Day 8

Progress is awesome!!!

The Monday To-Do list:

• Buy new evap cooler grill, new lighting panels for the kitchen and caulking.
• Put in the new evap cooler grill.
• Change lighting panels.
• Caulk the cabinets.
• Install the new faucet.
• Move the curtain rod.
• WAIT.  

Honestly, this job has been a pleasant experience for the family.  We've worked together amazingly well.  There's been very little stress, lots of "attaboys" and high fives, a huge amount of kindness shown from friends and neighbors in helping move furniture and Connie's good cooking annnnnnd lots of love.  Seriously, people joke about building homes causing divorces.  I've worried about how things would go because this was so much to do at one time and the fact that there were lots of decisions to be made and I am such a freak about dirt and organization.  However.  For the most part, Doug and I have agreed on everything.  He didn't care for a specific kind of lighting and I did, but I found something else that I loved and he would agree on (and saved some money to boot because when we went to purchase it, all they had was the display model.)

They say that a good marriage means falling in love over and over again. Yesterday, we were lying down for a short nap after dinner (thank you, Connie) and I told Doug that I had fallen in love with him all over this week.  He's worked 12 hour days, then come home and jumped on the to-do list without a complaint.  We've gotten along and worked side by side, helping each other with the fun and the nasty jobs.  We've laughed and teased a lot.  It's really been a bonding experience.  And each night, there's been back rubs and foot rubs and Downton Abbey because Doug was three weeks behind.  Caught up last night.  ABSOLUTELY NO COMMENT about the end.

We couldn't be prouder of Quayd. Holy cow, the kid has worked his heart out.  And the more we've went on about his awesomeness, the more determined he's been to get things done.  He did the stair carpet removal completely on his own.  It was no simple task.  He's ripped and torn and cut and removed and hauled and screwed and drilled up a storm.  At the beginning of the task, I checked the merit badges and he's completed tasks for almost every requirement for the "Home Repair" Merit Badge.  We'll be looking into that.  It's been fun to see him be a young man, not a boy.  *sniff-sniff*

And the girls have been awesome too.  They've not been as involved in the heavy work, but I bet they've pulled a thousand staples out of the sub-floor and have had more than their fair share of dirty hauling.  It's definitely been a family affair!  A fun one!  And now comes the fun part... watching the floors happen and seeing things come back together!

A few observations so far about renovation:

• First and foremost, whoever decided that black appliances were cool needs to be smacked!  I bought that new stove two years ago, with the plan of buying a black fridge as soon as possible.  I would NEVER. EVER.  NEVER NEVER NEVER. EVER buy a black appliance again.  My stove will be sold and replaced with new WHITE appliances as soon as I have saved the cash for both a new stove and fridge.  It's the sore thumb in the kitchen, as far as I'm concerned.
• Second, seriously, letting your kids help with a big project like this is a good thing.  Line them out and let them go to town.  They can't hurt anything in the disassembly, so why not!  It's been a great builder of self-esteem for them!
• BLANKIT primer is divine!  One coat over that RED kitchen and it was great.  They tinted it half the color that I ended up painting and it looks great.  Unfortunately, Doug took the paint out to the garage late one night this weekend and we can't find it, being that all of the furniture is stacked in there. I have two spots to touch up.  It will show up eventually.
• The carpet is installed in two rooms!  I'm very happy! 
• Here's a few pixs of how we've been living....

If you look carefully, you can tell that this WAS the gallery.  Right now, it's the "We can't live a week without it, so stuff it in the gallery" and the "We can fit our bed in if we crawl across it to get to the desk for a week" and the, according to Liza, "Mom, I can't believe you can handle that.  You're sleeping in that room!?"  Tonight, the bed comes out and I'll be able to put a little of it back together.  Happiness!

Here's our bathroom... with a dresser because we couldn't live without that either.  And at minus three degrees outside, who wants to come out of the shower, run out the garage for a pair of socks!  It's not that bad... you walk around the dresser and squeeze into the shower at the back end!  ha!

Here's Quayd pulling stair carpet...and smiling!

Here's Doug and Quayd finishing up in our bedroom.  Quayd ripped all of this up by himself while Doug was painting.  

Quayd took a Sunday nap on the living room floor.  When he first fell asleep, he was lying in the sunshine. It was a long nap.  Go-Go is exhausted too from all of the stress of wondering "what in the heck is going on here?"

The girls worked hard pulling out a gazillion staples.

Here's what happens on a Sunday night when you spend an hour looking at Pinterest recipes while your oven is buried in your garage... chocolate chip cookies on the electric griddle.  They weren't bad, but they weren't good.  I made one griddle full and put the rest of the dough in the fridge till we get back to cooking/baking toward the end of the week!

Here's six fresh inches of snow.  We've had well over two feet, and even with the settling, we're still close to it since Christmas week.  It's beautiful!  More is supposedly on it's way. (And that was a spec of something on my lens.  Oops.)

Here's our backyard neighbors, who are quite used to me standing on the deck and taking their photos by now.

So.  Our weekend was work-filled, fun-filled, progress-filled and even rest-filled on Sunday.  We ate well, thanks to Connie.  We're on the downside of this major to do!  HAPPINESS!!  Life is good.  There are several other thoughts on my mind this day, but too much to do.  Life is really good!

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the best out of everything that comes their way.

Comments

[diana]

I love my black appliances. Of course if they weren't all black, I wouldn't love them as much.

[gayle]

My in town house in Roanoke had a new black frig when we moved in. It took me minutes to get rid of it. I hate black and I am not crazy about stainless steel or whatever everyone wants now days....I like white or built ins! Can't wait to see pics of the after. I think you have done a months' job in record time. We are in Mn. for Mom's 94th birthday, she is a doll!