JULY 1 UPDATE: Things are looking up (the stairs)

Well, it's been a few days since I posted last -- I've been working the past few days, and decided not to stay up into the wee hours to blog. And, come to think of it, I was already up into the wee hours on a couple mornings working on a flier for Frederick's marketing committee. That's about enough computer time at one go -- especially since I really shouldn't be sitting that much at a stretch with my feet swelling like they are.

But enough excuses! Things have been progressing on the house despite the lack of blogging.

We'll start with our trip to Menard's on Sunday. We didn't mean to come home with as much as we did, but we found several things on sale, and, well, this was the result, though I'm not sure how well you can tell it from this photo:

We had the car loaded with about as much weight as we dared put on it -- and perhaps a bit more -- and the back of the car was riding pretty low on the way home.

Most of the weight came from 18 packages of ceramic tile, which was on sale for 20 percent off through Sunday only.

Darker colors are supposed to be slightly better for absorbing heat, which should help our passive solar design plan, and I like this color anyway -- it's called "Flint" and seemed like one of the more natural colors available. This will go on the floor in the dining room and the kitchen.

Dave also got a new toy: a miter saw that came with a free work stand. It's not the fanciest model, Dave tells me, but it works: A job that he said took him 45 minutes when he was working on Sunday morning would have taken him 5 minutes if he'd had the saw then.

Dave worked quickly on framing up the landing for the stairs on Sunday evening.

Dave had finished the wall behind the stairs by Sunday morning ...

... and he had a landing framed up by early Monday evening.

By late Monday evening, this is where the stairs stood. Pretty good progress for a couple days, I'd say!

And he even had a little time to play.

... The house in Iowa is sold, as of Monday! Woo-hoo! That's a relief for us. Of course, it now means we're technically homeless again, as Dave pointed out. Better that than paying for a place we aren't living in, though.

... The excavator called. They don't think they'll make it to our place before the July 4th holiday, but they should get here early next week. The windows likely won't get here before the 4th either. Oh, well, there's still plenty of work to do over the long weekend. Dave has the 4th off, and his parents are coming, so we should make good progress over the weekend.

... I had a fun idea for the floor in Sofia's (temporary) room on the first floor, which will be in the northwest corner:

We were still debating what to do with the floor in that room (and others, but we're still debating those) and these foam mats provide a fun temporary solution. The cost for them at Menards seemed pretty reasonable -- a dollar-something a square foot -- but the real advantage is not having to glue anything down, and being able to take them up and move them to another room once we have the upstairs ready. Or just pack them up, if we decide we don't want them any more.

... It's supposed to be ridiculously hot today -- a high of 92. Yech (says the pregnant lady). I likely won't accomplish much after noon, besides providing a target for a fan as I sit with my feet up in the recliner. Well, Sofia and I now have a wading pool, so we'll venture out there after a bit, I think.