Oh how I miss our fire pit from our old house! I can't tell you how many nights I sat out there with a fire burning on a late summer night with my glass of wine, a good book & a book light. It wasn't unusual for me to stay up 'til 3 am reading. Well we've gone thru our 2nd summer here and it'll still be awhile (if ever) before we have a built-in fire pit like we had.
I asked more than once for a fire pit like they sell at Target or Home Depot but Tom said I can't have one on the wood deck ( oh yeah....forgot about that part, must be those blond highlights).
Well once again, that amazing man came up with a creative solution! He and Mandy built a rolling cart & filled the bottom with sand. He assembled a fire pit & set it in the cart & we now have a movable fire pit! So if we want a fire while we're in the hot tub we can roll it over, rather have one just outside the enclosed patio-no problem! Just don't get it too close to the vinyl(no I didn't do that)! Bright fire for the boaters to find your dock at night, we can do it!! Me to have a fire to read by I've got it!! Spoiled rotten & loved??? You Bet! 
04-01-91 thru 10-26-07
Well the guest room is finally finished & a damn fine job if I do say so myself! Tom, Mandy & I make a heck of a team! Despite all the setbacks we had it ready in time for our company. 
So the insulation has been blown in & now we can can finally finish tiling the guest bath. Looking good...the ceiling tiles were installed in the shower and one sneaky tile came crashing down while their backs were turned! One is all it takes...the tile shattered & chipped one of the white floor tiles leaving a gouge about the size of a quarter.
It's Friday...I say leave it, the floor mat will cover it, Tom is insistent that he'll chip out the tile & replace it. OK...well he tried on the w/e to chip it out, ended up chipping the tile next to it & one of the glass tiles. Decided he'd leave it for Mandy, she's a bit more detail oriented. Mandy comes in Monday, tackles the tiles & 8 white tiles & 2 glass tiles later, another trip to the Home Depot & we're re-tiling the floor. Remember...company's coming soon! Floor once again looks like it should. Now can we finish the bath???
We have had beautiful fall weather and are able to continue to fix problems in the original construction, so we don't have the same problems we had last winter of the ice damning & water damage. Tom sent Mandy into the attic to take pictures & determined that there were some areas that due to construction of the wall heights, there were areas with minimal insulation. In order to fix it we'll need to blow in more insulation.
So guess who's on the outside filling the hopper & managing the hose & who got to go thru the little hole in the ceiling of the guest room bathroom shower? What a trooper Mandy is, the stuff swirling in the attic looked like snow & she looked like the abominable snowman when she was done! We couldn't finish tiling the ceiling in the guest bath until the insulation was blown in. We can now finish the guest bath & hopefully that will take care of the ice damning.
Well at least for Aunt Martha....After not having Eva most of August & Sept, her first visit back showed me she certainly thought the only way to do things is Ebee's way.
(Her cousin Margaret, who is 3 months younger called her Ebee because she couldn't say Eva.) Everything is Ebee do it, Ebee want, etc. So the first time Auntie Martha asked her to pick up her toys, I got a "No". A second request resulted in her throwing herself on the rug outside & crying until I was out of sight. Well I was laughing so hard I had to get my camera, when I came back & she saw me again the crying started in earnest. I do believe the Terrible Two's are on their way!!!
The patio railing was hoisted up from the lower deck in pieces & assembled in place. Assembled in place I said, not bolted. Mandy, always looking toward the next project; leans against the railing to look at the roof where the peaks meet (there's a leak needing repair). The railing & Mandy ( who is also not attached) are tilting & heading to the edge of the patio! Thankfully Tom was there & grabbed the railing hauling Mandy back with it. Mandy's safe, railing's still here. All is once again right with our world or should I say "Upright" with our world.
Back in June, we had a tentative completion date for the beginning of Oct. Well it's the end of Sept & Tom & Mandy are diligently working on the bedroom, installing the trim, framing in the built in bookshelf, installing the ceiling fan. Still some work to do-but we're getting there! We have some very special guests coming Nov 1 and we'll be ready!!! 
Tom comes into the kitchen while I'm eating breakfast & says "Good thing your sitting down....You're not going to believe this-Craig's here!" (He's the framer who called on 9/19). "Yeah right-Ha Ha."No, I'm serious" he said. In hopes of the fantastic, I go to the window-Holy Smokes, they're here! And there's 2 of them! Tom & Mandy get a reprieve.
The trim work was finished & the remaining posts for the porch were installed. Better late than never, unfortunately the side porch roof had shifted over last winter a bit & we have some nail pops in the "Martha" room that now have to be repaired. But I'm not whining....we're moving forward!
They didn't finish the garage door, but Tom & Mandy did, Mandy being the detail oriented person that she is, this was a wiser choice!
The Framer Saga is finished!
