Day 196 & 197: Work Continues

 

Today is day 197 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and my days have been getting off to early starts, which I actually like ! 

Yesterday was a solid day of work for the siding crew. They're working hard to get all the rotted boards replaced with plywood and then adding a layer of insulation. The siding goes on top of that. Siding is already going up on the garage and it looks so nice ! It's nice to walk in the garage and not see gaps where you can see outside ! They ended up boarding up all the windows since they were rotting and in really rough shape. I'm happy with this decision and adding the new LED light inside replaces the natural light. I think it will be warmer in the winter and much dryer all year round. No windows makes it a more secure space too. They also ripped off the rotting basement door. I can't wait to see what that looks like when they're done. The guys seem to like the snack box I made, although I noticed almost all of the cookies are gone ! I may run to Walmart after work today to pick up some more. As for me, my day was spent on the couch working. I did manage to get some laundry done too. I've opted not to use the treadmill while the work is going on and after work last night I was too tired to even think about using it. I'm not used to late nights (and Tuesday I was awake before 5!) so my butt was dragging yesterday morning !

I was awake early today too, thanks so a Ring alert just before 6 am. I have the camera watching the construction trailer and materials, so the camera goes off if a car goes down the street, which is fine with me ! I actually like getting up early, so I'm going to try and keep this going ! I've been leaving the porch light, living room light and kitchen light on while the work is ongoing. I had the back porch light on too, until last night. The fixture is off the wall right now. I walked around yesterday morning and last night to take progress pictures so that I have a good "before and after" series. It was cool this morning so I think the crew enjoyed that. Late in the afternoon it suddenly got very hot, so I know they were glad to wrap it up at 5 pm ! With a lot more siding on the garage I'm starting to see how amazing the house is going to look when they're done. Today they ran into some pretty rotten soffits on the laundry room part of the house, so he replaced all that. It's clear I made the right decision hiring this guy. He cares about the work he does - it's not all about money. They also encountered bees that have gotten behind the soffit on the main part of the house on the driveway side. Before he can pull that all off he's going to spray good for bees, so that's a tomorrow or Monday job. There are thunderstorms in the forecast all day tomorrow, so he may not work. I had a conversation with Will (he own's the company) today about refacing the breezeway door to the backyard. He said he has some white scrap vertical siding that might be a good fit, so he's open to doing that. It would give me a maintenance free exterior and that's what I'm looking for. Once the siding job is done I'm also going to let him know I'd like to replace my 5 old interior doors (4 upstairs & 1 downstairs) and the basement stairs. It might be a good winter project if he hits a slow period. My new garage door is scheduled to be available 8-18 (they moved it out from 8-15), so it's going to be a little bit before that can be installed. Once the siding is done I know that ugly door is going to bug me ! I've noticed an increase in traffic on my street and I've noticed cars slowing down as they pass, so I guess people are interested in the renovations. That's small town life !

After work today I took a quick trip to Walmart to restock snacks for the crew. Most of the cookies I bought are gone and about half of the candy bars. I bought more cookies, candy bars and some packets of M&M's, along with another box of assorted chips. I suspect I'm going to have a lot of the chips left when they are done