Refugees

With an old house comes a lot of new lessons. While Chris and Sean finished loading the last remaining items at the old house last night, I decided to vacuum up some of the construction dust that is coating everything. I learned that it's a very good thing the vacuum has a light on it, because you can't have the lights on at the same time the vacuum is going! I also learned the hard way that when fuses "burn out" they literally BURN out and are hot to the touch. Our cats had been in hiding the whole first evening and the second day, but they are now starting to feel more at home also. Molly knows how to go up the stairs but not down, and Lily only knows how to go down. Maybe they can exchange information and I won't have to lug them anymore. We still have no shower or tub, so we've been showering at Chris's parents in the morning since it is so close to our office. This morning, Chris was waiting for me to get to the office so he could leave to shower and he said "I feel like we're refugees". He was so pitiful- sick with a cold, his hair mussed and a scruffy face, but still I had to laugh. He couldn't have said it better.

We're In! (but the bathrooms not)

Yesterday we finished packing and said goodbye to our old (new) house. We slept at the new (old) house for the first time since we closed in early October. Out of the two full bathrooms in the new (old) house it is down to only a 1/2 bath. It was a united effort to get us out of our little house, we had 11 total people helping us move. People were boxing and packing while others were loading trucks and SUVs and taking loads over to the new house. We owe a big THANKS to everyone who helped: Danny, Janie, Cassie, Gerald, Debra, Mindy, Jim, Connor, Caleb, Sean and Karon.

Getting There

Yesterday, the electrician came in to get the key so he can start work. Now we're getting somewhere! He thinks he can have the bathroom finished by tonight, then start the other areas of the house. The drywall guy is coming on Friday to give us an estimate and will start work sometime next week on the bathroom.
Last night, my dad, mom and sister came over to help do whatever they could. Chris and my dad went over to the house and worked on bracing the joists, while my mom, sister and I finished packing up the kitchen, decorative items, books, and a linen closet. It truly looks like we are moving now! Thank you guys so much for your help and for bringing dinner - very much appreciated! Thank you Donahous'!

The Countdown

Christmas is six days away, all the shopping is finished, the gifts are wrapped, and the baking has at least been started. We are in the final countdown, not just for Christmas, but for moving as well! Our house sold, and we will be closing on December 28. There is so much to be done in between now and then. We're going to move a little every evening and leave the big stuff until the day after Christmas. The carpets have to be cleaned on the 27th so that the new family will have dry floors to move onto the next day. So we will have to be totally out of there by then. It's going to be a tight pinch! But, we've done it before, you would think we would have learned from that time, strange how things work out.

Just An Update

Yesterday I met the plumbing inspector the city sent out. It all passed inspection, the girl at the inspection office did tell me that all the inspector would grade was the plumbing...so the plumbing part passed the inspection.

He also said that since the joists were supported by walls beneath the bathroom that are only about three feet apart, bracing them would work just fine...if it had been a 10 foot span of unsupported joists, that would be a different story.

Big Pickle

We are in a pickle, and not just a little one. We STILL don't have the bathroom floor installed, we have run into some fairly major issues. After talking to the City about what to do about the floor joists, it turns out that the plumbers did not get their final inspection. We now know why also, because the City said that to cut into the floor joists at all, they would have had to have a building permit on top of the plumbing permit. OH MY WORD. Now what? We still haven't received a bill, and we're thinking really hard on how to approach the subject without being accusatory. It could all be a misunderstanding, maybe someone at the City forgot to file the final inspection, or something like that. We hope, anyways. So, just as before, the flooring has to wait on the joists, which now have to wait until the plumbing has it's final inspection. And until that is done, the electrician cannot run his wires for the bathroom lights. So, we are waiting...again. One way or the other, we have to move just after Christmas. Chris's parents have offered their 5th wheel trailer for us to live in until the bathroom is finished, so it will be "trailer sweet trailer" for a while. It's a relief to know that we will have a warm place to sleep with a hot shower. Thank you Davis's!

Institutional Green

This past week, we took a break from the upstairs bathroom (have to wait for the electrician anyway) and removed the metal upper cabinets from the kitchen. I may be way off on this, but the upper cabinets look like they are from the 50's and the lower cabinets and sink/fixture maybe from the 30's. Here are the before and after pictures.Lovely color choice, huh? I don't know which was worse, the cabinets or the color behind the cabinets. We plan on recycling the upper cabinets by cleaning them up, painting them black and using them in our computer shop, we'll post an update when that project is done. Yes that is an outlet for a dryer in the first and second pics which is being moved to the mud room. The water heater was also located in the kitchen.