Still plugging along here.

Roofers are working on the little house.   After three days of banging and hammering, I'll be very thankful when they are finished.

We're still waiting for some of the sheds to be repaired.  Or torn down and rebuilt.   Or whatever.  

Still waiting and hoping for farm help soon.   Hubby placed another ad in the papers and now it's a waiting game for responses.   Even with best scenario, it's very likely to be at least 3 weeks till we have a start date for anyone.   And now it's mid-April.   Pardon me while I have a moment of major panic.

On the upside, good thing have been happening at the other house.   Almost all the tile is done.   Kitchen cabinets were delivered and installed.    Staircase installation is going on now.  I love going over there and seeing my dreams become reality!

I'm in better spirits.   Tired, but feeling better.   We're getting progress on cleanup/repairs.   The wicked storms predicted for last night weren't as wicked as we'd anticipated.    And I spent a few hours at the other house and accomplishing something always helps my mood.

I moved stuff around in S's room, located her new bed in the sunroom, carried the pieces upstairs, and got it all set up.   Add the box spring and mattress, toss on the new duvet cover and pillows, and Voila! it's beginning to look like something real in there!    She's thrilled with the look of the room.   However, she did have to complain about the extra stuff around the closets.   But I've gotta put that stuff somewhere for now.

Still waiting for the carpet in J's room.   I put a call into the carpet store and haven't heard back.   Gee, this is reminding me of the deal we had with the dining room carpet a few years ago.   Maybe we'll go elsewhere next time.

We also start tackling C's room.    Her room had become the catch-all storage for stuff from the other rooms, so now it's time to clear it out and begin the transformation.   She giggled with glee when going thru the boxes of stuff I've bought for her room.   Sheets, accent pillows, decor accessories.   Some of which she'd actually picked out (and forgotten about, it's been so long ago!) and some she hadn't seen yet.

I went in to the builder's cabinetry shop on Wednesday.    They've had a difficult time getting the color for the kitchen cabinets just right.   They had a few samples for me to look at, and then we went back and mixed a few combinations.   They've finally got "the" combo.  Whoo hoo!    I got to see the assortment of cabinets that are already assembled.   It was thrilling to see cabinet after cabinet with my last name scribbled onto the backside.    Hopefully they'll be finished and delivered to my house soon!

Right now I don't know if I should let loose a string of obscenities or just sit down and cry.   I got up this morning and we had a huge "bomb" dropped on us.

I'm so very disappointed in someone right now.   And I'm really going to have to control myself to stay off the phone and not rip somone not just a new orifice but into pieces.

Our new employee...the one who's only been with us for a week....called at 7:30am, just a half hour before the workday start time.....he called and informed us he was going back to his former employer.   Immediately.   Not only are we trying to deal with tornado damage from Sunday, we're trying to get everything secure before the next storm blows in tomorrow, and now it's time to get fields prepared and crops planted.

We've been spending the last two days cleaning up and assessing the damage.   *sigh*   Last evening I walked into our bedroom here, flipped on a light, and let out a gasp.   In dark and without electricity we hadn't noticed the huge crack in the west wall, running parellel with the ceiling.    Judging from the crack and it's placement, we're assuming the roof was beginning to be lifted and started to separate from the exterior wall.   Ugh.

Our builder for the renovation has been a wonderful help in getting someone out here to help with our roof situation.   Three guys were here this afternoon, moved off some of the loose tiles, and began tarping the exposed areas.  They'll be back tomorrow to meet with the insurance appraiser and start work.

That roof work may be just in time too.   There's another ugly storm cell predicted to come our way on Thursday.

I pray the weather forecasters are wrong about this storm.   I'm not sure my nerves can handle more of this weather stress, and I'm certainly not wanting to find out if I can handle it.

Okay, for all of you who know what area I live in, we are safe.   Multiple tornadoes ripped through here yesterday afternoon/evening.   While the area didn't have the concentrated devastation we'd suffered from tornadoes just three weeks ago, this storm got us personally.

The girls and I were in town at Lowe's getting a few light fixtures for the house.   Hubby called while we were there and said an ugly storm cell was headed our way and suggested we cut our shopping short and head home.

We didn't make it out of the store in time.

Yes, it was like a scene from the movie Twister.   We were standing just outside the doors heading into the parking lot when we turned, looked skyward, and I shoo'ed the girls back in and decided the store was safer than being in a car.   Boy, was I ever right about that, I discovered later.     We ducked back into the store, I called hubby to tell him  we were going to wait out the storm, and suddenly shouts ring out telling everyone to get to the back of the store RIGHT NOW.    Then as we running through the store, we hear this awful sound and feel these vibrations.   I tell the girls to run as fast as they can (because they can run faster than I).   As I'm running, I look up.   The ceiling bows in, then out, and then a section is gone.    Stuff is falling to the floor all around us.   We all get safely into the bathrooms and office/breakroom areas.    After a few minutes we're all told to get out the area and move to the front corner of the store.   Whew, that must mean we're safe, right?

The building is on fire.   There's a gas leak and electrical fire.   Flames are blowing into the building in the back corner.   That's why we're all headed to the opposite corner of the store.  

After a wait, the storm lets up and a few employees go out to the parking lot and survey the damage.   Someone comes back in, asks me what kind of vehicle I drive, and says I may need to check it.    Thank goodness we weren't in the car.  The back window took a basket-ball sized impact and shattered.   There's glass all over the inside.   We suspect the item that hit may have been a parking lot light, because in addition to the dark-tinted glass of my back window there's also a bunch of clear glass shards.

The girls are fine.  I've got a few minor scratches on my arms.   And we're fine.

And then I get a call from hubby.

The line of storms headed east, toward where we live.   There was a confirmed touchdown practically next to our house.   We've got extensive damage to nearly all the machine sheds.  Several trees are downed, and we had the power line to the little house laying in the driveway.    We'll be surveying all the damage today, now that it's daylight, but looks as though we're also going to have to have extensive roof repairs and maybe even replacements to the garage and the little house.

Hubby and little Monkey Boy survived okay.   Hubby heard the "freight train" sound, grabbed Monkey, and they got as far as the bathroom.   He knew they couldn't make it to the basement, so they hunkered down in the bathroom, which is the interior-most room and has no windows.    He finally located the cat under a bed, and the puppy was under the couch and refused to come out for a few hours.   Big dog is fine too.

I checked the big house and it appears to be fine.  There's two tress that were knocked down, but they missed the house.    I couldn't see the west side of the exterior in the dark, so there may be a bit of damage that we'll find now that it's daytime.

I wish I were making up this whole story.  But it's real.  Very.real.

Yaay!  I finally finished wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom.   Then I got ambitious, moved cabinets out of the way, and pushed the white cabinet into the bathroom and set it in place.

Okay, so it's not really in it's actual place.   The plumbing access needs to be enlarged in the back of the cabinet, so for now the cabinet it sitting about 4 inches out from the wall.

The lighting isn't complete in this room, so it's not as well lit for the photo, especially around the cabinet and the lighting/flash are not showing the true color of the cabinets.    Once the sink cabinet it set and the mirror/wall cabinet mounted, the electrician will install the wall sconces on either side of the mirror.   There's also a fan light that will be installed above the shower.

So now the room is ready for plumbing hookup, floortrim, and crown molding!  Wheeee!!

I did a quick consult with the electricians this morning.   They were installing the ceiling fan and starting the wall lights in the sitting room when I left.    They plan to get the electric stuff wired in for a new light in the shower, finish the putting the trim pieces in all the recessed fixtures, and mayve install the pendant lights in the kitchen.   I'm working on cleaning up the fan for the breakfast room, and maybe that'll even be installed today too!   Yippee!!

Oh the joys of puppydom.

How is it he can manage to miss the piddle pad practically every.stinking.time?   Geesh.

Why does he feel the need to awaken us at 6-freaking-AM every.stinking.morning?  Geesh already, let me get some sleep!

6am wouldn't be so bad except little Monkey Boy kept me up till just after midnight.  

So after our little jaunt outside, I fully intended to go back to bed.   Except a certain adorably cute little puppy wanted so badly to play.  *yawn*

Now I've had a cup of coffee to wake me up.  Wanna guess what the puppy is doing?   He's curled up at my feet.....sleeping.

The cat still isn't all that impressed with a bouncy furball in the house.

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Yesterday we had some pretty strong winds blow through.    I'd spent a little bit of time yesterday morning at the other house, putting a few more bits of wallpaper up in the bathroom (and searching for that 4th roll that *someone* put with the OTHER wallpaper), and when I returned home I spotted something that scared me.    The wind had loosened two sections of metal roofing on the machine shed.   The wind was blowing those sections up and toward the north.   I say "toward the north" because the power line to the shed was keeping the sections from blowing any further.   But then I noticed that part of the cable (it's three wires twisted together) had been severed about 6 feet from where it enters the shed.   ACK!      And the 'live' end was hanging down and blowing in the wind.  ACK ACK!    Hubby says "Huh...maybe that's why the lights have been flickering".     But scariest of all. - we then discovered that we no longer had power to the well pump!   EEEEEK!

Oh no, I said to hubby, we will get this fixed today or  I'm getting the kids to someplace where we have running water and flushing toilets.   Uh huh, call an electrician now or I start packing a suitcase.

Thank goodness we've found a wonderful electrician who came out, secured the line, and made a temporary fix.   It's only temporary because the cable needs to be replaced and the decision has been made that the new cable will be buried instead of being overhead.   Yep, not gonna have this situation again.   *whew*

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I mentioned I'd hung a few more pieces of wallpaper.   The bathroom is now about 2/3 done.   I plan to get it finished today.   And since the electrician has scaffolding, he's going to let me use it to do the tray ceiling in the bedroom.

The flooring guys have finished the floor in the kids' bathroom and in the master bathroom.   They also poured the bed for the shower floor as well.   Monday they'll do another layer of something or other on the shower and start installing the hardwood in the upstairs hallway and the powder room.

Haven't seen the painter for a few days.   Hopefully he'll get back there and finish up very soon.

Cabinetry sent over another stain sample for the kitchen cabinets.   This one is so very very close.   One tiny little adjustment in the shade and I think they can get those cabinets done.   Good thing, as they are expecting to start installing cabinets next week.