We've changed our schedules around to add more time to work on the house. Wednesdays are now "house work" days. We're so blessed to have jobs where we can be flexible with our schedules.
Yesterday was so exciting! You know when you order a big fat salad at a restaurant and you eat and eat and eat and when you're done, it doesn't look like you've even made a dent in it. For me, that's how this house has felt lately. We work all day and while we've actually been able to get so much done...it doesn't look like it at the end of the day.
Yesterday we made a huge dent. John was able to get 7 panels added to the roof. And while there are still no pictures of me doing anything, I did take pictures of the work I actually did.
We had both the electrician and the heating/cooling guys working. The electrician is from out of town so he's living in that trailer in our driveway. They were fun to work with and let me change my mind three times on where to put the doorbell.
I trimmed trees like a mad woman! This is one of many tree corners on our property. You can imagine the neglect they have felt lately. The house gets all the attention.
This is where tree limbs go to die out here in the country. This is also the massive pile of concrete that has been mentioned
here before.
The dreaded wood pile. There are actually several of these but this one is by far the biggest. And that's Mark who helped us out yesterday (and several other times). The spare lumber faced the same doom as the tree branches above. 
No country home would be complete without an outhouse in the front yard. Okay, so ours is just temporary. I do not participate in this particular construction site activity. I won't tell you what I do instead, except to say that the stoic regal fellow below kept guard for me.
This stoic, regal fellow is Pete. Isn't he handsome? Pete and I have been working on our relationship and I think it's really coming along. I usually have food with me and you know what they say about the way to a man's heart. He stayed right there on that fence while I trimmed the trees around him yesterday. John finally let me ride him last Sunday. It's been awhile since he's had to tote a human around on his back (and he's never toted this human) but he did great.
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The House
My parents came over to help us with the house last night.
Here's mom planting her new garden. This woman is not messin' around! She planted two types of tomatoes (which she doesn't like and won't eat), green beans, onions, rhubarb, parsley, cucumbers, and green pepper. She's gonna be one of those crazy ladies at church who hands you plastic grocery bags full of more tomatoes than any human could possibly eat.
Here's dad helping John with the roof.
And once again...no pictures of me doing anything. For the record, I weeded our garden (which right now is only producing carrots), planted three types of peppers (so I can begin my quest of making the world's best homemade salsa), mowed the lawn (which was about 2 feet tall), fed the horse, and started obedience training with a dog that keeps wandering onto our property and seems to have a difficult time listening or following instructions (that would be "black dog" for you local folks).
Thanks mom and dad for your help...and for the pizza!
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The House
Phew! What a weekend! I am not fit to party like a rock star, as is evident by the slow pace of my Monday morning. But what fun.
First up was a Thursday afternoon Royals' game. We had four tickets so we invited John's office-mate and his wife. We had great seats for a horrible,
horrible game (I meant to say horrible twice). But as they say, a horrible day at the ballpark (fishing, golfing, shopping, etc) is better than a good day working.
Thursday night we celebrated John's birthday with my family. Dad grilled steaks and veggie kabobs and mom made apple pie with ice-cream. Yummy!
Friday was John's actual birth-day. I got his present about a month ago. I worked so hard at keeping it a secret. For a month I've been lying, sneaking, and hiding things. You see...one of John's favorite entertainers was in concert...IN Kansas City...ON his birthday. He knew it, I knew he knew it. But I still wanted it to be a surprise. I managed to instill just enough doubt that there was a teeny tiny little bit of surprise still left.
Surprise! We're goin' to see
Brad Paisley! Tonight! Right now! Clean up these dishes! We gotta go!
We had great seats (better than I thought they were actually). This picture is very blurry because it was taken with my phone. He sang all the songs we wanted to hear. The weather was perfect. Happy Birthday honey!
Saturday we did what we do every Saturday...worked on the house. Even in the midst of fun...we got a house to build!
On my way home from the work site I came across this! About 200 motorcycles coming down the road. It was quite the sight. I think I scared a few of them because it's hard to take a picture and not swerve into the other lane. Sorry about that fellas.
Saturday night we joined Amber and Lucas for the play, "
Bunkbed Brothers", at the Heartland Theater. It was funny and great to spend time with them.
Sunday was of course Mother's Day. We had a great time celebrating mom.
The kids got her her own plot of land out at our house, complete with a gardening kit she can keep out there to use anytime she'd like. Once she figured out what it was she said, "I have land!" I made her a sign and took a picture to put in her gift and no matter how I took the picture it looked like a burial plot. But I assure you...it's for planting daisies not for pushing them up!
Dad got her a digital camera (welcome to the modern age mom!).
So there you have it. On our calendar for next weekend...absolutely nothing! Shhh, don't tell anyone.
Here are updated house pictures as promised.
This is where John has spent most of his time over the last few weeks...on the roof!
Now onto the arduous task of staining every wood surface...which is a lot. I love the color more and more every time I see it.
Do not be fooled by all the pictures of John working. The truth is I'm a wimp on the ladder so when I reach as far as I can without crying like a toddler, John has to take over. He's like a monkey that one! It leaves me with time to take photos.
Trust me, I have the bruises, scrapes, countless splinters to prove that I do more than play photo journalist.
We've also had lots of help from friends and family. I do my best to keep them well fed but we'll never be able to repay them for sacrificing their evenings and weekends to help us.
This picture is a summary of what we've been up to. The tar paper has been laid on the roof (the black sheets on right). The metal roof installation has been started (the green metal panels on the left). About 25% of the staining is complete (the deck on the left is the original color of the wood...the rest is the new color). The yard...well, that's just how we keep it. It's proved to be great fun for the dog and we can find spare wood whenever we need it. You're welcome to help yourself should you find yourself needing odd shaped pieces of wood, large or small. We also have a giant pile of broken concrete if stone is more your style.
There you have it! The only update your missing is that there's a beautiful jacuzzi tub sitting in the master bathroom. We have no walls, no electricity, no floor...but by golly there's a tub!
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The House
The crazy weather continues. People here will say that if you don't like the weather...wait 5 minutes and it will change. Easter Sunday dresses were covered with sweaters. Pictures were taken in front of pitiful looking tulips and daffodils. I turned the air on over the weekend because it was hot and humid...but it's off again now because it's cold and rainy.
On my way home from work last week I ran into a peculiar storm, even for us. I risked life and limb to bring it to you today. Mom relax, it's not as if I had precious cargo like eggs in the trunk or anything.
It all started with a few sprinkles and the distinct separation between blue sky and black cloud. It is true when they say it can be raining on one side of the street and not on the other.
The waterfall like rain started which made it difficult to see. Here are cars parked under the overpass to wait it out. Wimps! I would also like you to notice the sunshine beaming on the right. I had to wear my sunglasses. The black cloud remained on the left of the highway and the blue sky and sunshine stayed on the right. Weird.
Then the hail started. I would call it pea-sized. It wasn't huge but there was a lot of it. Coincidentally this is also when I noticed the rainbow. Now...how do I take a picture of the rainbow (which was far more brilliant than this photo portrays) in a hail storm while puttering along in rush hour traffic. Solution...sacrifice! I rolled the window down, got pelted with pea hail and soaked by waterfall rain and took this picture blind while paying close attention to the car in front of me. Safety first people!
By the time I got home, which was about 20 minutes. It was all over. The sky returned to blue and sunny as if it never happened. It's a good thing I was there to document.
There are other things going on here besides the weather but I have no proof. We continue to work on the house. We had lots of help last weekend. Thank you Jerry,
Tim, Alex,
Heather, and John's mom (who can single-handedly lift a 19 foot piece of metal onto the roof if called upon to do so). The heating/cooling, plumbing, electric work will hopefully be done by the end of next week.
I just finished my first month of playing piano at my new church. I managed to fool them into thinking I could read chord charts instead of sheet music. Hopefully soon I'll fool myself into thinking that too.
I'll have updated pictures soon. Of the house...not the piano playing. That would be boring.
