Sheds, Shots, Dentist

Saturday, James's friend Devin came over and helped us all day on the shed (cabin). James and I also worked really hard all of Monday afternoon and evening. We finished everything except for the transition! I'm doing that today after James buys some screws.

I had a really busy week finishing up the small details in the cabin. I also built shelves for our storage shed, cleaned it thoroughly, and painstakingly put everything away. I hated that it started raining because that meant I felt rushed, even though Utah rain is usually a 10-minute sprinkle. In the afternoons, we started putting things away in the cabin. We have a reading nook, game area (with a cabinet we got for free), and an office area. It looks really cozy and awesome. I'll put pictures of everything up on Sunday when I finish the last tiny details. I have to finish that transition and spray paint our old chairs. I am really excited to move on to something different next week. It's been really intense getting the cabin done these past 7 weeks.

We all got our flu shots on Tuesday. It was relatively painless, and we even ran into both people that we needed to return tools to! I'd call that a tender mercy. One of them is a fairly long drive from our house.

I went to the dentist yesterday, which was amazing. I know that sounds weird, but I hadn't been since May of last year. The dentist filed down a chip on my front tooth, so I feel a lot less self-conscious about my smile. I'm also really happy to have a new toothbrush. It's the little things, right?

Baby Shower, Colds, Organizing, Shed Update

Friday and Saturday, I helped with the shed. I painted all the trim, the ceiling, and the walls. I guess I've had a fair amount of practice with it. I'm definitely no expert in any of the other stuff we've done so far! It was pretty stressful to come in and have to cook, finish the laundry, and clean the house, but I'm really glad I spent the time helping. I went to a surprise baby shower for a friend in my ward, and it was really fun. I then brought home dinner for everyone from KFC. It's tradition for when Grandpa visits.

We had a very restful Sunday and watched Coco as part of church. Dad left Sunday afternoon, so we put the house back together.

Monday morning, Joseph woke up with a sore throat and cough. That made me really nervous, needless to say, so we got him tested for Covid-19. Thankfully, it was negative. He hasn't been terribly sick, but I kept him home from school all week. It's easy to do that now that everything is also online. Last I checked, our county only has 13 active cases, and they've been going down since school started. I did cancel the dentist, which I hate to do, but we're rescheduled for next month.

I've been organizing a ton of stuff this week. Since we're getting so close to finishing the shed, I cleaned out the trailer (which was James's office March-May) and moved everything over there that isn't a tool or related to lawn care or home improvement. Mostly, that means outdoor sports stuff, holiday stuff, and suitcases. Then, I took everything out of the storage shed and sorted it by category.

As for Rivendell (A.K.A. "the cabin"), here's what we worked on this week:

-finished painting the ceiling and walls

-finished trimming all the windows, including caulk and paint

-deep cleaned all the windows and tracks

-added foam insulation and another layer of subfloor to the entryway

What we have left:

-ceiling trim

-door trim

-apex trim

-flooring

-baseboards

There are some other odds and ends, and I'll need to add caulk and touch up the paint. Hopefully, only 1 more trip to Lowe's will suffice! (Well, maybe in a perfect world.) It's starting to stress me out because of how close we're getting. I'm anxious to return the big tools we're borrowing so I can build shelves in the storage shed and actually be able to find things.

Phenix/Calderon Visit, Shed Update

 James and I finished putting in the insulation last Saturday. It was hot and itchy work, but we finished after 5 hours. We relaxed the rest of the day.

Monday, Lars and his friend/roommate Josh arrived in the morning. The guys went shooting and then played some video games. Once I picked up Dad at the airport, the work began. Today is day 4 of their visit. My awesome guests have so far cut and installed all the drywall and are now working on finishing it. The past few days have been pretty long work days for everyone. The drywall should be ready to paint by Saturday. I'm so excited! After that, we'll need to do the trim and flooring. What they say about projects is true. It takes twice as long and costs twice as much as you think it will.

We've had time to enjoy some good meals together and hang out a little bit. I think the boys are disappointed that the guys aren't available for more video games, but they'll get over it. I'm glad the kids will be home for school tomorrow. They haven't been the best at sharing their room.

Samantha had her well check yesterday. It was tough. She cried if the doctor or nurse came anywhere near her. The long wait and the shot were no help, either. She has grown a lot in the past year, though, and is a bit bigger than average. I think she'll catch up to Lewis within the next year, not that it would take much!

A New Groove, Samantha's 2nd Birthday

I got a pressure canner and processed 22 pints of green beans!!! It was really easy to use, but I'm not sure I would have been confident enough to use it if I hadn't done water bath canning and used a pressure cooker before. I look forward to trying other recipes, especially soups. It is really fulfilling to see those neat rows of jars.

James and I went out on Friday night. For some reason, I was feeling extremely anxious beforehand, so we changed our plans to stay close to home. (We had planned on taking pictures in the refuge.) We found some silly things and had fun browsing a few stores after enjoying a simple dinner from Arby's.

It's really hard to be home with a 3-year-old and 2-year-old. They're terrible about getting along, and they make so many messes. It's not that I'm particularly inattentive, but I do shower every day or otherwise leave the room for a few minutes at a time, usually to use the bathroom or fold laundry. So far, I've dealt with flooded toilets (done completely on purpose, of course), trails of butter, smashed crackers on the carpet, and smears of peanut butter and chocolate. Let's not forget when Samantha drew all over herself with markers and smeared glitter glue on the kitchen table after I'd moved those craft supplies twice. Ugh. I'm so glad they both nap. Thank goodness for auto save because she just turned the computer off in the middle of this post!

The older kids are doing fine with school. They don't complain too much except for Katie saying that school is boring. I also can't get her to sit and read with me. She hates it because she's in 1st grade, when reading is tedious and boring for both of us. When she doesn't know a word, she guesses and flops around on the couch, complaining. It would work better to read in the morning, but she doesn't get out of bed easily and takes too long to get ready, so we run out of time. We'll figure it out. Either way, I can't wait till she can read independently.

Samantha turned 2 on Monday! I made her a strawberry cake, which was delicious, and she opened presents. Her favorite was a little cat that meows and walks.

It's been a pretty normal (well, new normal) week otherwise. I'm trying to keep enough things going so I'm not bored. I wish that I could have a normal workday, like James, but I never really get to leave work. Also, I don't like the naptime break in the middle, then huge amounts of stress from 4-7:30. I'm done by then and don't want to deal with people, but I have to.

We will get through this. I'm excited to put in insulation this week for the shed, which we've decided to name Rivendell. My dad arrives on Monday, which means the drywall goes up next week! Hurray! I can't wait till we can finish and decorate it. I also have lots of ideas for how to repurpose and reorganize the storage shed and trailer (the current office). It's going to be awesome. And expensive.

James's car has been expensive to fix, and it's still having problems. I really hope the mechanic can figure it out.