A week in the life

I took pictures at the end of every day this week.

I went down to Menards on Monday and bought doors. Installed all the interior doors. Looking at this picture I see that the flooring was not under the range yet and the vanity was not in the bathroom.

But I had doors on the bedrooms

and the basement stairway

The exterior door was at least in the house.

So Monday was a productive day.

 Tuesday I laid the floor in the laundry area and the hallway

 Started putting trim around the doors and the windows

And more trim

 and more trim

and more trim

 and more trim

At the end of the day the app on my phone read 13,798 steps. I felt like I had walked that much.

 Wednesday the vanity went into the bathroom and it was time to start running plumbing.

Supply lines are under the kitchen sink.

 The house was vacant for a winter and all the pipes needed to be replaced.

 I wanted the water hooked up to the shower to make sure there were no leaks in the wall we were going to tile.

 I should have used red and blue pex lines. I was getting confused which was hot line and which was cold line after a while.

 When I went back to trace all the lines I had to cut and switch 2 lines because I had hooked a hot to the cold supply and vise versa.

 I still need to go through to cut out all the old cvpc lines and put clips on the new plumbing to hold it up.

New washer hookup lines but the drain still has to be cut through the floor. The floors in this house are 2 and 1/2 inch thick. I have never seen that before.

The water heater is full of water and does not leak but we do not have the gas turned on yet so I wonder if it will light.

 Of course in my extra time did some trim

and some more trim

 You might find this hard to believe but I put up more trim on Thursday.

Kitchen window is set back 6 inches from the interior wall so I had to put trim in the frame around the window .

Put all the trim between the kitchen and the laundry room. 

Put the closet in the one bedroom.

and the thresholds in the doorways 

 I cut them out of cedar wood.

Drove past a tenant house and saw they they had added a water feature.

It looks pretty cool. 

 Then I spent the rest of Thursday putting up trim

 and more trim

 and more trim

 Friday I spent most of my day brushing on polyurethane 

The cupboards have a pretty good finish but all the wood work needs to be done again.

Micah started tiling the shower on Friday and finished it on Saturday.

I put in the exterior door. It was a tight fit and I had to adjust it to make it open and close.

Then we laid the floor in the bathroom.

Then to finish off the day I put trim in the bathroom.

I haven't walked through the house to check yet but I sure hope I have the last of the trim up.

The house looks a lot different on the inside now than it did Monday morning. It was not 1 large project that changed the house but a lot of small projects day after day.

All too often we want to do something big in the kingdom of God and all God is asking us to do is to be faithful with the small jobs he asks us to do every day. 

Very few of us will be the evangelist that leads thousands of people to salvation, but all of us can be the person who shows God's love to our neighbor.

This week I did a lot of repetitious small jobs to change a house. I did some small things to help others also. What I am saying is sometimes when building God's kingdom it is the constant steady small tasks that make the changes. 

Even Steven

The week has flown by. I started the week moving on with the siding project I have been working on. It took me a full day just to finish the top couple of feet on the north and south sides of the house. I still have to do the peaks on the east and west sides. Maybe next week. We have people begging us to get the house finished we are remodeling so they can rent it so I have been working on it also. It is much easier if I only work on 1 project at a time but I have a pile of siding laying on a lawn that needs to go up and a house someone needs before August 1st.

On Tuesday I got to the point I could start laying down flooring. 

I got the 2 smaller bedrooms done

On Wednesday I could move onto the larger bedroom and finish all the electrical outlets and switches (except one, I keep forgetting about that one, it's a double decora in the bathroom with  GFI).

On Thursday we started Mission Mahaska. It was our church's 3 day outreach to help in a tangible way in our community. A lot of hands helped in various places. The Youth For Christ Building had new flooring put in on the ground floor. First all the carpeting had to come out. 

Then the new flooring had to go in while others were fixing some of the walls.

We had to move furniture back and forth as we laid flooring. That was a new experience for me. Believe me once is enough of that.

A young couple were renovating a bathroom to make it handicap accessible.

 

They loved the window. They could just chuck stuff out as

 they demoed.

They worked right at it and did a 3 day remodel. Almost like one of those HGTV shows.

A crew was at Lake View camp and in 3 days framed a 42 by 120 foot building. Steel will have to go on later.

We had all ages participating. From preschool to retired. There were several projects around town that were finished by people who gave of their time to help people who needed work done at their homes and others gave free labor to nonprofits. I am not going to try to list them all here.

While I was busy on Friday and Saturday Micah continued on the blue house by tearing out the deck. It really needed to go.  

Today Micah and Linsey laid floor in the great room

Almost finished it.

I was not very excited about stopping "my work" to donate time to others. I think in the end the same amount of "my work" was done even though I was not there for 3 days. I believe God wants us to give of our time just as much as he wants us to give money. For some of us it is easier to put some money in a collection plate than it is to give time. 

This week I gave some time, perhaps a little too grudgingly and God seems to have given the time back by having Micah get the work done even though I was not there. I give to God and he gives back. I don't want anyone to listen to some of those TV preachers who tell you if you send them money God will give you much more back. Doesn't work that way. You can't bribe God to bless you. God seems to bless me when I don't expect it.

God loves a cheerful giver. Not sure I was cheerful about giving time this week but God blessed me anyway. At the end of the week I was most likely where I would have been had I not donated the time, and my donated time was a small part of helping many others.

So I am even for the week when I did not expect to be. God always does the unexpected.

Breaking rules

I think things should work a certain way. There are rules of how life should work. When a tenant moves out of a property, I expect them to leave it cleaned out.

Had a tenant move this week. I tried to cut him as much slack as I could. He is a single man who found another job after he lost the one he had when he moved in. That cut his income in half and then child support caught up with him leaving him with more bills than income. He had not paid his rent for May and there was no hope of payment in sight. I agreed to give him 3 extra days in June to move (had his deposit to cover May rent). He did move without an eviction so that was good but he left a lot of junk.

He texted me Monday night that he did not have time to get the place cleaned up. Really?  He knew for the last 2 weeks this day was coming but he preferred to not face the facts. I found it hard to feel sorry for the man. He broke the rules I live by. He has several children and failed to support those children until the court system caught up with him. He also broke the rules by leaving me a bunch of garbage to haul away after I did what I could to help him. I hope he doesn't want references any time soon, because I will be honest.

I don't know if you can see the robin sitting on the top of the electric mast. (notice the maple seedlings growing in the eves? We cleaned them out a month back. We have a lot of eves that need to be cleaned again this year) Anyway I was attacked by robins on Friday morning. I knew there were several male robins flying around making a lot of noise but I did not expect them to actually start hitting me by flying into my back. I later saw there were a couple of fledgling robins on the ground and the adults were protecting the young. Still. I don't bother robins. I knew they had a nest on a light I was going to take off the garage and I left the nest till the young were ready to leave, and why were several male robins involved? Shouldn't there have been a male and a female? These robins were breaking the rules. I left them alone they should leave me alone.

Micah and I hung the top cupboards Friday afternoon. The cupboards on this side were hung on a wall we had put in. The studs are 16 inches apart and the cupboards are fastened securely to the studs.

The cupboards on this side are fastened (and I use the word fastened loosely at this point) to an original wall. I still need to find a stud behind the ones on the far side of the window. I did not have a stud finder (probably would not have worked anyway with a plaster and lathe wall). I started on the right side of the cupboard and put a screw every 2 inches. It is a 30 inch cupboard. If the studs are on 24 inch centers (I am assuming they are not 16 inch centers in exterior walls in a house this age) there has to be a stud behind that cupboard. Well I did not find one. I found a stud behind the 12 inch cupboard on the other side of the window. Someone was not building by the rules.

Have a good start on getting this house resided. Our insurance company would not insure the siding. They were concerned that it is asbestos siding. I said "I think it is slate", but you do not win arguments with insurance companies.  The city wanted the siding replaced anyway. 

There is a moisture barrier behind the old siding so we are going right over the old with the new. No landfill fees for asbestos (if it happens to be asbestos) siding if you just cover it up. Also no particles floating in the air. 

It took me a long time to find the studs to nail the new siding to on this house also. They were random widths. Some 16 inches some 18 inches and a few 20 inch centers. What did the builder do, just put in studs where ever he felt like? There is a reason there are rules when building a house.

I remember when I was in grade school, there was a test that had the question, When are you the most free from the law? I tried to think of every possibility. Maybe stranded on an island or some other place where there was little government. The correct answer was when you obey the law. 

Too often we don't want rules. We want freedom. I see too many people who don't want to live by the rules. They seem to always be in troubled relationships or lonely. They seem to always be in financial duress. Rules are there for a reason. 

Years ago someone asked a member of my church "what are you not allowed to do if you go to your church." That really is the wrong question isn't it? That question makes it sound like we have rules to make life difficult. God's law does not make life difficult, it allows us to live in relationship with our "neighbors". It seems to get easier to see the benefits of the law and the rules as I get older may be that is because breaking the rules isn't so enticing anymore. That path just leads to unhappiness. Don't get me wrong, I am still breaking God's law, but now I know that is a bad thing not just because God says "don't do that", but it also makes my life worse.

Ending on a much better note here. We had a tenant make a rock bed for the water from the eves to run away from the house. Great job Jared and Samantha. I love it when a tenant makes a place better.

Down Hill side

Friday morning I helped Micah shingle half a roof on the last house we had on our schedule for this year. (We have another house we are buying that still needs a roof, but hurrah we have the 6 roofs we had scheduled finished.)

I was tired at the end of the day and had only worked hard in the morning. Micah would jog up the roof while I would try to stagger to the top. I think he is in better shape than me. Hmm, I wonder if 35 years older has something to do with that.

Last week I posted a picture of a bucket of joint compound purchased at Walmart that was only 2/3 full. This week when I opened the bucket purchased at Malcom Lumber, it was a whole different story.

I painted the "great room" walls earlier this week. Mixed the paint color by pouring gallons together I had bought on clearance. 

The stub walls and the stairway to the basement are gone. We are putting this area back to its original configuration.

Micah was not very fond of my earth tones color scheme for the house. He mixed up some gray paint for 2 bedrooms today. May be a little short on paint though for both bedrooms. As it was 3 buckets of various colors it can not be reproduced so we may need an accent wall in one bedroom.

The bedrooms are a lot better with all the add-ins over the years torn out. They are a usable size now.

I mixed the paint this afternoon for the laundry room and the last bedroom. I actually did try to mix a light gray paint. As you can see, I failed but even if Micah doesn't care for the color, I only have to say $8.95 a gallon and he starts to like it a whole lot better.

This is what that area looked like when we purchased the house. 

We are now over the hump with this house. It is downhill from here. We moved the first cabinets in this afternoon. Finish the painting, put in the cabinets and start laying flooring. We could finish it in a couple of weeks if I wasn't trying to side another house at the same time. 

When I was helping Micah I was feeling like downhill might not be a good thing. I don't have the endurance and strength I had when I was 25 years old.

When I was looking at how far we have come on the "blue" house and thinking it's down hill to the finish now. It was a good thing.

It is all in ones perspective isn't it? It was great having the vigor of youth years ago but I have gained a lot of knowledge and wisdom over the years (some may disagree with that). I think it might be a fair trade. 

Lack of wisdom when I was 17 should be clear just from the fact I was wearing that lovely leisure suit with the wild shirt. Gotta love the glasses and the hair style as well. 

So I might be on the down hill side but I want it to be a good finish. When we started on the "blue" house it was difficult to see the possible good ending. I am sure there are people who can remember me when I was younger and thought, he will not end well.

Well the "blue" house is going to turn out to be a good home for someone. I have already shown it to a prospective tenant and they want to rent it when we get it finished.

I would like to think as I have crested the hill and am traveling toward the finish I am becoming more like Jesus. More compassionate, more caring, more concerned about loving those around me. I have come to realize it is not about me. That was not always true when I was younger. 

Remember that bucket of joint compound last week that was only partially full? Then this week the bucket I bought was full. The only way I can finish well is if I am like the 2nd bucket and filled with the Spirit of God.

So being on the down hill side of a house remodel is a good thing and I think being on the down hill side myself is a good thing as well. I am planning on finishing well working to build God's kingdom for years to come if God allows me to do so.