DAY 272: Concrete Busting and Setting Windows

We started our 10 hour traditional Saturday Work Day by busting out concrete.  We had three sections of concrete with cracks.  The city requires these to be replaced prior to final inspection.

So, off to work we went.

I worked the crowbar and Brent whacked the cement it with the sledge hammer.  The girlies followed us and loaded up the trailer with cement pieces.   They were fantastic today and worked hard!  (Cole spent the morning at the apartments mowing lawns and replacing pads in the swamp cooler).

 They picked up all the cement pieces and put them in the trailer...

Finished!  With five of us the job took about 1 1/2 hours.  Not bad!  (and it sure beats paying someone to do our demolition!)

Maya checked out her muscles after the cement loading work out.  I told them that it was their cross training exercise for swimming (they didn't buy it...)

We had a few miscellaneous jobs around the house and before we knew it...time for lunch.  If you ever come to visit on a Saturday you will often find us sitting on the porch at lunchtime. Today we had tuna or chicken sandwiches, bugles, and strawberries. 

 For those who work there is always a special treat.  Today is was "riddle skittles", the flavors don't match the colors.  There were not any leftovers. 

 Our afternoon was EXCITING!  Dustin came and helped us put up ALL the windows!  It took four of us 5 1/2 hours to place all of the windows.  It felt miraculous.  I can't believe that they went in so quickly and mostly without any problems.  The two front windows were beasts.  They do not have any "sliders" (windows that slide and can be pulled out) so they were HEAVY.

It was enjoyable work especially since the results were so immediately visible.  We've been at electrical for a long time now and it feels like you just keep adding wires, wires and more wires.  It was fun to work on a different job (with the exception of the mega heat, we went through 4 gallons of water in the afternoon).  We finished the windows at 6:30 pm when Brent said "I'm done".  That surprised me and Cole. Brent is a machine when it comes to work.   Usually he keeps going until 9pm on most days.  We went to dinner (papussas at El Mexal, one of our favorites!) and then I made Brent drive by the house so I could look at the windows again.  It's looking more and more like a house.

When we started the windows we discovered that we needed different screws.  I ran off to Lowes to make the purchase and Estee got a hold of the camera.  I always know it's Estee taking pictures because the sd card is filled with self portraits:

DAY 268: In The Trenches

The power line was a dirty job.  We spent a lot of time in the trenches.

The excavators dug the trenches and Brent and Cole went to work.  The job included bending thick utility conduit tubes to match the curves of the garage and house.  Brent used a propane torch to soften the conduit and Cole and I helped to bend it in shape.  When he started the first curve he inadvertently scorched a phone line conduit which he had to cut and fix.  

Below is Brent's favorite bend of the day  (after doing it a couple of times he got a better feel for the thickness of the tubing):

 Making it's way from the (detached) garage to our home:

 Straight shot in front of garage:

You can see the splicing/repair work on the smaller conduit:

 Next the power line had to be fed by rope (aided by thick, clear, slimmy, gooey, gel stuff)  through the conduit to make it 100 feet to the garage box. 

 Garage box with all the wires--it made it 100 feet!

 Then the big fat gray power line had to be fished into the house.  This was a four person job pulling it through the joists.  (I really regret  not getting pictures of us doing the work.  It was REALLY hands on).

 The power line made it into our house! 

 On Saturday I hung the boxes for the three pendant lights (yet to be chosen) to hang over our island.  Excited!

The girlies were spoiled by my parents on Saturday.  They stayed home to "do chores".  My Mom and Dad surprised them and took them to Olive Garden--LUCKY!! (Thanks Mom and Dad!)  They needed a break from Hannah Montana, I mean from chores.

Day 266: My Favorite Quote at Church Today

This was my favorite quote at church today.  It was given during a Laurel (youth) Lesson (thanks Cheryl) and is from the LDS Church Handbook of Instruction:

“The Savior has commanded the Church and its members to be self-reliant and independent..…

“To become self-reliant, a person must WORK. WORK is physical, mental, or spiritual effort. It is a basic source of happiness, self-worth, and prosperity. Through WORK, people accomplish many good things in their lives.…

“As people become self-reliant, they are better prepared to endure adversities” and are “better able to care for others in need.”

(I added the red, underline and italics)  

I have been thinking a lot about WORK lately and the blessings that will come from our work.  I loved the line "it is a basic source of happiness, self-worth....."  Happiness and self-worth, that's what we're after for our kidlettes with this project.  We are most definitely a family who works and I hope that my children will carry this ethic into their future lives.  

Day 262: Excavators are back

Excavators are back...
Dug for basement garage door retaining walls...

 Prepped back patio and dug post holes...

 Dug electrical lines again....

Progress is always GREAT!!!

Day 262: Milestone

Our summer days are filled with swimming, practicing, and building a house.  A new milestone last night: Estee was in her first swim meet.  This is the last of our four children to be on swim team.  She made it across the pool!  YAY!  She did a 25 back, 50 free, and 25 free.  So happy for her!

Day 261: We're painting!

I got to paint today! 

Climbed up a ladder

 Got out my paint supplies:

 Rolled on some black:

 Filled in the box:

 And ta-dah!  It's ready for a window now!

So we're done painting for a while....

The excavators are back.  They are prepping the driveway.  They dug out the garage basement entrance and will put up a retaining wall, they also prepped the back patio.

Day 254: Graffiti

We have things written all over the house....

Measurements on walls:

Diagrams on fuse boxes:

 Numbers on concrete:

 Can layout on window sill:

 Kitchen layout on wall, electrical notes on window:

 Notes in door jamb: (I like this one, shows how many times I have changed my mind about how to switch the living room lights)

 A note from a child that an electrical outlet is approved:

  Where to line up windows:

 Proposed box for Christmas lights:

 Another one of my favorites...kids found a bee burrowing it's way into our wall:

 A political note from a framer:

 And my all time number one favorite, our children put out a NO SOLICITING sign at the front door: