House Progress: 29 July 2010

No pictures today... sorry!

The house is coming along... slowly, but surely!  I hope to take pictures this weekend and have a better update for you next week!

We have had to end up doing more work than anticipated, which seems fairly normal with projects like this.

Nathan is working this weekend finishing ripping out the old, rotted floor boards in areas and repairing the floors!  He took yesterday off work (day job) to get in a little more time with it all.  Poor guy is just exhausted!

The plumber is scheduled for next week and the drywaller should be in there soon!

House Progress: 12 July 2010

Well, the electricity is pretty much finished.  There is a little bit to do yet when we are finished with the drywall, etc.

Nathan got the window in the mudroom cut out and the door space cut out... only to find that we now have to replace the ban (?) boards all the way around the house.  Yeah, that was the work that took us so long previously where we had to jack up the house!  Problem is, more $ for supplies and then of course the issue that it isn't something he can actually do by himself.

He was a little down about it all Friday evening.  Like the trooper he is, he got more supplies Saturday morning and started in early doing what he could.  I was over there cleaning up the yard for awhile and then had to run some errands.  When I returned, we had some unexpected help and they were able to get the WHOLE back of the house completed by Saturday night!  Thank you to my father-in-law and Matt!

Phil helped Nathan pick up supplies Saturday morning and they were able to get a few things done inside as well.  One of the bedrooms needed a closet door framed in and then had a few mold spots in the drywall that needed cut out. 

When Matt & Evan came over Saturday evening, Evan kept busy catching these tiny toads that were everywhere around the house.  He took home 28 toads in a shoe box =)

The stage we are at right now is slow and boring to me.  I know it is completely necessary and I'm so thankful we are catching these problems now instead of after we get in the house, BUT that doesn't stop me from wanting to move on to something like arranging furniture or painting walls =)  I'm not really into carrying wet lumber from the yard back to the trash pile anymore or cleaning up saw dust, drywall and insulation.  Nathan says the project is going well and we are progressing nicely, so I'll believe him!  =) 

I think we are replacing windows next...

Small Town 4th of July

Our afternoon consisted of lunch and swimming at the in-law's house.

We had church and then a relaxing evening... just the two of us!

We live in a SMALL town, but this year we were content to just enjoy the festivities they put on.  We went into town and got a good spot for viewing the fireworks and were just sitting out on the tailgate enjoying each other's company... UNTIL the mosquitos starting dining on us!!  Like old people that really don't care anymore, we just got in the truck and watched out the windows =)  Especially lately, it doesn't feel like we take the time to just sit and talk much, so it was such a relaxing evening just being with my husband. 

Banned From The Kitchen!

Funny thing happened to me this week...

I was making dinner for Dad & Mom as they were helping on the new house one evening and right about the time my casserole should have been done baking, my oven beeped a couple of times and then the door locked.  I knew it was time to pull the casserole out, so I went over to open the door and realized my oven was going cra-zy!  It just kept saying locked on the screen and the casserole was really starting to sizzle!  I was only baking it on 350 degrees, so it seemed odd to me that it was burning already! 

We were all standing around the oven trying to figure out what was going on and Nathan finally decided to just take the oven door off.  He had to bend (break) the lock to get the door open and we realized the oven had automatically gone to broil and locked us out!  I'm not sure if it was mad at me for the lack of use lately or what, but we finally had to flip the breaker to get the crazy thing to turn off!  Have you ever heard of such a thing? 

In that short amount of time, the top of my casserole burnt to a crisp and we had a lovely odor lingering in the house as we tried to eat the rest of our lunch!  Just thankful they were there and thinking clearly (as I took pictures and giggled at my misfortune) so that our house didn't burn down!  Whew!

House Progress: 5 July 2010

Anyone getting sick of seeing every tiny change we are making on the house?  Sorry, but this is like my journal and I want to keep track of the process so I don't forget things.

See where that new board is?  Nathan and his Dad had to jack up the house and replace that and the one behind it.  They were rotted out and evidentally the previous homeowner thought it was cool that their floors were rotting through.  That or they just didn't have my handyman husband around to fix up the place =)

We've also got most of that pile of wood burned and out of our side yard. 

They were able to get the floor replaced and that hole framed in!  This area will now be our new master bathroom.

Nathan got the master bath door framed in and our master suite door framed in!  I'm so glad we decided to make this our corner of the house.  Many reasons, but one may or may not be because I have now have a walk-in closet... just sayin' =)

Bob Pickett has been keeping busy trying to get the electricity all hooked up and functioning properly!

We put Dad to work outside where there was a little more fresh air for him to breathe.  He has been working to tear off the old vinyl siding.  Looks like a power washer may be a wise purchase in our future =)

House Progress: 1 July 2010

News on the home front isn't very thrilling.  The work we've been up to lately isn't showing much progress.  Instead, we've had to tear things up in order to fix major problems.  It all needs done and I'm glad we are catching the problems as we go, it just isn't exciting for weekly updates!

Dad came over (on his birthday, poor guy) and helped tear out the bad section of floor in the main bathroom.  It was SO dusty in there I couldn't get a clear picture.  We about sent him into a asthma attack with him inhaling all of that dust.  We did have mask, but you know, thought of that after the fact!

In this picture, Mom was saying "Why are you taking my picture?  I'm not doing anything!".  I just wanted to make sure I got pictures of each stage and those who stopped by to help at any point.

Nathan was framing in my closet last night!  Because of needing extra space in the master bathroom, I lost 2 feet from my closet!  It's ok though... I just have to remember it is still a bigger space than what I have now!

See the gaping hole in that end of the house?  Yeah, there use to be a door there which we are framing in.  When we ripped it out though, the floor and door frame area was rotted out pretty much where you see the hole... nice!  Nathan had to get more materials to fix that issue, so he moved on to something he could at least get done last night!

I somehow missed getting a picture of these helpers, but Matt, Evan and Gary Cutler came over the other evening and mowed the lawn for us.  It was getting out of control and we haven't had our rider or the time to get it taken care of.  Thank you!  We sure appreciated the help!