ready for inspection

Dad has been busy the last week getting the house ready for Franco to come and inspect the wiring and plumbing. All our insulation is sitting in piles just waiting to turn the house from an icebox into a cozy little home. Dad moves so fast...all the little loose ends that were driving me crazy are just DONE. Awesome. It has snowed about 10 inches in the last few days (according to Matt) and everything is blanketed. Quite the winter wonderland compared to a week ago.

yes, we do live in volcano country.

This picture is from the eruption in 1990, but it seems that we may soon experience a repeat. Pretty dramatic, eh? Our house is, fortunately, buttoned up so the ash fall shouldn't cause too many problems. It is a nasty business though and I hope the winds are cooperative and blow the mess far away from us.

HRV-ing a great time!

hee-hee. Want to look at some duct-work? Isn't it cute? Does it make your toes curl?

Killing time...

Happy as I am with our new plan, I must admit that it leaves me antsy to do something. So I've killed the last half hour musing about interior doors, one interior door specifically that leads from the entry into the main house. I took advantage of a Home Depot sale and ordered a Feather River door that has five panels of obscured tempered glass. It will let in a lovely amount of light into the hall area and the bottom of the stairs and also be a nice detail to the open living space. It's primed pine, so we plan to paint it and this evening my musings have turned to what color would be nice; a bright pop of color that contrasts the walls? (ahem, we don't have walls to paint yet); a nice brown to complement the floors? (yeah, no floors yet either...); or perhaps a soft pastel color just a shade or two darker, but in the same scheme as the interior colors? (well, we do have an interior at least). What do you think?

New Year, New Plan!

We have our internet back finally and are able to use it from the comfort of our apartment again. Life has shifted yet again and with a new year comes a new plan of action. My mother has continued to be affected by the rheumatoid arthritis and over the past few months has lost a lot of movement and is confined to her chair because of the pain. She's been receiving a real minimum of care as everyone works full days and she was being left alone for much of the time. This disease is so terrible and part of what makes it so frustrating is that there is this hope that it will just suddenly go into remission and she will just jump up and do a tap dance across the living room one day. But trying to operate daily in a state of optimism and hope about tomorrow, was leading us all to ignore important decisions about how to make today better and more comfortable. Just after Christmas I had a "DUH!" moment and realized that everyone would be better served if I could just stay home and take care of her. My dad could finish our house himself knowing that my mom was getting the excellent care she deserves. Once I let go of the idea of building our house all by myself from beginning to end (and it really only took about 10 minutes to do so), I was at total peace with the decision and actually very excited to get to do something real and concrete that would make everyone happier and less stressed out. So for about two and a half weeks I've been home with my mom; shopping and cooking her meals, answering the phone, nagging her about drinking enough liquids and helping her get to appointments and keep up with her real estate work. Bea continues to go to her preschool and I do childcare swaps so that she's out of the house for three full days a week. On the two days she's home with me and mum (her Nana) she really works on her skills as a nurse. She's very empathetic and gentle with mum and helps give healing touches and massages to her knees. I'm glad that I'm able to spend this time with both Bea and my Mum and I know that my Dad will build us a beautiful house. I'll keep posting as progress is made and I'm sure I'll get up there on occasion to lend a hammer.

PS. After two weeks of -10 and below tempuratures we've had a thaw and today is sunny and warm...in January! WTH?