A woman of many voices

 I've been mulling over the topic of this post off and on for a while now.  I think today I finally figured some things out.  I don't know how well things will flow since I tend to have spaghetti brain with all kinds of strands going in different directions that ultimately connect to each other at some point along the way.  But I'll try to make it make sense.

I've come to realize something about myself:  I have several different voices.  

And no, I'm not talking about personalities, or anything like that.  

I mean voices with which I express myself.  

For example, I have my blogging voice.  This one is usually reflective, matter-of-fact, like when I journal.  

Then I have my creative writing voice, like when I write stories.  It tends to be descriptive.  

Maybe too I have a poetry voice, which is poignant and flowery.

Then there's my social media voice, which tends to be blunt, to the point, and short.  Unless I'm copying/pasting something, I don't tend to spend my time writing lengthy outpourings of my soul on my posts.  Who wants to read all that anyway?

And then there's my verbal voice, which is soft-spoken, but can be loud if necessary.

Here are some examples:

Creative Writing Voice

As the sun began to fade behind the mountains on their right, Maura realized the day was almost over.  The cold stung her face no longer as numbness claimed her nose and fingers.  Her ears burned around the edges, despite her curly locks providing them with cover.  Her eyes drooped, heavy with the weight of exhaustion.  She struggled to force them open, her head nodding forward and back with jerks that scared her awake.  
“It must be this weather,” she muttered.  Her eyes rolled around in her head once or twice, unable to focus themselves on Milo’s figure in front of her.  She closed them for a moment, giving in to their demand for rest.  
Just for a moment.  
A moment turned into half a minute and, before she knew what was happening, she tilted sideways and toppled from Mirluin’s back.  She heard the mare neigh in surprise, and felt a soft nudge on her arm as she lay in the snow.  A fit of shivers rippled through her body.    
Faint voices called her name, but her eyes refused to open.  
She let her mind carry her through the darkness and back to the shores of Girdley Island.  Her hole, covered in layers of snow, sparkled in the light of the winter moon.  A fire roared in the fireplace; she could see the warm glow through the window.  All was quiet and still until a whisper in the air beckoned her.
Come back, Maura.  Come back.

Poetry Voice 

The Most Brutal Way to Die

My dreams are like my heart,

Lying shattered on the floor.

I can’t seem to understand

Why I lost who I adore.

 

The pain of losing you

Is more than I can bear.

Three long months have passed, but

It still doesn’t seem fair.

 

I can’t believe you’re really gone

Despite what others say.

Still, I’ll hold onto the hope

That you’ll return someday.

 

But this internal grief persists

And never may depart.

The most brutal way to die

Is of a broken heart.

 

Social Media Voice

I guess this is why it bothered me when people said they wished they could take my struggles and health problems away. Those struggles ended up being used for my good and salvation.

 

~*~

Do these voices all sound different?  Yet they are all mine.  And I think that's neat.  Who says we can only have one voice?   

Different writing projects sometimes require different voices.  I don't think we should be put off if we discover someone has more than one voice.  And we shouldn't expect them to use our favorite voice or our preferred voice of theirs.  That's their choice to make.

3rd Inspection's the charm! Right?

I went out to the house today to drop off the new burn barrel I bought.  We have a lot of stuff to burn and need a place to do it safely.  I set it up at the bottom of the hill below the house.  It has a lid on it but once I get the right tools I'll get it the way I want it.  

 All the staples have been pulled out.  We started unrolling the flooring and laying it out in the different rooms.  I absolutely love it!  It's going to look so amazing once it's all done!

The underbelly is done, but we learned that our 2nd inspection didn't pass because we still have water pooling on the front and driveway side of the house.  So now all that's needed is to have French drains installed on those two sides and we should pass!  Once that's done this week, then the state has until the week of the 15th to do their inspection.  Fingers crossed we can move by the end of the month!  

I'll be going out there some this week to see what I can get done (probably the ceiling beams, if not the floor).  Hubby has to work from home and he's going to watch Max.  We'll see how things go!

House Update

 We've been getting a lot of work done on the house lately.  Hubby's been working on the walkway on nice days and joining me inside pulling old carpet staples out on other days (SO MANY STAPLES).  So far we've done:

The master bathroom & closet
The master bedroom & closet
The living room
The hallway & closet
Max's room & closet

Still need to do the guest room, hubby's office, and the school room.  Then we can start making sure the rest of the sub-floor is ready for the new vinyl to go down.  

We've already dumped the carpet rolls.  Now we just need to dump the rest of the padding/trash.

I also stained the front door.  Now we just need it and the sliding glass door re-framed and installed.  

We had to have a different plumber out to fix a leaky drain pipe.  They did a great job and came out the next day.  So now, everything is done and the house is ready for inspection again.  Hopefully it will be done tomorrow, along with the underbelly which needs patching and new insulation in some areas.  Then the state has 2 weeks to do their inspection.  If we get the green light, we can move in (Mid-April).  The sooner the better!

We do still need to do some drywall repairs and priming and painting.  But hubby's family is going to come down and help with that.  I did put up most of the marriage line trimout pieces to cover the studs.  It looks more like a house now.  The one in the hallway will need a new piece (it broke and part is missing).  

Our new flooring!  We absolutely love it!  It's going to look amazing in the whole house!

We are also trying to figure out how we should tackle this bury hole.  Eventually we want to use the lower area.  We'll probably chop all that wood up and burn it.  Little by little. 

And grass!  We are getting lots of grass growing now!  It's going to look so good.

Carpet Removal - Day 2

 Hubby and I finished pulling up the old carpet today.  We removed the carpet in his office, our master bedroom and bathroom (yes, carpet in the bathroom, ugh!), and the school room/fireplace room.  We ran out of contractor trash bags near the end and had to just pile the carpet against a wall.  But we're done aside from a few places along some of the walls where the carpet was really stuck!  We also still need to remove the tack strips and the staples.  

The living room, full of bags of carpet

Living room

Master bedroom

School room

School room/fireplace room/den

Hallway looking from living room to bedrooms

The guest room

Max's room

Hubby's office

Hallway looking towards the living room

All the carpet

But wait, there's more!

Our plan for tomorrow is to take as much as we can to the dump.  Then I need to work on painting the front door so my dad can install it on Wednesday.  We also have our walkway to finish.

The walkway

Carpet Removal - Day 1

 

I finally remembered to get a picture of the new tub faucet.  The water comes out in a waterfall and it has a handheld shower wand too!  I can't wait to use our new tub!

With Max at Mimi's house, hubby and I got to work on removing the air vents and the carpet from the living room.  There was a lump under the carpet near the marriage line and when hubby lifted the carpet, he found a purple pair of panties.  (Scandalous!)  

We managed to get the living room done, with hubby cutting and pulling up the carpet and me rolling it up and throwing it in the trash bags.  After removing the carpet in the hall, we worked on Max's room and the guest room.  After those 4 rooms were done, we were exhausted and hungry.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the sub-floor was in really good shape! 

 As we were leaving for the day, we noticed we have grass growing on the side of the hill and in the back!  Yay!

We'll be back tomorrow to keep going.  Hubby has the week off work so we can get stuff done.  

We also had another snag with the HVAC.  Turns out there was water in the brand new duct work from when the plumbers were checking the old pipes for leaks.  The whole span of duct work had to be replaced, so I informed the plumber of what had happened and he sent me enough money plus extra to cover the cost of the replacement duct.  The duct should be replaced by Monday.  Then we're having the caulk applied to the concrete/skirting on Tuesday.  The chimney vent pipe tape was redone the other day as well.  Then we should be ready for the 2nd inspection.

Almost time for flooring changes!

On Tuesday, I went out to the house to meet the flooring consultant.  She measured the house/rooms for the new flooring we're ordering.  After she left, I finished up the edge of the door that still had paint.  It looks so much better and is almost ready for the whitewash I picked out!  I think we'll have to sand the back of the door (seen above) because whatever veneer/stain they put on it is chipping off.  

I met another window salesman who gave me a similar quote to the one we got before ($22,000, or $1500 per window!) and later I looked at Home Depot and found windows that would fit for about $280 a piece.  I think that's the way we'll go. 

We've decided to start removing the old carpet and vinyl on Saturday (after our flooring removal tool arrives on Friday).  It's also supposed to rain this weekend so it's the perfect indoor activity to work on.  We are doing everything we can to be moved in by the end of March.  We still need the HVAC vents suspended off the ground, the fireplace vent pipe needs heat resistant tape instead of the duct tape that's on there right now, and the skirting needs caulk between it and the concrete.  Hopefully, tomorrow is a good day for that since it won't be raining.  Then the inspector will come back out, fix up the underbelly, and we should be good to pass his inspection.  Then the state has 2 weeks to come and do their own inspection.  Praying we pass so we can move in!!

We have lots of drywall work to do on the inside as well.  But we're doing the floor first since that's easier to do without furniture, and hubby's parents have offered to help us with drywall and painting and watching Max. 

A Day at the House

 Yesterday I drove out to the house by myself (hubby stayed home with Max) to finish up the detail work on our front door.  I managed to get the front of it all done.  All that's left is the edge that has the hinges.  I think it looks much better.  

While I was there, the gutter guys and the plumbers were getting their work done.  The plumbers fixed the various things they had on their list, as well as installing a new faucet in the laundry room and the master tub.  I'll have to get a picture next time I'm there, but I love it!  

The gutters look amazing and they have really nice guards on them to keep leaves out. 

I also went into the master closet and pulled out all the trim out pieces for where the studs are showing at the marriage line.  I found all of them, but one is broken and the top half is missing.  So we're going to have to cut a new piece for it.  

Our next task is sealing between the bottom of the skirting and the concrete footer to keep water from getting under the house.  I bought a few cans of sealant in case we need them, as the other option is lining the concrete with dirt from the bottom of the hill.

The back side needs some sealant or dirt covering it.

The very back of the house also needs it. 

While I was there, the mailman also marked where our mailbox should go with the little orange flag.  So now we can install it!

Surprise Inspection! Uh oh.

 I got a call yesterday (much to Max's displeasure, as he was watching Bluey at the time and did not appreciate his show being interrupted when Mommy took her phone back) from the movers saying that he had been out to the house and "inspected" things and found a few items that need addressing.  I already knew about the underbelly needing to be taped up (they're supposed to do that for us, which I told him) but he also mentioned the water pipes needing insulation, the HVAC duct work needing to be up off the ground, the pipes needing to be supported 4 ft on center (some are, some aren't), the fireplace vent pipe needing heat resistant tape and not duct tape, and some spots where the dirt needs to be filled in near the house and the skirting needing sealant where it meets the concrete.  So of course I spent last night sorting out all the tasks by contractor and sending everyone their work orders.  Next week, we have:

Gutters being installed on Monday
Plumber coming out on Wednesday
Chimney guy coming back out around Friday?
Skirting - TBD
HVAC - TBD

We are planning to go out there ourselves tomorrow to work on filling in some holes and finishing up the door.  I've also got the measurements for the foam board so we could start working on those if we have time.

Please pray!

I've been struggling with back pain due to weak core muscles and pinched nerves for the past 3 weeks. With our home improvement projects coming up so that we can move in a month, I'm working hard to strengthen my core muscles enough before we start so that I can actually be able to work without pain. Please keep me in your prayers!

Deck stairs are finished!

 

Front porch

Front stairs

Coming around the corner to the front of the house

Max and I drove out to the house to see the deck stairs and water the grass seed.  Dad and Ben did a great job on them!  I also picked up some scrap pieces of wood, put two skirting panels back in place, and checked on the leak that was found under the sink.  I wasn't able to fix it though because Max was tired and fussy.  We're coming up with a plan to get back out there and work on more projects. 

Timeline for Inspection

 Just talked to the movers about the timeline for inspection and occupancy.  They have us down for inspection this week; he will let me know what day soon.  Upon passing they'll put the sticker on it and the state will then have 2 weeks to do their own inspection.  Once they pass us, then we can turn on power and get cert. of occupancy & can move in.  So first week of March, at the latest.  And we're free to do whatever we want on the inside, that won't affect inspection.

 Since we have some work to do inside, the sooner we get it done the better.  But we want to get the work done before moving in...that's why mid-late March was my guess on the move in date.

Progress on the door and front porch stairs

 Today, hubby, Max & I went out to the house to work on stripping the front door some more.  We finally got the majority of the old green color off, and now there's just some small detail work to do.  We got out there around noon and left at 5 because it was getting cold and Max was worn out.  He fell asleep on the way home.  My dad and brother got there about an hour later and started working on the front porch stairs.  Dad's back tire found our culvert and we had to ask a neighbor to help us pull him out.  But I finally got to meet the lady who has 2 little boys around Max's age.  :)  We cleaned up the trash in the yard and were going to unload the pallets for the walkway but ran out of time.  Next time!  Once the stairs are in place, we'll use them as our guide.

Water line

We also discovered that the water line from the meter to the house had been disconnected, so that's going to have to be fixed before inspection.  Other than that, we should be ready.

Gutters are scheduled to be installed on Monday, the 26th.  Then we'll see when we can have the flooring company come out and measure for the new vinyl sheet floor.

Trying to see what all happens after we pass inspection.  We'll get the power hooked up, then the internet.  We should also get a certificate of occupancy too?  Looking to move in mid-late March when all is said and done.  So around our anniversary.

Chimney is done!

Max and I drove out to the house this afternoon to meet the chimney guy. He got everything done and everything went well.  Now our chimney is ready for use!  He vented the pipe out the side and it looks great!  The new chimney looks amazing, too!

Vent grille

Chimney

 They've also been hard at work regrading and putting rocks on the front slope.  They have the rolls of grass that are for the back slope, too.  I'm not sure how much longer til they finish, but was told it'd be this week.  

Rolls of grass

Back slope

 I hauled our foam boards out there as well and unloaded them after the chimney guy left.  Once they were in the house, I drove down the road to check in with our HVAC neighbor.  He's going to get the last two electrical outlets put in place.  Hopefully on Saturday we can get back out there and finish the door paint stripping, and fingers crossed my dad can finish the deck stairs and start re-framing the front door.  I noticed that one of our sawhorses had a broken leg so we'll need to fix/replace that first.

Inspection by the end of the month!

 Today, I've gotten updates on when the final projects will be finished.

Re-grading, culvert, and rocks & grass on the slopes: this Wednesday or Thursday.

Chimney & flue:  Parts should all be in on Wednesday and work should be done Thursday.

Underbelly patching:  Once the first two are done, then we can have the movers patch the underbelly properly and actually pass inspection.  They'll do the patching and inspection all in one go.

Hubby & I are planning to go back out to the house this weekend to finish stripping the front door.  If we have time I'd like to work on the foam boards we got for the marriage line.  We're going to turn them into faux wood beams!  Hopefully my dad will be able to work on our deck stairs, too.  

Then we'll need to work on the drywall:  mudding, taping, and texturing the seams where the batten strips were.  We decided that would be better than skimming the whole wall.  Also patching the places that need it (kitchen where the tile pulled off the outer layer).  

Then paint.  And countertops. 

Then floors - we're ripping it all out and replacing it with vinyl sheet flooring!

I need to pick up the pallets for the walkway.

New trailer!

 

After much searching on FB Marketplace and finding no good options, I turned to craigslist and came across this absolute gem!  I managed to snag it before other people who were interested, and I'm so grateful!  I used it to go pick up the foam boards I bought from another guy, which are going to be made into faux wood beams for the marriage line!  Everything worked out great!  Now we have our own utility trailer for hauling things, like when I go in search of pallets for our walkway and outdoor stairs for going down the slope, and for moving things to the new house!  I had to do a bunch of running around to get the right towing equipment but it was worth it!  

On Saturday, we finally had some nice weather so hubby and I dropped off Max with my sister and went out to the lot to strip the paint off our vintage front door!  There were like 5 layers of different colored paint on it! Tan, pink, blue, green, and cream! We finally got down to the wood around the edges but ran out of time to finish, so we are (or I am) going to have to go back out there.

We also discovered that the underbelly tape we used to patch the holes came down, so we're going to have to fix that.  A few more things need to be done - regrading, putting in the swale and rocks and culvert - all being started this week.  We are also putting gutters on, and once Dad is feeling better he'll work on the deck stairs, railing, etc.  And then the chimney parts are due Feb 13-15th.  Hopefully we can get inspected by the end of the month.