ABCZ

We've decided to adopt a new "no privacy" policy in our house. This has mostly been because we have no interior doors left, and very few walls. Curtis and I looked at each other this morning, (I was in the bedroom and he was in the bathroom - but we could still look at each other) and said, "So - did you think it was going to be this bad?" We both said, "Uhhh...not really." But, we're still having fun, and know that we're VERY blessed to be able to do this.



This weekend was ROUGH. VERY little sleep. VERY hot weather. VERY MUCH WORK. We (and when I say, 'we' - I mean Curtis and I, and our whole crew of wonderful, amazing friends and family!!) got the entire roof torn off, about 95% of the rest of the interior demo done, and all of our debris piles loaded up into the trash bin. We filled our 40yard bin almost to capacity. It's amazing how much CRAP you can take out of one house and still leave it standing.

The biggest change (visually) to me this weekend was the living room wall demo. I LOVE IT!!!!!! Curtis keeps teasing me because he only half heartedly wanted to do it, but it opens up our main living space SO much more. AWESOME!!!!!



OK - I have to go shop for our new hot water heater now. Because, after 48 non stop hours of being covered in roof tar, fiberglass, dirt, insulation and CRAP, Curtis got the last of the hot water and I took a COLD SHOWER last night. Yes, Murphy's Law. It seems when we turned the gas off to re-route the HVAC gas line, our pilot light went out in the hot water heater and the pilot light valve is broken (or something like that). So, either we put money and time into getting a new one, or we bite the bullet and figure out how to get the new tankless one that we were going to do anyway in a few months installed. It never ends.....

Mostly because I'm too tired to type.

We have walls!!! (OK - "a" wall if you want to get technical.)
Happy Dance! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!

Fun place! We were supposed to have playgroup HERE today, but if you've been keeping track of our remodel, you know THAT wasn't happening. So we went to this place. Just some pics of our boo-bear. We had a blast there.

Hey - we get pretty excited about the littlest things lately. What can I say? Subfloor is in and I think they will start framing walls tomorrow. Big weekend of roof tearoff, demolition and demo trash dumping this weekend! We have a 40 yard trash bin in our driveway (around 18' long x 7' wide x 8' high). (OK, so that doesn't add up to 40 yards - but I'm just estimating. If you're reading this, and you're an Enginerd, then you can talk to Curtis about the exact specifications.)

Anna was thrilled with the new floor space. She knows just where the stairs are going, and where her room will be. She ran around in circles with her arms out wide singing. So cute. And Kodi, God love him. He stayed inside because there was a thin ribbon of cheap plastic caution tape taped across the sliding glass door, and he wouldn't walk through it. What a good dog!

...that I didn't think of this myself. Then again, maybe he'll be heartened by the fact that I married a man who did.

When we pulled the drywall out of the closet behind the kitchen, one corner had mold. YIKES!!!! Turned out that our ice maker (we've only had the fridge for about 2 years) had been leaking. So, my first thought was 'call someone'. Then our friend who does commercial refrigeration offered to look, but he has done SO much already, I didn't want him to have to.

So...I took it apart myself while Curtis was at work! I was so proud! I took apart the back of our fridge, found that the problem was the water valve, looked up the parts diagram, and was searching for the cheapest replacement part. Curtis got home and said, "Hey - good job!" Then when I showed him the parts I found for $60, he said, "Let's just JB Weld it and see if it works."

DAMN! Why didn't I think of that? It's "creative engineering" - but if it works, it will save $60+ and if it doesn't, we're no worse off. I married a genius. A genius who loves duct tape and epoxy, but a genius nonetheless. Sounds just like my Dad.

Welcome to the view from our front door. That used to be Anna's room. She's right -it IS a mess!

Well, actually the plumbing may need to be ripped out and re-done, but that's another story. We passed our inspection, so framing of the walls and sub flooring goes in tomorrow! Whoo hoo!!!

A friend sent me this. It just sums up our life right now, so I wanted to share it here. This story could have taken place in our very own house. This is a very true and heartwarming story...an important lesson to be cherished everyday.

-------------------------------------------

HER FIRST PAYCHECK...

Here's a truly heartwarming story about the bond formed between a little 5 year old girl and some construction workers that makes you believe that we CAN make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time...

A young family moved into a house, next door to a vacant lot. One day a construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot.

The young family's 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the workers. Eventually the construction crew, all of them gems-in-the-rough, more or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot.

They chatted with her, let her sit with them while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.

At the end of the first week they even presented her with a pay envelope containing a couple of dollars. The little girl took this home to her mother who said all the appropriate words of admiration and suggested that they take the two dollar "pay" she had received to the bank the next day to start a savings account.

When they got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own paycheck at such a young age.

The little girl proudly replied, "I worked last week with the crew building the house next door to us."

My goodness gracious," said the teller, "and will you be working on the house again this week, too?"

The little girl replied, "I will if those assholes at Home Depot ever deliver the fucking dry wall..."

Kind of brings a tear to the eye........

I forgot - when we brought Anna in (she'd been with my mom all day) to see the destruction we had heaped upon what USED to be her room, she stopped, put her hand over her mouth and said,

"Ohhh myyy goodnesss. That is SUCH a mess."

What a crack up.