31 Days of Gray

Day 8 - Hanging with Hubby

David actually had the day off today...it's been awhile! He's finally done with a big job he was running, a couple of outages planned back to back...so he gets a little bit of downtime before the next ones start up. We needed to get some stuff for the house, it's starting to fall apart around us ;) The priority was to get a new porch post, our last one had completely rotted through at the bottom! We had called someone to get an estimate a few weeks ago, and he quoted us almost 400.00! Thought it was pretty high, but it needed done, so we said OK. Only problem...he never came back or called. Kim and Torrey said it wouldn't be that big a deal to do ourselves. Kim totally volunteered Torrey to come over and help David with it today...lol! And since David has the free time now, it totally made sense. We also wanted to check out cedar shingles to replace some that had fallen off, we need a replacement fence for one side of the house, a little garden corner fence, trellis for under the front porch. We also wanted to try to price a replacement shower for our master bath, that has been out of commission for oh, just 3 years!!! We did find a PVC porch post kit, so that was accomplished at least. I had wanted to check out hanging flower baskets too, but we never managed to get over there.

The cedar shingles were ridiculous! They wanted over $50 for a little package...like, really? Torrey said if you get the B grade package, they're only like $5, so we'll have to check that out. They didn't have a great selection on vinyl fencing, so we'll probably be getting that online...at a later date...talk about expensive! and we are only doing one tiny side, it'll still probably wind up being around $500.00. They did have the trellis, but I needed to remeasure, think I erased some of the measurements off my phone...lol. Not sure exactly what we'll put for the corner garden fence yet...definitely want vinyl...the wood there is all rotting and falling apart too. Sometimes it's no fun being a grownup and homeowner...waaahhhh....lol

OK, OK, I do love my house...I'm just not always great at the maintenance, etc. Anyways, it was still fun running errands, even if it wasn't for awesome, fun stuff ;) like clothes, or shoes, or pretty decorating things...lol...or heck, even food! haha

The kids were all so glad it was Friday! No school for two whole days! We are all so ready for school to be over...stinks that there is still a month and a half left! uuuugggghhhhh! Oh, the coolest thing this morning though! When Buddy and I were walking home from dropping Red 3 at school, we stopped by the little pond and sat on the bench. We saw a couple of baby turtles sunning on a log...and then two geese came to check us out! I wish I had my camera with me...Buddy was SO excited (and slightly scared) at how close they came! Luckily I had my phone though. Speaking of my camera, I thought the problem was with the SD card reader not letting me upload to my computer, so I ordered a new one. But then when I tried to put the SD card back in the camera to take some new pics, the camera isn't reading it...so apparently the problem is the actual card :/

So tonight after Torrey got home from work he came over with his masonry drill bit to help install the post. I played gopher for them...a lot. lol...then things kept going wrong, like the drill bit broke, so David ran Torrey home to grab a different one. Then the battery went dead, so another trip...then needed a different drill bit...I think they made about 4 trips...lol. Kim must have been starting to wonder! It was so funny, we needed a little square of wood to fill in a patch...David cut it just by estimate...and it was literally an exact fit! Couldn't believe it...we all started laughing, cuz that's just crazy!

Getting the top post plate installed was a cinch, but drilling into the concrete on the bottom was a bear. That's where they kept running into issues. First the screws wouldn't drill in, even though we thought they were masonry screws. So Torrey pre-drilled holes, which only worked on one of the screws (there were 4). He couldn't even drill one of the holes at all, probably some rebar in the way or something. Anyways, so then they tried a bigger drill bit to try to be able to get the other screws in, but that turned out too big, the screws just fell right in. Then I (pat on my back ;) suggested Gorilla Glue (it's a mega strength expanding glue, just the thing!) So that should turn out just fine. Then David jacked up the porch roof using his car jack and the old post...it worked! We were a little nervous about that, but it was perfect!

The jack was the scary part

Torrey with his richly deserved rewards, some Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey!

Thanks Torrey! (and Kim for volunteering him...hahaha!)

Oh yeah, don't worry, I had gray on today...was totally not trying hard though ;) wearing my lounge about the house rant against cancer shirt. It's just so darn comfy! What can I say???