Future Photos

After now the fourth attempt to post some other photos (camping, house, etc) and having Blogger screw up and save my post instead of going to photo upload....I'm gonna try to do everything through Picasa from now on. I just thought I'd let everyone know while its downloading; hopefully I can make it work and end up being able to share more photos faster. We shall see.

Cold Camping

A few weekends ago Cheryl and I went off camping (yes, right in the middle of all this house stuff) with some friends and we took Maddie along again. She did really well in the cold, much better than any of us did! It was absolutely frigid, but we survived for another trip. One more camping trip and Cheryl and I will earn our Missouri Camper Award!!

House Photos!

Here are just a few photos to give y'all an idea of things. These are actually pretty old, so I'll take some new ones tonight and try to get them up tomorrow/soon/sometime. I cannot wait to do full before-after sets on multiple rooms in the next few weeks!


This is fairly early on in the process, before any repainting...or really much at all. It quickly became a hardhat zone with tools EVERYWHERE and projects EVERYWHERE.

The dining and living rooms were repainted after priming (tip: use Kilz 2 primer, this stuff really is wonderful--worth the money). In clear view is my (then) new Werner 250lb fiberglass ladder!

The bathroom was pretty much to the studs. I rewired it (no more switch inside the shower and there is an outlet now!!), reinstalled some lath where I needed it to space the drywall/Durock/trim to all match correctly and evenly, hung walls....and then last week tore 1/4 of them back out for plumbing. It looked beautiful for about 20 hours...and will one day soon again. ...three steps forward, two backward.

Gidget

We've been so busy that we've forgotten to post about Gidget.

Rory turned 2 years old two weeks ago and Will brought home a birthday present for her. What kind of birthday present do you get for a cat that has every kind of mouse toy imaginable???... Well, a friend of course!
Introducing Gidget!!!! She is a 3 month female old dilute torti that Will adopted for Rory from PetSmart. Rory didn't exactly appreciate her present at first. Well, honestly, she hated it. But now, after a week of being separated (with lots of hissing and growling- from Rory) and after a week of investigating each other, Rory and Gidget are becoming friends. They're not cuddling up together yet but they do like to play chase around our bedroom. Gidget is really sweet and laid back. Her name was originally Candy because she is so sweet (but we HAD to change that- sounds a little too much like an adult entertainer.) She has been so good and has responded really well to Rory's fits. When Rory hissed or growled at her she just looked at her like "What is wrong with you? Oh, well." and then would walk away. Gidget is usually the one that initiates the chasing game and she has pounced on Rory a couple of times (which is hilarious to watch.) Rory is warming up to her and seems to enjoy playing with her but she lets Gidget know when she's had enough.
We haven't taken very many pictures of Gidget yet. I now understand why there are usually not as many pictures taken of younger children as there are of first children. We'll try to post some pictures of her soon.
And if you are wondering about Gidget and Maddie... they haven't had much interaction. Gidget has been downstairs once. She came downstairs, saw Maddie and ran right back upstairs. She hasn't been back down since. We hope that they will become friends too. Maybe after we move into the house we can start their introductions.
And if you are worrying that we will become those crazy cat people with 39 cats since Will is working at PetSmart and there are cute kittens in there almost every day, rest assured that Gidget is the last one. We have decided that our pet family is complete. Well, unless we come across another sweet newfoundland that needs a home. Just kidding.

Update on the House

Well, we've had the house for 4 days short of a month, and we've spent some incredible hours in it...though none of them living hours. We still do not have our temporary occupancy permit; we were supposed to move in this past Saturday, and there is still a ton of work to go. Everyone needs to go watch two movies: 1) Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and 2) The Money Pit. These movies are a perfect representation of our life now.

I don't have pictures to post because I don't have time to take any off the camera, but I will give a quick rundown of where we're at.

• Kitchen is re-re-repainted in the correct yellow.
• Bathroom is painted...oops, had to re-rip out some of the brand new drywall for plumbing to be done! ...this is another "to be finished...again"
• The bathroom's old floors (two of them) are out and ready for leveling and Wonderboard!
  
• Bathroom floor heating will go in just before the marble tile
• Shower is 80% tiled (thanks, Dad!)
  
• Floors are 40% sanded (to be finished by Tuesday, and ready for stain and varnish)
• Some new locks and handlesets installed by my father (thanks, Dad!)
• Basement is re-wired and ready for new 200Amp service (to be installed this week)
• Some rewiring done upstairs (by yours truly!), but need to complete lighting circuit for new ceiling light in hall (changed from wall sconce)
• Living and Dining Rooms painted
• All outlets changed to meet code (there were tons...especially for an old house)
  
• GFI outlet, switch and light box installed in bathroom (easy with no walls!)
• Shutoff installed on dishwasher line
• New pipes run for hot and cold to bathroom vanity, hot and cold to shower and cold to toilet...each with their own 1/4 turn shutoffs (before I got to work on this house, there was ONE shutoff--the main. Nuts!) I still will have to continue the work of replacing the galv. pipe with copper, though. At least that has begun...
  
• Old/obsolete/problematic outlets and boxes removed or blanked
• Kitchen wall paper removed and walls floated for painting
• Kitchen cabinets painted and repainted
• New wire (14/3 WG) pulled from grounded basement JB for hall light circuit, new boxes installed at each switch and light (there were none!). This will be one of the first totally new-wire, grounded circuits in the house....exciting!!
• Tons of cleaning (thanks Mom!)
• A pocket door installed to increase usable size of bathroom (this was a bit of a nightmare for the friend who installed it), please appreciate it a lot when you come to visit!
• All remaining carpet tack-strips pulled up (thanks Cheryl!)
• New flu liner installed
• Chimney is tuckpointed (thank you Dustin!)
• All new gas lines and shut offs installed in basement
• Anti-tip bracket installed on stove

It has been a VERY busy month, but we have gotten a lot done. I keep promising to post photos, and I will...just not quite yet.

"The house will be great...."

Buried Treasures

I love old houses because they have a history and a story to tell. I really wish the walls of our new home could talk so they could tell us about the things that they have seen and the families who lived there. As we've been working on the house, Will and I have started getting to know it and have learned a little of its story. We have already made some interesting and exciting discoveries in our first two weeks with the house. In addition to bad wiring, leaking pipes, spider webs and LOTS of dog hair, we have found the following treasures:

• A dollar bill stuck up in the ceiling in the "bathroom" in our basement. (I used quotes because the house was listed as having 1 1/2 baths and this 1/2 bathroom in the basement is actually just a disgusting toilet surrounded by moldy walls.) I think Will said it was from 1983 or something. I wonder if someone put it up there to hide it and then forgot to come back and get it? Maybe the daughter of the women who sold us the house? Or they could've used it to plug a hole?
• A mouse skeleton. Will found this when he had to cut a hole in one of the moldy walls in the basement bathroom. He, of course, couldn't wait to show me this discovery. It is still completely intact. We've put out some traps but haven't caught any mice yet.
• "I love Elvis." This is written inside a closet in one of the upstairs bedrooms. I has been painted over but you can still make out what it says. The bedroom must have belonged to the woman who sold the house to us. She's lived in the house her whole life. The bedroom has pink floral wallpaper that was probably put up there when she was a little girl. I actually like the wallpaper. It's very charming. But, it's not in good shape so it will likely have to come down.
• A $5,000 chandelier. Yes, I said $5,000. The hideous chandelier in our dining room that I was going to attempt to sell on Craigslist for $30 is actually a Murano Glass chandelier made in Italy and was appraised at $5,000. It's a really good thing that I noticed the little sticker on it. (We're not sure yet what we are going to do with it.) The woman who lived there before us was an antiques dealer so I don't know how long the chandelier has been in the house. It could be original or she could've purchased it recently. I'm not sure why she didn't take it with her. Now that we know how much it is worth, it is not quite so ugly to us.
• Cabinets made by General Motors. We have metal cabinets in our kitchen that have stickers inside the doors saying they were made by Frigidaire, a part of General Motors. American made.... I like it!

You would never find any of this in a new house! Our house may not be energy efficient, but it is strong and solid and has lots of charm and character. And I am really looking forward to uncovering and adding to its story.

Been Busy

In a little under a week, we have:

Replaced outlets and light switches throughout the house
Painted the living room and dining room (light blue) and primed the ceiling in those rooms
Planted 2 hydrangeas, 2 hastas and 2 hollys
Cleaned refridgerator, cabinets and stove in kitchen (Thank you, Cindy!)
Removed the plastic tile from the walls and shower in the bathroom... yes, I said plastic tile... there is such a thing.
Tore out the walls in the bathroom and some of the lath- in preparation for drywall (Thank you, Bill!)
Ran wiring to the bathroom for an outlet. An outlet in the bathroom? What a novel idea!
Removed the shower fixtures and prepared the water pipes for shutoff valves
Unstuck the stuck and painted shut windows
Repaired the door lock on the front door
Began repairing the wall above the fireplace
Began sanding the floors in the dining room
Had 3 cracks repaired in the basement... still have one left to fix
Had the chimney flue installed, the gas line in the basement replaced and a gas shutoff valve installed on the oven

Owning a home is hard work!

Pictures coming soon.