Visits

We had a visit from Mom White and Holly on Tuesday...

...and a visit from Dad, Mom, and Erik on Wednesday.


Are we really that boring?

Winter Fun

It was really cold last week, with highs between 14 and 18 degrees. Finally it warmed up to 30, and we went outside as fast as we could. We miss summer.


Our Christmas tree had an unfortunate accident. The stand had a crack in it, and leaked water every time we watered the tree. The water soaked through the carpet and saturated the old hardwood floor underneath, causing the boards to swell and slowly buckle upwards. We thought the tree was leaning because the kids kept pulling on the ornaments. Luckily, no one was under the tree when it fell.

The Biggest Dishwasher?

This evening we went to an open house of the new hospital for the staff. It was really nice to see how well designed it is, and with state of the art technology, including the largest operating room in Idaho. Pretty cool for a small little town.

As we were through, we met up with one of the other ER PAs, and were shortly joined by the nursing director of surgical services. He offered to give our little group of 3 a tour of the surgical and Emergency Room areas, and as he walked he did a good job of giving us a vision of what was going to be in each room.

We were at one of the sterilizers when he turned to me and said, "This will be interesting to you. It's like the biggest dishwasher ever made."

Seriously? I didn't know whether I should laugh or put a vacant expression on my face, pick my nose, and flick a booger on him. Of course dishwashing would be highly interesting to me, because I was obviously a mom, as evidenced by the 3 year old whose hand I was holding, and the 1 year old in the other arm, who was slowly saturating it with pee. Moms must love doing dishes...that's why they stay home, because the dishes are home too. Other things are home too, like laundry, cooking, and children's body fluids that have this nasty habit of escaping from time to time.

It really took me off guard, because I've never seen myself that way. I see myself as someone who sacrificed finishing nursing school to put my husband through PA school by being a CNA (huge step down). Someone who stays home with those sweet little kids as a choice, because I can teach them and love them better than a stranger can. Someone who discusses medicine, treatment, current events, finance, economics, philosophy, religion, politics, and construction with my husband, just to name a few of the topics we usually hit during the day.

But I guess I can't be too hard on that guy. Maybe he discusses dish washing with his wife when he goes home.

Rainbow Study

Jacob loves to get out his paints and paint along with me. Today he painted cars and sparkly grass. (Thank you Aunt Molly for giving him the paints!)

What I worked on today.

Water Studies and Siding

Here is a before picture of the house

We finished the siding last week. Next summer we're going to put rock around the bottom, that's why it looks funny.

Water study #1

Water study #2

Day After Thanksgiving

We drive up to these mountains every year to get our tree. I love this view.

Looking for the perfect one

In the middle of decorating the tree. We found a nice bushy one that was 10 feet tall. We thought we'd get a big one since we have tall ceilings now.

Fence and Flowers Study

I finished this one this afternoon. I finally decided to get some real artists brushes, so now the dollar store and Walmart ones that I have been using are retired. I didn't realize how much of a difference it would make, but you have a lot better control of the paint with better brushes.

Taking it away

I made the mistake of giving Bridget a pacifier when she was a baby, and have regretted it ever since. It really interfered with my milk supply for one thing, and now I am faced with the daunting challenge of taking it away. I guess we have to learn the hard way sometimes. In any case, I'm looking for advice on how to do this. Any suggestions?

This is what happens...

... when my husband only gets 4 hours of sleep and loads the dishwasher with ordinary dish soap instead of dishwasher soap.

Neverending

Well, we're having some plumbing issues now. If you've been following our construction posts this may not surprise you, but when they laid the sewer pipe, they made sure to use something that would disintegrate over time. Our sewer pipe is made out of something called orangeburg, which is a nice name for a long tube of tar paper. Yes you read it right. Tar paper.

So right now our basement gets water in it every time I do laundry, so we're going to have to dig a new sewer line pretty quick before it freezes hard. You know, every time we find some new miracle of bad construction in this house, the phrase, "They don't make them like they used to" comes to mind...and Thank Goodness!!!

This may be hard to believe, but despite all the fixes we've had to do to this house, I still have no regrets about buying it. It feels so good not to be under a burden of heavy debt, and to be without the stress that I see others go through that have spent more than they should have on an expensive new house. We may not have a new house, but we have a home full of peace and love. I guess that is what matters when it's all said and done.

Halloween Costumes

So here's the costumes. Jacob is a ghost (with a really goofy smile) and Bridget is a fairy. David's boss covered for a couple of hours so we could go trick or treating as a family. The kids had a great time. Jacob kept telling me all day that he was going to say Boo to everybody and scare them. In the end, he barely looked people in the eye and hid behind my legs. We did manage to get him to say trick or treat a couple of times, so I think that's progress with this people-shy little kid.

Jack-o-Lanterns and Heat

David finished the ductwork last night, so now we have heat! We carved our pumpkins (in a nice warm house), and had a great time. I love all the little traditions that give us a chance to do something fun as a family.

Carving away

We told Jacob to draw a face on his pumpkin so we could carve it. He drew 6 or 7 all the way around. 3 year olds are so much fun.

If you look close, you can Jacob's face in the left hand side of the picture. He thought they were really neat.

You'll notice that my pumpkin has a scared face as it is looking at Bridget's pumpkin. That is because it has discovered yet another poopy diaper.

Mud Puddle Study

I did this one last night. The water was actually a lot of fun to do, and I'm getting a better feel for the brushes and how to apply the paint. I've decided that the type of brush you use makes a big difference in how the paint goes on, and that perhaps my WalMart brushes should be replaced by some real artists brushes sometime soon. But until I can get into town, I'm pretty sure I can survive.

First Side

We finished the siding on this side yesterday. It might seem like a small thing, but it's huge for us. Yesterday I came walking down the alley and saw our place from a new perspective, and thought, " Uh, oh. We're WHITE TRASH!" I try to think of it like a butterfly...or just maybe a fly. When we're done it won't be quite as repulsive as the thing it began as.

Sloped Laundry Room

Our laundry room is sloped, so we had a wild and crazy day of leveling it up. We took the windows out so they wouldn't break, and the back door so it wouldn't get stuck. We jacked it up from underneath using a pneumatic bottle jack, and then put in pressurized wood to keep it up. Then we put the windows back in, put in a new door, and went to bed. It was 10:00pm before we were done. This is the before picture.

These two do everything together. It's so fun to see them playing and being friends. The other day Jacob told me that Bridget was his best friend.

Lightning study

I haven't painted for a while, but I had a minute to myself when we were visiting David's family, so I picked up the brushes again. I've missed it. I picked an easier one since I wasn't sure about how I'd do after being out of practice.

Racing the cold

The weather has taken a turn, and it's been cold over here. We've been working like mad to try to get the heating system in before it gets worse. Over the last 3 days we've relocated and cut out floor vents, attached the boots (believe it or not I can work a drill now), built and ran insulated ductwork under the house, built return airvents, and the stackpipes that go in the walls. We figure we've got 2 more days of work until we can have the heater reconnected, but it's going to be a bit delayed.

Tomorrow we're going to Boise for a few days for a medical seminar. We had been planning all spring and summer to ride the greenbelt with our kids during this trip, but it's supposed to rain, with a high of 48, so we won't be doing that until next year. Bad luck!

When we get back we have to delay the heating system a few more days so David can jack up the back corner of the house. It slopes down toward the back corner and we'd like to have it straight before we put the siding on. The reason we have to do it right now is because we have to take the windows out to do it, and this is the only time David has a few days in a row to do it. The weather is cold, so we have to do it as quickly as possible.

I'm really looking forward to getting through the madness and having a little more family time. Hopefully by the end of October. Some days I feel like I've jumped on a bicycle that's going down a really steep hill. It keeps going faster, but I don't dare jump off. Help meeeeeee!

Moving Forward

Life is returning to normal, and we're moving full steam ahead on the construction. I'm still a bit tired from losing so much blood and the subsequent anemia, but I imagine it will take a little while to get completely back to normal. There was one day that was particularly painful and I was bleeding so heavily that I asked a lady I knew to come and get my kids because I couldn't take care of them at that moment. I ended up driving myself to the ER where David was working, and he checked my blood to make sure I didn't need a transfusion. I had to stay there for a little bit because I felt so light headed I couldn't drive. The hospital in Twin was happy to admit me, but I really hate staying in the hospital, so I just waited until I could make it home. It's nice to have an ER PA for a husband sometimes.

So now we're moving forward as fast as we can now that I'm feeling better. It seems that we're always in a race against the weather each Fall, and this year is no different. Today we got some of the drywall up, which we need to have in place before the insulation is blown into the wall cavities in a few days. We got all the heating ducts the other day, and will be hurrying as fast as we can to get them in place and the heater reconnected. The forecast is for cold and rain in a couple of days, so we're very motivated.

Rustic Cabin look is steadily leaving

I just had to add this one. Bridget lined up a bunch of stuffed animals (she's sitting on one or two of them) and was talking to them. It was so cute. (Yes, the one piggytail is kind of wonky, but I've been having some piggytail issues ever since I started trying them in her hair. It's a good thing she won't remember this...or maybe she will now that it's on the blog.)

Sad News

I started bleeding this morning, so I went into the OB/GYN. They couldn't find a heartbeat, and so they did an ultrasound. There was a placenta and a gestational sac, but no baby. I guess this is called blighted ovum. The reason I didn't miscarry earlier was that the placenta kept releasing pregnancy hormones, so my body acted as though I was pregnant for quite some time. Also, they found out that I have a bicornuate uterus when they did the ultrasound. This carries the risk of preterm birth and miscarriage, and sometimes infertility, but I haven't had any of those problems so I consider myself lucky.

It's heartbreaking to have gone through 3 months of nausea, fatigue, and all the other pregnancy signs only to find out that it was for nothing. We were really excited to have another one, and so sad to find out that it wasn't going to happen after all. I know this happens to many couples, and that we can try again, but it doesn't make it any less sad and personal for us right now.

Now the Carport

We had to redo the carport so that David can stand up there without falling through when he blows in the insulation into the walls. Remodel is a constant step of going backwards to get where you're going. We really will get the siding up, one of these days.

Stripping off the old fiberglass


Old fiberglass completely off. We've put OSB up, but I'll have to take pictures and post later. Right now I'm trying to catch up on the housework, which has been suffering greatly while we've been doing all the intense remodeling.

Strong Family Campout

Redneck golf

Cooking breakfast

Overseeing breakfast

Trying to get warm

All bundled up

And now the door

But first, one of Bridget's finer faces. All of you who were at the funeral might remember this scowl. (The piggy tails turned out to be more like horns this day.)

Before demolition

False ceiling and plaster gone

Old door gone

New door in. I love this door. It has mini blinds embedded inbetween the panes of glass. It's my favorite thing about it so far.

The Day I've Been Waiting For

Bridget's hair is finally long enough to put up in piggy tails. I think they look more like antennae, which makes her one cute little bug.

Tomatoes

The tomatoes finally started to ripen. I planted all different kinds this year, and here's a sampling. They're all yummy.

The Front Room

The last 3 days we did demolition on the front room and put in a new window. We're exhausted, but we got a lot done.

Before

For some strange reason, there was a false ceiling that was 2 feet lower than the real ceiling. The only reason we can think of is that maybe they were trying to make it warmer in there. These are the boards holding up the false ceiling.

The false ceiling is gone, and apparently the real ceiling used to be painted an interesting shade of green.

Like the bedrooms, we had to remove the plaster and chicken wire on the entire wall because trying to match plaster and drywall is impossible. You can see the dropped ceiling still in the kitchen in the upper right hand corner. We're going to try to do the kitchen next week.

New window framed in. I really like having a larger window, and one that opens. I also love having the higher ceilings. It makes the room feel a lot larger. You'll notice that our house looks a bit...rustic with all that ship-lap exposed, but it's going to be that way for a little while because we have to get the siding on and the new furnace ducts run before the cold sets in. We had to put the new windows in before we could put the siding on, so that's the convoluted reasoning behind doing things in the order we have.

I have to be careful to take breaks when we work this hard, or I get so tired I start to feel really bad. Pregnancy really takes it out of you. We're really trying to hurry so we can get that extra room built. We're going to need it pretty soon.

Funeral

Last week my Grandpa Strong passed away. I took the kids with me, and we went to the funeral, where we gathered as a family to love and support Grandma and each other. It was good to remember what a special man he was, and to hear the memories of everyone, and also to have some laughter through the tears. I'll miss him, and always remember what a great man he was and how much he loved all those he knew. His was a life worth emulating.


Sunset from the cemetery


Kiersti and Erik laughing

Bridget getting into Jack's bag. (Don't worry Meagan, I didn't let her put it in her mouth.)