Deck

So I know it has been forever and I am such a slacker, and like I have mentioned I just don't have the drive to blog. But I blog for record keeping sakes and I can already tell I am forgetting details to things that have gone on around here in the last few weeks. So I am going to be better, and remember that I am doing this for my own record keeping.

So on the 12th my dad was driving through to go to California, and he stopped at our house to stay the night and to drop off his tools. Because on the way back he was going to help us build our deck and help Daryl accomplish some things on his Honey Do list. He came back through on the 16th and stayed until Tuesday morning. Other than all the help he provided it was great having him around for so long, when he left I actually really missed him like, wanted to cry miss him. I am usually not like that, I miss my family but not the aching miss (do you get what I am saying?). I just have to say that my dad is the hardest worker I know, I mean I have always known he is a hard worker. But having him here and seeing how he is non-stop and has so much energy for a 62 year old. He really made me see what hard work is all about. I told Daryl I know now why my dad is so thin and in shape, cause he works his butt off and eats nothing. He really inspired me, and made me realize how little I do and how much I could do and should be doing. To say the least he made gave me the bug to just go, go, go.

So unfortunately Daryl had weekend classes and wouldn't be around much to help my dad like we had planned. So I tried to do what I could with Paiglee around to help my dad on the project he was only suppose to help us with and not solely do. Saturday he got right to work, and worked on the frame for about half the day. Then noonish we had to get more supplies and wood from The Home Depot and we spent a good two and half hours there. I must add I was not feeling good at all, I was fighting off a sinus infection that was trying to settle in. Then Home Depot didn't have everything we needed and all other lumber stores in this town were closed so we had to go to GR to get what we needed. Now when my dad came our original plan was that he would have his truck, but since this was all spur of the moment he brought the Prius since he had to go to California. So we had to get ten foot long boards and longer in this Prius. It was comical to say the least. My dad had Paiglee and I get situated in the car then he put the boards around us. By the end I had two huge boards sticking out my passenger window and trying to hold up the stack that was going from one end of the car to the windshield, so they wouldn't fall and squish Paiglee. People were seriously staring and laughing and I couldn't help but laugh too, we looked ridiculous. My dad couldn’t see out my side so I had to tell him when it was clear my way for him to go, it was really quit comical, if only we had a picture. Then from GR we had more ten foot boards and we had to tie the hatch down on the Prius really it was quit the adventure coming home on I-80. All of this ate up a good chunk of our day. But my dad being the amazing person he is was able to get it all framed out and set so he could just fly the next day.

We also had a birthday party to go to, so when Daryl got home he took Paiglee to it and I stayed home because, one I was not feeling well, and two I couldn't leave my dad while he was working on the deck alone. So I stayed and helped and really didn't rest much. But one thing it taught me I can tough it through not feeling well. I am usually a big baby and don't do a darn thing when I don't feel well. But this showed me maybe I am being more dramatic than need be, LOL! But trust me next time I am sick I won’t be spending three plus hours at a lumber place. It really isn’t my ideal place to be when fighting something.

Sunday I still didn't feel well and plus my dad didn't have his church clothes so we stayed home. And my dad really wanted to bust the deck out so he could get home, which I couldn't blame him for. So we got the whole deck finished by Sunday evening and it looked amazing. Monday my dad and I were up and he put on the little railing for where we plan to store a grill. Then we headed to the store for some more supplies. After Lunch I finished sanding parts of the deck so I could stain it, and my dad was fixing our counter tops and screen door. I stained the whole thing in about three hours. I then helped my dad put on the hardware on our cabinets and he also fixed the faucet in out shower so it wouldn't shake anymore. That consisted of him putting a whole in our wall and doing what the builders should have done in the first place. Then he patched it and when he comes again he will texture and paint it, or I will paint it. I did try to feed him well while he was here since he was doing so much for us. We spent the evenings "noodling out" (as my dad would say), and watching TV and talking. My dad showed us some stuff he took from cleaning out his dad's apartment, one was a Japanese flag from World War II that my Grandpa took off a Japanese man he killed, and then my Grandpa's coin collection he had some pretty neat coins in there.

My dad is an amazingly smart man, and he is beyond handy. I absolutely loved him being here for so long. Paiglee was getting pretty use to him being here, she loves her Grandpa a ton. I seriously wish he could have stayed. He did an amazing job with the deck, and Daryl was very helpful to him when he was home to help. I love our deck that much more because my dad built it. But now I know how to build a deck, and so many other things that he helped us with. I probably wouldn't have learned it all if Daryl was around to help him instead of me. It was a busy weekend and hard but so fun and rewarding for me, even if I didn't feel good most of the time.

I still have things to do around the house as far as yard work and maintenance and cleaning that need to be done. And I have started some of it, but hopefully when it stops being crappy weather I can finish. Oh and did I mention how beautiful it has been here, other than a few windy days it has just been amazingly gorgeous weather, except for the rain yesterday. But no complaints really because now the rain will turn my grass green.

Daryl will be starting our sprinkler system here in a few weeks and we have some repairing to do to our front yard because well the builder didn't do a great job at sawding our front yard, so we have leveling out to do and re-sauding to do. I think it is all quit fun though and so fun to enjoy when all the work is done.

Sorry no pictures, I will take some when our grass is greener and the sprinkler system is in and some of our other projects in the yard are finished, it is kind of a mess now.