. Hubby took him to the appointment, just went in to work a little later. I knew it would cost a good chunk of change but I was not prepared for $2300!!!! Holy moly! He can keep those damn teeth in his head! No, seriously, the appointment is made (next week) and it's better to do it before the teeth start causing problems. He will be asleep for it, sedation thru an IV. And this makes me weepy, like I talked about in that other blog entry recently.

CoWorker and I did a bit more Twilight talking today. I'm loving that book even more as I read it a second time. LOVE it!!! I haven't had a chance to look for any new videos or pics today. But I did read part of a ComicCon thing last night that said the dude playing Edward (someday I will learn his name) actually wrote the song that will be Bella's Lullaby in the movie. I can't wait to hear it.

I doubt I'll go get the new book at midnight. If this week hadn't been so crazy I might have considered it more. But as it is, bleah, I'm ok with just getting it Saturday morning when I do my shopping. Not sure if I'll push myself so hard to get it read though, like I did last weekend with the third book. I guess I'll find out once I start reading, hehe. Honestly though, I think I'm more excited and anxious for the movie than I am about this book. I think I have hidden fears for what will happen in this book. It seems to be growing stronger in me, the fear that Edward will indeed die.

I must go cry myself to sleep now, and try to dream about happy endings.

July 30 - Day 52

RoofDude was gone by the time I got home today. I asked Ty what happened and he said "I think they went to buy locks." WTF? I forgot to mention in last night's blog entry that hubby and I had gone to Menards to get new locks and few other things. We bought the brand and price range that he recommended. So why is he going back to "buy locks"??? GAH!! I noticed they had changed the main door (that first one that we had so many problems with) and I noticed he used the new door knob on it but the deadbolt spot is still empty. I noticed they also got the last door (laundry room) changed today. This one they used the original cheaper door knob on, but again the deadbolt spot is empty. I just don't understand.

And they never did come back today.

So it was almost one of those spontaneously burst into tears days because that stress and frustration is peaking again. I asked several people around work about the power line problem. No one can suggest anyone who might be able to just put it back up, and everyone insists that we should not have to pay one cent, that it should come off what we owe RoofDude in the end. So I got home and grabbed the phone to start making calls....which we all know I hate to do. Was going to call the bank about the extra money but slammed the phone down because I don't know yet how much more money we need. Grabbed the phone book and started looking for possible electricians, dialed one, but then slammed the phone down because I was just so pissed off and couldn't even think straight. Waited for hubby to get home and discussed it all with him. We decided to just call an electrician and have them come out and do it, screw estimates or trying to find a friend to bum a favor off. Whether we'll try to nail RoofDude on the expense, we're not sure yet. We know we *should* but...bleah...like I said last night, we're so close to the end that we just want to get thru and get him out of here.

I really highly doubt they'll be done with the siding and outside stuff by Friday like he said. They didn't do massive amounts today, and there are still so many scattered things to finish up out there. Ty did tell me that UsualHelper closed a door on RoofDude's hand today. Ty thought that would cheer me up. LOL! I said no, it probably just made him bitchier and yelled at UsualHelper even more than normal. Then I said "Oh great, so now they'll need four more days off?!" *snort*

So, today's progress includes finally getting some siding on the 'rebuilt room,' and the door is not framed and wrapped...it's 'finished':


And in the back, they have the laundry room door changed to our fancy new one. (Bunch of junk in the way, sorry.)


CoWorker and I didn't talk as much about Twilight today. I was telling her about that video I saw last night, and giggled about some things, anxious for the movie. She's STILL trying to figure out a way to get the book read while her friend is visiting. LOL We were talking about the midnight release parties...I've done it twice for Harry Potter and she wanted to know exactly what it's like. She made a comment about how *everyone* knew about Harry Potter though, so it's no wonder things like that happened, but Twilight is much lesser known. I told her I don't think it's as 'small' as we thought. She kinda shrugged it off. And sure enough, when I went on break and happened to look at the Milwaukee newspaper, the following little article was in it:

Vamping For Prom
The prom will definitely end before sunrise.

Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop, 10976 N. Port Washington Road, will hold a vampire prom at 10pm Friday in advance of the midnight release of Stephenie Meyer's last book in the Twilight Saga, "Breaking Dawn."

Fans are encouraged to bedeck themselves with their best vampire attire. There will be refreshments and dancing.

Tickets are required and can be purchased at the Mequon store or by calling (262)241-6220. They cost $30 and include a copy of the book.

How cool is that?? I'm still undecided about going to get mine at midnight. I wonder just how big the local crowd (Fond du Lac) would really be?

I didn't go hunting for new videos today, but I did watch the preview from last night's blog several times. Heheeeee! And then while hubby and I were watching some VH1 Top Teen Stars show, one of them was Jennie Garth from 90210. It said these days she's blah blah blah and married to actor Peter blahblah...and here is me all freaking out "Aaaaah!! That's Carlisle! That's Carlisle Cullen!!!!" And hubby was just sitting there nodding at the crazy lady in an 'uh-huh, good to know' kind of way. I wonder if he knows he's going to see this movie with me?

July 29 - Day 51

RoofDude & Co. were back on the job today. He said the reason they hadn't been here was because Friday morning he "stepped in a chipmunk hole" and twisted his knee so bad that he couldn't walk on it, and was still wearing a brace today. Probably stepped in one of the ruts in the yard that THEY put there. *snort* Whatever. At least they are finally back. And once again pissed me off. Luckily, again, I'm so obsessed with the Twilight series right now that my true rage was diverted. I guess I'm also seeing how close we are to the end of this adventure that I just want him to keep working and get out of here.

Ya see, the damn power line situation has come back to plague us. I noticed that on the side of the house where the lines actually come in from the street, they were able to work right around them, even where they connected right to the house. They never had to cut power or anything. This had made me wonder why they had to pull the line down on the other side of the house (that runs down to the garage). Well today he admitted that they screwed up and couldn't get the line back up. He said he had thought we were going to replace the lines and then run the new on underground. He hadn't thought at the time about putting it back up, so they hadn't saved any of the connectors, and had actually cut something. And now he sheepishly admitted that he doesn't have the tools or equipment to get that line back up. Well isn't that freakin' nice....? He suggested that if we have any electrician friends maybe they can just get it back up for us. Yeah, and if we have to call someone...? I'm thinking we just might take that cost of your final pay, how's that?
*grrr*

I know I should be ranting raving irate about this but for whatever reason, I'm not. Like I said, I see the end in sight and I'm almost counting the minutes until he's gone. So we'll ask around, maybe call someone, get it taken care of.

Today they finished siding the wall they were working on last week. They even got the little cubby-hole spaces up on the second floor, on both sides of the back roof. I only took a pic of one side though:


They still have some soffit work to do on this side of the house, and put an outlet outside, but otherwise they are moving on to the back (kitchen) wall tomorrow. He says they will have the outside stuff done by Friday this week, and all the other stuff done by Friday next week. A gutter guy is coming this Friday to do an estimate. I need to call the bank tomorrow, see if we can get a bit of extra money added onto our loan. But we're so close to being done, it's getting exciting. We're all soooo ready for this to be over! I can't wait to have all their crap out of the yard, to be able to mow the lawn, to just come home and do what I want and not worry about progress or news or problems or someone on a ladder outside the window. I. Can't. Wait.

My co-worker and I spent another day in deep Twilight discussions. It was awesome. We had some more good, laughing hysterically topics, and more serious ones. Example, what kinds of jobs would the Cullens have if they weren't playing the roles of high school students? Probably not zoo keepers....LOL....but what about a slaughterhouse? Or Hot Topic? LOL!! Or, since they do keep going to high school, can you imagine their superhuman strength in gym class, playing dodge ball or something? We kept studying the pics I'd printed out, talking about the clips I've seen. It was great.

She's still trying to come up with a plan for how to get the book read while her friend is visiting. Since I joked to her yesterday about going to Walmart at midnight, it's started tickling my own brain. I did the midnight release thing for the last two Harry Potter books. While it was kinda fun, I never thought there would be anything ever again that would drag me out like that. Today I was thinking about it a little more than I wanted to be. And then this evening Tina called, saying that Borders is having a release party, and did I want to go? DOH!!! Don't tempt me!!

I watched some video on YouTube today, one of those fan-made things set to music. It wasn't really all that great but it had tons of footage that I hadn't seen before. Most of it was taken from shows like Entertainment Tonight, etc. and was not finished shots but more like behind the scenes or making of type shots. Still, TONS of good things that had me giggling and swooning. Like the prom.

And rereading the first book is proving soooo much more entertaining. You can fully understand and appreciate those early scenes now, after knowing what's really going on. I was snickering and giggling in the breakroom today while reading. People probably thought I was nuts.

Instead of a pic tonight, I'm going to include one of the official movie trailers:


I had planned on including a questionaire thingie that I 'borrowed' from Captain Anne's blog, but that will have to wait till tomorrow. Past my bedtime now!

July 28 - Day 50

No clue why, but there was no work done...AGAIN...on the house today. If I wasn't so totally distracted by the Twilight series, I'd probably be way more pissy about this. Hubby was crabbier about it than me.

My co-worker and I did indeed spend as much of the day as we could discussing the books. Some of it was serious, some of it downright hysterical. At one point we were laughing so hard, tears rolling down our faces, gasping for air...another co-worker looked at us and tried to do a calming "Take is eeeeeasyyyyy." It just made the situation that much funnier.

We're both super anxious for the new book. She's fretting because she has a friend coming Friday night, staying for several days...but CoWorker just wants to get the book asap and read. LOL (She's on vacation all next week.) I said no, this is good for me because I won't talk to her for a week, and it gives me time to read, so by the time she comes back to work, we'll both be done. hehe

Neither one of us will be happy if Bella, for ANY reason, ends up with Jacob. We both feel (although I might think it more) that one of the three will die before the end of the series. We discussed who we'd rather have do The Bite...Carlisle or Edward. She says Edward. I say Carlisle. I don't think I'd want my true love, my soulmate to have to be the one responsible that. I'd want him there holding my hand, but not doing the deed. CoWorker said she'd want him *because* it would be that much more special.

And we spent a good chunk of time trying to figure out exactly how this vampire sex is going to work. Yes, this is where we were laughing our asses off. But think about it...

LOL!!!

I printed out a bunch of pics to show her, things I've found on the internet from the movie. I also went to YouTube and watch the trailer a bunch of times, and some other preview clip thing from Entertainment Tonight. I still worry about how Edward will be portrayed, but I am SO psyched for this movie! I considered suggesting to CoWorker that we go see it together but we don't hang out outside of work, and I have that anti-social thing to worry about. I'm going though, opening weekend, even if I have to go alone. Woot!!

I started rereading the first book again, just for something to do during this week until the new book comes out. It's soooo funny to read it again.

Doh! Work just called me (at 9:10pm), asking if I could go in at 3am tonight. No way! That's what I get for answering my phone. *shudder*

Tried to watch one of our Netflix movies tonight. It's called The Orphanage, and CoWorker and I were excited about it. I was going to lend it to her after I'd seen it. It's some thriller movie. Turns out it's in Spanish. Gah! It had English subtitles but hubby and I decided to give up after only a few minutes. Dangit. Then we watched a loaner from CoWorker, called Malevolence. She had bought it, thinking it looked so promising, only to find out it was a low budget total piece of crap. She said it was soooo bad that we *had* to watch it. So we did. Well, I didn't pay much attention to it, but hubby seemed slightly humored by how bad it was.

Outta here. Nite!

Oh wait, one more pic:

July 27 - Day 49

No work on the house today.

I finished Eclipse, the third book today. I read ALL day. There are soooo many awesomely awesome parts in this one. I wonder if they're making all the books into movies? Cuz I just gotta see the scenes with Bella, Edward, and Jacob in the tent. LOL!!!

There really is nothing else to blog about today. I read and I did laundry. And as much as I'd love to natter endlessly about the book, I know others haven't read it yet. Hopefully my co-worker also finished this weekend so we can spend our day tomorrow talking about it.

Sorry so short, and so boring. :(

July 26 - Day 48

No work on the house today. Being Saturday, this doesn't surprise me. I still wonder why they abandoned it yesterday. Hmm.

Finished the book last night (New Moon, second in the Twilight series) and couldn't wait to get to Walmart this morning to buy the third one. Kinda sucks that it's hardcover and my first two are paperback, but I didn't feel like waiting for the paperback edition to come out. I didn't feel like waiting to borrow my co-worker's copy either. I wanted to use this weekend to get as much read as possible because I know she's going to finish it in a day. So imagine my mood when there were no more copies of it at Walmart!?

None! Last week there were several. Obviously this series is a hot item right now. I ended up stopping at Target, and thankfully they had it. As I was paying, the checkout girl said "This is a *really* good book. I loved it."

Me - "Cool! I stayed up late last night trying to finish the second one."
Her - "Oh, I know, I found myself doing that too!"
Me - "And the new one comes out, what, next week or so?"
Her - "I *KNOW*! I can't *WAIT*!"
Me - "So I need to get home and get reading..."
Her - *excited giggles* "Ok, enjoy your weekend!"

LOL!

I tried to do a bunch of other things this morning, get responsible things like dishes and some cleaning out of the way, but eventually just gave up so I could read. I parked myself on the front porch (I love having that new door there!) and had to fight to tune everything out so I could concentrate. I've made fair progress, not nearly as much as I'd hoped though.

I saw something kinda cool last night. ComicCon is apparently happening right now, and they premiered a scene from the Twilight movie there. I saw it on YouTube, a fan filming the screen or something because the audio of the clip is hard to make out, but you can hear the ComicCon crowd. The scene was the ballet studio, with James tricking Bella. It was cool to hear the crowd screaming when James appeared onscreen. Remember I said I loved him after seeing just one little blurb? lol But to hear the crowd go absolutely bonkers when Edward appeared....too flippin' cool. The bite part wasn't what I'd pictured, a little more Hollywood and over-the-top but damn, I can't wait to see this movie! I'm more excited about this than the new Harry Potter movie, which is a month before!! Doh!

As I said, I'm reading the third book now (Eclipse) and already love it waaaaay more than the second book. Edward can be such a smartass!

My mom stopped over today. She had ordered something and it finally arrived so she came to pick it up. Also gave her a set of Ty's senior pics. This was the first she's seen of the house since the work started. She doesn't have the internet at home and doesn't often get over here these days. I think she was kinda speechless at first. When she recovered, she scolded me about empty bird feeders and weeds and tall grass. *sigh* Mothers.

And now I'm off, hurrying back to my dear Edward.

*swoon*

July 25 - Day 47

I don't know why, but there was no work done on the house today. There was a threat of rain, and the sky looked threatening all day, so maybe that's why? But Ty and Casey said RoofDude and UsualHelper *did* show up, were here about 15 minutes, then left. Weird. Yesterday RoofDude was so full of plans for today. Wonder if they'll work tomorrow instead? *snort* Doubt it.

Well even without house progress news, there is still house news. Hubby got home from work shortly after 5pm. He had only been home a couple minutes, had gone into the living room and sat down on the couch, then popped right back up and headed for the door. He appeared to go to the basement for something, then hurried back into the kitchen exclaiming "We need to get a plumber out here IMMEDIATELY!" I went to the basement door to have a look and heard it first....water running into water.

Our basement was flooded! Hubby said the main line coming into the house, but before the pressure tank, had broken. No clue how long it had been spraying, but when he noticed it, the water was about four inches deep. GAH!! We whipped thru the phone book and found a nearby '24 hour emergency service' plumber. He said he'd be right out. Hubby called his dad to see if he had a pump, and I went to pick that up. Father-in-law didn't have hose for it though (it was on his other pump) so I had to do a quick trip to town to buy hose. Got home only to find I had gotten the wrong size. The plumbers were already here by then and had one pump going. Hubby ran back into town to exchange the hose.

Two hours of work and what looks like lots of expense, and the plumbers left. I'm not sure exactly what they did and I guess I don't really care. I dread this bill. Is something like this covered by insurance? Anyway, after they left, hubby still had his dad's pump going. It really didn't take very long to clear the bulk of the water out. Hubby then went down with a broom to try and swish the remaining water over to the pump. He took a fan down there too, to try and help dry things out. Luckily we don't store anything down there.

So yeah, that was my exciting evening. *rolls eyes* Oh, I've also been trying to read every chance I can between all this chaos. My co-worker finished the first book in the Twilight series, and bought the second and third ones yesterday. She reads way faster than me (I think misses alot though because of it) so I need to use this weekend to get as much read as possible. I *will* finish the second book tonight. And I plan on buying the third one tomorrow morning. As for how I'm liking this second book...I'm finally past that wolf crap that was totally turning me off, and it's almost immediately gotten better. I love Edward. *swoon* LOL This makes me look forward to the third book again. Heeeee!

Ok, off to finish now!

July 24 - Day 46

Well they didn't get that back wall evened out and prepped, or the door changed, like RoofDude had hoped. Instead they continued to work on the south side of the house. He said they had started siding it one way, decided it didn't look right, pulled it off and started over a different way. This is today's progress:



The problem had been where the original part of the house (the tall, middle section) had met the newer section (room with three windows, on the right)...the walls did not match up evenly. They way I understood it, they had first tried to side it by kinda leaving it as two sections or something. When they tore it down and started over, they built up the gap using the pink insulation, managed to even it out enough that you can't really tell, and were able to side it as though it's always been just one continuous wall. Looks pretty friggen amazing after seeing it so many years as the broken up sections it used to be.

RoofDude's wife will be here tomorrow to start painting the windows and doors. This was to be his daughter's job but she had gotten called back to her regular job a few weeks ago, so his wife will fill in for her. Nick The Hobbit won't be here tomorrow either. RoofDude is hoping he and UsualHelper can get that final wall worked on. He says by early next week all the outside work will be done, then he'll tackle the interior of the 'rebuilt room.' Oh, and we have to find a gutter guy because the dude he used to contract with has been screwing up too much lately and he doesn't want us to use him. Not sure if this is one of his little fibs again or what, but tomorrow I start calling gutter guys.

I told him today that hubby wants to build the front steps and the back steps/landing himself, but would like RoofDude to redo the big deck. RoofDude said that's fine, saves him some time. He said we'll need to readjust the estimates, did a quick calculation in his head, came up with a new number. I totally don't understand why but he's subtracting the cost of rebuilding the laundry room wall. I don't understand, because he's already done that work?! I mean, hey, I'm not complaining at all (!!) but why would he do that? He also gave me some tips and suggestions to pass on to hubby for building the steps. He seems totally fine with not doing these extra things. *PHEW*

We were standing out there chatting again, kinda standing back and admiring the house so far, talking about what it was the day they started. He commented that he really can't even remember what it looked like anymore. I asked if he wanted to see the pictures?? He immediately said "No! Not till the end! No no no, not till we're done! It'll be more fun that way." LOL

I even told him a bit about Captain Anne's contractor horror stories. When I told him about the blue floor padding for insulation he gasped and whinced in total 'Oh NO' disgust...it was funny. I couldn't remember the guy's name offhand or I would have asked RoofDude if he knows him from within 'the business.'

In book news, I tried to read like crazy on each of my breaks today. Even took longer breaks...naughty me, I know. I just *have* to get past this crap part of the book, and I just *HAVE* to keep faith that this will get better. There have been a few spots where I've gotten all excited, thinking this would be the big reunion, but each time...nope. How could the first book be SOOOOOOOOO awesome, and this one just fall to pieces??

So I tried to read as much as I could at work. My plan was to come home, chat with RoofDude, check email, then read read read all evening. I've been trying but it's so distracting once I'm home. I can't get myself to just tune everything out. And if I go upstairs to the quiet of my bedroom, I know I'll be asleep within minutes. Actually, I dozed off once already while trying to read. Guess that's not saying much for the book....doh! I'd been hoping to finish this book by the end of work tomorrow so I can pass it on to my co-worker for the weekend, and I will buy the next (third) book when I go shopping Saturday morning. Don't think that will happen. I'm still struggling right around the halfway point of the book.

Soooooo, I'll post this and go TRY to read for a while in bed even though it's ridiculously early.

*grumbles away*

July 23 - Day 45

RoofDude, UsualHelper, and NotSoNewAnymoreNick are the normal crew everyday. Yesterday I decided that Nick is really Sean Astin, working side jobs between movie roles. LOL Today confirmed it. I had gotten home and was taking my walk around the house by myself because RoofDude was on the phone, and Nick smiled "Ah, I like to see you show up because I know it's almost time for me to go then!" He smiled and I laughed, but more because I was thinking 'Heeee, it's Sam the Hobbit.' But really, he is a nice guy. I'm not picking on him.

Anyway, today they finished the front of the house, all the way to the top, and that side section over the porch, all the way to the top:


I couldn't believe it when I first talked to RoofDude, before coming around to this side of the house, he had said they got alot done today, "We're all the way to the back door." My eyes must have popped, because he quickly clarified, "Not with siding, but we got that wall rebuilt and taken care of. Go take a look." That was when he was on the phone, so I headed over for a look. I also had a moment of panic because I wondered if he'd gone ahead and did part of the extra jobs we're still not sure of...but hadn't given him an answer about yet. So of course THAT was mainly what I was checking. And no, they hadn't taken it upon themselves to do it. *phew*

This is the south side of the house. The section to the right, the room with the three windows, they kinda had to rebuild the wall. They stripped it, pulled the old rotten plywood down, took the windows completely out, put up new wood, and insulation, put the windows back. And they continued to prep for the siding, and even have a few starter pieces in place. They hauled ass today. Woot!


They even started on the back, final wall...pulled off more rotten plywood, put new up. RoofDude said that by the end of the day tomorrow that back wall...which is probably the biggest problem spot on the house...will be redone, sheeted, ready for siding. The last of our doors will also be changed.


It was one of those chatty days with RoofDude, just like back when all was good early on. He asked about the extra jobs. I told him one of them was a no, that it could wait and we weren't too concerned about it right now. He said that's fine, didn't seem put off at all. The rest of the jobs, I kinda spinelessly tossed out the weak excuse that we're still going over the list and haven't decided on everything yet. He seemed fine again, said he understood. I did tell him we'd decided to get better locks. He was relieved. I asked if he had a brand that he recommends and he very definately told me which one to look for. He said he could probably even get these cheaper locks returned as defective, get our money back that way. Hehe. Later in the conversation he mentioned he would be going to Menards tonight anyway, did I want him to just pick up the new locks? I told him yeah, go ahead. He said he could probably get a discount on them anyway. lol So, we'll see what he brings us tomorrow.

Talking over everything later when hubby got home (RoofDude already gone by then), his opinion is to have RoofDude finish the original work, then rebuild our deck, and that would be it...we'd do the other projects ourselves. This will save us some money, but that larger part of me is back to just having RoofDude do it all and we know it's done. But I guess tomorrow I'll talk to him about just doing the deck, see how it goes from there. So while it is still *possible* the siding could be complete yet this week, there is still the gutters that need to be installed, the inside of the 'rebuilt' room needs to be finished, the windows need to be painted, and the deck needs to be rebuilt. I guess it will be at least another week before we might really be done. Still, we're closer everyday!

Non-house news....hubby's car died today. He had to get a ride home from a co-worker after work, then had to call upon a friend with a trailor to go haul the beast home. Hubby says it's the engine, it's issues finally got too bad. I got kinda snippy with him because he'd never done anything about it.

"We couldn't afford it, could we?" he snipped back.
"You could have at least gotten it in and found out WHAT is wrong," I snapped.

It was cool to realize that for the first time all of our vehicles are paid off. If we want to throw it in the front yard for a couple hundred bucks, we can do that! LOL I told hubby he can have my car (which he wants anyway) and I'll go get the $99 Kia deal. Heeeee! Yeah, that's not really happening, but I'm willing to do that!

Still impatient with the book I'm reading. Still going on about the wolves. I'd forgotten some important tidbits from the first book that kinda explain what's going on at this point in the second book. Co-worker pointed these things out to me and I was all 'Ooohhhh, that's right!' but it's still....dumb. I kept trying to read this evening just to get past this part but I kept putting the book down and doing other things. It needs to change SOON or I'm afraid I'll lose interest.

Stumbled across Jon & Kate + 8 tonight. I haven't watched it for AGES and they've all changed so much! It was fun to watch them again. The kids are three now, talking and so much like little people now. I probably won't see the show again for another year....doh. It was accident that I saw it tonight, mainly because hubby was gone. Maybe it's time to consider Tivo. LOL

Well it's my bedtime but I want to get a bit of reading done. But the part I'm at is stupid. But the faster I get past it the faster I hopefully get back to something good. But it's late and I'm tired. Once again, audio books would be so handy.

*snort*

July 22 - Day 44

What a difference a day makes. I'm still very confused, but the anger is gone. A huge part of that is because of my in-laws, but a big part is RoofDude himself. But first, today's progress report.

They continued work on the front, up on the second floor level now:


And that section above the porch:


They did some more prep work farther along this south wall but not enough that would make taking a pic worth it.

I fretted most of the day at work, worrying about what to do with the rest of the jobs. I know it shouldn't matter but I was worrying about how he'd take it when we told him we didn't want him for the extra stuff. I worried about how he'd be after my in-laws had visited. Worried about having to keep on top of him for every little thing from here to the end. Worried, worried, worried.

On my way home I decided I would just have to do a bit of face-the-fear self therapy, and go talk to him like any other normal day. It was not our intention to tell him yet that we don't want him for the extras, so I wasn't worried about that part. I got out of my car and paused to pet Meena, and found RoofDude walking over to greet me, all smiley and normal and his usual chatty self. He said "I met your in-laws today," and told me how they'd eventually realized they know each other in a roundabout way....RoofDude's family hunts on my in-laws' land.

Not sure how long they were actually here but RoofDude said my father-in-law was checking over everything himself, even got the level out and checked the doors over. He suggested some things, and they tried working a few things out together. RoofDude commented "You have an engineering mind," and my FIL told him he'd been an engineer for 30+ years. RoofDude did a few little things that make the front door a bit better, but in the end even my FIL thinks a more expensive knob/lock set might be an improvement. So, hubby and I will go to Menards and invest in better hardware.

More on my in-laws in a bit.

RoofDude was talking more about the visit and the house and turned to me insisting, almost apologetic, almost pleading, "Deb, you can CALL me...anytime. If you have questions or concerns, please just call my cellphone, and I will always answer if I'm able. Even at night." I wonder if my in-laws mentioned the frustration? He asked if I had any other questions. I said "Well actually, yes..." and asked about something that wasn't a problem but something hubby and I had wondered about. (He didn't use an outside corner on a spot that seemed a logical choice.) He explained why and it made total sense. I asked about the horrible seams along the roofline on the porch and he seem horrified that we thought it would stay that way. He quickly assured me "Oh no no nooooooo, that's where the gutter will get tucked under," and explained everything. *PHEW* He explained some other things (most being technical babble to me, hehe) then had to get back to work so they could get out of here a bit early for a doctor appointment.

So I came into the house feeling all shakey and relieved, but still unsure whether I want him to do the extra jobs. After they were gone for the day I went out to take my daily pics, then sat on the porch with my book but ended up just looking at everything around me, all the work they've done, going over everything with a clearer head. The work itself is not bad. And although he is pushy and stubborn, he has not really done anything to screw us yet. I was sitting there trying to sort it all out in my head when hubby got home. I told him everything, and what I knew of his parents' visit. He called his parents to see how it had gone, what they thought.

Well...they were impressed enough with him and his work that they've asked him to come and do an estimate on THEIR roof. They said the work on our house so far looks good, and that when FIL went over everything on the doors it did all check out and what RoofDude says might really have some truth behind it. FIL says he can see where I am getting so frustrated with RoofDude, not because he's mean or stupid or bitchy, but because the man just loves to talk. FIL says he completely understands my pain now...lol But overall, they seem to feel he's still ok.

I cried upon hearing this, for many reasons. Relief that someone understands my frustrations. Relief that he seems to be ok but my frustrations are causing anger to cloud things. Relief that his work is indeed good enough. Confusion about whether to have him do the extras afterall. Just a whole bunch of emotions spilling over. It was like a big release, and while I feel tons better, we're still not sure what to do about the extra jobs yet. (The bathroom is probably a big fat NO, regardless.)

Managed to do some reading among all this emotional rollercoaster crap. I've been cruising along on this second book much faster than the first. After that big shocker at the beginning, I've been growing increasingly impatient waiting for the big reunion that I know is coming. I'm now almost halfway thru this book and it still hasn't happened!! So that's getting me bit pissy, but now there are apparently giant wolves roaming the area in the book. What the heck?? And I think I know 'who' they are, and that just kinda makes me roll my eyes like 'what the HECK?!' Something better happen, or change, or get us back on track SOON or I'm going to be really let down.

I also spent some time last night looking up movie info, pics, clips...even though I had said I wouldn't do that anymore. The dude who is playing Edward just is NOT working for me! I'm worried about it. lol But I saw a clip with James in it and WOOT! Loved him, at least in that little blurb I saw. Heeeeee! My co-worker started reading the first book last night but hasn't gotten very far yet, not far enough for deep discussions. I wonder about Tina.......?

That same co-worker watched Right At Your Door last night too. She said she started crying about halfway thru and continued crying right till the end. Weird, considering I, Miss CriesAtEverything, only slightly teared up once or twice. But I still say that Rory is a great crier. LOL And it's his crying that made me cry the little bit that I did. I wanted to watch the movie again tonight but didn't get to it. I'm going to go ahead and return it tomorrow. *sigh* Ok, maybe I'll pop it into my computer for one last quickie at some Rory-sob highlights.

Hehe!

**Edit**
I came back to add a crying Rory pic.....Heeeeeee!

July 21 - Day 43

All sorts of little things happened today that have me dreading tomorrow. First I'll show today's progress pics, then get into the not so good parts....

They finished up the front of the house, lower level at least:


This includes all around the door, and the porch ceiling and main beams:


And they've continued prepping along this side of the house:


The house is over half done now, but the last areas they'll get to are the areas that need some more work than just pink insulation and pretty siding. I suppose it's *possible* that they could finish this week if the weather holds. I'm not holding my breath though.

Ok, so last night I wrote about the things we noticed on the front door. I left a note for RoofDude again this morning because I leave for work before they arrive. When I got home, Ty said that RoofDude told him to let me know he'd taken care of the gaps and that the door works fine, you just have to play with the knob a bit, have to kinda pick up it. Oh, and he said we probably won't use that door much anyway so it's fine. Wtf?

I did not talk to him when I got home because he was on the far side of the house, and because I was in my pissy stressed out mood. He didn't make any effort to talk to me either before leaving. He came to a different window, handed some papers thru and told Ty to tell me if we have any questions we can call his cellphone. The papers were the list of extra job estimates. He had said he'd have it for us today, and honestly, I was surprised he did. So he handed over the papers and got in his truck and left for the day.

I went to check the front door. Gaps are still there. I 'played' with the door knob, and lifted up on it like he mentioned. While it might allow the latch to click into place, it still does nothing to get the deadbolt lined up. Regardless, you shouldn't have to do this to close a door! I was so pissed, my hands were shaking and I wanted to burst into tears.

I went outside to have a look at what else they'd worked on. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much they'd done. That actually made me smile! Then I started noticing how sloppy parts of it look. Also noticed another small lie about a technique he'd said they would use for something. When hubby got home later and we did another walk around the house, we found more rather shabby looking pieces of work. Are they rushing now? Are they pissed now? Again, I was so raging mad I just wanted to cry.

Going over the estimate list before hubby got home, I saw that RoofDude was actually quoting lower on things than he had the other day when we discussed it. This surprised me. There are some minor points that could be argued, things that should already be included in the original estimate for the actual house work. But in the end it probably doesn't matter because as of this evening at least, we've decided he's not doing anything extra for us. We want him to finish what he was originally hired for and get out of here. We don't want to piss him off though, and have him start doing crap work, so we'll just be cool and polite until the end.

This might not be so easy though. Ya see, hubby had stopped at his parents after work and they were chatting about the house, how it's coming along, etc. Hubby ended up telling them that we're getting really frustrated. They decided that tomorrow they'll drop in for a visit and kinda go over the house, ooh and ahh in the appropriate spots and then begin the 'wow, this door isn't installed very well, is it?' and the 'those seams will look nice once they're cleaned up, right?' type comments. Hubby's parents are the kind of people who *can* stand up to service people. I wonder how much threat they'll pose to the poor guy....hehe. And maybe that's all he needs, just a bit of reminder that he's not the boss. He sure did zip his lip about the power lines once the P&L engineer had his say. So I'm excited about the in-laws visit tomorrow, and dreading it all the same.

And I'm also dreading telling RoofDude that we don't want him to do any of the extra jobs afterall. Well, technically I'll be leaving that job to hubby but still...

July 20 - Day 42

No work on the house today, but I'm so pissed and frustrated right now that I don't know what to do. We found some problems with our front door now. When it was first installed, it kinda had the opposite problem of the back door. Where the back door closes too hard and not secure enough, the front one at first closed too far. It swung closed beautifully but it went a tad PAST the little latchy part if we pushed too much. But we knew it was just roughly put in at the time and didn't worry about it. Well, Friday RoofDude had pointed out the door was in now and mentioned he'd had to completely remove it and reinstall the whole thing because the frame had shifted or something. It still seemed to close beautifully easy though....

It wasn't until later, after the guys had left for the weekend, that hubby and I noticed some small gaps. Not a biggie, but we wanted to be sure and point it out to RoofDude on Monday. Well today I was checking it all over again so I'd know just what to point out tomorrow, when I noticed the deadbolt part of the latch doesn't line up with the catch-plate part of it. It can't be locked. Doh! Still seemed rather minor, he'd just have to lower the thingie. But THEN, I noticed the latchie thingie for the door itself is not catching properly...just like our back door.

WTF?!?! Upon closer inspection, the problems look nearly exact to the back door but to a somewhat lesser degree. So, it is the doors or is it the installation??? RoofDude is of course going to blame the door cuz he thinks we bought cheap crap. Cheap or not, I would think they'd still at least CLOSE, right??

I'm just so frustrated right now. I don't want to deal with him tomorrow and have to listen to him insist it's ok and that it's the best he can do with the cheap materials we bought. I don't want to deal with him trying to make me feel like a stupid *girl* who doesn't know how to shut a door. I am just soooo totally sick of this whole flippin' house project!! Two doors, two problems. Right now, I don't want him to even touch the third door. I'm, right now, wanting to return that third door and leave the old one in place (except it leaks in at the bottom).

And if it IS the doors, why isn't he noticing these problems when he's done installing them????? I mean, they look beautiful from the outside. They swing easily and *appear* to close no problem. Is he not checking from the inside too?? Because from inside you can very easily see they are not closing properly. Well, the front one closes...could even be tolerable...but the back one, no.

I'm sooooo frustrated!!!

We also went to Menards today to do some of our own estimating on building steps and decks and things. We knew he was quoting high, but some things are so high...gah. And after this door stuff, I almost just want him to finish the siding and get far far away from here.

So. Freakin. Frustrated.

Spent a some time reading today. I'm about a quarter way thru the second book. When I started I thought it couldn't possibly be as good as the first one. I mean, all the wonder is gone already. What could be as great in this one? But the big thing that happens quite early on is so.... *sob* ....yeah, wow. I was so mad, and hurt! So there is hope. LOL

I watched about half of Right At Your Door again tonight. It was getting late so I stopped. There are a couple spots where I just love Rory's crying. You just wanna give him a big hug! Well, except that black shit on his face must go. (Beard, for those of you wondering.) Oh, and I've decided the man has no butt. *sigh* I'm lending the movie to a co-worker tomorrow but I might have to watch it again when I get it back, before I return it to Netflix. Heeee!

July 19 - Day 41

No work on the house today.

I worked today, yet another weekend. At least it's only Saturday, and not Sunday too as it has been for so long. Sneaky me volunteered for this weekend knowing this. *evil giggle* So I can say I've taken my turn and it sucks to be you that you didn't get the short OT weekend. *snort*

I didn't do my usual job, but ran a machine instead. It makes the day go faster when I'm doing something out of the norm. It was sooooo hot and humid in that area though. I just could NOT cool down. And the machine kept me just busy enough to keep me from sitting down in a cool spot. I. Hate. Summer.

We got our next two movies from Netflix today. When I got home, hubby was watching some weird movie on DirecTV so I sat down to read my book...determined to finish it. After that movie he decided to watch the Netflix movies and put in Witless Protection, which I had no interest in watching. I was indeed able to finish my book! Then we watched Right At Your Door, which I *have* been wanting to see. It was, hmmm, interesting. I mainly wanted to see it because Rory Cochrane is in it. Hubby said it was a slow moving, hard to watch movie. I don't know if he meant 'hard' as in disturbing or cuz it was slow. I liked it. Rory is a good crier. LOL

So, yes, I finally finished Twilight. My intention was to jump right into New Moon, the second book, but ended up watching the movie and cleaning up the kitchen instead. I was about to disappear up to bed to start reading and remembered 'Doh! Blog!'

I still love the Twilight story but some things disappointed me slightly. At some point I totally lost my mental image of Edward and never could get any particular image of him back. I know I lost *mine* after I knew that the Harry Potter guy would be playing him. But somehow I keep blending pics of seen of him in the role, Brandon Lee/The Crow, and Heath Ledger....mixing them all up as I read. It got very frustrating and I think I lost some of the total attachment I had to Edward. And then I kinda didn't like how he had struggled soooo hard just to be close to Bella and then suddenly it was ok and his whole family was ok, for the most part, being around her. It was cool when Jasper at first kept his distance, and when it said that Emmett and Jasper (?) had to leave the room when Bella was bleeding. I hope the second book brings back some of that struggle.

And I'm thinking I want to see this movie in the theater as soon as it comes out. New Harry Potter in November, and Twilight in December. Wheeee! Something to look forward to!!

July 18 - Day 40

Work continued on the front of the house today.



That window will be all caulked and painted so it's not so rough looking. We did not have this one replaced back when we had our other windows done. We wanted to keep the 'old'...and I guess it didn't matter considering what we've gotten rid of in the last 40 days. *cries* Anyway, that window will look spiffy in the end. You can also see they've started wrapping the upper front of the porch (look on the left end) with that lovely white aluminum. We'll definately need to paint the porch after this. I'm surprised RoofDude hasn't offered!

They also have our front door more 'finished.'

RoofDude said they had to take it completely out because the frame had shifted. They have the extension jamb (sp?) on it now, and wood trim around it. When I got home he asked if we wanted the trim just painted when they do the other painting, or if we wanted them to wrap the trim in the same aluminum they're doing the porch in. I told him to wrap it. It won't ever have to be painted and it ties in better with the rest of the porch. So that's what you see in the pic. Remember, the door itself will be painted white before they're done.

And they've got more pink insulation up on the south side of the house:


RoofDude said he'd sit down this weekend and make a detailed, written list/estimate of everything we talked about yesterday. He realized he needs to do this because we'd both totally forgotten to include the whole front door project. That part was never included in the original estimate we got, and we knew that but over time we'd forgotten that. All of us had. So, he'll get us that list on Monday so we can decide what we want and then talk to the bank.

He also suggested we think about getting the money to totally redo our bathroom. He pointed out that interest rates are low and alot of places are offering no closing costs and perks that make 'now' the time to do things. He said we should strongly consider getting all the things done now that we might ever want to get done, get the money while it's good.

Of course his plans for the bathroom are way more extreme than ours. Everyone hates our bathroom because it's ungodly small, but I'm fine with it. I just hate what is IN that tiny bathroom. RoofDude is talking about expanding the size of the room, getting an awesome 7ft. tub, 2-sink vanity, blah blah blah. I just want the things in there updated. We don't need a 7ft. tub because we all take showers. I don't even know the last time any of us soaked in a bath! And the sink is fine because only one of us is ever in there at a time anyway. A fan thingie would be nice though. So...just one more thing for us to think about. He suggested this could be winter work though.

I asked a few people around work about the extra stuff and estimates, if we should just get it all done in one shot, was it too high to even consider, general opinions. Only one person freaked and said it was absolutely ridiculous. Most felt that since he's already here, that he might as well do it all, and that we know he'll do it good to match his own house work, and that it will be done and over and not something we have to worry about finishing later, by someone else. I'm torn on it.

Well, I'm posting this early so I can grab my book and go READ! I didn't get to read at all last night, and I'm so dang into this story right now that I just have to get it done! In fact, it's beautiful outside, and my family is preoccupied with a dorky movie so I'm taking a chair out on our beautiful half-done porch for some quality alone time. Woot!!

Oh, and I have to work tomorrow. Boooooooo!

July 17 - Day 39

Woohoo! We're cruising right along now....



They also started on the front....


And they put up a lovely shiny new aluminum ceiling on our front porch....


I finally got a chance to talk to RoofDude today. We did a quick verbal rundown of estimates on those extra projects still being considered. We discussed some things in more detail, went over some things that have already been gone over (he's stubborn, and so are we), and came away with a dollar amount that was way higher than what I was expecting. I was quite depressed about it all but when hubby got home later and I told him everything, he said the amount...overall, in relation to the total package...isn't really as bad as I seem to think it is. Now we need to call the bank again and see if they'll tack on a bit more to the loan.

RoofDude said he had "the manager" out here today to look at our crappy door. I don't know if this would be the Menards manager or who, but hey, if RoofDude has the balls and power to do that...go, RoofDude, go. So we will be getting a replacement door, see if that helps. RoofDude thanked me for complaining *before* they had the siding up on that wall. lol

He told me he's leaving for Mexico on August 13, "...so I'm telling you this house *will* be done before then." I hope like crazy it's done well before that, but if we go ahead with the extra stuff, it might very well be creeping up on that date. When I think about another month of this.....UGH. But if I look past that, and know that so many things will be taken care of and we don't have to worry about them anymore....I think I can survive. hehe

One thing I was NOT happy about was this:


Remember I said way back that they had put the debri from the torn off room out on our burn pile? We had no problem with that, and had not burned anything yet. The big dumpster had been removed a few days ago, filled to the absolute top with a large majority of the roofing garbage. So the random pieces they've had since that was removed have gone onto the burn pile. Again, no big deal. The problem was today, they lit the fire and left for the day, without saying a word to anyone about it. I heard an odd crackling, popping noise and ran to the window to look, thinking it was something electrical...like a cord sparking and catching something on fire. Took me a while to notice the raging bonfire down at the back of the property! Good lord!! Luckily we had tons of rain yesterday!

Reading Twilight like crazy on my breaks at work today. I love this book!! I had looked up some pics from the movie last night, had to know how 'Cedric from Harry Potter' was going to look in this role. I was undecided but leaning towards disappointment, and putting my hopes in how the personality comes across onscreen. Well, reading today, I've already lost my old mental image of Edward, and have been 'seeing' the Cedric guy instead. This evening I snooped around the internet a bit more and found some clips and bits about the movie, including the trailer. I'm still undecided. There are things that made me cringe in disgust, but some things seem totally alright. I think I need to quit looking at movie stuff and concentrate on getting thru the books.

But it doesn't look like tonight will give me much reading time.

*cries*

Oh, the movie poster:

July 16 - Day 38

Not quite the huge amount of progress I'd hoped for today, but RoofDude & Co. did get more done before the rain drove them away. They got farther up this first side, and more on the soffit stuff.



They were already gone when I got home from work so I once again haven't talked to RoofDude. I did, however, leave him a note this morning about the door, asking him to do some overall tweaking on it. Ty said RoofDude told him to let us know he would be putting a new door on. What?? I hope he's planning on exchanging this one, claiming it's warped or something! I also noticed it must leak, because the floor inside all around the door was wet after our rainstorm.

Today was the day we were supposed to go over my list from Monday about the remaining extra jobs we're considering. But, since they were already gone because of the storm, that didn't happen. Hope he's here long enough tomorrow, I want to know his intentions about this 'new door' business. *frets*

I'm ready for this whole thing to be done for new reasons now. It's gotten to where I'm just sick of people asking me why things aren't done yet, why they aren't working faster, why they aren't working on weekends, etc. I'm tired of people "They should have blah blah blah done by blah blah blah." While it's kinda fun to have so many people interested in the progress, it's become very aggravating having them tell me what should be happening.

We watched our first two Netflix movies tonight. First was The Ruins. I was surprised by how much I actually liked it! My movie and book sharing co-worker and I had been interested back when it first came out in theaters but neither of us are big theater goers so we were content to wait for the DVD. In the meantime, she read the book and had given it to me to read but I never got to it. When the DVD came out (last week?) she rented it right away, said alot was different from the book but it was still pretty good. Another reason we wanted to see it is cuz local girl Laura Ramsey stars in it.

So yeah, I liked it more than I thought I would. There were some gross parts but it wasn't a nonstop gorefest. The usual naked boobs and ass shot. And a totally unnecessary 'implied' sex scene. Otherwise, pretty good. lol

The other we watched was First Sunday. It starred Ice Cube and some other dude as guys trying to make quick money and falling into a desparate plan to rob a church. Some very funny parts, some touching scenes (I cry at anything though)...an ok movie for a boring 'nothing else to watch' evening.

Tried to read extra amounts of Twilight every chance I could today. Even did pretty good reading last night before I started nodding off, but it's still not enough. Didn't get a chance this evening because of the movies. I've decided I like this book more than I liked the Sweep series. Edward is so flippin' cool. I have this image of him in my head. I was telling my co-worker about it, and why I think it's so cool, and she's excited to read it now too. And then I come home and find Zorro's comment that Edward will be played in the movie by the guy who played Cedric in the Harry Potter movies. DOH!!! Ok, I liked him just fine in Harry Potter but he is soooooo not what I picture Edward like! This depresses me!! I did some looking around for a movie release date, found some pics from the movie, and no, he just doesn't work for me. I have to hope now that he nails the personality at least.

Well, have to get the movies and game ready to send back, then I'm off to READ. Woot!

July 15 - Day 37

Ok, today I can really say it... "And we have siding!"

Yes, as I came over the hill and got a first glimpse of the house, I got all giddy and excited, doing a dorky "Oooooohooohooo!" in the car. I absolutely don't know if I was feeling more of an 'is that all' feeling or a 'holy cow, look at that!' Of course, I had to stand in the yard and gawk in awe for a while. I was doing the whole range of emotions thing again, wondering if it's too dark, etc.

Enough of my babble....



I think the windows look pretty good with the white j-channels around the edge. Keep in mind the window trim looks kinda off-white right now, but it will be painted proper white to match the j-channels and other other house trim. I can't wait till they get this section done all the way up to the roof so we can get the full effect of the new roof and everything.

They also worked more on the rebuilt room...got more pink insulation up, got the soffit thingie stuff done along the front and part way around the back corner.


I ended up working late, so I didn't get to talk to RoofDude at all today. Ty said it was RoofDude, UsualHelper, and the new guy that was here yesterday. Ty also spent about two hours outside helping them. He was Cleaner Boy, picking up the scrap and stuff so they could concentrate more on work. RoofDude has offered the 'job' a couple times before, $10 an hour, but we're not sure if Ty will get the money or if it will just be deducted off our final bill. He had mentioned that hours hubby put in that one weekend would come off the end, but he made it sound more like Ty would get cash. Guess we'll have to wait and see. No, Ty doesn't have to do it at all, but I pointed out to him that the more we can help with the cleaning up or little odd jobs, the faster this whole thing might get done. Besides, he's just sitting on his butt all day watching TV or playing video games. *snort*

As I mentioned, I had to work late today. Until 7pm. Bleah. It wasn't too horribly horrible. I just hate when I have to do it on days that I have no warning. But getting home at 7pm sucks. Hubby and boys had already eaten so I made myself a cheapie pizza and inhaled half of it, then inhaled a Drumstick ice cream cone and slammed a can of Dew. Mmmmm!! Probably not wise shortly before bed but it was good, dammit.

Got our first two movies from Netflix and I couldn't even watch them. *sigh*

I'm really getting into that Twilight book that I'm reading. I know they're already making it into a movie, and I kinda already fear that. I did a quick check at IMDB about a week ago to see if anyone notable was in it, but didn't recognize any of the names. Now that I've been reading it more, and have kinda formed my images of the main characters, I'm afraid to go back to IMDB to have a second look. But I also want to check again to see if what I'm picturing *is* the ones I saw there. lol Regardless, I'm to a point where I just want to forget everything else and READ. Everything around home is so distracting though. My best reading is done at work while I'm on break but those are only 10 minutes at a time.

I'm going to post this and go *try* to read more than the couple minutes I usually get before falling asleep.

Nite!

July 14 - Day 36

And we have siding!!



I know, I know.... 'That's just one piece,' you're saying. But hey, who would have thought we'd ever make it to this day?! Not sure the color comes across accurately but you get the idea. And if you need more siding to get happy, look at this...



They did a good sized chunk of the soffit...facia...whatever that roofy stuff is. They have more than this done, but for picture sake, I'll stick with this. I was so excited when I saw it! I probably looked like a total dork! Luckily RoofDude was already gone for the day. LOL

AND...our roof is D-O-N-E!! But I've put so many boring looks-the-same roof pics up already, I decided to spare you.

ALSO! The useless electrician guy from last week finally called back today and left a message. He said the engineer was from Alliant Energy (not private contractor) and the determination is that everything about our current powerline setup is fine the way it is and we don't have to change anything. So HA, RoofDude! It's kinda funny too because I had left a note for him this morning saying we need a separate estimate for the list of things I'd included, and let him know that financially we'll probably need to just put the lines back up as is. I worried all day that he'd try to push his opinions on us again over this, so getting the call was sort of reassuring and supportive for our side of the argument.

The whole day started out kinda 'whoa!' because RoofDude showed up at 6:30am! He didn't have UsualHelper with him today. He had some other guy that I don't think I've seen here before. I didn't talk to them in the morning, and only a little bit of talk after work because we had to leave for Ty's chiro appointment. RoofDude said we'd go over the list/estimates on Wednesday, and kinda talked again about some things that still need to be done. While talking, I pointed out something about our new door (the one on the rebuilt room). It closes really hard, overly snug, and will blow open if it's windy. He took a quick look at it, suggest a couple changes, said he'd check better tomorrow, but insisted it's supposed to be snug. I understand that but this is TOO snug. You either have to slam it like you're mad, or use two hands to push it closed the last little bit. And then you can feel and see it straining back against the knobby, claspy, latchy part thingie. Later, after he was gone and hubby was home, we were closely inspecting the door and the frame. We can't quite figure out just what is wrong, but we know it's not right, and have decided this will be one point we harp on until it's acceptable.

I'm really curious and excited now about the next couple of days. He's always been telling us that once the roof is done the rest will go FAST. Sooooo, roof is done, let's see how fast the siding goes up! I can't wait to come home from work tomorrow and see it. Heheeeee! There is still some semi-major work to be done on the back wall of the house (it's bowed) and after everything else he will come in and finish off the *interior* of our rebuilt room. So I doubt they'll be done this week, but next week is a possible! (Not holding my breath though....)

In other news, it was Ty's monthly chiro appointment. (He has scoliosis, for those who don't know.) The doctor kinda scolded him for not keeping up on his back exercises, but otherwise didn't have much to report. I have to remember to check Ty's height one of these days, see if his growth is slowing down. We had been told when his growth slows or stops, he'll probably be where he'll stay as far as his back. Something like that.

Also made the appointment for him to have his wisdom teeth removed. Apparently dentists don't wait for problems anymore, they order them removed young. I remember back in my day, if they weren't causing problems, they were good enough to be left alone. Anyway, early next month he'll have them yanked. I was thinking about it at work today and it really started to bother me! I mean, as a parent, you don't to put your child in a painful situation...and Ty has never had anything horrible. It was almost making me weepy! (Me = dork. I know.) Some people handle pulling teeth better than others (no prob for me) but to have all four cut out in surgery... Ohhhh my poor baby!

*sniffle*

Boys got their first game from Gamefly today, and I got the shipping notice for our first two Netflix movies so we should have those tomorrow. Woot!

And it doesn't look like I'll get my Live Aid tribute entry made. *sigh*

Ok, I'm off to read a bit before bed!

July 13 - Day 35

No work on house again today. We did notice a small area of damage on the foundation, and we know it's new because it's right in a spot the foundation guys had patched up. And we know someone from RoofDude's crew did it because we haven't done anything outside that could possible do that. So, here we are again...do we point this out? It's not something huge but dammit, when we JUST got it all fixed... *grrr*

Got my newly painted bird feeder back outside. Tended all my feeders for the first time in a loooooooong time. No birds all day. I know it will take a while for them to find their way back, if they ever do. Hehe. I think the finches might be gone though. We noticed a while ago that they'd left the feeder area, and we figured it was because of the squirrel that had started hanging around. No clue if that would be a factor, but that's the only thing we saw changing. So, I've set up some squirrel food far far away from the bird area to hopefully draw him away.

Played alot of Warcraft today. Put some major effort into questing and managed to level Fuddy (the druid/alchemist) two and a half levels. She's up to 60 now. WOOT!!

Other than that, just a really boring day. Not looking forward to tomorrow though. I have phone calls to make, and have to discuss huge amounts of business with RoofDude, and Ty has chiro. Bleah.

Off to read now. Oh! Speaking of reading, I was working on my Shelfari account and have added a little book thingie over on the righthand side of my blog page. Have a look!

PS - Totally forgot to mention Live Aid. DOH!! In short, today was the 23rd anniversary of Live Aid. Can you believe it's been that long?! Maybe I'll do a separate little anniversary entry later.

July 12 - Day 34

No work on house, but we knew that from his comment to Ty yesterday. *grr* And it was clear, cool weather all flippin' day.

So, no lovely progress pics today.

Stopped to get gas on my way to do my shopping....we're finally over $4 here. It was $4.05 in Rosendale. Anyway, went inside to pay and while waiting behind the guy already paying I happened to notice some ornaments on the shelf above the oh so yummy looking donuts. I stepped over to have a better look and decided I HAD to have one.


The pics are kinda blurry, sorry. I think my camera has a setting for closeup detail like that but I haven't played around enough to be familiar with it. But the ornament is hand painted by a local artist, and honor Sisson's Peony Gardens. (She also does a Christmas ornament each year, showing something Rosendale related. I wonder if I can possibly get any of the old ones...hmm.) Shows the flowers on one side, and the famous windmill on the other. It cost $10 per ornament, and supports the Rosendale Historical Society.

Now, in general I don't have very pleasant thoughts about the Rosendale Historical Society. They seem rather hypocritical to me, but I'm willing to allow that I don't know enough about some things...like the rules and laws and stuff that happened when the highways and main intersection were redone. It just seems like the 'town leaders' did NOTHING to even try to preserve anything in town. And it's these same people that run the historical society. So to me, it's like, what is the historical society there for? Oooh people, look at how lovely our little community used to be, look at our pictures and few remnants of the past, and keep looking over here so you don't notice how we're tearing down and changing everything over there. I don't get it.

I'm getting riled up now. I better move on.

Did some small painting projects in the afternoon. My bird feeder that I'd pulled down and cleaned up last week (?) was still waiting, so I finally got busy on that. We didn't have a tan color paint close enough to match our (eventual) khaki siding, but I think the brown roof looks kinda close. So yeah, our birdfeeder will match our house. Hehe! Also finally painted a ceramic snowman head Casey had made in school. The original project was supposed to be to design and make a teapot. His didn't turn out to be a teapot so he was going for a teacup instead. But it ended up as just a...knicknack. The hat comes off, and the head is open like a teacup, so I suppose I could put a candle or something in if I really wanted to.

The snowman and bird feeder:


I did not go to the family picnic. I am bad, and I'm sure I'll hear about it.

*sigh*

July 11 - Day 33

As I was leaving for work this morning, RoofDude and UsualHelper had just arrived. I was surprised! He said they needed to get that one bare spot on the roof taken care of before today's round of storms hit. He asked if it had been bad here last night, and I told about everything flying around. He was shocked, thanked me for taking care of it, and said other customers would have been on the phone screaming at him to come back. It had never entered my mind. I mean, the storm wasn't his fault, and what could he have done? In the time it would have taken him to drive back it would have either done the damage or would have been over by then. *shrugs*

It rained all morning, looked pretty nasty out, then cleared up by noonish and has been beautiful ever since. I kept checking my phone for messages from the totally useless electric guy from yesterday. Never got one so I figured the engineer he was sending hadn't been out to the house yet.

When I got home, the first thing I noticed was a huge clump of grass/dirt laying in the driveway. I thought 'What the heck have they damaged now??' but didn't see anything in their part of the yard. I already had my car parked and was getting out before I realized the huge dumpster was gone! The lawn is HORRIBLE where it was, huge ruts and holes and the grass is all dead. (Well, not dead, but you know how it is when something has been sitting on it.) I kinda thought 'Doesn't anyone take care anymore???' I mean, damn! Our whole yard on that side is destroyed from this and from the earlier days of huge tire ruts from the tractor.

RoofDude was gone already when I got home. This was as surprising to me as it was when they arrived so early this morning. I assumed the roof was *done* now and happily went to look. The very peak did not look finished, my untrained eyes did not see the 'cap' that still needs to be done. Hmmm, so I went around to the other side and see that last section still is not totally shingled?! They got the tar-paper up on that small patch that had been bare, but they hadn't shingled anything else. What's left should have taken a couple hours at most. I was quite bummed to see that.

I didn't even bother with a daily pic because what they did is so minimal.

Ty said they'd only been here a little bit, then it started raining. RoofDude told him they'd probably be back if it cleared up, otherwise "See you Monday." Like I said, it cleared up by noonish. Once again, a multitude of hours they could have gotten things accomplished in. And no plans of working over the weekend.... *sigh*

Maybe we'll be done by Christmas.

And to top that off, the engineer never showed up today. One more reason not to even bother with that company.

I took a look at where we're at financially for this project. We will either need to go back to the bank and ask for money or we will have to go without some of the side projects RoofDude was possibly going to do for us. We might end up telling him not to do anything with the power lines, and put that $1000 into the smaller projects instead. He won't like that but hey, we haven't had a problem with those lines in all these years, why mess with them now? We're protected by the 'grandfather clause' right now. If we start changing anything, we might be forced to change everything to bring it up to current codes.

I hate all of this.

Moving on....I joined Netflix today. I've thought about it forever and have always had excuses not to do it. Lately, with all the money I've been spending on DVDs, and with all the movie trading I've been doing with co-workers, I thought it might just be time. So I did it. We'll do the free trial and see how we like it. Could be fun.

We also joined Gamefly, which is like a Netflix for video games. It's ridiculous for the boys to pay $50 on a game and beat it in two days. We're not conveniently close to any video store. This seems like a possibly awesome option. Again it will kinda depend how fast the shipments come and go.

Tomorrow is the family picnic for my father's side. I haven't been to one in probably 18 years. I don't know any of my extended family anymore because we all drifted apart. But my mom made it sound like all of my siblings would be going so I thought maybe this year will be my return to the flock. lol I automatically assumed hubby would want nothing to do with this. He surprised me last night by saying he'd like to go if I'm planning on going. Doh! Thing is, I don't know if I want to go. I have to decide before I go grocery shopping tomorrow so I can buy food to take along... *sigh*

Hubby and the boys are watching wrestling. *gag* Fattycat is sleeping like a pile of roadkill. It's so mellow here right now, that if I was smart I'd grab my book and get a good chunk of quality reading time in. Oooh, you know what? I can't wait for the house to be done so I can sit out on our beautiful porch and read. I want to invest in some of that wonderful big wicker furniture. Oooh..... *wanders off into a daydream*

July 10 - Day 32

I really hate to be humbled by RoofDude but I have to admit he might be right in letting his guy do the power line thing, and he came thru for us again in dealing with the electrician I had called. *sigh*

Ok, after yesterday's tantrum, I was still in a foul mood this morning. I found two electricians in the yellow pages, wrote down the numbers, and figured I'd give one or both a call early in the morning from work. The first place I called, I felt ok with them because we've used them once before...although I had not dealt with them personally. So I call there and the guy says he can probably come out this afternoon after 4pm. I had requested "after 4pm" because I was hoping RoofDude would be gone for the day. I did not want him around or interfering while trying to get a neutral opinion from the other guy.

When I got home from work I didn't talk to RoofDude. It was a bit later when he came to the window and chitchatted a bit. He asked about the electric thing again and I sighed and told him we had a guy coming. RoofDude said "Don't let him try and get ya for anything over $1000. If he goes over that, you tell him you already have a guy who will do it for $1000."

It became clear to me that RoofDude would still be here for a while, and then ElectricGuy shows up at 3:56pm. What happened to "after 4pm"?? So now I'm like 'Dammit! How will I talk with RoofDude hovering around?' I hurry out to head him off before he gets to the back of the house. I warn him that I don't want anything that RoofDude says to influence him. We get around to the area in question and I kinda do a hand gesture like 'well, here it is.'

This guy just stands there and looks at the house. He says NOTHING. I look at him and wonder if he's calculating or something. Nothing. No response at all. Hello? Have you left the building? So I kinda start explaining everything we've already covered on the phone. He acts like he doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about. The very limited things he does say are all really stupid things that any moron would already know, and nothing close to what I called him for!! He totally did not get what I was asking, or looking for. And he just wouldn't talk or react or interact or anything. Complete MO-RON.

I had decided in the first minute that this was a waste of time and we would not be using him, but he was saying that he'd need to have an engineer come out and look over everything I was talking about. Wtf?? Why didn't you send him in the first place?? So yeah, this guy was a waste of time and we have to wait for an engineer to come tomorrow. Actually, I don't really care what the engineer has to say because right at this moment I don't think I'd ever have them do this work.

Some things he talked about I just don't like the sound of, and using RoofDude's guy would get around it. Yes, I have to say, right now I'm totally comfortable with RoofDude's guy doing the work.

As we were about to walk back to UselessGuy's truck, RoofDude called down from the roof, started grilling this guy about the project. They guy was clueless. This is where RoofDude came to bat for us. He asked the guy a lot of questions I hadn't been able to, he told the guy several things that had him muttering about 'I don't know what you mean.' And he just kinda showed that authority-air that he has. I'm thinking I don't even care what the engineer says tomorrow. But, we have a couple new questions and concerns for RoofDude that we'll need to discuss tomorrow.

In news of actual work on the house, yesterday they were assuring us the roof would be *done* today. It wasn't, and again I wondered what they do all day. For people to say they can do a whole roof in three days, why couldn't they finish this last quarter of a roof in one day?? Part of it is probably that one of the guys was down on the ground, picking up debri and doing cleanup work. If he'd been able to be up on the roof maybe things would have happened quicker...? I will say though, they stayed, trying desparately to finish even as a thunderstorm rolled in. It was raining already, and thunder and wind, before they gave up the fight and hurried down off the roof. They ran around the yard trying to cover and secure things, threw stuff in their trailor and locked it, then ran to their truck and left with a wave and shout of "See ya tomorrow!"

They got one section done, the other almost papered/covered but nowhere near done with shingles. There was also one spot that was not covered. He thought it would be ok for the night, even with the rain, although he joked to sleep on the far side of that room tonight. I don't think he was expecting a storm as strong as we had though! When I checked earlier, there was no dripping from the ceiling. Haven't checked since then though.

Anyway, the roofing they got done today:


And more of the siding pulled off that one wall:


Any other news will have to wait cuz it's way late and I'm way tired.