True Test

As I promised last week, some pictures of the porch...



Those knobby porch posts are from the woods over at Brian & MaryBeth's.

This past week some gentlemen have been out here working on this:



For our friends and family up North and on the East Coast and out on the West Coast, we're not the redneck hillbillies you think we are - that there is INDOOR PLUMMIN, BY GOD. At some point we hope to have toilets and sinks attached to it.

This past Friday Jay brought home a bunch of scaffolding for the guys to work on the chimney. Since we raised the cabin roof higher than it originally was, we have to extend the chimney as well. They got about 8 layers of brick finished and then when they were through, they broke the scaffolding back down and Jay loaded it up Sunday night to take back to the rental place. When he arrived this morning, the rental guy was surprised to see him. Conversation ensued about not in fact, being through, but we'll rent the scaffolding again next weekend so they can do some more work on it. The rental guy at that point informed Jay that scaffolding rental is for 28 days. Who knew? So he hauled it back home and unloaded it again.


This past weekend we FINALLY finished emptying out the Fountain City house. HALLE-FREEKIN-LEUYAH. After spending the last 100 weekends hauling crap out of that place, I can't believe I don't have to make one more trip over there. Well, actually I do - we still need to clean and touch up some paint, but still - completely empty, ready to be put on the market. If anyone is interested in seeing pictures of it, let me know. It's cute and I love it, but holymotherofgod I'm ready to be done with it.

I've always heard that building a house is a true test of a marriage. I'm sure it's in the top 5 but I'm going to have to say that packing up the old house might be a notch or two above building a new one. Particularly when the previous inhabitants are SERIOUS packrats. We took so much stuff to GoodWill and so many bags to the dumpster, it's amazing we have anything left. But OMG! We have so much stuff left! Our storage unit is full to the point where there is only enough room left to open the door. And, of course, yesterday we determined that our summer clothes that are packed away, the ones we'll be needing shortly, may be in the very back of the storage unit. Logistical nightmare.

I was going through boxes and finding old receipts and books of notes, etc, from Playruf. How long do you have to keep a bank statement? And I KNOW Jay came by it honest, because in going through yet another box, I ran across old checkbook registers that belonged to his Grandmother. She died in the 80s.

All of that is not to say that I'm any better - trust me, I have my own fair share of junk I will not let go of. I'm just saying the two of us together - someone should consider a t.v. show.

So with the 10 million trips back and forth, hauling stuff to storage, hauling stuff out here and cramming it in the already full garage, our patience with each other got lost in the shuffle for pretty much most of the weekend. Yelling, throwing things, crying, a possible fractured knuckle (associated with a huge dent in a metal cabinet) - you name it, it happened. But we gone it done and as of today, we're still together. And I had a whole (texting) conversation with my sister today about how freekin grateful I am to be where I am today. Not in South Knoxville, because that doesn't really matter, but with Jay. I've made some crappy decisions in the past, but he is clearly one of the best ones I ever made.

In the midst of everything on Sunday, the mind boggling amount of crap and deciding where to put it, and the physical exhaustion, Jay was standing in the garage, looking around and scratching his head, trying to figure out where to put something, he said to me, "um, do we have...do we have a piece of wood or something I can set this on?"


Did you REALLY just ask me that question?