Happy thanksgiving

It's cool and gray here in central IL but the house is warm and dry. The birds are content and Kid is being good for now. I will be going out for my meal, quality time with quality friends, and no clean up. Work is busy and overtime every weekend right now, is helping me pay down debt load and the truck got much needed back tires. Hopefully, soon I will be putting some of that overtime into the work on this old house, but it's nice to be ahead on the bills and I will soon be down to 4 years on my house mortgage and am paying extra every month on that which makes me feel more secure too. There's not much on the Black Friday sales that even interests me, but I will look next Sunday while I am in Springfield for the yearly Christmas party with my doll club. And my gift exchange is part done, the sweater knit, finished and washed, now to make a top and pants that go with it. I have a nice selection of lace weight yarns for doll knitting and have 2 other sweaters going, 1 will be a gift if done on time. Jake is off with his platoon, headed to Japan right now, and he's doing well and is usually in good spirits, his jeep is here, IL plates and insured, and locked up, it needs new back tires but I don't know if I will get that done before he is home again. I will get some stuff into the gas tank for winter and start it now and then but don't need to run it and neither does any one else. It's so great to have a solid roof and be started on the attic changes/expansion project. Right now I am not getting much done up there but I will progress a little at a time, on a schedule that I can handle and not be beat tired and not add to my debt load. I need to finish up the insulation work and have the insulation for that, need to do some wiring work and will have the materials for that soon, and then it will be ceilings, and wall coverings and build that new bathroom. I hope this year my tax refund will build the bathroom walls, last year paid off a debt and that was a good decision but this year I want to be able to put the refund into my attic project. But I am making good progress with so many things, compared to where I was this time last year. So, it's a year I have a lot to be thankful for and to be looking forward to the coming year.

Cool and windy today

And we had hard rains again in the night but house stays dry now and that is such a huge and great change. I can sure tell I am not done with insulation work in the attic today, it's usually warm up here and today it's not and I do have heat going. But I will get a bit more work done, did buy new blades for the circular saw at Wal-Mart on the way home after work and picked up some more stuff from the storage unit. Part is still in the truck. I don't think Ben got by last night to update things on Jake's X-Box so it will play music with my I-pod and I wanted that done, guess he won't be using vehicles here if he can't do something small like that for me. And since his borrow my truck yesterday was to take housemate to work early, did not put gas in my truck and that is going up in cost, at least 15 cents higher than it was when I got off work Monday, I am not thrilled about his using my wheels or Jake's which I am supporting and responsible for while he is gone. Work has some drawbacks, I am being pushed to do more and faster by the new lead, and I do like her but I am not going to be able to get everything done and done early, it's just not possible and if she's trying to cut on the payroll, then she needs to look at who is doing the most overtime and how she can deal with that person 'padding' her paycheck with staying late. She's the 1 who finishes up and there is no one to see that she does her work in a timely manor. . . ya, there is a huge reason she takes home between $100-200+ more than any of the rest of us every week... But, for the most part I am content with my life, date a good man and we have plans for Thanksgiving and back up plans just in case we don't want to be out on the roads. He's probably cussing this wind and temps getting colder, makes him hurt more, heck it makes most of us hurt more. But we both have a place to live, money to pay our bills, like our lives, and manage to be ok with how life goes that we can't change and take care of what needs taken care of. I will spend time putting time in here in the attic on work that needs done and down stairs, get the house into better order and more comfortable to live in. This attic space is giving me over 500 more square feet of very usable space and in time will give me a second bathroom too. My down stairs will get less crowded and easier to keep clean and in better order, some changes down there will improve air flow through the house and help make the furnace and central air more efficient By summer I will have a good window blanket blind made for both the east window and the south so the sun doesn't cook this attic space. By summer I should have a bathroom up here in the attic and have ceiling in the laundry area done and a lot more stuff taken care of. I am doing better this winter than I was last winter, am having less pain with my foot/leg and taking less for pain. My life is calmer and more settled, my finances are more stable and my house is sure in better condition with that new roof finally done. Last fall this time I was just adjusting to being back at work, facing a long and hard winter and dealing with the emotional issues that both the accident and an unwise relationship brought into my life. Now I am moving forward with my life, making it work for me and meet my needs and wants. I have grown stronger and more capable, for the most part and have been working on cleaning up the messes the past has made in my life and in my head. And it's time to get busy with work in the attic, got that circular saw a new plywood blade and need to put it to work.

My attic hidaway

It is a long way from finished but I am ale to watch movies and have moved my laptop up here for now. I worked today on getting most of the west storage area wall done, and on putting down sub floor in the gap in front of the landing. I still have to put the light switch back for the laundry area and then that wall can be opened up just a bit more. I am going to start moving my things out of rented storage now, and will continue to put up the short walls as I have time and energy. Working 6 sifts a week is hard on me, my body and especially my hands hurt all the time. But I have a dry house and I am almost done with the insulation in my attic space and I am sure I will get the walls done and the ceiling in and build a bathroom too. It's great to have more space in the house, and I will work on getting stuff moved around and the place cleaned up more. By this time next week I want my sewing stuff upstairs and the antique chest of drawers in my bedroom where the sewing stuff now lives. And if I move a load every night after work, I should have a big part of my things home and not in storage. It will be a huge challenge to get the new sofa upstairs and I think it will take more than Ben and I to get it done. But in a few weeks this attic space will become my winter hide out. My dolls will finally have a place they belong and I will have a dedicated place for my sewing and my books and a place to watch movies or listen to music and to hide from the world in general.

Roof is done

And I am so pleased with the new metal roof, the new dormer and the stairs. I have a lot more work to do before my new attic space is done but will have it usable soon and stuff moved in/up there and settle in for the winter. Almost all the insulation work is done and I will soon be putting osb up on the walls of the storage space under the eaves. It will take a while to build in all the storage cubbies I will have, and the dolls have their own nook too. And I will make a dedicated space for that over-sized dog I have. Where he can watch out the east window. Soon I will be planning out that second bathroom, know where it goes, but not size or how I am laying out the toilet, sink and shower. It does get a glass pocket door and will face the new east window but is off set from it so it will be about impossible for any one outside to see into that bathroom unless they are up a ladder and against my new window. The house feels cool, furnace is set at 70 and temp on the thermostat has 72 for room temp. The dryer is running, Ben must have done laundry late and put clothes in not long before I got home from work. The attic or upstairs is warmer than downstairs right now. I do have thermometer up there but need a good digital one and set in the northeast corner as that should be the coolest spot. It will take several years to know what my utility costs will average or be as they will keep changing as I get more done here. I am not running the dehumidifier now and it used to run most of the time to dry out this house from the leaking roof problems. But I have gained a lot more space so that will cost to heat. I have less drafts in some places but I did not get the north bathroom window pulled and a new one put in so that is still going to be a cold and draft problem this winter but have plans to be doing it as soon as weather warms up in the spring. Even if we have a warm spell before hard winter sets in, I won't have enough done to move every thing out of the bathroom that has to be moved out and tear out the old window, have Pat help put in the new one and then get things closed up, replaced/repaired and so forth so I have the bathroom back in usable and tolerable order. Maybe by spring I will have my upstairs bath usable and the one here on the ground floor ready for new window, move the tub, move the door to laundry area...dream on, not sure where funds will come from but there is hope that small claims court gains me back most of the deposit from C.L. Campbell Construction as they did default on the contract. Well, I need to get something to eat and then tuck me into bed, know I will be busy before work, lots to do, including clean up outside from the construction, figure where to store the left over metal as most of it will end up on the porch roof as soon as I can afford to buy what else is needed and pay for the labor, and get back on Pat's work list. He will also frame in the new bathroom once I have it planned out and know how big and where exactly those walls need to go. And the new space gets a 40" flat screen to go with the new sofa and Jake's x-box. Momma is going to hide up there and watch Star Trek and silly girl movies this winter and play with her dolls and yarns.