Operation: Rental Rehab, Week 2

It has been a long first week, but we accomplished so much that we can look back with great satisfaction.  Week 2 will see slower progress I think, but we might be surprised.  The kids have each spent a total of approximately 38 hours on the "job site", and then have spent another 5-6 hours working on their notebooks, which are coming along nicely.  We need to spend more time on them in the next couple of days, and I need to get photos together for them to print out and label.  However, our printer is giving us fits and I seem to be GONE a lot from the house this past week...hahaha!

What are some of the lessons learned this past week?

1)  Don't let the dog get near the stain.
2)  A roller works best for applying stain on the fence.
3)  Water rots wood badly when allowed to seep in.
4)  Teamwork and music can make a dull job more tolerable.
5)  Bleach can clean a moldy toilet as easy as pie.
6)  Measure once, buy paint and stain, don't take into account that no one has ever sealed the fence before, buy LOTS more stain.
7)  Cost overruns are an unpleasant surprise.
8)  Thinking ahead helps keep you on schedule...thinking 4 weeks out for ordering carpet is a priority!!
9)  Keep the job site orderly if you want to avoid spending time over and over again looking for cutters.
10) Duct work can get nasty, and mouse droppings can be very, very dangerous.

and most importantly...

11)  I can do anything if I set my mind to it.

The "stick-to-it-iveness" of each of the kids has honestly completely surprised Dominick and I.  We expected that once the "new" wore off of any particular task, the kids might be complaining or wanting to quit.  These are kids, after all, and only one teenager in the mix...and that one just barely at 13.  You'd never know it though. 

Olesya has spent hours and hours and hours on the fence, rarely stopping even for a break.  Seriously, I think that in 3 days alone she put in 16 hours or more.  Matthew and Kenny begged to do the gravel themselves, even after spending two long afternoons on it.  They said "We started it, we'll finish it...then when we look at it we'll know we did it all by ourselves."  Angela said the same thing about her gravel project on the other side of the front of the house.  Josh has bounced between the fence and the gravel, not really caring about "ownership" of any project but not wasting time playing either.  That kid at 8 years old has hauled, cleaned, painted, dug out two large plants all by himself,  shoveled, and swept for hours and hours.

We are expecting weather this week, so we are rushing to get the outside work completed.  The kids helped mask the easier things off, but Dominick sprayed it all as we have no time to lose.  When it comes to the inside they will get their lessons on painting, both with the airless and with brushes and rollers as Mr. Steve is planning on teaching them the proper way to approach a project.  We plan on turning them loose once they know how.  There is no carpet to ruin, nothing to worry about, and it is the perfect place for them to practice and learn technique.  They are excited about that, as they know it will be different than slapping stain on the fence outdoors.  We still have gravel, exterior trim, and fencing to finish but hope to make headway on most of that tomorrow. 

Looks like a lot of fence?  You can't see what is behind the photographer still yet to be stained :-(

Sundown, and one tired young man.

See all that gravel behind the pile?  Most of it was moved one shovel full at a time by Kenny and Matt.  We calculated about 1000 square feet including what is on the side to the left that is not pictured.

Angela pulling weeds in preparation for more gravel on the other side of the front of the house.

Miss Lael's prized wheelbarrow has come in quite handy...thanks for letting us borrow it!

Matt's 6 Hour Project = Redoing wooden landscaping timbers
Step One:  Remove very rotted old timbers, spend an hour trying to remove metal rebar holding rotted timbers in place.

Step Two:  Spend 3 hours digging, leveling, and backfilling the trench for the replacements, which were a different size that the original timbers.

Step 3:  Stand back and give mom a smile :-)

Step 4:  Drill holes, insert new rebar...and do the entire project without ANY help from mom or dad!!

Before, trim masked off, almost ready for painting...we wanted to change the color because there was a home a similar color across the street, and the house needed repainting anyway.

After, or sort-of-after as we still have white trim to paint.  New roof is on, almost completed, as they were short a few shingles.  Plants to the left of the front door were removed by Josh.  Do NOT laugh at my very bad window masking job, now you understand why my Christmas gifts are wrapped so poorly!

It has been one big job to tackle, but we are still having fun!

The girls have more stain on their clothes and faces than they do on the fence...hey...no WONDER we needed 5 more gallons!

Despite being exhausted at the end of each day, we have still found ways to "get 'er done" and yet have some laughs along the way.  Matthew was the honorary fence post as he got stained this afternoon. 

Hour by hour we are seeing the confidence and assurance grow in each of the kids as they take on more and more, and as they stand back and admire what they have accomplished even at this early stage.

Although personally I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment with all we still have to do, and all I am trying to cram in around it, this will go down on record as one of the single best experiences we ever gave the kids.  I have not done as much physical work yet around the place as I'd like to, as I have been the designated runner for the project so that Dominick and the kids can remain on the job and not have to keep constantly pulling off.  Today is only Monday, and since yesterday afternoon I have put 120 miles on the van, simply going from Home Depot and back, to volleyball and back, to the roofer's and back, and so on.  We selected carpet and other flooring today, and it is now ordered.  Angela and I spent quite awhile before giving up on our original choices and starting over, and now we are quite happy with our selections. 

I have spent a few days living in frustration and disappointment over a several things, all of which tap my weaknesses and not my strengths.  Basically, I am feeling like a bit of a failure lately in many areas, and I am not sure what to do to turn that around.  I am out of my comfort zone, and not doing well, which leaves me wondering why in the world I am even bothering.  Silly though it sounds, even selecting carpeting and flooring was a disaster for me, and served only to remind me of yet another thing I stink at...I can't pull things together to save my life, I have no eye at all, and find it confounding to even attempt to try.  There are other, bigger things that this is about, but standing there in Home Depot for over an hour trying in vain to do something as simple as match colors was just the wrong thing I needed to be doing yesterday, as it served only to heighten the sense of incompetence.  And yea, I know that is totally stupid, but it's still true.

Maybe I need to take lessons from the kids.  I always learn more from them anyway :-)

It's almost midnight and I need to get some sleep myself, so I am off.  Maybe tomorrow I'll only put 70 miles or so on the van!