What a week...

Well, I know I have a lot to catch up on, and I will, but I just have to write down what my morning was like and what last week was like here so next time I feel sorry for myself and think I cannot get through a day or a week, I can read this and think, "oh yeah, we got through that alright..."

So, last week first...

Saturday August 15 we had a big rainstorm in the middle of the night. We have church at 1 pm on Sunday. At about 12:55 as we were rushing (late) out the door, Wes noticed that there was a water spot dripping down the kitchen ceiling. So, he went up in the attic and found that our roof is leaking. We secured it (ie cleaned up the water and put a bucket int he attic) and went to church as there was nothing else we could do at the moment anyway.

3 hours later we came home and propped a ladder on the deck up to the roof (the ladder only reaches the roof when propped on the deck). (FYI, Wes worked a summer as a roofer, so he knows a lot about that) Anyway, he went up and checked it out and determined that is was pretty bad and really needed replaced. We called out insurance, and because it would be considered a weather (rain/hail/wind) issue, the deductible is crazy high. Wes figured he could actually reroof it himself for cheaper. He decided that starting the next day (Monday the 17th) he would roof it himself when he wasn't working. He figured it would only take him a few days to put the tar paper over the old shingles, then shingle over with the new. Evidently in roofer world, it is common to shingle over other shingles up to 3 shingles thick. So, we found out it was supposed to rain again on Sunday night, so we ran over to Lowes and got the tar paper to put up right away and protect us from the rain in the attic. Sunday night Wes went up and did the tar paper.

I should note a few things about Wes here-first and foremost, he was on short call last week which means he was supposed to work from noon-10PM everyday (technically). In reality he only really had to be there from 1:30-10. But the part of work from 5-10 was call-meaning he HAD to be there. No taking days off there. Second, in radiology, there is this big Physics test they have to take during 2nd or 3rd year, and Wesley is scheduled to take his on September 11, so he has been studying his tail off and really did not have time for this problem, but he made time and dealt with it.

Monday we borrowed tools from our bishop (mainly his compressor) and went to the store (this time Home Depot as the shingles were cheaper and they were 15% off) to buy shingles. We could not fit the shingles in our van and did not want to pay for or wait for the delivery thing, so we rented a truck for 75 minutes to get the shingles home. While we were renting it, the guy behind the desk mentions to Wes that when he reroofed his roof a couple years ago it sucked because he found out that our city/county had just made it against code to have more than one row of shingles on a roof. So, we got home called to city/county to see what the code actually said, and sure enough, there cannot be shingles over shingles. So, that means we had to take the tar paper off, and remove the old shingles before we could re-tar paper it and start the shingle process.

This was a huge job, and a big deal. Wednesday was expected to be very stormy-scattered showers all morning with severe storms all evening. So, Wes and I realized that if we were to get this project done this week, we HAD to get all the old shingles off and get the new (2nd set) of tar paper up and secure BEFORE the storm hit. So, we rented a dumpster to be delivered to our house at 9 am on Tuesday for us to throw old shingle into.

Tuesday, Wes and I got the older kids to the bus, set up the tent in the backyard with toys and snacks and a playpen for the younger kids and we got up on the roof at 9 am and started to remove shingles. It was very hot-in the 90s that day. By noon we were only about half done, so Wes called in and took half a day off (until call at 5) to finish. We did not get off the roof until 3. At which point we had finally removed the shingles, I quickly fed the children and we got back up and put the tar paper on to protect us. Wes got off the roof, showered and sped out to work.

Wednesday we are awakened to the storms outside-they were bad! We go up in the attic and see a few problem spots of leakage. We secure them (bucket and towel method again) and run to the store to get tar with which we can secure the leaky areas. We climb up on the roof in the pouring rain (while the kids watch Dora inside) and secure the spots. Wes decided to start shingling in spite of the rain. This again takes a long time and we are drenched to the bone. About 1pm we get off the roof to get cleaned up for Wes to go to work. I am sitting on our bed talking to Wes as he is getting changed into his scrubs and we hear a huge BOOM in the backyard. We go outside and see that the deck has completely collapsed under the weight of the shingles (which we figured out was equivalent weight to about 10 people). Wes has to run out to work and we will deal with this new problem tomorrow.

Thursday, the kids have doctors appointments which I will take them to then we decide I will contact the insurance about the deck, Wes will continue to shingle, and all will be well. Remember the ladder does not reach the roof without being on the deck? Well, the deck was not broken on a diagonal, so Wes props the ladder on the deck so one leg is on the deck and the other is propped on a brick. He manages to get everything set up, brings the shingles and everything up on the roof, and grabs the nail gun that is attached to the compressor (at this point I have called the insurance they are going to send someone over to check out the deck, and I am taking the kids to the doctor.) He goes up on the roof, gets a good number of shingles up, the insurance guy comes tells Wes (who is on the roof) that they will not cover it. Wes argues with him from the roof, and the guys says maybe they will partially cover it, look for an email from him. I get home from the doctor, Wes has to get to work again, so he comes down, changes and goes. I get a quote from the insurance. They will cover whole deck-send us an estimate of cost and he calls us to ask for our bank routing info because they are going to transfer money for deck repair into our checking and we can contract it out on our own. Great, one piece of good news!!

Friday, I take Armour to his Friday play date, and while I am gone Wes gets all prepped to work, gets up on the roof, and for some reason the compressor is not working. He tries to figure out what is up. In the meantime, I have arrived back home with Kindle and see that our garage is basically broken/kicked in partly and splintered up in the corner. I come in to ask Wes about it and he is pissed about the compressor not working. It is not our tool, so we do not know all about it, so we decide to look up the user manual on line. I find it Wes reads through it and realizes there is a piece missing. We look outside and find the piece (or pieces really) are strewn all over our back lawn. We figure someone had to intentionally vandalize it as it was not an easy piece to come off. We go back to Home Depot and they send us to this "Tool hospital" place. We go there, find out that the compressor is an easy fix and requires just one cheap piece to fix-sadly it has to be ordered from the manufacturer and will not be in until next week (luckily the guys tells us we can get it cheaper ourselves online than he can sell it to us). We go home and order said part, call the Elder's Quorum President who also has a compressor that he offered to let Wes use, and right as Wes is again leaving for work, our Elder's Quorum President brings over his Compressor. After Wes leaves I talk to my neighbor who tells me his dog started barking his angry growl at our back yard on Thursday night at 11:30PM and he saw someone run away off our deck. So, someone had tried to break into our house by the garage and in the back where they broke the bishops compressor. Then just because it wasn't a weird enough day, I get a call from the school that they had to go into shut down/code red because the police contacted them and told them shots had been fired int he neighborhood. The police called back shortly to say all was well and under control and code red was over. No big deal really, but just another thing.

Saturday, Bob, the Elder's Quorum President, and Dave the 1st counselor (Wes is 2nd counselor) came over to help Wes try to finish up the roof. In the meantime, I have a secret shopping place I have been desperately trying to get shops through for 6-8 months, and they called on Friday night to let me know I had been assigned a shop on Saturday and basically if I did not do it I would no longer be eligible to do any shops for them ever. So, Wes and I had to go to this Shop Saturday night. So, basically he went up on the roof and worked from 8 am until our babysitter came over at 6 and guess what? He got it done!!!! He is amazing!! He took me to my shop at the movies and we went to the Greek festival (my favorite)!

Sunday Wes was on call from 8 am -10 pm.

Can you believe that guy!! He is the best.

So, we have a new roof, will have a new deck once I can get some estimates and hire someone to do it, but we had a crazy week.