It has been almost a month since I last did anything on my website and it has been a crazy month.
We started on construction/remodeling/repair of our home from the May 24 tornado. We have been playing contractor, so we check prices, investigate materials, check out sub-contractors, purchase materials, etc.
It has been a constant headache for both Fito and I and very time consuming. However, it has been a joy to see the progress on the house and it is exciting to see what you visualized—actually materialize. We have wood siding and rock on the exterior of the house and are having the siding covered with stucco.
I have learned about architectural foam and have spent many a free hour (between jobs) driving to the foam manufacture and finding pieces for my home.
They have started on the roof, too, but the rafters had been damaged from the tornado and we actually had to go it on one area and redo the whole rafter system. There was no decking on the roof for 3 days and I was starting to become afraid.
We are now ready for the flashing, but the company had a machine failure and we still have not received it. We also were waiting on the battens and they still have not been shipped. AUGH!?! It is so frustrating because the crew shows up and then you do not have the materials that they need.
We also have been fighting the bank to get them to release more of the funds. I think they are ridiculous in what they are doing. I can holding part of the funds to make sure the work is completed, but to expect you to buy all the material and have half of the work done before they even release ¼ of the remaining monies is too extreme.
The materials are expensive and then how do you pay your workers. Most big companies have to float the money or borrow to make payroll, but I am not a big company.
I have been working about 20 hours each week, plus playing contractor, plus homeschooling, plus trying to cook more.
I wrote the above and saved it when I had a break at work and now it is 10-12-11, more than a week later and right now I am at the emergency room with David and while I am waiting I thought I would catch up again.
The boys were moving the roof tiles for the roofers and a pile slipped out of his hand and fell and the corner of a tile hit his leg and left a gash. He did not tell or show it to Fito (his dad) and when I got home we left to go to the temple so he did not say anything to me until we got home around 10:30 pm.
He came into the living room and said, “Hey, Mom…do I need stiches?” And sure enough, the gash was deep and long enough and as it was on the calf muscle there is no way we could get by with just using butterfly or tape to hold it together. I took off my pajamas and here we are.
I have been offered some more training opportunities and the companies keep getting more creative. I am having fun and getting paid for it! It still amazes me. I can’t believe my good fortune that I get paid to have so much fun. But I guess that’s what the many years of school were for.
I have been cooking a lot! I did a culinary team building training for a pharmaceutical company and I made over 40 loaves of bread for the day. Then each team made bread. There was so much bread that I was giving it away to senior citizen’s centers, friends, co-workers, etc.
We also have had company and I try to feed the workers at the house 2-3 times each week. I guess if I feed them and they like us that they will do a better job on the house. The stucco is coming along so much better than I could have even imagined. And the tile is beginning to take shape. They still do not have one complete section of the roof done, but you can see how the red tile will contrast the white stucco.
I found a metal company in Shawnee, OK and they have a 26 gauge metal called metallic Copper where the color is baked on. We did a special order and they made all the flashings, valleys, drip edges, and so forth for the roof. They will all have a copper color, but not turn green. And it was about 1/20 the price of copper.
I am so excited to actually see a section of the roof done to see how the copper trim, red tile, and white stucco all look together.
Back to the cooking…many times I just cook some hamburger or stew meat and then add water, dehydrated onion, garlic, Goya seasonings, and then a can of corn, a can of diced tomatoes with chilies, a can of red beans, one of black beans, one of pinto…or instead of beans I will add one can of diced potatoes, one can of sliced carrots and maybe a can of peas.
Then I will add some Ragu traditional spaghetti sauce to give it some color and we will eat this with chips, cut up pieces of bell pepper, avocado, and some jalapeño.
You can add less water so it is thicker like a taco meat or add more water and Ragu to make a soup. Add packets of Goya until it tastes right.
We did go to Houston this past month for Celeste’s 2 birthday. It was so great to see her. She just gets cuter and cuter. The party was great with great food and great company. We just love Ary’s family so much. They are always so fun to be round and are great at conversation.
We did go to Galveston and the condo I had rented did not leave the security guard our information and the lady on night call did not hear her phone. We spent 3 hours trying to find a way to get in and finally went to a different motel. The next morning it took me three hours of phone calls to get a refund. I had booked it through Expedia and they were great. Both days, they were on the phone with me trying to remedy the problem, but beware and do not book anything with A B Sea Rentals in Galveston, Texas. They did not even want to give me a night free for messing up, while Expedia gave me a $50 voucher to use on my next booking for the problems.
We did have a fun time on the beach and this is the first time ever that I have not been burned really badly. I carried an umbrella the whole time I was on the beach and it worked great. We need to go back to carrying parasols…I also want to go back to wearing gloves so we don’t have to worry about our finger nails!
We rented one of the bicycle type carts that holds four people and Fito, the girls, and I went in it in the evening and went to stores and stuff. The boys stayed in the hotel. It was just a nice relaxing weekend and the weather was absolutely perfect.
The problem now is I want to go again! The weather has been so perfect lately and we have finally gotten some rain and everything has greened up that all you can think of is that you should be outside enjoying this perfect weather as your afraid the heat and drought will come back or it’s going to get really cold and rain ice or snow!
I won’t think about that! I am just going to enjoy perfect weather right now!
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