Almost finished...

It's been 7 and a half weeks since we moved into the garage.  The charm wore off quite a while ago.  :-/  But we're so close to getting done.  Well, not really done done.  Just done enough to move into the kitchen, which is the main thing. Yes, the cabinets are in!  We love them.  I often wander into the kitchen just to look at them and run my hands over them and along the countertop, enjoying the newness.  I open the drawers, just for the pleasure of closing them again.  That's not as silly as it sounds.  We got a good deal on upgrading from standard drawers to full-extension, soft-close drawers.  It's fun to open them and then push them back and watch them get pulled softly in the last bit.  Maybe that is just as silly as it sounds. :)  I'll post pictures of the kitchen when it is complete.

Next week the plumber and electrician will be back to get things hooked up, and Jerry will be back to hang doors and put up the trim.  I am so looking forward to having a kitchen sink again!!

Once that is all done, we still need to put flooring down in the basement, put some siding on, and get our yard/septic bed graded and seeded with grass seed. 

It was a busy week.  Gerald and the girls got a lot of painting done, both here and at work.  We've been shopping and shopping ( and returning items) and shopping some more for all the things we'll be needing...light fixtures, sinks, faucets etc.  I think I have those aisles of Rona and The Home Depot pretty much memorized.  So many decisions.  It's driving me crazy.  It may sound like fun to pick out all new things, but it hasn't been that simple.  One example: For our second sink we had hoped to have a regular size single sink, but the cabinet for it will only fit a bar sink (should have specified a larger cabinet, but anyway...).  Deep bar sinks are available for an impressive price, we discovered, after some shopping and research, so we at last settled on a regular bar sink.  Then we noticed that it has two holes for the faucet, when all the faucets in the stores are designed for one or three holes.  Special bar sink faucets can be ordered...for an impressive price.  So we continued to scour the aisles for something that would work and not look too bathroomy.  At last we found a one-hole faucet that should work (we're hoping), and we'll either cap the second hole or put in a soap dispenser.   Not so simple, and not so fun, either.

This week our order of school books came in!  Normally this is met with a little excitement and some groaning.  Not this year.  I ordered all the Life of Fred math books up through the highschool level, and these have been a big hit.  Check out the sample lessons on the website, and you'll know why.  Math books that make you laugh and want to go back for more?  Yes, really. After supper on the day the books came, I was laying (lying? I can never remember which is right) on my bed reading one of the junior books, and laughing.  Soon Thomas came in and asked if he could join me, and if I would please read it out loud.  So I did.  It didn't take long before the bed was piled with kids, all enjoying math with me. 

 We did the first lesson, and after they begged me to keep going, we did the second.  By that time it was past their bedtime.  They wanted to make this a nightly routine.  Really? Math before bed?  For fun?  Sounds crazy, doesn't it?  It is crazy, a good kind of crazy, the kind that makes this homeschooling mom pretty happy.  The next morning they asked if they could please do the books on their own.  They didn't want to wait for me to read them to them.  So for the next several days there were children busy doing math just 'cause they wanted to.  And then later I'd hear, "Hey, you want to know what I read in my math book today?"

You don't have to be homeschooling to use these books.  Anyone could benefit from reading them, and if your child is studying math in school or at home using a different curriculum, they would make a great review.  They don't just teach math, they teach you to think mathematically.  Highly recommended!!  If you are in Canada and would prefer to order them from someone on this side of the border, you can get them here.

Ahhh...the taste of summer.  Fresh sweet corn from our own garden. 

Put that together with some barbequed steak from beef raised just down the road, some baked potatoes topped with butter, salt and sour cream, and cold slices of watermelon....Mmmm. 


God bless,