Hard work, but plenty of progress

This has been an amazingly busy but very productive weekend.

Let's see, what all did we do?

Well, Union Guy got the dishwasher hooked up and therby earned himself the Hero of the Day award. It's amazing how much time is actually spent washing dishes! It's so nice to be able to just tuck them in there, out of sight, and deal with them all at once at some point later in the day.

Union Guy also got the light in the hallway wired up: it has a three way switch so it was a bit different and required an extra trip to Home Depot to get the right kind of switch. Once we had that, of course, things were much simpler.

Also, at one point this weekend, I got the lazy susan installed in the corner cupboard. It wasn't as tricky as it looked from reading the instructions - once I actually sat down and just did it, it worked. It was a lot like knitting socks for the first time: the pattern looks daunting and nigh on unintelligble, but if you just trust the instructions and knit faithfully, you end up with what you were hoping for.

(There is probably some profound life lesson in there, but I'm not going to pursue it.)

I got boards up in the stairwell - not all of it, but you can't peek into the bathroom anymore, so that's an improvement. :) The dog can't climb between the studs into the storage room under the stairs now, either, so the pet food is safe from marauding beagles.

Last night we visited with the Cousin Neighbours, the oldest girl had a birthday that we were helping to celebrate. We had a barbecue by the fire, and lots of caesar salad and potatoes and corn, and delicious carrot cake.

Today The Boy and I worked very hard: he stained the boards in the hallway, and I got wood on the inside of the loft wall, all the way around. The piece between his room and mine is also insulated, as the sound seems to bounce through that wall quite readily: I wake up several times a night hearing him brush his covers against the wall or kick the boards as he rolls over in bed. This should improve the peacefulness of my nights!

We also got boards on the wall behind his bed, up to the height of the top of the window. I was attempting to post pictures, but the lag in my connection speed seems to be interfering, so I'll try again tomorrow.

We were trying to get the upstairs ready as The Grandparents arrive next weekend (oh my how did it get to be nearly Easter already?!) ... and they will have to sleep on an air bed in the loft, so we thought it should be a bit nicer for them. My dad will know at a glance that it was a rookie doing these jobs ... he's much more of an expert at all this house stuff than I am, and actually so is my mom ... but they are good about accepting the efforts of a novice who at least has the basics down. Besides, trim hides a multitude of sins ... I'm counting on it!

I'm hoping my dad will tile the kitchen backsplash while he is here - he's
much better at that than I am ... hmm, I guess that means I should go buy tile!

At the moment, though I am filthy - sweaty and covered in sawdust with heaven only knows what stuck in my hair - so I am off to hit the shower and then collapse into bed.