Tucker's visit - day two.

Picked up Tucker Sunday evening. Grandchildren get easier as they get older. He can do things for himself. That is nice. He can play games. That is fun. He beats me. Some of the time. He is getting to be a better sport. I can not remember ever making it to the end of a card game of Battle before. He beat me in record time today.

Construction details continue to flesh out around us. Even though we are back living in most of the space, new furniture will not be delivered until next week. Picked out a bed today. Window man measured for shades yesterday. Door handles and locks are showing up all over the place. The new paint on the house is magically morphing onto the walls. It looks good. Thanks to Uncle Bo and his Merry Men.

 Sneak peak at the bathroom mirrors - lights over the mirrors might get installed today. 

Mr. Macho "helps" put the legos together.

Tucker, donning his Spider Man glove, observes Uncle Jay.

Uncle Jay indoctrinates another trusty helper. 

The yard is a muddy mess. I would not let Tucker wear shoes in the yard. The feet got spayed off with the garden hose. 

Oh yea. Boy. Tree. 

Ditto. 

Tucker helped make the jello parfaits. All it takes is a fancy glass, jello, yogurt, and strawberries. 

He liked eating it more than he liked making it for sure. 

Laundry room got a good coat of new paint today. Pretty soon Uncle Jay will install the remainder of the tile in there. I do hope my electrician arrives this afternoon. Ceiling fans on the porch. That is what I'm talking about. Sheer happiness. 

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Day one of art camp for Tucker was a success. He made a friend, Matt. He will go back for two more afternoons of art camp. At the YMCA. I will get to Lowe's and order my shades today. 

*****

I think that I just may be landing somewhere over the rainbow. This addition is a dream. 

I feel like I have not stopped moving since my return from Aunt Eleanor's funeral. So glad I was there. The service was brief. She would have liked that.

******

We have moved furniture back into the old den. Our camping days are behind us. It is starting to feel like my house again. Still have many details before completion. The next few weeks will be spent entertaining Lauren and Tucker, chasing dust, finding new spots for old stuff. And enjoying the space. 

Love my new facilities.

Love the new sinks. Love the shell drawer pulls. Love the counter top.

Old den before new rug. 

New rug.

Mr. Macho reaches Nirvana. Even though I admit it was late when the T.V. and chair got set up, progress came to a screeching halt Friday night at this point. 

Saturday. Thanks to Uncle Jay, Justin, Son in Town, and Mr. Macho. Moving the piano was an ordeal. ("It ain't heavy, it's my piano." - Sung to the tune "He ain't heavy, he's my brother.")

Old cabinet/shelves. New locale. 

Porch. Sans majority of tools. Screen should in about a week. 

******

We all met up at Holy Spirit Church to baptize the Super Carrot last evening. It was a happy celebration. Only marred by Mr. Macho's forgetting to turn the car lights off thus killing the battery and by slow service and sassy waitresses at Wintzell's Restaurant. Am glad some of our party were not charged at all for their meal. The children were very well behaved, considering. It took forever to get our food. Then another forever to get out of there. As Mr. Macho likes to say, "We have been to Wintzell's!" - which translates to, "I will not grace the doors of that establishment in the future."

Poor Mr. Macho. He was very put out about the car battery. Mr. Macho is not much for the limelight, especially of the negative variety.

Thank goodness he is over it and has recuperated his cheery demeanor. 

Merritt, The Super Carrot, giving her granddaddy the Sweet Eyes. 

Godparents, The Super Carrot, her parents. 

The whole gang. Plus some. 

Godparents blessing the child. 

Everyone gets in on the act.

This little light of mine. We think it shines. 

Merritt and her fairy godmother. 

Son in Town, Sweet Pea, and SIT's wife. 

SIT trying to get Mr. Macho to loosen up. It worked. 

Out of Town Son and spouse. 

Son-in-law and his sister. 

Wayne and Tracey. 

Tucker and the godparents. 

Us. At the long table. 

Another table shot. 

Sweet Pea ate the lemon. And liked it. She even ate the peel. 

Sweet sisters. 

 *****

Just about to put a pot roast on the table for Sunday dinner. Feel like I have accomplished a few things this morning. My ox was in the ditch. This afternoon I should get some more stuff settled into its place.  Mr. Macho and I will, hopefully, get the carport cleared for the painters. 

This week we celebrate, at least, three more family birthdays. Painters will be here. Uncle Jay will finish the siding and the tongue and groove. Electricians will finish up. Maybe even the wayward floor men will show up to fix the boo boos I have discovered. Not gonna hold my breath on that one. Oh you know how I feel about those floor guys. Not my favorite. 

What is on your agenda this week? 

Sweet memories.

Aunt Eleanor passed away yesterday, June 4. It was the anniversary of her brother, Uncle Dick's, birthday. My Dad is the last surviving member of his immediate family. He was the oldest son.

Aunt Eleanor was the picture of Southern grace and charm. She was stylish and impeccably well groomed. She colored our world with good manners and manicured fingernails. She laughed at our antics and always, always invested her interest in what we had to say. Like our Granny (her mother) she would proclaim, "Mmmercy!" at our outrageous stories. She moved from an antebellum home to a small one after the death of her husband, Uncle Jimmy. Uncle Jimmy was the love of her life. She never remarried. Just like Granny. She maintained a plethora of good friends throughout her life.

I have to tell this one story. It is so typical of Aunt Eleanor....there was a glitch in Daughter's wedding planning and the bridesmaids' dresses she had selected fell through and could not be ordered. Daughter had to make an alternate choice. So she chose an inexpensive sheath dress that her bridesmaids could order from a catalog. Black dress. During a phone conversation with Aunt Eleanor I let slip the color of the dresses. And here is what she said. Pretty much verbatim: "Nancy. You don't mean it! I am so glad you told me. So I don't gasp when they walk down the aisle!" She delivered those lines in her best southern drawl. It was marvelous. One more time I would love to hear her say, "Oh mercy!" One more time I would like to sit in her tiny kitchen eating Wendy burgers and Frosties and share family gossip.  One more time I would like to feel her fingernails gently run up and down my forearm like she used to do almost absent minded. She is one of the treasures of my life. Thank you, Aunt Eleanor.

*******

With a heavy heart I present yesterday's construction update photos.

New front door. No paint, yet.

Bathroom vanity.

Ditto.

Bathroom closet door. 

Front door and crown molding. Door knob has not been installed, yet.

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Got to run put out fires. 

A blueberry Sunday.

Friday evening, after we enjoyed a cool supper on the back porch, Uncle Jay and Aunt Laura came by for a pleasant visit. We had some cold beverages and enjoyed some good laughs. I like to think there will be many more laughs and good times had on that porch. Color me happy! I have a porch to share. Am loving it. And it isn't even finished and there are still tools on it and we are still sitting on camp chairs. But oh, am I loving it.

Yesterday, Saturday, brought the tile man back to our house. He tried hard and saved some of his reputation by reframing my tub window. I am mostly satisfied with the tile and floors. Moving on.

Mr. Macho and I were back on our hands and knees trying to get up some more glue. After more than an hour we got our aching bodies outside for some yard work. It actually helped our frame of mind and felt good to see a tiny amount of neatness brought back to our yard. Tiny. Long way to go. 

Window looks much better. We had to give the tub a little TLC today. The tile men put several scratches on my new tub. 

Tile men still rank at the bottom. This is me letting it go. And tomorrow I will try to let it go, again. 

******

Out of Town Son and wife were in town to pick up a shelf for their new house and dropped by to check our progress yesterday. They were perfectly delighted and were sweet to ooh and ahhh just the right number of times to make me very proud of all the new space being created. OOT Son brought the cigar box guitar that he built and played us some wonderful bluesy music while we sat on the back porch waiting for the tile man to leave. Another fun time added to the porch history. And the tools were witness. 

The tile man finally left. And we were glad. The four of us all went and enjoyed way too much food together. Then OOT Son and wife drove home. And we did, too. 

*******

Sunday and the heat return-eth. After church my friend, Carla, asked if I would like to come pick blueberries at her house in the afternoon. I rarely, if ever, turn down fresh fruit or vegetables. After our Sunday dinner - of baked chicken, green beans, grape tomatoes and cucumbers, and some great baby summer squash out of Uncle Jay's garden - we headed off to pick the berries. 

Carla and her husband, Mike, live in a log cabin with a tin roof. A very nice log cabin with a tin roof. They have somewhere between 15-20 acres. They are down to one horse and are trying to find a good home for it. Three dogs (she volunteers at the animal shelter). Used to have chickens. She gardens. And she shares. Thank you Carla for the blueberries and the visit on your big porch. If we hadn't left when we did we would probably be sound asleep right there on your porch. Still. 

Us. Picking blueberries.

Me and Sweet Carla by the blueberry patch. 

Aren't they gorgeous?

I promised Mr. Macho that I would only pick two gallons. We could have easily picked four times that much. There were ripe blueberries everywhere we looked. 

Mr. Macho and Carla's husband, Mike. He is one interesting dude. Gotta like Mike. And we do. 

***

Back to the house and winding down the weekend. This next week will bring the progress of finishing some things. Perhaps, next weekend, we might even begin to relocate some of our furniture back into it's proper location. That is my happy thought for now. 

The ups and downs of my Friday.

Roller coaster. Today's ride is brought to you by Todd, the tile man. If people would just realize that the longer I simmer, the hotter I get, the world would be a better place. Yesterday and this morning I realized that there were some bad tile issues. I spotted one yesterday. Uncle Jay added some observations this morning. I emailed my floor man pictures and called him at 8:30. A.M. He remembered being specific about how the tile would be laid around the window. He was going to call the tile man and get him in the know and up to date. Floor man said tile man was probably en-route.  I mentioned other issues that didn't meet my expectations. At 1:34 P.M. - just as I was dashing off a pretty damn good irate email to the floor man - Todd, the tile man, appeared. After trying to explain, a little unsuccessfully, what I wanted - my posse showed up and had my back.
Picture this. Todd, the tile man, in the bathroom with me trying to explain. Up behind me comes Mr. Macho, Uncle Jay, his son, Garrett, and Andrew-the-big-carpenter. Cue the banjo - who needs the Hatfields or the McCoys? Todd, the tile man, got the picture and was somewhat overwhelmed by the audience. C'est la vie. Mess with me, you mess with my posse. (This may be a little over done. There was never any threat. Real or implied.)

Anyway. Tongue and groove. Love it. On my porch. Thank you Uncle Jay, Mr. Macho, and Andrew-the-big-carpenter. 

I forgot to post pictures of the columns Uncle Jay put up for us earlier this week. When I stepped out to take this picture I realized that I had totally not noticed that my sweet paint men had already painted my shutters the new color. Thank you, paint men.

Loving the new colors. Uncle Jay will replace the broken attic vent.

Mr. Macho and Andrew-the-big-carpenter putting up the Hardy board on the patio/veranda.

Tongue. And groove. And Uncle Jay.

Duke and Son. The brick layers. Doing a great job. 

Am having to take back breaks during the day. For my back. I know. Redundant. I've been cleaning glue spots off my new floors with mineral oil and a rag. My fanny smells like mineral oil. My fingernails hurt.  I think I have a headache from the fumes. Or maybe I am fuming because I have to do this. What-ev. 

If I had to vote today the floor/tile men would be have least favorite status. My paint guys would rate most favored status, under Uncle Jay. Duke and Son are pretty far up there, too. 

***

The week has been productive. The weekend is upon us. I had hoped to get by and select my blinds/shades today, but that didn't happen. Thanks again, tile man. I can do it tomorrow or next week. I am trying not to be bent out of shape. Really I am.

There are clothes to fold so I gots to go. Oh yes. Gots to go.

Happy weekend, evah-body!