Hurry Up and Wait

The past week and a half have tested my no-complaining policy, once again! Last week we waited for inspections. Days passed with nobody showing up. Small towns and small town politics can make for delays and frustration. While we waited for those we busied ourselves putting in the two replacement windows....

Window over the kitchen sink.

Bathroom window. All those white lines on
the walls is Great Stuff sprayed in to
insulate and fill cracks.

Bathroom window from the outside. Trying to
match up old aluminum siding is a pain!

Kitchen window viewed from the driveway.

and the new back door.

The old door with plexiglass.

New door with glass and no holes!

I cannot tell you how happy I am to have a door that is secure. Our old door had a plexiglass window put in some time before we bought the house. It had been shaved here and there as the room sank and to adjust for the fact that nothing was square. There were holes in it-from what I do not know.

Finally, the electric and plumbing inspectors showed up within a few minutes of one another. Woo-hoo! We called the building inspector so that he could give us the okay to put in the insulation.

In the middle of all this waiting the flooring came. This is what we chose.

I think this is going to be beautiful with the white cabinets.

We ordered twelve boxes (from Home Depot) and only eleven we delivered. When I questioned the UPS driver he told me that was all he had. I called Home Depot. I was told about all the steps that had to happen to find my box of flooring. In order to make sure we had all that we needed I ordered another box while they tried to find the missing box. Neither UPS nor Home Depot could account for the missing box. An hour later the missing box showed up on my doorstep. No worries, I can return the replacement when it comes in.

In the midst of all that we were notified that our cabinets would be delivered on Tuesday, the 22nd. They absolutely would not hold them any longer. They would not even discuss it. So, we made sure that someone was home all day to inspect the boxes  (me). Where are we going to put 22 cabinets? The kitchen is not ready! I moved stuff off the front porch to make a temporary home. They will have to be brought into the house- but where! I was starting to get nervous. "We don't even have insulation in", I thought.

Tuesdays we meet with friends to go over our school work for the week. The children are quizzed, writing assignments are checked and we enter in to some really good discussions about the things they have learned during the week. This all happens at our dining table. I enjoy Tuesdays. I love history and the kids have grown so much in the past five years that we have been using this curriculum. I miss it when we break for summer.

Oops, got off track, sorry. So, all day we waited for cabinets. Around 2PM Mr. FixIt called to tell me that the delivery was not going to happen until Thursday. I could not be home all day Thursday. Mr. FixIt made some phone calls and bought us another week at no extra charge! I think that was definitely an act of God! Whew...and thank you, God.

The inspector came (the same day we called him) and told us we could begin insulating. YAY!

Because the framing on our house was done so long ago, nothing is uniform and "16 on center" was definitely not the standard. Some are ten inch, some were eighteen inch, ect. We had to add studs and now some are just two inches from an old stud. Crazy! Even more crazy was trying to get insulation into those uneven bays. Our electrician suggested spraying in foam insulation. I was like "Okay, that sounds great." My husband said, "Yeah, how much is that?" Oh. I forgot that part. We were "... waiting for a price",  I told the inspector. He said it is expensive and suggested insulation with no backing and poly over the top. I told the mister and so that is what we did.

View of the kitchen and bathroom from the front room doorway.

View of the kitchen standing in the bathroom doorway.

The bathroom.

Today we had the inspection on the insulation. Everything is ready for sheetrock! I am so excited. I am trying to not get too ahead of myself. It will be a long and tiring weekend but I am ready for it. The Mr. is a trooper. He is like the energizer bunny.....he just keeps going. I do think this may be the last big hoorah, though. He may be okay with all of this but I am definitely feeling every bit of my age. I am sure it will pass as soon as I get to start picking out paints and decorating! Oops, too far ahead again.

Don't forget to stop by again soon. I know Spring is calling you to come out and play in the sunshine. I did  that a little bit, myself... I will share those pictures soon.