Fun Finds!

I've got a cold, one of those knock-you on your backside colds where you just want to lay around and do nothing....and, I still have spring cleaning to do.  I took it a bit slower this weekend than I wanted to, but at least I got the worst remaining sections done - the walk-in closet and dressers in my bedroom are now cleaned.  As a result of my efforts, I have several bags to take to Goodwill next Saturday when I meet my best friend and her two kiddos for lunch.

Cleaning my dresser drawers is kind of like putting on a coat for the first time in the fall and finding a $10 bill that was left in the pocket.  When I'm in a hurry to clean, I tend to toss things in the drawers...out of sight, out of mind.  Tonight I found all sorts of treasures...some money, a gift card, and probably the best surprise of all..some memory cards from my camera (ones that I thought had been lost).

Sure made for a fun evening to look back at....


My trip to Brazil

A preseason game in Houston to see my favorite QB (from the year I defected to the Vikings in protest of Ted Thompson, hmmm perhaps I should consider that once again)

My fur child welcoming the Newman Pup Crew (from NASCAR driver Ryan Newman's charity) members the day they arrived.  Krissie Newman, Ryan's wife, actually tweeted me back when I made this my picture on Twitter, cool, huh?



There were also some family pics from a few years back, including our trip to NYC. I'm thinking John probably could kill me for this first pic...





Time spent with my great-aunt.  Side note, Aunt Moise's one of only two family members shorter than I am.  Her husband (my grandma's brother) was a carpenter, and he built the cabinets in their house to be just a little lower than normal. Smart idea...wish I'd have thought of that, then I wouldn't have to tote around my little two-step ladder to every freaking room (or, as too often is the case, try to reach that extra inch or so only to make a bunch o' crap come falling down on me - hence why Spring Cleaning is taking such a blasted long time).



 A picture of my mom and brother at a wedding he stood up for (Mom is probably going to kill me for putting this one in here, I think the sun was in her eyes so that's why she's got such a silly look on her face)...


Christmas at my cousin's house near Chicago.  Apparently, whilst we were blissfully taking pictures, singing carols and eating WAAYYYYY too much good food inside, we didn't notice how much snow we were getting outside.   I was driving, so no pictures of the "make your own lane" freeway near Wind Point, but let me tell you it wasn't fun.



I also found a couple of pictures that made me reflect.  The woman pictured on Santa's lap with her two grandchildren became close to our hearts when she and my brother were involved in the same volunteer organization.  She passed away the May after this picture was taken, but she'll forever live in our hearts.  R.I.P Dee...



And this one...  My mom went to Sheboygan County Teacher's College with the women pictured here.  They all settled down in Sheboygan County, but were pretty spread out.  As I got older, I often ended up at their children's weddings as my mom's guest so I got to know them as well.  They lost their first member earlier this year, an energetic woman who never let her health battles bring her down, and embraced the challenges set in front of her with the knowledge that at the end of her journey she would be met by her Savior.  Pretty sure that if Jesus wasn't a Packer's fan before, Diana will have him converted before this pre-season.  R.I.P. Dianna.


Well, time to close this post.  I have one other I want to make tonight, something that I'd seen on a fellow blogger's page, and then I think it's time to go to bed.  Those of you who know me know I'm a night owl, so being in bed two nights in a row before 9:00 is unheard of....I sure hope this dang cold leaves soon.

 

 

Spring Cleaning

Back in September of 2005 when I told my grandmother that I was buying my own place, the first words out of her mouth were "Are you going to keep it clean?"  In February of 2006, on the day that I finally moved in, Grandma passed away, and I vowed even harder that I was going to keep the place clean (a part of me feared she would actually come back to haunt me if I didn't).

For the first few months, I did a pretty good job. I cleaned the bathrooms, ran the vacuum and dusted every weekend.  I was actually pretty thorough in my cleaning, including dusting the baseboards and door frames on a weekly basis.  Then came June of 2006, and some unexpected changes that I wasn't exactly excited about.  When my home office became more cluttered as a result of these changes, it became more difficult to keep up with the cleaning.  Eventually, I decided to outsource my housekeeping, first with a professional firm, and more recently with a local woman.

Let me clarify that my house isn't something out of "hoarders" or the show "Clean House."  Things are fairly clean thanks to my cleaning lady who dusts, vacuums, scrubs and cleans the bathrooms every other week (in addition to the regular tasks she has, in the past, helped me to organize my walk-in closet and on many occasions has emptied the dryer and folded laundry).  The thing is, some of the tasks that I initially did as a part of my weekly housekeeping routine really aren't bi-weekly tasks a housekeeper should do, they are more of a one-off thing that should be done occasionally by meand I've neglected to do them.. Plus, as you may recall, there was a period of time where there was construction, which resulted in not only construction dust, but heavy foot traffic.  When people were coming over, I would often use my office as a "staging area" for drying sweaters, etc. and there was always a pile of things to sort through on one spot of my kitchen counter.

For quite some time, I excused my failure to deep clean on the fact that I was "busy."  That excuse falls short, though, when I see a blogger I follow post pictures of her house with nothing out of place even though she works full time and she and her husband have a toddler and a dog who I highly doubt are mess-free.  If she can keep her house looking good on her own, there's certainly no reason my house shouldn't look spotless.

This year, I resolved to spring clean the entire house; working backwards from Memorial Day, I scheduled out exactly what I needed to do every weekend to not only get the yard and garage (which I have done an annual, and often semi-annual cleaning of) ready for summer, but also to pace myself through a spring cleaning.  When I was little, in addition to her weekly housekeeping, my mom used to do a semi-annual deep clean of the house.  I loved spring and fall cleaning; there's something about that 'fresh cleaned' smell that you get during a deep clean, so I was jazzed about actually taking the time to do this.

I started at the beginning of March, with a deep clean of the kitchen, emptying out the cupboards, wiping them down, and reorganizing them.  I was pretty proud of the results, and was excited for the next weekend to come around to start on the next rooms.  Of course, the best laid plans sometimes go awry, and that's what happened.  I wound up working from home the following weekend, and on the road the weekend after that, which meant I was now two weeks behind schedule.  Thankfully, my mom and dad came over and wiped down the village that I have above my cupboards, as well as the birdhouses and suitcases on my plant shelves...I think they were afraid this uncoordinated daughter of theirs would probably fall of the ladder if I was left to do this on my own.

This past week, I was lucky enough to not have to travel anywhere for work, so I was able to use my nights to catch up.   I've been borrowing tips from some bloggers that I follow, and am pretty proud of what I accomplished.  First order of business, I tackled the laundry room, cleaning behind the washer and dryer, wiping down and reorganizing all of the cabinets and putting away the clothes that was hanging up.  One thing I noted, the bain of my laundry activity - Lost Socks, haunted me not only when matching the darn things, but also in finding a "holding pattern" (I have clearly spent too much time on airplanes) for those unmatched clean ones.  It's amazing what you can find on Pinterest though, and I now have a new solution for the lost sock challenge.

After tackling the laundry, I moved on to the utility closet and back hall.  Okay, not a whole lot to do here, just reorganize things and wipe down the woodwork, but still in need of a little TLC.  I then moved on to the stairs and the basement.  The walls were in need of cleaning, courtesy of my fur child shaking the hairball remedy off of his paw and onto my walls; and even though the basement is a recent addition, it was good to give that a little attention as well.  I reconfigured a few pieces of furniture wiped down the walls, hung some pictures that needed rearranging, and that was done.  Moving on to the front entry and hall, I reorganized the front closet, got rid of the spider webs in the closet, wiped down the woodwork, and washed the inside storm door window.

Once I'd gotten some easy tasks under my belt, I moved on to the main bath.  Again, the biggest issue was organizing the cupboards and the linen closet.  I've found through this process that not using the step stool when I should is not a good practice, but everything is now neatly in its place, and in the future I won't try to reach things beyond my height level.

The last room I tackled this week was my office.  I shredded, purged and filed the avalanche of paperwork in the closet; resorted the bins that I had for office supplies, and wiped down the woodwork.  This may sound simple, but it took several hours to get through this one.  During this process I discovered that I may just be addicted to office supplies.  I have enough rulers, notebooks and post-it notes to last me a decade.  I also found tons of stuff that didn't belong in the office that I'd stashed in the closet at one time or another - Christmas decorations that I'd bought at the after Christmas sales; postcards and mementos from different places I've traveled that should be in with my scrapbooking items; and lots of picture frames that I intended to print pictures for.  Instead of just moving the frames somewhere else or putting them back into the closet "until there was time" I took the time to print out pictures and set the frames out - a much better use than sitting in a box or a closet, don't you think?

Since I anticipate getting back on the road shortly, and I do need time to maintain what I have cleaned, the last area for spring cleaning - my bedroom, bathroom, and closet, will be spread over a few weeks.  This will still give me plenty of time for my outdoor chores...cleaning the garage, getting my front porch and patio set for summer, cleaning up my flowerbeds and spreading mulch, all before Memorial Day.

After that, the goal is to be in maintenance mode for a few months before I start Fall Cleaning.  Wish me luck.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

For as long as I remember, this has been of my favorite secular Christmas songs.  Kind of ironic when you think about it, as that song has more meaning now than it did way back then.  Don't take that the wrong way... the holiday is, in fact, a holiday, and nobody I work with would ever expect anyone to work that day, and we do our best to make sure that we're home in plenty of time to avoid any of Mother Nature's surprises.  The thing is, Christmas isn't just December 25th, and for some reason (well, actually really good reasons, but I know I'm a tax geek and won't bore everyone with the reason) the month of December is always a hectic one, both at work and at home.

As I've blogged in the past, decorating is a big part of helping me to prepare to celebrate Christ's birth.  This year I started on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and had everything decorated by Saturday; and everything cleaned up on Sunday afternoon (with the help, of course, of my family of elves...well, maybe that's one elf, and a reindeer, and a super brother who does almost everything this big sister asks him to do). 

The week before last I actually worked from home, so I started to mix up double batches of cutout and gingerbread cookies at night...but life was so crazy I only got them mixed up...not cut out, baked, or decorated, before I had to pack my suitcase on Saturday night so I could catch a 10:00 flight on Sunday morning.  So, I wrapped up the dough, put them in airtight bags and tossed them in the freezer.

My flight landed a little before 5:00 on Thursday night and I had to high tail it home in time to meet the family and head out to the Straight No Chaser concert at Kohler (if you've never seen them, search for them on YouTube, they're a fantastic group).  Side note: I first learned about them about 5 years ago, on our firm's intranet site, as one of the founders used to work in our New York office, and I sent a link to my brother because I thought they were really good.   12 months later, John sends ME a link of this group that "he" "discovered" on YouTube.  Great, thanks little brother, nice to know you pay attention to the emails I send...  When I got home at about 11:00 I pulled the cookie dough out of the freezer and tossed it in the fridge.  Now, mind you, I was at a conference for work last week, and had the opportunity to go on the Harry Potter ride that was FREAKING AWESOME.  It was one of these "visual" rides, though, and I think I should have skipped the second time on the ride, as I'm pretty sure that was the cause of the headache that I had on Thursday, and Friday (which was actually the worst - full blown migraine), and part of Saturday.  Needless to say, Friday wasn't a day for baking.

Saturday morning I started to roll out the dough and cut out angels, stars, snowflakes, snowmen, gloves, mittens, candy canes, bells and Christmas trees.  I think I made about 7 dozen sugar cookie cutouts before we headed out to Christmas Carol with our church's intergenerational group.  While a part of me would have preferred to stay home, I had a great time.  We went to the local Assisted Living facility and the local apartment complex where my kindergarten Sunday School teacher lives, as well as caroling by some of our congregation members.  We've done this for a few years now, but this year one of our members, who graciously stepped in to coordinate the event - because I was stretched a bit thin - was able to get a trailer.  She and her awesome fiance even decorated it with lights, borrowed hay bales and had blankest on the trailer.  We traveled through town in style, and I know we helped to brighten the holidays for some.  When we were done, we returned to church and had chili (special thanks to my dad and also my former 4-H leader for staying behind to make sure the chili was warm when we got back).

When I got back home, I cut out and baked about 3 dozen gingerbread men and houses, sealed up all of the cookies in airtight bags, and I was finished for another weekend. 

Sunday was a busy day at church (new member joining, choir singing and announcements that appeared to go on forever), and we got out late.  I rushed home to get ready for the Christmas party for my dad's side of the family, finished the deviled eggs for my dish to pass, grabbed lunch by Mom and Dad and headed on out to the local town fire hall.  I'll blog more about our gathering in the future, but our group has grown from the 7 boys my grandparents raised, and the tag along known as my dad who joined them in his teen years.  This year, there were 71 of us at the hall...and that's not the full group!!!

When I got home last night, it was time to pick up a little (and by that, I mean a little bit - I owe my cleaning lady BIG time for this week) pack the suitcase, and head of to bed before another busy work week.

This coming weekend I still need to: Decorate the cookies I've already made and finish up the rest (pistachio drop cookies, peanut butter kisses, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate peanut clusters).  Saturday night is the neighborhood round robin, so I think Sunday is going to be when I start my Christmas shopping (see last year's blog - at least I'm not waiting until the 23rd this year). 

Yes, it's crazy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love Christmas, and no matter how busy I am, I will find time to decorate, time to bake and time to wrap gifts (OK, time to watch my mom wrap the gifts I bought for everyone but her), time to go Christmas caroling, time to spend with family and friends.  Life's too short to not enjoy these things.  That is all part of being "home" for Christmas...

In case I don't get a chance to blog again before the holidays arrive, I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a blessed 2013!

In the Garden





♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫



I come to the garden alone,
While the dew is still on the roses;
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses

-C. Austin Miles

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

  

When Grandma H, my dad's foster mom, was in the nursing home, our minister would stop in to visit her whenever he was visiting members of our church who were residents of the same facility.  Each time, just before he left, they'd sing the hymn "In the Garden" together, and it was one of the songs that we sang at her funeral.  I've always liked that song, but after that it had even more meaning to me personally.  Each time I sing it, I feel a little closer to her.

Grandma K, Mom's mom, went home to God and Jesus on February 10, 2006, less than 24 hours after I finalized the purchase of my condo.  It was a bittersweet day, Grandma was no longer suffering, but I had hoped that she would have been able to see my place, and that we could have built some special memories there.  Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to create a memorial garden, with things that reminded me of the loved ones who had passed through Heaven's Gate and were patiently waiting for us to be together again.  I knew that I wanted to anchor the garden with a sugar maple tree like the one that had been by Grandma and Grandpa K's house in town.  Grandpa had passed away when I was 3, so I most of my memories are from stories told to me and pictures...one of my favorites are of me, "Paca" and their dog Bingo under that tree.  I remember when the leaves would told beautiful shades of yellow and orange each fall, Grandma would remark how remarkable the works of the Lord were.

In addition to the tree, my garden included:

• Peonies that originated at Grandma K's house
• Lillies that were offsprings of the ones my brother had gotten from the milkhouse by Grandma and Grandpa H
• A mum that had been split off of one given to my mom when Uncle R passed away
• A rosebush, because Uncle R loved roses
• Miniture irises that my Uncle D had given me shortly after I moved into my house (and shortly before he passed away)
• Lilacs, because they reminded of my grandparents and Uncle D

A few weeks after the garden was completed, Aunt L went to be with Uncle R.  She loved ladybugs, and the day after when I found a concrete ladybug when I was at a local nursery, I knew I needed to add that to the garden.

This year, when my parents' neighbor, D, went to her Heavenly Home, I knew I wanted to add something to the garden for her.  D and her husband, G, had become family in the 11 years that my parents had lived next door, and when she'd talk to Cuddles she always referred to herself as "Grandma D."  Their granddaughter A and her family now live in the house, and they too have become like family (A's daughter - A2 has quickly become Dad's favorite...sometimes I think she may even outrank this "Daddy's Girl").  Originally, I thought that, when we had a month with an 'R' in it (because Uncle D said you didn't transplant in a month that didn't), I would try to move some of the lillies that came from D and G's flowerbed a few years ago, but this week when A had a garage sale, I found the right fit for the garden - a fountain that D and G had on their back deck.  It fit perfectly with everything that was already there, and when it got dark tonight and the light from the fountain illuminated the tree, I knew that was the perfect way to remember her, because she had an ever-present smile that, even on the worst day, would lighten my spirits.

While they aren't physically with us any more, I know that Grandma and Grandpa K, Grandma and Grandpa H, Uncle D, Uncle R, Aunt L, and D are watching over their family and friends, and that I will see them again when the Lord calls me home.  In the meantime, I carry a piece of them in my heart always, and when I need a moment of reflection and rememberence, my garden is the perfect place to go.

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

 

And He walks with me,

And He talks with me,

And He tells me I am His own,

And the joy we share as we tarry there,

None other, has ever, known!

-C. Austin Miles

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

To Do Lists

Those of you who know me know that I tend to lean towards the "techy" side of things. I can control my home thermostat from my smartphone, my home office has a second monitor, and whenever I can, and my laptob bag is FULL of gadgets. When it comes to a "To Do List," however, I prefer old fashioned pen and paper.  I've tried several different electronic formats, but there's just something more satisfying about crossing something off of my list, instead of clicking on a checkbox.

My list lately has been a bit full (part of the reason I haven't written anything in almost nine months), and the heat this summer didn't make it easy to get a lot of things done.  Summer's quickly coming to an end, and there are several things on my list that I really need to get done...before the proverbial snow flies.

Today after church, I took a look at my list and decided to try to tackle at least a few of those items on the list.  First task: Clean the windows and patio and storm doors, all of which were dust laden from our dry summer.  I pulled out the ladder, mixed up some vinegar and water, grabbed some newspapers and I was on my way.  About an hour (and lots of trips up and down the ladder) later, the windows sparkled for a few hours until the rain came...maybe I should have washed the windows earlier this year to bring on the rain when we needed it.  When that was done, as long as I had the ladder out I took down my Fourth of July decorations (yes, I know it's August 19, please keep in mind that, as I mentioned above, I've been a little busy) and moved my wind chimes since the clanger kept hitting my bedroom window whenever we had storms.  This afternoon I took down the summer decorations inside and tonight I started cleaning up the office - shredding old bank statements and duplicate checks, sorting things to be filed, etc. 

I do have other work that I should be doing, but now it's time to unwind a little bit, sit with my feet up and relax my mind with a little blogging and some TV.  There are still plenty of items on my To Do Lists, both home and work, some of which I do need to tackle before bed, and that's okay too...because then I can cross them off of my list.

Need a Little Christmas

Haul out the holly, put up the tree before my spirit falls again.  Fill up the stockings, I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now...And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder.  I need a little Christmas now. - Jerry Herman

I learned that song for one of my Elementary School Christmas Programs, and this year it seems to pop into my head quite often.  In an era where everyone seems short on both time and patience, it's easy to lose sight of the Reason for the Season.  This year seems to have flown by, and once November hit, things went through at warp speed (as evidenced by the fact that I actually started writing this blog the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and here it is, December 30, and I'm finally finishing it).

For those of you who haven't seen my house at Christmas, I LOVE to decorate...I'm not kidding you.  Outdoor decorating starts the week before Thanksgiving, I have two bins of lights and garland for outside, plus additional figures, wreaths, swags, etc. for outside alone.  When it comes to inside, I more than 30 bins, plus assorted boxes of items, not to mention my Christmas trees, and the items that are freestanding, simply covered with a garbage bag to prevent dust.  I start decorating Thanksgiving day, and don't finish up until late Saturday night.  I recongize that, compared to most homes, I seem to have a lot of decorations, but the first year I had my own place, it was on the Christmas Tour for the local library, which meant I went all out.  As an accountant, there's something inside of me that says "you bought all of this stuff, if you just let it sit in the basement, you're not getting your maximum use for your dollar."   This year, someone hinted that, because of the hectic schedule I've had lately it would be perfectly okay to cut back on the decorations.  While I appreciate his concern, I know that he is much more easily irritated by the sights and sounds of Christmas...down to the level of saying that Christmas songs don't count as music.  For him, and for those around him, that may work perfectly well.  For me, it doesn't, there's something calming about the glow of the lights from my trees (yes, trees), and this year more than ever, I've needed that.  In fact, as I sit here typing, I find myself glancing over to the Christmas tree in my living room and a kind of peace comes over me.  Don't get me wrong, I know that Christmas is about the coming of our Savior, which is more important than making sure that I get every decoration out and in place.  At the same time, this year  it was important that there was "no highway option" taken in my decorating.  Things that were happening around me that weighed heavy on my heart, and I needed to do something to help me prepare to celebrate Christ's birth.  Fortunately, I have a fantastic family that helped me get everything decorated in just a few days.

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was more chaotic than I ever remember it being before. Between caroling with the church group, Dad's family Christmas party, and a crazy schedule during the week, I didn't start Christmas shopping until December 23rd, yes, a whole 48 hours before Christmas.  That is something I don't care to repeat any time soon.  Honestly, I prefer when Christmas falls during the week, rather than on a weekend, because that seems to have presented some challenges as well. Christmas Day arrived much sooner than I would have liked, but I actually was ready, and the Miracles of the Season weren't lost on me.  Mom's last chemo treatment was in early December and she struggled to bounce back this time around, but she started to improve last week, to the point that she actually had a craving for a glazed donut, and when she ate it she wasn't disappointed.  Up until then, everything had a metal taste to it, which made eating a bit of a challenge, so I am happy to report that she had two helpings of the prime rib I made for Christmas dinner (I am also happy to report that the prime rib was edible, and we didn't have to resort to peanut butter sandwiches). 

The week between Christmas and New Years has sped by, and in a little over 24 hours we'll be saying goodbye to 2011.  I, for one, will not be sad to see this year go, as this year has been a rough one.  The weather in January and February seemed to have been an omen for things to come.  In May, a woman who was like a second mother to my brother, and actually to me, passed away suddenly.  Shortly thereafter, a dear friend and neighbor of my parents suffered the first in a series of strokes that have rendered her unconscious, and she and her husband are now living with their son and daughter-in-law.  (Their granddaughter and her husband and baby will soon be moving into the house, and we're very excited to have them join the community, something to look forward to in 2012).  Mom's cancer diagnosis in August, and subsequent chemotherapy treatments made for a tough Fall.  This past week brought more bad news, as dear friends of my brother were dealt with their own personal heartache that has left me feeling like I've been punched in the gut as I ache for them.  Through all of this I am so thankful that I have my faith, as I don't know what I would have done otherwise.  I know that everything that happens is His will, and I'm not always meant to know why things happen.  As a fellow blogger, who's dealt with her own personal heartache has said in the past, I simply need to trust that if He has brought me to it, He will get me through it.

So, as I look forward to 2012, I welcome the new year and am excited to see what He has in store for me.  I am excited for new neighbors, and for celebrating Mom's recovery with a girls' trip to Hawaii, as well as for those things headed my way that I am not yet aware of.  And, I'll admit it, I wouldn't be in the least sad if one of those things would be to bump into Alex O'Laughlin while we're in Hawaii...(yeah, right like THAT's going to happen, but a girl can dream, right :-). 

I hope your 2012 is filled with joy and happiness...and know that no matter what the year brings, come next Thanksgiving, if you're in need of a little Christmas and are in the area, stop by.  Because, no matter what 2012 has in store for me, next Thanksgiving I will again Deck the Halls, and the bedroom, and the office, and the laundry.....

We interrupt this construction project for another construction project

I know that I haven't posted much lately, but, in all honesty, there's not a whole lot that's changed.  The rec room is close to being finished.  Close enough, in fact, that I ordered my TV today and am going to the store tomorrow to pick up the last big item...an electric fireplace.  There are only a few things to do yet in there, finish the few ceiling tiles, add the track lighting in what will eventually be the bar area, move the filing cabinet into the other room and add shelving to my closet.  The bathroom, however, still has a ways to go, the tile floor is complete, but the ceiling needs to be installed (including the gridwork), as does the sink, toilet, and exhaust fan.

After such a great start, I had high hopes for having everything done by early October.  Now, I'm hoping that everything's done by the middle of November.  So, what's the big holdup....another construction project.  You see, our church voted to undertake a major remodel project this year on the 45+ year old building.  Some of it was necessary, our roof was leaking; some of it was cosmetic.  And, of course, one of the members of the building committee was my brother.  While he didn't head the building committee, he wound up being the one to go up to church every night to make sure the doors were locked (the construction crew was pretty forgetful), hear the concerns/complaints from congregation members, and be the all around Johnny on the Spot, so he didn't have a whole lot of time left for his big sister's little basement project.

That still left Dad to keep plugging along until he too got sucked into the church project.  Along with the remodeling in the existing church, as a part of the construction project, a storage shed was to be built.  To save a little bit of money, rather than have the construction company build the shed, members of the congregation were asked to volunteer.  Two pretty awesome men (and, by default because he was the son of one of the volunteers, one awesome former Sunday Schooler of mine) stepped forward.  When it became apparent that nobody else was going to help, my dad offered.  Unfortunately, that meant my project came to a SCREECHING halt (although I understand I am in good company, as one of the other builders has a list of things he wanted to accomplish this summer at home).  The build seemed to take forever because, while they weren't building the shed, the construction company was responsible for organizing when the concrete was laid, as well as when materials would arrive.  On several occasions, there were interruptions because the materials weren't there at all, or if they were, there weren't enough.  My personal favorite was when the Project Manager sent out a nasty email reminder because someone (not any of the volunteer builders) promised during a construction meeting that a certain portion of the shed would be finished by Monday so that the concrete could be poured.  Our mighty construction crew worked through the weekend downpours to get the work done (mind you, they couldn't have started any earlier because this Project Manager didn't order the materials in time), how nobody came down with pneumonia is still beyond me.  And, guess what?  The concrete wasn't poured on Monday...or Tuesday....or, well, you get my drift.

This wouldn't have been bad, with the exception of a couple of things.  When this project started, I approached the head of the building committee and our minister and asked them if they were going to include language in the contract that encouraged the builder to complete the project on time and on budget.  Specifically, I suggested we include penalties for every day the project ran over.  I was told that that was rediculous, and that I (actual words) "had absolutely NOTHING to worry about."  Even after the project started and things were progressing extremely slowly, the response every time I asked if we were going to be on time was "There's nothing to worry about, (insert The worship area will be done for J&A's wedding in August; the classrooms will be ready in plenty of time for Sunday School and, my favorite, EVERYTHING will be done well before October).  HA!!! As you may have guessed, I've had several times where I could have said "I told you so." 

And, through it all, the two people who've interacted with the project manager have sung her praises.  Let me tell you, this chick must be HOT, because that's the only reason I can see for these guys praising her up and down every chance they get.  I know at least one P/P/D I work with reads my blog, and that she would CRINGE at the emails that come from the project manager to members of the building committe, as well as the volunteers for the shed. No client should be spoken to in that manner, and that's what we are, her client (perhaps someone should remind her of that).  Right now, with the deadlines her folks have missed the mark on, she should be treading very lightly.  When I equate it to my job, it would be like me not only missing the deadline of a project, but by first having the software up and running on September 10, when the client needs to use it to complete a tax return by September 15.  Not exactly a stellar performance if you ask me.

So now, the shed is finally finished, and Dad is getting back to work on my basement.  Hopefully, it will be done by the end of the month.  If it isn't, perhaps I should ask a certain project manager to step in.  On second thought, probably not, otherwise I'd be lucky to have the basement done by March.