No snow....boohoo

My hopes were raised and dashed twice in the last two days.  I was told there would be snow.  The "pineapple express" or something like that was bringing a front with snow, and it got blown away!!  Yesterday morning, I sat snuggled in my blanket watching the snow-filled clouds come rolling over the mesa, unfurl their load, and get blown away before any snow could even land on the ground.  Really, I think the snow just blew sideways.  Then another bank of clouds would drop over, only to dissipate in the wind. 

I was really hoping for a snow day even more than the snow, though I do know we could use the moisture.  It's just so tough when you make a day and a half of progress and then have to go back to the other work and can't finish what you were doing on the weekend. 

And what we "were doing on the weekend" was working on the basement.  We got most of the northern wall in the basement done, plus we framed two doors, and we even got one of them hung.  This being the primary achievement among others, like rotating the tires on my car, replacing the plastic "shield" under the engine block, and catching the kittens and playing with them. And this past week we got the lights installed in the TV room downstairs, which means we have a working light switch for coming and going (major convenience factor). 

If I had a snow day (and my hubby, too), I think we would have built and framed the door from the TV room into the mechanical room and hung it.  That would mean we could do some other rearranging and start cleaning up even more of the dust!  Guess it'll have to wait because there isn't any more snow in our forecast for a while!

A long, long weekend

In addition to all our other blessings for which we are so grateful, waking up late on Friday and knowing it's still not Saturday yet was wonderful!  We enjoyed some laziness this extra long weekend, but we also got cracking downstairs.  After finishing the last bit of work to secure the stove pipe and chimney, we fired up the wood stove for the first (and second) time on Thanksgiving.  And without a minute to lose, we got started on the walls.  It sure looks pretty down there with the wood up. 

a little more work to do around the windows and along the ceiling is all....

(temporarily the guest room is the TV room)

Thomas spent a good part of Friday playing with the electrical system.  I should've taken a picture of it, too, but he made all the wires look nice and pretty.  I worked on some pantry shelf sliders while he was doing that, as well as cleaning up the garden window behind the sink and prepping it for tile.  The backer board is installed, so next up is tile! 

Plus there was plenty of TV / movie watching, sleeping in, birthday partying for David, and working on a puzzle of fall leaves...

The Big Push!

Thomas and I were thrilled to host a big family function in the new house.  Back when I lived in the Columbine House, we laughed about how hosting a party is a much needed excuse to do a thorough house cleaning.  It was the same for us last week, though not just cleaning.  Sure, we swept and mopped the floor, but we also pulled the coffee table out of storage, plus an extra chair.  We pulled furniture over from the trailer, as well as some more of those items we kept reaching for but remembered were across the property.  It just keeps feeling more and more like a home, and when better to feel that way than when all the family is sitting around the table and telling stories or playing games.

Kudos to Mom and Pop for loaning me their camera, since I'd forgotten ours at work.

(the triumph of a little sister and big sister leaving those dominoes alone long enough)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  How much we have to be thankful for this year!!