The last bit of winter?

It was a bit chilly today, more so because all of my jackets are up on the Mountain. We read and played a lot today, I went on a marginally successful grocery run spanning four stores, and I cooked dinner in the slow cooker.

Roller coaster day.

We got to the house fairly early this morning and started with some caulking and painting. I hauled some stuff we won’t need any more to the storage unit, and brought over the toilets and water heater. When I was back out and stopped at the supply store I got a call saying that the cabinets had actually arrived today. So my dad and I drove down to Shelbyville and picked them up. It rained very hard on the way back. We stopped at Chick-Fil-A in Tullahoma for lunch. Installing the cabinets and countertops didn’t take long, and they look great. Looking less great is a piece of flooring in the middle of the living room that is bubbling up in spots. Next week I will pull up about half the floor in order to replace it. We locked up the house and returned to the cottage. My dad went home and I had to wait for some clothes to dry. Once they did I drove home. Upon arriving I realized that I left my suitcase at the cottage. I pretty much have no clothes here. Talk about frustrating! Anyways, it was great to see Luke and play with him before bed time. We built a Lego tower and read a few books. He enjoyed his bath and nursed after. We read a couple more books then he went on to bed. Liz if finishing up on some work stuff now. It has been a long week for everybody.

Always happy to start the day with Luke.

It was a wonderful morning as I was able to read and play a lot with Luke. It felt like we read all of his books several times, and we built a huge tower with his Legos. After lunch I drove to Chapel Hill and picked up some more cedar for the trim. Next I went to the cabinet place in Shelbyville, where I was expecting to pick up the rest of my cabinets, but they weren’t in, and are now supposedly arriving Monday. I was pretty angry. After stopping at Lowe’s in Tullahoma for a few things I arrived at the house. My dad had been setting things up for us to work on the soffit, since it was lovely outside and we weren’t going to be installing cabinets. We were able to install all of it along the back of the house, and did one end as well. I think it looks pretty good. It’s also worth noting that my dad did a lot of door and trim painting while I was gone. After stopping work on the soffit we had dinner at the Goat Market. It was nice to sit on the porch and enjoy the beautiful evening.

Slow progress.

We got a pretty early start at the house this morning. My dad painted the interior door frames while I started loading my car with stuff that we no longer need in order to take it to the storage unit. We then worked together on painting the front door and new patio doors and trim. The paint was pretty slow to dry despite the warmer temperatures, probably due to the high humidity. It also took a whole lot of paint to cover. Three coats on the front door, and probably more than that for the patio doors. I left mid-afternoon to drive down to the Shelbyville Lowe’s to pick up some things and check on an order. Then I drove home and got to see Liz and Luke. That was fantastic. We read and played and went outside in the back field. Dinner and bedtime were both late, but that was okay because we had so much fun.

One step forwards, three steps back.

It was not a good day. I called on the cabinets this morning and was told that “coming on the 17th” actually means “leaving New Jersey on the 17th”. What a bunch of clowns. She said they will arrive on Thursday. Next I met with a septic installer and he had bad news. The system would be more complicated and expensive than expected, and he is about a month out. I will reach out to the state septic guy and see if there is any flexibility. I drove down to the Kimball Lowe’s to pick up a few things, and they didn’t have much of what I needed. The drive was nice though, as I made a bit of a scenic loop. My dad and I drove to look at a couple of lots and then drove over to campus to look at house colors. We drove by the goat barn and pasture, but they weren’t out. It is nearly time for babies, I would imagine. I kind of took a nap this afternoon, which will probably screw up my sleep tonight. After the nap I did go to the house and prepped the interior door trim for paint. I also installed knobs on the cabinet drawers. It felt good to get a little something done. Also, the new doors didn’t leak, which was very encouraging, even though it was just a light rain. The big test will arrive Friday, when they are calling for heavy thunderstorms. This evening we went to the Goat Market, which was considerably less crowded than usual. Liz and I talked afterwards. She said that Luke is doing well.

New doors.

It was great to see Luke this morning before I hit the road. He was in a good mood and we read a couple of books. I left and picked up the new patio doors before driving up the Mountain. I arrived right at eleven, and was met by my dad, who had been cleaning and organizing the house. We quickly took out the old French doors and then less quickly installed the new patio doors. The process went okay, and the new doors look great. Hopefully they won’t leak. There is supposed to be some rain tonight, so it will give us some idea of their effectiveness. I put down some more laminate, enough to install the final interior door and a little bit more trim. Unfortunately I am now out of trim and will need to go buy more. We called it a day and after showering at the cottage went to dinner at Papa Ron’s. It was pretty deserted. Tonight I spoke with Liz on the phone and tried to watch some episodes of Hawaii Five-0 that I downloaded, but the app wouldn’t let me. What a joke. On that note I’ll try to go to sleep now.

No church, no bananas, no Mountain.

Luke slept well last night and woke up in a great mood. Our church has closed the nursery for the foreseeable future, so we didn’t go this morning. I went to the grocery store after breakfast and attempted to buy a huge list of items. Unfortunately they didn’t have bananas or potatoes, but most other things were available. The store was a bit crowded though. We played and read a lot at the house, ate lunch, Luke napped, we played some more, then my dad came by on his way to the Mountain. I won’t be going up until tomorrow, since I need to pick up doors here in Columbia in the morning.

Fun family time.

We all slept in a little bit this morning, which was great. When he woke up Luke wanted us to read a lot of books, so we did for nearly an hour. That was a blast. Then Liz made breakfast cookies. After breakfast we played with Legos and read some more. Liz made Cuban black beans for lunch, and they were delicious. Luke napped and then we went for a walk at the nature park to take advantage of the lovely weather. There were more folks out than I have ever seen, and most had dogs with them, which Luke loved. He also really enjoyed walking further than he normally does. We were a little late to dinner and bedtime, but it was worth it.

Working, driving, playing.

This morning I hauled trash to the dump and organized things a little in the house while waiting for the HVAC guy to come finish up. I also started installing knobs on the kitchen cabinets. After the HVAC guy left I stopped by the Goat Market for some goodies, and chatted with Eric for a few minutes. Then I drove to Lowe’s in Shelbyville, where I ordered more bathroom wall tile. She said they are available from the vendor, so that is good. When I called the vendor yesterday I was told they were out for a few months. I drove home and was able to get Luke when he woke up from his nap. We played with blocks until Liz was done with work, then we went for a walk up in Spring Hill and got pizza to go from a place we really like. After dinner and bath Luke went to bed. Now I am just catching up on blog posts while Liz does whatever she is doing right now.

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