Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valentine's/NASCAR


I don't know where my blogger friend gets these great pics, but I do "steal" them every now and again... and so Happy Valentine's everyone!!! Though I can also wish Happy NASCAR as well to the fans out there, because today was the running of the Daytona 500.. the opening of race season.

I am not a NASCAR fan, per say... Ed is the one around here. But I can pretty much count on Sunday afternoons doing as I like as Ed is usually enjoying the races on the TV... (and doing a bit of napping as well)... he also likes to make the trip to Loudon when NASCAR arrives in our area.

So, this year "it" fell on Valentine's day.. which is fine with me. We really didn't have any special plans. Last night we met up with Kas, Nate and the Flagg's for dinner out (took Chester with us) and that was fun. And today, went off to church and then I played at the barn while Ed watched the race. He did get a little chicken charm for my Pandora bracelet and surprised me with that, but mostly the day was quiet. Rick and Kelli came for a pizza dinner and we watched Abbie while Sadie went out for dinner.



Work is coming on the house. Despite my doctor's wishes of "staying out of the house for a week"... we are at work. I can't stay out of the house for a week, that would totally "ruin" our schedule!!! But I did get a "mask" and have been wearing it when I do the sanding!!! We're starting to close in on the stair case and have pretty much decided what we will use for the post and rails. Stairs are tricky and expensive things to do, so I will be happy when we get this part of the project off the "list"... but just having the sheet rock in place makes a big difference.


We're also at the part where it's just odd and end pieces going into place. We have a fair amount of scrap pieces left over that fit perfectly into these last little spaces. Our goal is to have all the sheet rocking done and all the walls primed (at least) by the end of this month. Hopefully we can make it!!!!






The house is beginning to settle in, as we knew it would. Timber frames have a way of "shrinking and settling" and the beams show it off well. Look at this big "check" in one of the beams in the front
hallway. It certainly gives the house it's own charm.
Several other beams have slight "twists" in them, and we really appreciate how tight the guy fit them in the beginning. Ken told us that he wanted fits as tight as possible so that when the house settled the "gaps" would be minimal... he was right. This happened with our timber frame barn at the "old house" and I just love seeing how the building has "aged" over the years. The same will go for this house as well. The neat thing is, it doesn't do anything to the strength of the timbers.

I can't wait to be settled into the house and see it on a daily/non working basis. Every time we get something finished and we are that much closer, makes me appreciate what will be in store. And yes, NASCAR races will certainly be a Sunday thing in this house!!!! Happy Valentine's Day