Finally On the Same Page

Red cedar shingles, a view from the end.

Thus far on 7MR Restoration, I have chronicled a few ideas about what I would like to see on the inside of our house, some interesting products that I have encountered along the way while looking for remodeling ideas, and some qualities of my house that I admire/enjoy.  Well, the other day while King Richard and I were in our Toyota Tundra, talking on the way to a destination so memorable it slipped my mind, I finally realized that he WILL NOT help decorate or improve the inside of our abode unless and until the outside is finished.  Hmmm.  He swears he has been saying this for years (really?).  Apparently, it only took twenty years for me to hear him. His logic for refusing assistance is sound:  it makes no sense to decorate the inside when the outside isn't sealed against the elements.  How can I argue that point?  The result of this watershed conversation is that the home improvement projects (at least for the time being and at least for this summer) will be focused on upgrading the exterior of our home.

Project #1:  Shingle the east/northeast side of the house

Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?  Sadly, in our case, it is actually rather embarrassing.  You see, we started this shingle project about eighteen years ago when our daughter was just a little thing, barely able to peek over the bottom edge of the window openings of what eventually became her bedroom.  She just turned 22!  What were we busy doing for all those years?  Well, aside from making excuses:  surviving thyroid cancer and dealing with its aftereffects;  homeschooling;  raising our daughter;  volunteering in the homeschool and church communities;  serving aboard two seagoing fast-attack submarines, one submarine support ship, the USS Nautilus Submarine Force Library and Museum, and a shore-based submarine maintenance facility;  helping our friends through life crises that included the loss of parents and infant children;  and saying goodbye to my own beloved father when he passed away in late 2005.  We also lost three cats in those eighteen years:  one to kidney failure, a second to heart failure, and third to abdominal cancer.  In short, we allowed life to interfere a bit too much with our home improvement efforts.

Well, now that we are back on track, life may still interfere with our plans but, at least for now, my husband and I are on the same page, the page dedicated to a shingling project.