Homebuilding

Far too many things have happened in the last few weeks for me to provide a detailed account, so I'll be brief.

It's been an exhausting month.

• I ran out of work back on March 11th. Since then, I've been working on the basement (finishing the framing and insulation to get ready for the drywallers) and trying to get job interviews. Didn't get any interviews until March 21st. 
• The drywallers started on the 24th.  
• Got more interviews on the 28th and then an offer from GE on the 29th. 
• Tried to repair the brakes on my car on April 2nd but the caliper was too rusted, so had to park the car for awhile until we enough money for the part. 
• The drywallers finished on the 4th.
• Waited til the 5th to accept the job at GE because I was still hoping to get more interviews with another company (but they couldn't swing it in time). 
• We drove to Nashville on the 6th and stayed with Uncle Clyde and Aunt Judy (who were excellent hosts!). 
• We drove to Austin on the 7th.
• We hung out at the rental house on the 8th and visited with lots of family. 
• We attended Kelly-and-Laura's wedding on the 9th. It was so beautiful! And we met so many wonderful people! And we bumped into some old friends from Seattle! 
• We got up early on the 10th to drive Cheryl to the airport (because she had to be back by Monday for school) and then headed back to Nashville for another pleasant stopover in Nashville at the Taylor Bed & Breakfast. (Cinnamon rolls! Yum!)  
• We drove back to Grand Rapids on the 11th, rolling through Nashville, Louisville, Indianapolis and South Bend on our way back north. Slowed down a bit with all the construction and just a little bit of blinding rain, besides the random stops for food; but we made it home alive and well, joyfully reunited with Cheryl - who had made us a wonderful dinner which was waiting for us in the oven when we arrived.
• On Tuesday (the 12th), our friend, Jeff, dropped off a paint sprayer so that we could start painting. The swivel bolt was bent and leaking so we ended up going out to the hardware store and buying our own sprayer kit, using Jeff's compressor with our sprayer head. 
• We finished the primer coat on Wednesday, then 
• we finished the color coats on Thursday. Wow! That was fast.  
• On Friday, we started the flooring.

Cheryl really went to town with the flooring. Didn't take her very long to get the hang of it, and then things started to move quickly. We got the hallway all the way to the den wall done on Saturday, then the rest of the den on Monday and Tuesday.

Maybe by Friday, we can get all the flooring done, then I can start the drop ceiling. I'd like to get it all done by the following Friday, 'cause I want to get the inspector in here and get this thing signed off!

I am so tired. Home building is a lot of work.

:::

Turns out somebody else is doing some 'home-building' near our house. Looking out the window beneath the back deck, there's a little robin who has built a nest beneath one of the joists. She did a pretty good job, too. At least she didn't have to worry about painting!