Monday Update Time

Greetings from humid Upstate NY! I shouldn't really complain, we have had gorgeous weather, lots of sun and not-so-hot temps. Perfect for those of us without AC in the home or in the car. (insert muttering under breath) For the third time the AC in our van is broken and we can not justify repairing it yet again. Show me the genius who designed aluminum lines for cars that are on salted roadways! Each year a new section of the line pits out and each year it costs several hundreds to replace. It's a conspiracy I tell ya!
On to more pleasant topics...the kitchen. We painted the first coat of the final color, don't you love it? Warm, buttery yellow. Tonight at 6 we have some helpers coming to start getting the cabinets up. Yippee. One of my friends' husband does carpentry and knows how to install cabinets so he will be our guide for the process. We hope to get the wall and pantry cabinets up tonight. Greg and I may be able to handle the rest if we have to. It is nice to be in the reconstructing phase of the project.
We took the day off on Friday and spent much of it catching up with old friends. We went up to family camp to get the boys and wandered around chatting it up with people we knew. The boys had a great time, I think they enjoyed the opportunity to be with old and new friends at the same time. On our way back we stopped to pick some cherries. I don't think I have ever seen cherry trees dripping with so much fruit before. They were clustered like grapes. In no time, we picked 8 pounds of sweet cherries. Last week Kaleb and I went strawberry picking. I love that the boys are into U-pick, it makes for a fun family outing.
Joshua finally had a chance to set up the lathe he won at the woodturners convention. He proudly gave us a demonstration, covering all the safety rules, tools and techniques. He really knew his stuff, I was impressed.
The boys are off at Covenant Acres camp this week. We dropped them off yesterday. Each year they get more independant, you have to beg for a good-bye hug now. We made arrangements for them to go the same week as friends from Rochester, they were so excited to see them. The house seems especially quiet but it is okay with us. By Friday we will be ready for a reunion again.
I will be back soon with more pictures of the kitchen. Things are getting exciting now.

Happy July!

Wow, time flies sometimes. So the last time I posted Joshua was at the woodturners convention with mom and dad. The night before they returned home dad was admitted to a hospital in the area and liked it so well he stayed for more than a week! I am sure he wouldn't agree that he like it so well, lol. It was several days of up and down news but I am happy to report he is now home. Since I am sure he doesn't want me telling the world his troubles, you will have to call him to chat about it. Since they had Josh with them, Greg drove down to the DC area to pick him up. Since it was such a long drive, he spent the night with cousin Jennifer and family and had time to visit with dad at the hospital. Once he was reassured it was okay to return, he and Josh made the 8 hour drive home. It is never fun to be in a hospital, let alone when you are away from home. Being able to stay at Jennifers house was a huge help. (all of us up here are waving hi to Caitlyn and the gang)
We continue to make slow progress on the kitchen. I am trying hard not to set my expectations too high for a completion time. Every turn brings some new challenge. Greg and I added a textured finish to the ceiling partly in an effort to give uniformity to it. The kitchen had a flat painted surface but the bedroom we opened into did not. Add to that the very slight seam where the wall was and it seemed best to do a textured thing. Greg put on the goop and I used the texture brush and all was going along so nicely. You know there is a but here, don't you? But then large portions of it came down. UGH!!! It seems one of the layers on the bedroom ceiling at one time must have been wallpapered or painted with glossy paint so it wouldn't stick. It was so frustrating. What should have been an afternoon job turned into 4 days of patching and fixing. As I write this, it is all done except one corner that needs a final coat of paint. We painted the walls with one coat of tinted primer. The final color will be a darker, warmer yellow. We will probably cut in with the first coat of paint tonight after Greg is done with work.
Just for fun, I thought I would show you the sea of boxes in our garage. This folks, is the cabinet puzzle that we have to solve! We are hoping to start installing them this weekend but like I said, I have to be careful about setting plans. At this point it is unlikely we will finish in time for my mothers arrival on the 16th. Oh well!

The boys are off today to hang out with Pastor Bills family at LCC family camp. We will pick them up on Friday. They will most likely see old friends there and will have a fabulous time.
If you need Greg or I, you know where to find us ;).
Blessings to you and yours this week!

Happy Monday!

Well, it is time for another update.
The kitchen is moving along, slowly but surely. On Friday our friends, the Hopkins, came for the day. They are newly home from their year long mission trip to Romania and as of yet do not have jobs (pray for that!). They are still in that "helping others" mode so came out to lend us a hand around the house. Maurice helped Greg put down plywood on the floors and do some more spackling. Karen and I did some much needed work on the yard. We weeded and tried to reclaim some of the beds from years of neglect. It was nice to see them and get caught up a bit on the last year. When they left for Romania we were still living in our other house so both sides had lots to share! On Saturday, a man from church spent a couple of hours helping Greg sand the walls. This drywall business is the pits! No wonder everyone we talk to says they hire that part of the job out to the pro's. I think Greg is really close to being done though. Newsflash!!!! Our cabinets are being delivered tomorrow!! They will sit in the garage until we are ready for them. I am hoping that will happen by the weekend.
The Boys: Josh is done with school, he finished last Monday. We went for an awards ceremony and Josh got several nice certificates and medals. He received the Teachers Choice Award from his reading teacher, recognition for the 25 book club, and the President's gold award for high grades. I will try to get a picture of him with all of his stuff soon. When he came home on the last day I asked him how he was and he told me he was sad to see school end and that he was already missing his friends. I take that as a good sign for his first year in a new place! At the moment he is in Virginia with Mom and Dad. They went to Richmond for a wood turners convention, meeting up with Uncle Bob, Aunt Ellen, Chelsea, Uncle Jim and Aunt Betty. They had classes designed for kids and Josh loved it! He called home a couple of times and you could just hear the excitement in his voice. He said there were 60+ kids signed up. They had 25 lathe set-up's for the kids and they got to use them to make things. He wouldn't tell us what, I guess that is a surprise! At the end of the convention they raffled off all the lathes and guess what? Josh and Chelsea both won one!! Oh my, he is off the charts excited!! Greg will have to make room in his shop for the newest wood worker in the family!
Josh and Kaleb both played in a summer soccer league. The end of the season tournament was this past weekend and Kaleb's team went undefeated! I think Kalb scored at least one goal at each game. He and another boy dominated the field with their speed and ability. He has a definite talent for the game! Much to his dismay, he still has school until Wednesday. At least this week he only has half days. He and Greg have been practicing lacrosse lately. Kaleb saved up his money for a stick and is now obsessed with playing every chance he gets.
Yesterday was a great day at church, we had a celebration Sunday to celebrate all that God has been doing in our church the last six months. We call it the WOW report. I highly recommend it, it is good to reflect on God's goodness and give Him praise. We welcomed in new members, baptized 2 new believers, and shared communion. The best part of the service was the "parade of praise". We had been asking people to write down their before and now, a short testimony to God's work in their lives. We wrote them out on poster board, the before on one side, the now on the other. They didn't talk, just one by one went to the front and showed the congregation the before side of their sign, then their now. Things like
before: sick with leukemia, now: totally healed
before: robbing God, now: tithing fully
before: lost, now: found
before: crying all the time, now: able to smile
before: selfish, now: serving others
before: struggling with my faith, now: stronger in my faith
We had more than 30 people in the parade, it was amazing! I can not think of a better way to give testimony and honor to God for the work he is doing in us and around us. After the service we had a picnic outside, a great way to cap off the day!
That is just a peek into what is happening our way. We hope and pray you are all well and enjoying the summer sunshine!

Flag Day

So....did you celebrate Flag Day yesterday?? I can't say I ever have before this year but it is yet another one of those "perks" when you move to the country. Mayberry RFD is what Linda calls it. The elementary school that Kaleb attends celebrated their 40th Flag Day parade. It is a town event. The streets were lined with people, the roads were blocked off, a newspaper guy was there to document it, all the fire trucks were polished to a high shine and the flags were waving. They went with a 60's theme this year so every class dressed a bit differently. One grade made these great vests out of paper bags that they painted red, white and blue. The 4th graders wore red, white and blue tie-dye t-shits and headbands. They also got to carry the flags from the 50 states. Kaleb carried New Jersey's flag. The 5th grade band marched and played at the head of the parade.
They marched from the school up to the main 4 corners of town. Kaleb said the flag got really heavy, lol! He's the one in the last photo, carryign the yellow flag. Click the photo for a bigger view.
Dad was here for a couple of days and sadly worked mostly by himself this time. Greg was tied up with a church retreat. He worked on walls and said we are just one coat of plaster away from being done. Praise the Lord!! I am eating, breathing and sleeping dust. I am not sure how to reclaim my house once this is done. One room at a time I guess. I stopped in at the kitchen store and our order is scheduled to arrive on Wednesdays truck. She told me we could have cabinets by Friday or the following Monday at the latest. There are still many things left to do and decide. We have no clue what is going down on the floor. But there seems to be an end in sight. We are so grateful for Dad's help and expertise. There is no way we would have dared to attempt this without him!!
On a smelly note, the neighbor kid decided he would let off a stink bomb IN our house today. I have no category for this but I am most definitely NOT pleased!

Drywall and Birthday Boy

I am slackin'! We have had a bit of a heat wave hit us and the humidity combined with the heat is just taking the life out of me. That is NY weather, 50's one day, 90's the next! Dad was here again for a few days and they made more progress on the kitchen. They took out the sink and last bit of counter by the window. The insulation came out so they could wire more electrical boxes. Now we are ready for the dishwasher, microwave and stove to go in....eventually! One of the problems we face has to do with our hot water baseboards. One of them had to be removed and one needs to be made shorter. The one that needed to be removed was right in front of the sink. Pastor Bills brother has offered to help us but he is busy for the next several weeks. Apparently Greg called him and asked "if I cut these pipes can you fix it later?" Daring man!! Well, the heat units are drained and the pipes are gone, ack! I hope he can truly fix it later or we will be freezing here come October.
Once all the electrical was in they put up new insulation and started to hang the drywall back up. They started some of the mudding but that will require several applications.

In the mean time, Josh turned 12! Yesterday was his birthday. Where does time go? Mom and Dad came by after church and took us out to lunch to celebrate. We got him a new bike, I will have to get a picture of him on it soon. His old one was broken and getting a bit small and with the summer still ahead of us, it was time. Mom and Dad gave him some camping items that he will need when he goes on his first boy scout trip this summer. The teens meet on Sunday nights so Greg arranged for them to have a pool party at the Pastor Bill's house and they combined that with a party for Josh. I bought a cake and Linda, PB's wife, put the word out that the kids were to bring a present for the birthday boy, a dollar store type of thing. The kids made a banner to hang on the pool fence. There were tons of kids and they had a fantastic time. The weather forecast was for thunderstorms but they held off until right after the party! The lightening was like a birthday fireworks display. It was a good day!





Have a great day!!

5/30 Update

Hello! We are still here and making progress. Dad went home on Sunday and as soon as he left we took a nap!! That man is a machine when it comes to working. Much was accomplished with his help. The biggest task was probably the electric. I won't even pretend to sound like I know what all they did but they spent several days on it. I do know they wired a 3 way switch for a series of pass through lights. That was a big task. The above photo is of one of the switches involved. They wired new outlets, moved several outlets to better locations, added light switches, and a added a bunch of wires waiting to be put to use after the cabinets go in. Here is a shot of Dad and Greg next to their handywork.


Remember I told you how the boys and I spent several hours chiseling up the tile floor? I honestly thought that was the hard part of tearing out the floor. Boy was I mistaken!! Underneath was plywood with screws about every 2 inches in every direction, then some lovely gold specked vinyl and then fiberboard. In all the floor had about an inch of material on it. The cement from the tile covered most of the screw heads. I removed as many as I could but it seemed I hardly made a dent. It took Greg 3 days to completely get everything torn up. Crow bar, hammer, saw, and lots of sweat. At the end of the day he could barely lift a pencil! Not the kinda job a pastor is used to that is for sure, lol!
On Wednesday we ordered the cabinets and countertops. They said it would be 3 to 4 weeks so our schedule is set for moving forward. I imagine in 6 weeks or so I should have photos of our new kitchen.
We are off to the movies to see the new Indiana Jones flick.
More later...

Progress

Each day more gets done but we are definitely in the "it gets worse before it gets better" stage! Dad and Greg have spent a lot of time in the attic shoring up beams, moving the access door, and prepping electric. Josh, Kaleb and I spent the night chiseling up all of the floor tile. Boy what a job. I hit my finger with the hammer no less than a dozen times! Josh stopped counting how many times he hit himself. We finally got the last tile up about 10pm.

Pastor Bill came over for a couple of hours and helped out prepping a few areas for drywall.

The last 3 days we have been blessed with someone bringing in our dinner. That has been such a huge help.

Today Greg and I are going to talk to the kitchen guy again. We still probably aren't at the point of placing an order yet, hopefully next week.
Back to work!