It's Been Awhile

I apologize for the my absence!  It's been a whirlwind around here and I'm just trying to keep up with everything!
The  in-laws are in. They came last Thursday and were going to leave on Tuesday. However, on Friday, we shared with them some of the home improvement projects that we were facing and they insisted that they were happy to help/stay/etc. These things need to be done as it does affect our insurance rates, so we took them up on the offer. They said "a couple extra days" but, I knew that with house projects it always turns out to be a bigger job than you anticipate. I don't watch Love It or List It for nothing, you know! We are grateful for all that they are willing to do and all the skills they bring to the table, but lengthy stays can be hard on everyone. So, they've been here a week thus far and I do believe they'll be here through the weekend at least.

One of the jobs was fixing the broken sidewalk. That was done easy-shpeasy with Nate and his stepdad working on it together.

 The next job was to put a railing/fence along the rooftop patio. It was expected to be a one day job and turned out to be a three day job. But, it does look great and we are looking to start a neighborhood watch business for hire as we can see into people's yards, over privacy fences, etc.

The next job is the garage. Oh boy... This is the doozy. Evidently, there is a sink hole in our garage. The driveway sloped into the garage so all the rainwater would rush into the garage, into the low spot, and started washing away the dirt under the garage floor, which at some point in the past whether with the previous owner or the family before her, the garage floor collapsed. Instead of fixing the garage floor, they put rock down to make the collapsed part level with the rest of the garage floor and then poured asphalt over the garage floor. However, they didn't fix the sloping driveway at all, so rainwater continued to rush in.... made a new hole in the floor and here we are. So, Nate's step-dad has cut out the asphalt, removed the rock, cut out the collapsed concrete and some concrete surrounding the area, and is now in the process of digging four feet deep to attach some sort of rod to the foundation and then attach that to some pieces of wood. Then we're going to use dirt, the rock the people so generously donated to our project with their "patch job", and broken up pieces of concrete (from the sidewalk and the collapsed part) to build up the ground again and then pour concrete again..... I think. Nate's step-dad explains it to me and my mouth drops open and my mind stops working at "digging down four feet deep." It sounds to me like they'll still be here at Christmas at the description he gives. This is a picture of the work thus far.

I've also been struggling with Poison Oak. I was weeding the flower gardens a week and a half ago and saw what appeared to me as small saplings growing in our flower bed. They have a pretty strong root system so it took some sweat and strength to pull them out. A few days later I developed a few itchy blistery spots. They didn't itch too bad, but when I looked at it, I assumed I'd gotten poison something!  So, when I looked poison oak up to see what it looked like, it was exactly those small saplings that I had pulled out of the flower bed. It wasn't too major, so I just put Benadryl cream on it and it seemed fine. But then, a patch broke out on my leg, and then on my neck, and there's a small bit along my hairline. Yesterday, my right arm from the elbow down to the wrist (Thank You, God that I was wearing garden gloves when I was pulling those weeds!!!!) is a whole mess o' bumps. My mom had suggested a medicine to get, so now I'm desperately trying to find it. I called the doctor and the triage nurse said they recommend calamine lotion and Aveeno Oatmeal Bath. Really?  I want drugs lady.... NOW!