Slowly, slowly

We have had a very busy couple of weeks. I've had good intentions of keep y'all posted with pics and whatnot, but honestly, at the end of the day I'm too tired to bother with the computer. Plus my darling hubby bought me 4 of the "Full..." books (Full House, Full Tilt, Full Blast, etc) by Janette Evanovich so I've been reading instead of wasting my life in the internet.

We had great expectations of Tony's 2 weeks off. We greatly over estimated not only our ability, but also our energy and the amount of help we'd be able to get. As it stands it was pretty much Tony and Artemas all week, with our friend George coming by a couple times to help out invaluably and me helping when I could and the MIL had the kids. We had thought we'd get the room done (at least to the point of drywall, though I had hopes for paint and carpet too), paint the floors in the living room, build the tiny little deck for the other side of the front porch and put in a small garden. Go ahead, laugh. It's okay, we are. What did we get done? We got the bedroom destroyed and *almost* framed back in. All the other stuff will either become morning before Tony leaves for work or weekend-warrior type things.

At this point we still have one small triangle piece of wall to tediously built on the left side (if you're looking at the back of the house) and then put "flashing" along the edge of the new structure and old shingles so that crack won't leak. Then it's *simply* putting up siding, putting in windows and putting on shingles. For the outside. Inside we still have to run elecrtical (a friend is supposed to come help Artemas and I do it Thurs while Tony is at work but we'll see if he can make it), then insulate, drywall/tape/mud/sand. Then it's ready for paint and carpet. Will this ever be done? *sigh* Eventually. The good thing about this project is that it's sort of like pregnancy; once it's begun there isn't an out and you just have to grit your teeth and see it through til the end. The end result is always worth it; it's just the process that's laborous.

We had a great day on Thursday because we took the day off on the count of rain and treated the kids to a trip to the "Bouncy House." I have a whole blog post about that planned in my head because it is really an awesome thing to do around Knoxville, for fairly cheap, in rainy (or too hot or cold) weather.

Saturday we had Hannah's 2nd birthday party at the little park behind our house. We set up under the shelter, and in retrospect should have set up in the sun because the cool breeze left the kids freezing while they ate (though the strong sun left my shoulders and neck sunburned while they played). Hannah got a bunch of really nice presents but what is more spent some quality time having a ton of fun with her aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. We let her pick out the decorations which were simple flowers with a gigantic 10lb princess tiara piniata. I packed that sucker full, I'm telling you. It was so heavy in fact that on the first whack the loop on the top broke and Tony had to rig it up again by wrapping the rope around the middle of it. Still, a blast!!

I've been trying to spend as much time outdoors as I can with the kids who are tired of being in the house. Lots of sunscreen has been used, lots of knees have been scraped and lots of showers have been taken afterward but we are having fun. I have been trying to knit Jeremiah another pair of socks, something mindless I started on Thursday to help me relax and cope with the stress we had/have going on with not finishing the room and getting ready for Hannah's party. It hasn't exactly gone as planned though since the first sock I finished too small and (after throwing it across the room) I had to pick out about half of it and start over. Then in the middle of finishing it I dropped a needle at a local pizzeria (New York Avenue Pizza, newly opened on Kingston Pike between Lovell Rd & Campbell Station Road, VERY YUMMY PIZZA). Thankfully the bamboo needles I use come 5 to a pack so I had a "spare" at home.

The only bad thing about the newly gorgeous weather and spending time outdoors in it is my son Jeremiah's allergies are acting up terribly! He went through this last spring too, after the first few weeks when the pollen died down he was fine but for now, poor baby. He's been almost mainlining benedryl or zyrtek, itchy eyes all the time (medicine isn't helping that at all.) We're trying flushing his eyes with salt water; my MIL says that helps her sometimes and I don't want to use eye drops on him if we can help it. Even with the medicine in his system his face is still swollen. If it doesn't slack off in a couple days I am making him a Drs appointment. I'd hate for him to have to have allergy shots or something but I would rather the little pain and bother to help him be able to play and sleep without a problem. : ( Still he's a big boy and is very diligent about washing his hands before rubbings his eyes, etc and is having so much fun playing outside though he told me tonight "Pollen is the worst thing. Ever."