Month: December 2011

Audrey helped make cupcakes. She put the cups in the pans, put all the stuff in the bowl, turned on the mixer and turned it off when the time was up. And after I frosted them, she put the sprinkles on and put the decorations on the top.

We spent some afternoon time watching movies, since it was too cold to go outside and Isaac still wasn’t feeling the greatest. We did go out to do chores, but it involved a lot of fussing on Isaac’s part, so we went back inside.

Only those who have lived in a house being remodeled know how absolutely filthy dirty things get in the process. I actually spent the entire day cleaning in order to have it clean enough for Ethan, Audrey, and Isaac to crawl around on the floor, eat at the table, and generally avoid picking up any toxins while at Nana’s house. I had, I think it was, 28 jobs to do. The way I do a big cleaning like this is to take my pad of paper around and write down everything that needs doing. Then I number them in the order that I want to do them. I space out things I don’t care for, like cleaning the different parts of the bathroom, and, of course, leave the vacuuming and scrubbing for the tail end. I also cleaned all the dust off of and packed all the Christmas decorations except the tree. We have been living amid heaps of empty boxes to use for gradually packing, so just getting them out of the way made the house seem so much bigger.

All of this while Don worked on making the stairs safer. As you can see, the railing at the top is higher and is also more secure, despite the fact that it can be removed in order to move large pieces up the stairs. And, believe it or not, we finally have a hand rail for the kids (and us) to hold onto when they go up and down the stairs. And notice the carpeting and freshly painted walls. We are getting there…:)

We removed the sheetrock from along the  stairs, because we couldn’t get new paint to stick without chipping off. We haven’t mudded and painted it, yet, but we put the handrail on anyway.

This is kind of blurry, but you should be able to see that we put a 2×4 box about 6″ high under the railing to raise it to a safer height. Then Dad put a pipe down from the underside of the top of the railing through holes in the floor, which holds it very secure!

This shows the color upstairs. It really doesn’t look quite that much like mustard, but almost. I think it is a very nice color, but you may not agree. At any rate, the walls are clean and covered with paint. The trim along the floor is just leaning there. It still has to be affixed to the walls.

Another weekend and more work on the houses. Today we are working on 126 upstairs to get that totally finished before the kiddos come on Tuesday. We had to put in the trim in their bedroom and put doors on the small closets. Now we are working on making the railing higher and more secure. That will be a big improvement in my book.

Meanwhile Don is over at 117 working on getting wiring done. He almost has the living room done, then he just has to do the piano room and porch. Slowly, but surely, we are getting things done.

I have to be at church at 4:30 to practice before the 5:00 Christmas Eve service. Then I’ll come home and Dad and I will both head back up at 9:30 for the 10:00 service. Then home and to bed and back again by 8:45 in the a.m. for the Sunday service. At least there is only one service tomorrow, so I can come right home when it is done. We will sure know our way from New Auburn to Cameron!

Merry Christmas to all.

Rain, rain, rain. I say let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

This week is a little less stressful, since I have most evenings off. Dad was late coming home last night, though, looking for a part for the hot water heater in Chetek. We also found out we need C02 detectors on all three floors of our rentals and they are $30 each. Grrrrrr.  Regulations, regulations.

I’m not sure when we are going to work on the house again. We’ve been busy with other things, such as the rental in Chetek and the youth center. Gary and Pastor Dan did get the beam up in the piano room on Saturday, though. So now we are down to mostly sheetrocking and finishing work. We are going to raise the floor in the laundry room on Saturday, but that is a small room. We also have to do the plumbing and I’m kind of looking forward to having a bathroom over there again. Particularly when you have to walk home in rain to use our bathroom!

I made chocolates for my piano students last night. All 9 students. Didn’t take but a few hours. I made chocolate covered mini-oreos, pretzel/caramel candies, s’more candies, and toasted coconut haystacks. I also made chocolate covered raisins clusters with the chocolate left in the bottom of the bowl, but we kept those for ourselves! I still want to make popcorn balls, Russian teacakes, and more molasses cookies.

So, what’s new? They are all busy. Actually next weekend won’t be, but we really need to get some work done on the house.

Today started with my annual visit to the Cookie Walk at Chetek Lutheran. I got there right away at 8:00 and limited myself to only one container this year. I got two of everything and I’m not going to eat any of them unless I’m sharing one with Dad. That should slow my cookie consumption quite a bit, because he isn’t addicted to cookies like I am. We still have a lot of the ones from the cookie exchange left, too, but that is mostly because we weren’t feeling that well for several days.

After that, I went to work and packed all the door prizes and other stuff in my car, because the place for the Christmas party is closer to home than work, so now I can go straight there. Then I went to the Methodist Church for dress rehearsal for the Christmas program for tomorrow. It went really well.

Then I checked in at The Garage where they are having their Kids’ Christmas Shopping and wagon rides, etc. But Dad wasn’t there, so I came home. Apparently he is over helping Gary and Pastor Dan at the house. They are going to try to put the beam in place today, to hold up the second floor bedroom better.

The hot rollers are on and I’ve picked out my outfit. I need to get ready by about noon to head into Chetek (the bowling alley – they have a banquet room where Walleyball used to be) for the Senior Citizens Christmas party. Then home, rest a bit and head to Bloomer by 6:30 to warm up for the New Auburn Comm. Choir performance at Bloomer Baptist.

Tomorrow I play for the 8:30 service in Cameron, then rush back to Chetek to play for the Methodist program at 10:00. In the afternoon, we have the final NA Comm. Choir concert right here in New Auburn. Tomorrow evening is free (yay!)

Monday – Roselawn program. Also next week – Cameron program and working with high school for their program a week from Monday. Things are slowing down a little, though!

And, just to keep life interesting, I fell while running this a.m. and pulled a muscle on my side, so it makes doing things a little more difficult. Not singing or playing the piano, though.

Dad and I somehow caught the stomach flu the same day. He came home from work sick on Monday. I started feeling bad about the time I was leaving after practicing at the middle school. But I didn’t dare go to bed, because I wanted to be alert for the concert that night. Dad drove me and I made it through alright, although it wasn’t my most fun concert! I went home and right to bed. The next morning Dad was up and off to work, but I felt so bad I went back to bed. But I couldn’t find anyone to open the Center, so I got up and went to work. I actually didn’t feel awful once I got up and going. By this afternoon I am feeling about back to normal and I think Dad is, too. We thought it was maybe something we had eaten, but I guess Dad found out that this bug is going around. But, enough of that…

My week has, otherwise, been filled with wondering how both of our sons are doing on their different adventures. Luke has an offer and counter offer in, so I’m waiting to hear how that goes and Nathan has another situation I’m waiting to hear on. Makes the days go slower when you keep checking the webpages and e mail every hour! Fortunately Kylene and Erica seem to be cruising along like normal.

Practice at the Methodist Church tonight, then back to Roselawn for the second day tomorrow – their concert is this coming Monday. Friday, I also go to Cameron Elementary for a practice. Their programs are next week. Fun time of the year! But I’m glad people are able to get along without me at work, because I’m missing quite a bit this week.

This was a really busy week and I’m glad the weekend is here so I can be a different kind of busy. I had one choir rehearsal or another every single night. New Auburn choir on Monday and again tonight (dress rehearsal). Red Cedar Choir on Tuesday and well as Thursday (dress rehearsal). And Jennifer Albrecht’s choir at the Methodist Church on Wednesday. I still play for their program every year. Tomorrow is the first performance for the New Auburn Choir and we are singing in Eau Claire! (The big time??) Sunday in Chetek. And Sunday afternoon is the Red Cedar Choir concert (x 2 – 2:00 and 4:00), so that will be a really busy day. At least I just have to be in Chetek in the evening.

But, we are also planning a lot of work at the house. Tomorrow we tackle the piano room. I’m going to go over and take the rest of the floor off this afternoon, so we can begin the reconstruction in earnest first thing in the a.m. That way if we need anything, we can run up to Lamperts before noon.  I’m excited to work some more, because I haven’t worked on it all week. I haven’t hardly had time to pick up the house or do dishes.

We had our cookie exchange at work today – an annual event. There were 7 different kinds, so we each made one kind and went home with 7 – not a bad deal! But that meant I had to make cookies Wednesday during a little free time, but then I didn’t even have time to frost them, so Dad volunteered to frost them for me. Wasn’t that sweet?

And finally, Dad came home last night and said that he feels he has made it over the hump, meaning he feels comfortable in his ability to do his new job. He had many stressful weeks because of hundreds of shots he has had to give since he started. But that deadline is past now, and he is on to just doing the day-to-day stuff. And the people he works with are taking him more seriously and listening to his ideas and all is going quite well. I’m very happy for him!