Back to Work

We were all pretty wiped out, so the kids and I took a couple days off (well, I did assign a full day of summer school, bwah-hah-haha) while Buck was at work. He could have used the days off more than us, though . . . he's got a herniated disc in his lower back :( It started hurting him in April when he rebuilt that retaining wall by our front stairs; after a few days of not being able to walk, he slowly got to feeling better. Well now, all the lifting and carrying we've been doing on house projects tweaked that disc again. He's about through the can't walk phase and now is in the frustrating pain phase. The doctor told him this morning that a herniated disc can easily become a slipped disc, so be more careful. I just hope he feels better soon!


In good news, the hamster is still alive! I'm pretty shocked. I think it is Brennen giving him water every day (since the little critter is still not drinking on his own). Gimili is certainly not healthy, but he is acting more like himself. He came to beg for food at the bars of the cage like Graysen taught him . . . but he didn't like what we were offering, so he threw it on the ground and asked for something else. It was pretty funny! He received his allotment of dog food and was quite happy to take it into his hut to eat. His back legs still aren't functioning completely correctly, but I think he just might make it--it's been nearly a week since he got sick, and normally they don't last the day. If you've recently prayed for a hamster . . . thanks! :)

Also, I talked to a billing lady at the doctor's office. She was about the nicest person on the planet! She immediately gave me a plan of action, which I completed. Within an hour she'd called back to say they were throwing the errant doctor bill in the trash! Yay!!!! I told her, "I really needed some good news today!"

Let's see . . . so as far as projects go . . . we've started patching the holes and dents incurred during carpet installation. The carpet *sneak peek* looks gray in these photos, as it often does during various times of the day. Other times it looks brown. Other times blue. The carpet's name: "Forever Yours." It better be, because I'm not buying carpet for this house again anytime soon! Ha!

Another big project the kids helped me with: heat blocking the windows. This was my brother's idea. He expressed the frustration of the project's 90000000000001 steps. Boy, was he right! Not to mention, our windows are huge. But I really do think it is helping! Our a/c did a way better job of keeping the house cool today (and it was stupid hot outside!!!) than a typical day--even though we only got three of the five living room windows done . . . and this patchwork beauty in the girls' room--are you impressed, C? Lol! (This may be coming down if we have extra from the sliding glass door yet to be completed . . . I sincerely hope it removes more easily than it goes up!)

For weeks, the girls have been sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Today we decided our focus would be to get their new bed completely spray painted and assembled. We chose to paint it metallic, sparkly gray because the original frame was black--it didn't match anything in their room.

Golly gee, was it hot outside!! Buck started the process last week, but ran out of paint. We wanted to take another step toward settled, so the kids and I sweated it out and got the job done.


It seriously took all five of us to assemble the thing (5,000 screws, nuts, bolts . . . only 3 sketches pretending to be building instructions). I'll admit, it's a little wobbly, but it was pretty *affordable* (cheap :). Buck gave it all a solid ratchet when he got home from work--it's better. We need to decide if we want to brace it against the wall or keep it centered. We have some more furniture to build in their room (since their previous bed was also their dresser, they now have nowhere to store their clothes). The bottom bunk/Caelan's bed sits up into a couch, so it can't brace against the wall in the back or else it scrapes the wall. We'll figure it out :) The girls are just excited to be up off the floor again!

Personalities :)