Roof Done, Flooring Purchased, Shed Moved

Wow, lots happened here today!
The roof is DONE!
When the roofers got done, they helped Dan move the shed from the back of the house to the back corner of the lot with the Skytrak.

First I'll show you some pics of the roof.










Makes me glad I'm not a roofer!

Now here are some of the shed being moved











The back of the house with NO shed!






Want to know why there are men sitting on the shed roof?
A. Cos Dan wiggled his nose and they found themselves there
B. They are being punished
C. They had to sit on it to counterbalance the load.

You're right - the answer is C. The forks on the Skytrak weren't long enough to go all the way under the shed, so that was their solution.

The roofing company we used was Wilcox Construction. They did a good job in a timely fashion. We are thankful for our new roof!
In conversation with them, Dan learned that the owners son went on a missions trip with his brother Ben a couple years ago. Small world, isn't it?

This morning, before all this took place, Dan was in Grand Rapids. He had his men's meeting, then he went to several places and compared flooring. He did his homework well enough he was able to get the lowest price (at Lowe's). Then because he had compared and showed them the numbers, they reduced it by 10% to match and beat the competitor. I didn't say that right, but I hope you know what I mean.


He got all the wood flooring for the dining room and entryway.
Tonight we emptied the room - no small task. We moved the desk, the table, chairs, curio cabinet, kitchen flooring, sewing machine.....

Here is the room emptied








Here's the floor that will soon be covered by beautiful flooring







Shhtunning, isn't it?!
By weeks end it really will be!

One more day of work this week for me, then I'll be able to stay home and get lots done! I feel like we haven't done anything around here for weeks.

Tomorrow Dan is getting the floor repaired in spots and ready for the wood. There are several things he needs to do before we can lay the new stuff. I'll take pictures of it tomorrow and show you.

I can't wait to get this done and have you all over to enjoy it with us!

Moving of the Shed

My apologies right off the bat - this is probably going to be short.
It was a good day. Work didn't seem bad comparing it to Friday! Man, on Friday, we had people in line for hours on end. Some of them said they waited over 3 hours just to get their fabric cut! Who needs fabric that bad? Seriously?!

After work I stopped by Flowerland to see some Christmas decorations Marie told me about. They have such cool ideas there. They had a special on their ribbon today - buy one get one free, but was today only.

Once home, we had freezer pizza. We were both too tired to care much about what we ate! Then we spent a few minutes and drilled a couple holes for above cabinet lights. We didn't finish it because we saw what time it was and we want to get to bed at a decent time tonight. Plus, I knew I had to blog, check emails, etc.

Dan spent most of the day in the attic and going up and down stairs getting the exhaust fans ready to hook up in the two bathrooms. We needed to get them done so our insulation can be completed. Now, we can ask Brian from Whitson Insulation to come wrap that up. We've been noticing it has been colder on the second floor than on the main floor. Dan realized why when he was in the attic today. There were holes where there shouldn't have been holes. He plugged them. When the insulation is blown into the attic, it will make a big difference - we're hoping!

The roofers got 3/4 of the way through the shingling process. They should finish that up tomorrow.
Dan asked them for help moving the shed. They agreed to do it tomorrow before they leave.
They have a skytrack here to lift the shingles onto the roof. They'll use that to lift the shed and put it in the back corner of the yard.
I'm hoping we'll have pictures tomorrow of the process.

Tomorrow we purchase the flooring for the dining room!
I'm excited to get that and get it down.

So, another day in the Conklin Construction Conundrums!

Hunting Season is Almost Over

Sunday - a day of rest....the Sabbath....beginning of another week.....
Can you even believe it is almost Dec.?! Where did November go?

We stayed home most of the day - after church of course. Decided to hang here and get some stuff done. I asked Dan if he didn't want to rest all day and do much of nothing, but he's feeling guilty for taking all that time off for hunting (and not getting anything). So he sanded the pillars and cut them to length. Then he got a call from Dave. He asked if Dan was hunting today....Dave was of course. Dan said no, he was putzing around the house doing stuff. I could tell he kind of wanted to so I asked if he would like to go. He said he did but had better get something done. I told him I was going to decorate the tree so if he wanted to go he might as well.
He went. He saw no deer whatsoever.
Season is over Tuesday.

I got the tree decorated and part of the house. I used to have it down where all the decorations went. Now in this place it is all different...it's taking me longer!

I didn't take pictures. I'll do that tomorrow - sorry Marie!
I had promised her I'd post pictures of what I was doing. Kinda forgot to go get the camera!

Tomorrow I work.
Dan plans to get the entryway ready to paint - I CAN'T WAIT!
Then Tuesday after his men's prayer breakfast, he plans to get the flooring for the dining room and entryway. He says we will have it down by the weekend - WHOOOO HOOOO!
I can just see that beautiful floor....and entryway.....sleek wood....no more rough boards you can't walk barefoot or even stockin' footed on!

Had a conversation with my Mom this weekend. No big plans up there for Christmas, so I invited her and my sister to come here. Wouldn't that be nice - to have family come in for the holiday?! No pressure Mother!

Christmas Tree

Blog #175 - there should be some sort of celebration, don't you think?
I'm too tired to celebrate ;-)

Today Dan got up early and went hunting again, with Dave. They only sighted turkeys again. The neighbor where they've been hunting talked to them today and he even thought it odd that none have been sighted...has evidently been good hunting grounds in the past. Who knows? But Dan is starting to get frustrated.
Don't know if he'll be back at it Monday....season is over on Tuesday.

I spent most of the day with Kayla. We saw Despicable Me. It was a cute animated movie. Then we had lunch together at 'our place' - On The Border. That's what she called it today when I let her decide where we'd eat.
After a nice meal and good conversation with her we went back to their house. There was nobody home. They didn't answer the cell phone so we decided we weren't going to sit around the house and wait for them. We went shopping at Target, Goodwill, and Hobby Lobby. She is good at helping with other peoples gifts. It was awesome. I would say who I wanted to look for and she would have suggestions. She thinks of things I don't, so it was helpful.

We met up with Dave and Gina and I headed home. Hadn't seen Dan all day....he was mudding walls again. He is almost done with the stairway. Tells me I can be painting next week! Yeah!

We then decided to get the tree and put it up. That was no easy feat! I moved all the stuff around it and it took both of us to get it downstairs. Here it is set up with no decorations. I'll do that tomorrow!




As you can see, we need to do some rearranging of furniture yet...we weren't up to it tonight. It's like everything else around here has been. One seemingly simple task depends upon two to three others and isn't as simple as it first seems to be! So those things will wait.

Signing off....until tomorrow.....

Black Friday

Suffice it to say - Black Friday is over and we are very glad.
I worked today.
There are a lot of crazy people out there.
I am very tired.

Dan hunted in the morning and again in the afternoon - still no deer, but lots of turkeys sighted evidently.
(I sighted a lot today too!)


Oh, yeah, BTW, no roofers showed up today.
Last night we heard things blowing off the roof....pretty sure it was shingles. Sure hope they were loose and not supposed to be permanently affixed, or we have a big problem ;-)

Not sure if they are supposed to be back tomorrow or Monday. They did put plastic over the part they stripped and need to shingle.

It's cold in here....

Thanksgiving Day

Ok, missed a day there....was quite busy. Actually, we didn't get home last night 'til around midnight - there was NO way I was sitting at the computer to tell you how the day had gone!

But, now is a good time.
Yesterday I worked 8-4p.m. Right after work I drove over to Gina and Dave's where we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Dan and Mindi drove together. Then Daniel and Laina came an hour or so after that.

While we were waiting for Daniel and Laina to arrive, the kids played and we finished getting food ready.
Crazy thing happened - we were getting stuff ready to put on the table and I asked Dan which pan the potatoes were in. He looked at me with a dumbfounded expression and said none of them. He didn't make potatoes. I thought he was kidding, so kept asking which pan they were in. Finally, I realized he wasn't joking, he really had forgotten to make the mashed potatoes.
The girls and I all agreed, you can't have Thanksgiving dinner without mashed potatoes. So Dave and Gina pulled out the bag they had just purchased and we decided to quick cut them into small chunks and put them in the microwave. We all pitched in cutting them up. At this point Daniel and Laina had arrived and Daniel jumped in and helped cut them up. It probably took us another 1/2 hour to get them cooked and mashed. We decided we didn't care if they were lumpy or not, we had potatoes! Let's get on with the meal!

Here are some of us:


Levi when I first arrived, watching a movie





Kayla and Nate playing





Rayna





Levi




You know this guy!






Sorry this one is so dark, my annoying, tempermental flash!
The happily married newlyweds





Dave and Gideon





Around the table

















After a scrumptious meal, we cleared the table,












sat around and let things settle a bit, then broke out the games.















We played Mad Gab first. That is the funniest game! We had a lot of laughs with that one. Then Gina and Mindi put kids down....


Gideon ready for bed







and we put in the Family Feud DVD






We split into two teams and had a blast playing that one.








We wrapped that up and were just talking when Nate had a meltdown. It was like his little body just couldn't take it anymore and he started crying and didn't stop til Mindi got everything loaded, kids packed in and headed home!

As I said at the beginning, we got home around midnight. We slept in til 9:30 or 10:00. We never sleep that late! It felt really good!
Dan worked awhile on the entryway. I sewed the shower curtain. I had started it the other day but didn't finish it. So, today, I sewed on it off and on.

Mindi brought Jazmyn over around noon. We looked to see movie times and took her to the 4:00 showing of Tangled. It is the story of Rapunzel - with a bit of a twist to it. It was a cute movie.

Mindi came back to get her around 7:45.


Dan doing some more mudding today.











Here is the shower curtain the other day when there were still pins in it!
Can't find the pictures I took tonight after I completed it....





I'm almost done with curtains for the window that use the same fabric. Maybe I can finish those over the weekend and hang them. Trim isn't at the window though, maybe I can bribe Dan into getting that up too.


Now to prepare for BLACK FRIDAY!

The Roofers Have Arrived

It's getting closer.....only two more days til Thanksgiving! (only one more for us - we celebrate with the kids Wed. evening)

Today the roofers arrived with their equipment and materials.
The yard is full of their STUFF.
Dan actually took some pictures of it!










Dan tells me they have already torn off one side, put up tar paper and begun shingling. When they tore off the old shingles, they found out there was not tar paper under the shingles. Perhaps it is a blessing the shingles blew off in the storm?!

Dan went to his men's group this morning then did some running around. One thing he did was get my car and have the oil changed. Then he picked up flooring samples at Lumber Liquidators. He brought home quite a few to show me - AND we have picked one. I'd show you a picture, but you know how color is on here - poor! So we'll wait til we either have the flooring or have it installed to show you. (Plus, I don't have a picture of it to download right now!)

He also hooked up some more lights. For the first time since wiring was removed in the stairway, we have lights there. Can I just say, it will be nice not to have to feel my way down the stairs every morning!

He has also been putting coat after coat on the walls in the entry/stairway.







We are almost ready for the pillars. His dad built bases for them. I think I'll probably wash, sand and paint them Thanksgiving Day. He may go hunting either that day or Friday. I'd like to get them painted and ready to install.

Last night I went over and watched Mindi and Seth's kids for awhile. Here they are.

















Ok, gotta turn in soon.
Workin' tomorrow again. That means Dan has to get all the food ready. He doesn't mind, and actually likes doing it. We just assembed the ingredients for Lime Pear Delight. It is a lime jello with pineapple (instead of pears) and cream cheese. It has become a family favorite. My mom used to make it for Sunday lunch. We now incorporate it into a lot of our holidays.

Tick, tick, tick....it is getting late. Gotta go.

Week of Thanksgiving

Sunday is over.....just got home from our Grand Rapids small group meeting.

This week we didn't do a 'study' like we typically do. We had a social time and discussed what we'll be doing this coming year.

We had great food, great conversation, and got lots decided for the upcoming months.

We are blessed to be in a group with a great bunch of people. We've been together, we figured out tonight, around 7-8 years. It's been a real blessing in our lives!

As you know, Jazmyn stayed overnight with us last night.

Dan made us all pancakes for breakfast then we attended the 10:00 service.

After church we began making lunch and the little neighbor boy stopped over and asked if he could play with Jazmyn. We invited him in and he shared lunch with us. They then played til we left to take Jazmyn home.

We had to take her home fairly early because we were going into Hastings to Dan's brothers 50th birthday open house. After we stopped in there, we went to his Dad's house. He had made us a base for each of the pillars that will be going in the entryway. We are hoping to get them up this week before we set up the Christmas tree.

Our tradition has been to set up our Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. We're not planning to change that this year!

After visiting with Dan's dad for awhile, we headed back to Grand Rapids. We had about 2 hours before we had to be at small group, so we stopped by Gina's house and used their facilities and talked a few minutes.

Kayla had been painting - you wouldn't believe how good she is doing. She had painted a canvas in black and whites...wish I'd had my camera with me and I could share it with you!!!

Here are some pictures of today I did happen to remember to take ;-)

Jazmyn and the neighbor boy, Donny.

Pictures from our small group tonight.
You remember Hank, right? That's him hiding behind the plant!










This is our good friend Mara, well, she used to be our good friend. After posting this picture of her, we may not be so good a friends anymore! ;-)





Well, I don't have to work tomorrow. Yeah! A day to work here and get ready for Thanksgiving. We are debating whether to get the flooring for the entryway and dining room and try to get it put down before Wed. night (when we will be having the family over for our Thanksgiving celebration).
Dan is currently checking prices on wood flooring. He isn't sure yet whether he will be hunting first thing in the morning or not either.

Will let you know!