Not that I'm superstitious or anything, but we put up a pine bough on the top of the forge roof, to "top off" the building. I love traditions like that. I couldn't kill a whole tree to do this -- I don't even have a real Christmas tree -- so I used a branch. I have enough sap on my hands from taking so many trees down last fall, I don't need more.

Yesterday, Keith and Will worked on the roof. It's almost done on the north side.

The south side is completely done.

Here's the forge roof.


And here's the front of the cottage, all sheathed with OSB. (I think it stands for OutSide Boards).

Last night coming home we drove into the driveway and stopped to look at how pretty the cottage is sitting right next to the house. We were just struck with how nice it looks with the gable end next to the gable end of the garage. It's so sweet.


On the way home from Oakland, I read an awesome book that I really just loved. It's called The Shack by William P. Young. It's a Christian book, although many Christians don't like it because it has a non-scriptural portrayal of God. But I just enjoyed it for the story and the very comforting messages therein. It had me in tears at one point and not many books do that. I love inspirational books like that. I think I blogged about The Alchemist last year. That's another of my favorites.