Raising the rafters

  There was quite a bit of sweating going on in the attic today. Thankfully most of it was not done by me but a few muscular handy men (my husband Matthias and our friend Tracy :). In preparation for "attic insulation day", we (I use that term very loosely lol) are building a storage platform which must be at least 10" tall. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is if you have never done that sort of thing before. We got instruction from the insulation guy (over the phone) then headed to the attic with a tape measure and notebook. After about 2 minutes of what seemed like 150 degree heat, very little light and a lot of dust I decided to take a break and leave this task to the handy men *laughing*. I listened from the bottom of the pull down ladder for a few minutes before retiring to the kitchen for a glass of ice tea where I waited for the grand plan. After a while the guys emerged from the attic (totally drenched in sweat) with a list of supplies needed for the project. I am always down for a shopping trip and though home building supply stores are new territory to me, I was ready to go. I made a list of some pretty unfamiliar objects and headed out with my daughter Hope (who was a lot less thrilled than I was) *smiling*. I really like these home building supply stores. The one I chose to go to was Lowes in Sulpher. It was very easy to navigate, with lots of signs, wide isles and people in uniformed vests ready to help if need be. Find a person with a uniform vest, ask for whatever object you need and they will either point you in the right direction or often times find it for you. :) I have been to Lowes on several occasions now and have always found what I needed. This time I needed some big 3 1/2" deck nails and 6- 10' 2x4's. I found the screw and nail isle and was immediately overwhelmed! I had never seen so many screws and nails in my life! I resisted the urge to "find a person to help" and in my pride it took me 15 minutes to find box of nails that I needed. I decided to seek help with the 2x4's. I browsed the entire lumber section and ended up in masonry department where I began to get a little discouraged. Suddenly, I saw a sign that seemed to be put there by heaven that said, "press button for help". Angels were singing in the soundtrack of my mind as I pushed the button and the loud speaker announced, "customer needs help in the masonry department". A 6'7" man in a uniformed vest appeared out of nowhere. Ironically his name was "Michael" like the biblical archangel. My 5'10" daughter and I both felt short standing in his shadow *laughing*. I told him that I needed 6- 10ft 2x4s with no knots or curves and without hesitation he led the way. We followed him as he grabbed a special "lumber" cart (I was still pushing a regular buggy with a box of nails in it lol) then carefully he picked out the needed 2x4s without defect and then took us to the front register. I love this store! I didnt want to push my luck but considering things were going so well I asked Michael if he would load the lumber into the truck. He did :)! I wish all shopping trips were as awesome as this! After Michael loaded the lumber into the truck and strapped it down with the bungee cords my husband had given me (I wondered what they were for), I asked if I needed a red flag on the back since they were sticking out the back of the truck? Michael smiled and went and got a flag and nailed it to the end of the lumber! WOW....I was impressed and he had such a nice attitude about it, he didnt seem annoyed at all. This was a very successful day, I must admit. When I got home I saw that the handy men had wasted no time. They had installed the mailbox I had purchased from Lowe's a few days before *smiling* and believe me, God had a hand in helping me shop that day as well but thats a whole other story.