Isaac is coming....maybe?!

Yesterday was an extremely long day for my family. My husband and I got up early and headed to the local home improvement store with the intention of buying wood and asking them to cut it. We measured all our windows, drew out diagrams; we were ready to get these windows covered.

At the home improvement store, we ran into a little snag. Their wood cutter was broken. Plan B, buy a decently priced saw (so we can use it in the future) and cut the wood ourselves. A wonderful worker helped me pick out a saw. We payed for our purchases and we were ready to get started.

I was very nervous that we would not be able to get everything done because Lew has been at work all day and night the day prior and I was worried he would be called in yesterday also; and I was right. Luckily the other person "in charge" with him was headed to the beach and volunteered to stay either until we were done or until they let everyone go home. Lew kept his phone close just in case they needed him and he was called quite a few times. It makes me extremely happy that this person volunteered to help us out. I am not sure that I could have completed the task while refereeing 4 children.

Anyhow, we measured and cut and measured and cut. We (I) had one measuring mistake, but we bought some wood for our sliding glass doors and decided that the window we messed up would be more exposed and needed to be covered instead. We worked until almost noon just cutting. We put those boards up and took a lunch break. After that we decided to cut and put up each time.

We had to figure out some issues along the way. For instance, our bay windows are not the easiest windows to cover. We had to "rig" them and we are hoping it holds. The clips we used are not meant for siding, but we had not choice. Also we have some odd shaped windows and lots of pieces of wood so we "puzzled" a few together to try to not waste wood. We had to find a way to make the clips tighter on the wood. I tried using the pliers, but I was not strong enough. Then I used my foot and it was "wonky." Lew ended up having to tighten all the clips with the pliers.

I guess I miss home ;)

We also had to try to keep 4 children from either beating each other up or tearing up the house. They survived! Bonus! My husband and I only had one tiff while doing this project. That is amazing for us. We had some good laughs too. We made fun of how our house looked like a condemned "crack house." I mentioned how my dad was amaze at how nice our cities are here. He said "where is the trash?" I think that was his way of saying I lived in a nice place. I grew up in Long Beach, California. We have trash all over the street, graffiti everywhere. It is definitely different here.

BTW, we are the only people on our street with boards up so far. I would rather be safe than sorry.