Finding my footing

It's been a week of trying to find a solid footing despite a life in serious flux.

The first step was the pouring of the slab--my literal footing. Several husky guys spent an entire day wheelbarrowing load after load of concrete to form the floor of our new kitchen.

Coming out of the concrete truck:

Wheelbarrow #1:

Wheelbarrow #2:

Wheelbarrow #3:

And repeat...several hundred times and this is what it looked like at the end of the day. And yes, we bought these guys a case of beer.

Here's what it looks like with the framing up on the foundation. Check out my new back door:

And my wall of windows:

It was pretty moving to have such demonstrative progress. And while it felt good to have something solid on which to stand and to mark the project's momentum, this was the point at which I realized there really was no turning back. I know that sounds very silly after knocking out load bearing walls and such, but unless you have a jack-hammer, this is really permanent. Made me a bit jittery to see that in action.

So recognizing that even with concrete footing my equilibrium was decidedly off, I decided to really stare down the flux....in the water...standing up...on a board...while being pulled 30 miles per hour. I WOULD tame that beast!

My neighbor (the former token dodgy bloke who wants the record cleared that while he may be borderline dodgy, he is not spelling-challenged. I stand corrected from 2 posts ago: tattoo and Jagermeister) who among other talents knows how to wake board and, more importantly, teach wake boarding. He is also something of a beast tamer, and has a friend with a really big boat which definitely helps. And despite my spelling aspersions, consented to take the Sandlin clan out for a day on the lake. Doubting whether my current state of flux-ness would allow me to master the wake board, I went along and brought some sandwiches.

Check it OUT!

Coach Chris with his rapt pupils:

Audrey makes it up!

Try as he might, Bennett could just not negotiate his board into cooperation. No matter how skillful the lawyer, bears just don't float:



Henry decides he doesn't want anything holding him down and decides to fly:

Chris flies AND floats:

And....drum roll please...

Yup, I may have 3 houses at the moment, no idea where I'm laying my head each night, stay up debating dire questions about vertical grain fir v. maple (next week's subject), obsess about where to put electrical outlets...but amidst all that, I can get up on a wakeboard and ride for about 5 minutes. Not bad. Not bad at all.

So I'm clinging to that as the craziness abounds. It's my new laptop screen saver. Uplifting and grounding all at the same time. And, we decided to come into town for the weekend to do laundry, pay bills and get ready to start another camp session.

On tap this coming week: roof framing commences, electrical may start and...Henry B's 5th birthday blowout! Also need to dive into the whole vertical grain fir issue more deeply. Quite the twist, that one. Stay tuned....