A Shoe In Our Bed and I Spoke Too Soon

So, I don't think I've told you about the shoe in our bed yet.

In the middle of a night back in December while I was mostly asleep,
 but in that stupor of twilight that renders one barely aware, 

I'd shifted or turned  next to my sleeping husband
and was puzzled when my right hand fumbled across a shoe. 

I distinctly recall thinking,
"Huh? Why is there a shoe in our bed?! How odd." 

As I attempted to pick up the thick, leathery shoe
I realized that it wasn't a shoe.

It was Dean's hand!

His thick, tough, work-worn, calloused, completely relaxed hand.

The man has worked so very hard.

He's always been a hard worker.

His hands have rarely been idle in the 33 years I've known him.

They've never been soft - forever showing signs of being busy and well used,

They've been more heavily occupied this past year than I think they ever have.
I am very thankful for those good, hard working hands of his
even if they do feel like an old shoe in our bed.

So, last week here at
Retro Bungalow...

Monday:

Our roofer made good progress.
I happened to be home, in the trailer, during the afternoon hours when
Austin, one of the roofers, knocked on the trailer door.
I answered and he told me he had 'bad news'.
He'd broken one of our windows.
He and I went to assess the damages.
 I assured him it'd be be okay and told him how bad I felt for him.
He's a nice young man, it was an honest accident and he'll make good on it.
I do wish though that he'd have something for his breakfast every morning
besides a 'Bladder Buster' Mt Dew and a cigarette;
I'd take that in restitution.
Also on Monday,
Dean framed the little wall at the end of the basement bathtub.
I had him frame it with a little 'window' and I'll order reeded glass for it
like the reeded glass I had put in the hopper window that's in that bathroom.
I thought that was a fun idea.
This is what I mean by 
"I spoke too soon".
A post or two ago I'd written that the framing was complete.
Seems like framing NEVER ends.
He also trimmed some sheathing on the NE edge of the roof that the roofers
called to his attention and he cut back a section of fascia on the
front elevated section of the roof where it ties into the front porch.
And he restrung the party lights.
They're Dave's strands of work lights, but I call 'em the party lights.
Upstairs and downstairs are both nicely lit and all we have to do
is plug 'em in just inside the door into the house from the garage.

Tuesday:

By the end of the day the roofers had finished!
That was fast.
I paid them just this afternoon and was very pleased that
the bill was $500 less than their estimate.
That's ALWAYS good news.
Our master bath garden tub was delivered a day early and
Dean framed the deck for it.
Of course, I climbed in to 'try it on' and dreamed of the day I'll fill it to the brim
with steaming water and mounds and mounds of bubbles.
I can hardly wait.

Wednesday:

Our garage doors were delivered and the larger one was installed.
The smaller one will have to wait because the trailer tongue sticks out past the opening.
They'll come back when we're ready and install the openers too.
It's nice to have the garage mostly enclosed now.
Our fireplace guy, Dave, came out for one last inspection before he orders our fireplaces.
And I went to Precision Granite to shop around their slab yard.

Here you can see not only the garage door, but the fully shingled roof too.


Thursday:

I met with Patrick one last time to review and approve the drawing
for our custom leaded glass window.
I'm both excited and nervous about my design, color and glass selection because
it's the type of thing that you don't really know how it's going to
turn out until the point of no return.
It should be ready in a few weeks.
Dean repaired the 4-wheel drive on our old truck and then he and Ry
had a great evening together doing ward missionary visits.

Friday:

I drove to Salt Lake in the afternoon, did a little shopping and then
picked Dean up from work so we could go to the temple.
We made it in plenty of time to catch the 5:00 session in Bountiful.
When the brother at the entrance scanned my recommend
he looked up at me and said,
"I'm sorry Sister Mossi, but your recommend expired on November 30th."
I was stunned.
In the nearly 32 years that I've been a temple recommend holder,
that has never happened to me.
I've been so distracted.
And I've often felt over these past several months that I've lost balance in my life.
An awful thought almost instantaneously came to me upon being denied entrance into
The House of The Lord...
"What if I were standing at the threshold of the Celestial Kingdom and denied entrance?
I've got to be more vigilant. I must try harder.
I should not be so caught up in the details of mortal, day to day distractions,
and neglect the paramount matters of eternity.
It's an awful feeling, being turned away from the temple.
Yesterday, before leaving after church meetings were over,
I had my new recommend in hand, signed by both the Bishop and Stake President.

Saturday:

I swept and swept in the basement and organized tools and lumber and such.
Dean built the platforms for the two fireplaces, worked on the bracing for
 the north and south gables and a myriad of other miscellaneous items.
He was busy all day long with various little, but important details before
we move on to plumbing.

The platform for the upstairs fireplace isn't much because the hearth will be even with the flooring.

The platform for the basement fireplace is raised 14 inches. It won't have a hearth.

That night we met most of our children at the 2nd Street Burger King for dinner.
This is a recent, annual tradition that takes place on or near the passing of Grandma Rose,
Dean's mom.
She LOVED herself a Whopper and that location is where she always
went for her "fix" and where she would treat our children to lunch on occasion.
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce -
that's really, truly how she liked her burgers.
We miss her.

Until next week...
Good night and God Bless.