Phase 2, 3, 4.....I'm really not sure

The following list is what we have been able to accomplish between December 22 - December 29:
- cleaned up remaining insulation
- tore out some scaffolding in the upstairs
- visited the landfill
- built a staircase
- built a set of stairs off the front porch
- put up a few 2 x 12's as ceiling joists for upstairs
- took down the antenna, put up an interior brace to secure the roof, and picked up around the house to prepare for bad weather
- cleared and cleaned up bits of wood, scaffolding, old wiring in old attic
- put in more 2 x 12's
- put in sheets of plywood 3/4 of the way across the front part of the floor upstairs which will serve as a balcony
- build and installed 4 - 9 ft wall frames to serve as front wall upstairs
- built and installed remaining 9 ft wall frames to finish framing wall upstairs
- installed back door and put in knobs and deadbolts on front and back door
- framed up 3 bedroom doors, closet door and bathroom door
- put in 24 collar braces above the 9 ft wall section upstairs which will serve as a support for the roof and floor joists for the attic
- began installing tongue and groove boards around the staircase to create a storage closet

Many thanks to all who have helped with the above work....Todd M., my brother Chris, our nephew Nate, Stafford, and our children.

Even with all the work we still managed to celebrate Christmas at church with a program and candle lighting ceremony, Christmas Eve with my brother and family, Christmas Day with family at Grandma's, spend time as a family, and enjoy the beauty of our place.

 

To have a REAL tree or not to have a real tree?...That Is The Question

     At the beginning of December the girls said something about getting a Christmas tree. I replied with something like this,"Maybe this year since we have everything in storage and we are so busy we should just not put up a tree." The kids response to me was first a look of "I can't believe you just said that" followed by "Mom, we have to put up a tree." To which I replied, "Well, let's just put up a fake tree this year." I received a look of horror and shock as if I had cursed, then was asked something like this, "Are you crazy, we never put up a fake tree?" One of them, then replied, "You can put up a fake tree when we all move out!" At least I think they said that and it makes my story better anyway so that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!
     They were right, of course. We have never put up a fake tree, even before the kids were born. Not that putting up a fake tree is such a bad thing. We had a fake tree in our house growing up and I never thought anything negative or terrible would befall our Christmas because of having a fake tree. It's just that for us it is a tradition that we really enjoy and have come to look forward to. We always go together to find the "perfect tree" which of course doesn't exist especially when you have 5 people trying to agree. I must say that this year it only took a few minutes and not much disagreement or discussion when picking out the "perfect tree". Part of the reason for such an easy agreement was it was late Monday night on Monday, December 17th and the other part was that they were getting a real tree.
     There was truth and reason in my temporary moment of craziness suggesting that we not have a tree. It's because everything is in storage which means we don't have ornaments. Sooo, we made a few ornaments. First, Allie made salt dough ornaments. Then she and I made 3D paper stars. Then I made 2 paper snowflakes and Allie made one. (Don't know if I will make any more of those....time consuming and must have much patience not to cut incorrectly.) We had plans to create some other ornaments like spray painted pine cones and maybe string popcorn, however we simply ran out of time and Christmas was just as nice with the few ornaments we made for our REAL tree!!!

Remodeling and Life in General

     Remodeling the house has been a major part of our lives for the past 3 1/2 months. However, we have had time for our other interests like finishing up Sara and Wyatt's rodeo season in October, Sara getting involved in Jr leadership in St Landry Parish, Sara and Allie staying involved in Midland High's FFA, David performing a few weddings, visiting with old and new friends here in the Bayou Jacque area, hosting a Fall Party (bonfire, chili, visiting) and a Christmas Party (hayride, caroling at the nursing home, bonfire, chili, visiting). The kids are also signed up for shooting sports in St Landry Parish. We missed the first two practices and the third was cancelled....so we still have that to get started in. Not to mention schooling 4 days a week.
     The girls have actually gone to school with David several days in November and December to practice for and compete in the FFA contests. Allie won the Freshmen test at Parish. Sara placed 2nd with a prepared speech at Parish and then placed 4th at District. She will be competing at the Area contest January 7th.

Back to the remodeling......

December 1 - Jeff came today with the kids for a visit and helped finish planking the south wall with hardy plank. We worked until dark....

December 3 - David took the day off because we had banking work to take care of and needed to put his truck in the shop. Of course, since he was off and we still had daylight we tore out the original middle wall of the house. We also unhooked the central AC unit and duct connected in an effort to prepare the old ceiling for decking.

December 7 - Sara, Allie and I cleaned up the scraps from our demo of the wall on Monday while David, Bryant, and Wyatt tore down an old barn to salvage some old wood and tin.

December 8 - We put up braces on the back porch to support the porch and took out an AC window unit from the back wall of house. Then we tore out another kitchen cabinet.

December 9 - David cut out 3 windows on the back wall of the house and closed up the hole to prepare the wall for hardy plank. We moved the wood to be saved to the shed and moved kitchen cabinets to the shed. Jennifer, Kain, and Kade came by today to visit and see the new place on their way home to Mississippi. It was so good to see them.

December 21- Pulled remaining pieces of insulation out of the original attic and unloaded old barn wood and tin from the stock trailer. We didn't have much time to work on the house today because David had things to do in preparation for Wyatt's 13th birthday cookout.  

While in the attic we discovered a nice pile of beautiful old cypress boards that we can use for all sorts of crafts and home decor.