Weekly Update: 2.8.25
It all started a couple Sundays ago, when the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills 32 to 29, securing their spot in their third consecutive Superbowl.
We were elated.
When we started planning our family Superbowl party, an idea popped into my head. We'd planned to finish our living room over the holidays, and Jeremiah even had purchased supplies for a rustic entertainment center. Sickness ruined our plans, and practicality had shifted our focus after the new year. As we discussed which of our favorite finger foods we were going to make this Sunday, I suggested -- what if we go ahead and finish our living room this week. Then we could cheer on the Chiefs from the comfort of our living room. And so we sat down and did a little planning. It seemed -- achievable.
Before we began our sprint, though, we enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather early in the week. The dogs loved all their outside time. Grace and I enjoyed some light yardwork. We took out our bows and arrows for some target practice. I even had the opportunity to go hiking at Stockton Lake with a friend.
The first step toward a completed living room was finishing the siding on one of our halls, as we wanted to be able to floor this area. Grace and Jeremiah worked on it Monday. Grace also finished painting our higher window trim in the living room, so we could move the scaffolding out.
On Tuesday, Grace and I finished siding the hallway. Then we prepped for flooring by rearranging the bunkhouse. We spent several hours moving everything from one end of the building to the other. When we finished, we started putting down our plywood underlayment. We got most of it down, but we didn't quite finish.
We got right back to it early on Wednesday, as we knew we'd have another long day. We finished the underlayment first thing, then spread our adhesive, and finally laid our Armstrong VCT in the living room and most of the hallway. It was a large group project, with all of us sisters as well as Jeremiah, Levi, and Erin helping.
On Thursday, we turned our attention to our combination bookshelf and entertainment center. Jeremiah had cut the pieces earlier in the week, and Grace started the long process of sanding them. We used regular two-by-tens that Jeremiah planed with the table saw. I helped my dad put together one of the barn door kits for the front of the shelf. After that, I helped him organize for a quick trip to Springfield with Jeremiah. We needed more stain, and Jeremiah picked up his TV from storage. After the guys left, I took a turn with the sander. Jeremiah brought back Papa Murphy's pizza for everyone, which was a nice treat.
Friday was another long day. We started early sanding the lumber for the shelf. Dad helped us a mill a few more pieces of lumber, and he put together the second barn door. As Grace finished sanding each piece of wood, I vacuumed it and prepped it for a pre-stain treatment. Bonnie-Jean applied the pre-stain, and after it dried, Grace sanded it again, and I vacuumed it again. Finally, all three of us took turns applying stain with a paint sprayer. When Jeremiah got off work, he helped us finish up.
And then -- our "moment of truth" came today. When we dreamed up this shelf, I thought it would work. But it has a lot of moving parts. Barn door kits don't come the right size, so we knew we'd be cutting the metal hardware to length. And despite careful measuring, using regular lumber means everything is slightly bent or bowed. So I anticipated the final day of our sprint with an amount of trepidation. Aside from one wrongly cut small board, the day went surprisingly smoothly. There were tricky moments, and I was thankful for the muscle my brothers used to force the wood into place.
While we assembled the shelf, my sisters and Erin worked on Superbowl snacks, making several dips, meatballs, and other finger foods. The smells were downright heavenly, putting everyone in the house in a decidedly festive frame of mind.
When we finally slid the barn doors into place this evening, the long, exhausting week felt more than worth it. It was fun to set a short-term goal and achieve it. It also felt amazing to get so much done so fast. We all felt re-energized and encouraged that we can really accomplish a lot when we put our minds to it. And of course, we can't wait to celebrate the Chiefs' three-peat tomorrow!
