Climbing gear... a good thing.

After much deliberation over the $200 safety/climbing gear, we are both glad to have it. Russ and I took tumbles on the roof last night. We both got caught up trying not to get caught up in our safety gear... Sometimes the "safety" gear is a little too safe! But, if not for the rope attached to us, we would both be in the hospital today! I have a strawberry on my knee and rope burn up my leg. Russ' back is hurting. But I guess it's better than broken necks! Oh what a night!

I stopped by this morning and took these pictures on the way to work.

The weather outside is frightful...

The weather just isn't our friend these days... It went from raining to freezing cold! But, as Russ would say, "we must press on." After suffering through the rain on Saturday, we decided that it was too dangerous up on the roof without safety gear on. So, we took Saturday night off and had date night at Lowe's and then Oscar's for supper and to watch the Carolina game. Nice time had by all!

Since my last post, we've worked on lots of little stuff to get ready for the sheeting on the roof. Before last night, the look of the house hadn't changed much so it didn't warrant too many pictures. We loaded up on safety gear on our date at Lowe's and felt much better about "pressing on" after church on Sunday! Russ worked VERY hard yesterday and has the sheeting on the entire front side of the house! We are half way to protecting the house from rain! I think the rain is supposed to hold off until Thursday so hopefully we can finish up before then!

Trusses up!

I left on Saturday morning to go spend time with my good friends Ni-cole and Anna at the Taste of Charleston. We had a fab time! Thanks ladies for getting me away for the weekend. I'm always in need of some girl time! When I left on Saturday, the house only had 7 trusses up. When I came home on Sunday night, the roof was up! It looks great! Thanks so much to Trent, Mr. David, Russ, Mr. Glen, and Brad for helping with all those heavy trusses!

Though the house consumes much of our time, we've had a few nights of downtime lately. We are thankful for the break! My night in Charleston with the girls is just what the doctor ordered! Russ had band practice last Thursday night, a gig on Friday night, and boys night out with Trent after Saturday's workday. Last night Russ and I went to Charleston to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We ate at Basil (YUMMY!) and then hung out at Rue de Jean for a while. We had a great time out on the town! WOW! I can't believe its been 3 years since I married my bestest bud! Thanks, Russ, for 3 years worth of super great times! We are ready to get back to work on the house after all these breaks!

The rain seems to NOT want to stop around here! It is amazing... We worked all summer to keep the lumber dry and it didn't rain a drop. Now that the house is all framed up and NOT supposed to get wet, we've had weeks of rain! I tell ya, sometimes God's sense of humor doesn't gel with mine! But, I have to be thankful. This is the best year for many of the farmers in the area in a long time. We are certainly happy about that! For us, we will just continue to work in the rain and hope the lumber and OSB holds up long enough to get the shingles on next week!

Here are some pictures of what the house looks like right now...

Hate crime or just bad driving?

We've had a mail box out front for a long while now. That way we didn't have to change our S'ville address to R's parents and then change it to our address. Well, we got a call from our good friend Vic the other day saying that our mail box was in the middle of the road... When I got there, the mail box post was broken in half and I couldn't save the box itself. I hope we can chalk this up to bad driving and not someone "welcoming" us to the neighborhood! Here are a few pictures of the damage.





On to more exciting things! We put up roof trusses last night! It was very exciting to see it at the end of the night. Here are some pictures of our progress.

Our roof on the ground.


Russ and Mr. D putting up the first one!


7 trusses up by the end of the night.

Rain, rain go away.

So can't the rain come another day? It hasn't rained in weeks around here and all of a sudden it is nasty, cold and wet weather. I know we need it, and I thank God for sending us the rain, but is it selfish to wish that it would have come in a couple of weeks? Probably! I would much rather work inside, with a roof over my head, than outside in the wetness...

Over the weekend we worked on putting up the OSB on the outside of the house, finishing some things on the garage so we can get final inspection, and framing up the back porch. We also took a couple of hours to really do a good clean-up around there! It was getting to the point that we couldn't walk around without tripping over something. So we started the MASSIVE fire pile out front and just kept adding to it. When we decided to start the fire on Saturday afternoon, it was nice and NON-windy... Well, of course, in minutes the wind picked up and we were fighting to keep the fire from spreading to the sawdust pile and then to the house. It was a little rocky for a few, but we were able to control it. I'm just glad Russ didn't file for divorce when I was screaming at him. The fire getting out of control certainly wasn't his fault, I was just a little stressed! Thanks "Crust" for loving me even when I'm going nuts!

I had some dear old friends come to visit right in the middle of the whole thing... Thanks so much to SH and KG for coming out to see me! I'm sorry I was a little out of sorts! I didn't want my hard work to burn to the ground! I would love to have y'all back out there. We could sit and chat in the shade about old times!

This morning our trusses were delivered. We are planning to start putting them up this week. We will have a roof before long!

Back in business.

We are officially back from Hilton Head and back to working on the house. We had a fab time while we were gone but are both happy to be home too. We put some of the plywood on the side of the house last night so it is starting to look different! The walls are closing in! I didn't have my camera with me but here are some pictures from a couple of nights ago.

Looking down the hall from the kitchen/living room to our bedroom at the end of the hall. Guest bath is on the left and guest bedroom is on the right.


Looking into the living room from the front door. The kitchen is the back part of this big room. The dining room is to the immediate left and the laundry room is that back room with the door into the kitchen.


Back porch framed up and ready for posts and roof!


A look from above! And, yes, that is the tub in the guest bathroom! We had to frame it in with the house.


The WONDERFUL lift that some friends let us borrow! It is helping tremendously!


TJ and Russ taking a ride. T is scared to death of going too high!