Raise the Roof

Our shed now has a roof!  A roof structure, that is.  This past weekend, Adam added the framing that will hold up the roof of the shed.  I would call it a roof skeleton.  But that's certainly not the technical term. Allow me to explain how the roof skeleton came to be, in Adam's technical terms.  

The first thing Adam had to do to add this gable roof was to put two cradle supports on both of the side walls of the shed.  One of the cradle supports is featured in the photo below.  It's the thingy that looks like three boards were put together in the bottom center of the photo.  Having a cradle support on each side of the shed gives the ridge beam something to rest on.  The ridge beam is the long board that runs the length of the shed, which happens to be the board running down the center of the photo below.  Once the ridge beam was in place, Adam used rafter joist hangers (those silver thingys) to attach roof joists from the ridge beam to the top of the shed walls.  The roof joists are the pieces of wood running diagonally in the photo below.      

Whew!  Are you still with me?

When Adam's weekend of construction was all said and done, he had the roof skeleton all put up!  

I went with him to Home Depot, our home away from home, to buy more supplies for the next steps in the shed-building process.  I learned all about things like drip edges, shingles and construction adhesive.  I can't wait to see how all those supplies make their way into the shed!     

Follow along with our other shed posts here, here, and here. 

Pushing the Trigger

Yes, I do mean pushing and not pulling the trigger.  The trigger I am referring to is the trigger shot I had to give myself the other day.

Allow me to back up and explain everything.  I recently shared how Adam and I will be doing our sixth IUI this month.  We are trying out some different medication this month and have a very positive outlook, which we are hoping will result in a healthy pregnancy.  

I went in for an ultrasound of my follicles a few days ago.  Follicles are basically sacs in your ovaries that could produce an egg.  An ultrasound is done to check out how many follicles you have and to measure their size.  I am happy to report I had a great-looking follicle with the right measurements.  I had two other smaller follicles, but they weren't as big as we'd like them to be and won't likely produce any eggs. But all you need is one good one.  Since it looked like my follicle was ready to go, the doctor told me to give myself an Ovidrel shot to trigger ovulation that evening.  

While I can't think of many people who are big fans of needles, I am especially scared of them.  I am a wreck anytime I have to get my blood drawn or get shots.  So the thought of having to not only get a shot, but administer it to myself was enough to make me very jittery.  I did give myself a trigger shot the last time we did an IUI, so I had a little experience.  It wasn't that bad, but the thought of having to do it again was still scary.  

When I went in for my follicle ultrasound, one of the nurses was kind enough to show me exactly what to do when giving myself the shot.  Basically, you just pinch the fat on your belly, stick in the needle, let your skin go, push the plunger, let it sit for 10 seconds and then pull it out.  The nurse made it seem very simple and I felt like I could handle it when I left the office.  

I had orders to give myself the shot that evening.  So I laid everything out and tried to work up enough courage to go for it.   

I let the shot sit on the table for 10 minutes to come to room temperature since it was being kept in the fridge.  The more I looked at it, the more daunting it seemed.  But eventually I worked up enough courage to just do it.  

And honestly, I didn't even feel the needle go in.  I could tell where I had given myself the shot, but it didn't hurt at all.  I had gotten myself all worked up for nothing!  

Next up is the IUI!  Adam and I are in good spirits and very hopeful that we'll end up pregnant.  Here's hoping!  

My Oven Cleans Up Its Act

I made some pizza the other day and some grease from the pepperoni leaked through the pan.  I was using one of those pizza pans with the holes in the bottom, which made me wonder if a crispy crust was really worth the burnt pile of smoking grease that now resided in the bottom of my oven.  The glass door was also disgusting.  Allow me to show you.  

It was high time to clean out my oven, especially since it's something I haven't ever done.  I didn't want to use any toxic oven cleaners, so I did a bit of research to find the best natural oven cleaner.  Website after website claimed all I needed was baking soda.  It sounded simple enough, so I thought I would give it a shot.

  

Adding a little water to a bowl full of baking soda made a paste, which I then smeared all over the inside of my oven with my hands after removing the oven racks.  Most of the websites recommended letting the baking soda paste sit awhile, so I decided to let it sit while I made dinner.  I made a delicious Pioneer Woman dish for dinner.  Spinach Artichoke Pasta might be my new favorite recipe because it is easy to make and delicious!

After dinner, I got busy scrubbing the inside of the oven.  I poured a splash of vinegar on the baking soda paste just to give it a little extra oomph.  Jazzy had to come check out what was going on, but quickly lost interest.  

It would have been nice to have a helping paw, er hand, for scrubbing.  I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and that worked pretty well on the oven itself.  It looked a heck of a lot better after the scrub down than before.  There was, however, a few tiny black spots that wouldn't go away no matter how much I scrubbed.  But the grease and baked on food spots on the glass door weren't going anywhere!    

So I decided to try putting a thicker coat of baking soda paste on there.  After letting it sit for about 20 minutes, I tried scrubbing it clean again.  I tried using a washcloth this time.  I could get the grime off but it was slow-going and used up lots of elbow grease.  It's a good thing I hadn't done my nails recently because they were a mess by the time I was finished.  I wasn't scrubbing so much as I was using my nails over the washcloth to scrape off the gunk.  Eventually I got the glass cleaned and I felt quite accomplished.

The racks didn't have much to clean off of them other than a few spots.  I used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and some vinegar to clean off those spots.   

While my oven doesn't look brand new, it is certainly in much better shape!  Good luck if you plan to tackle your own oven...and wait to get a manicure until after you are finished.