Okay, Back to Remodeling

I don't have much to say lately. My life has been a blur of fighting the flu, hanging insulation, and trying to stay ahead of the construction mess. Here's the latest update, which I LOVE....

The east wall of the living room before:

The east wall now, with its new window and closed in wall:

This isn't the greatest picture. It looks better now, with drywall on it and the furniture moved around some. The window lets so much light into our living room. It's amazing what a difference that one small change has made! We hung the insulation last week and passed our inspections. Now we are free to work until we're finished! (I say "we" loosely...mostly Dave will work and I will do whatever I'm told!)

It's fun to work on the house every weekend and to see the progress made each time. However, the constant disarray is beginning to wear on all of us, so we will be happy to get the project finished. We're still hoping to be done by Christmas, but we'll have to see how it goes. For now, we're plugging away one day at a time, one project at a time.

Our current project is to shingle the new roof so that we can really begin finishing the inside without fear of leaks. I am not much help on this project, however, as I have discovered I have a near paralyzing fear of climbing up a ladder. I didn't know this about myself, since I haven't had to climb many ladders in my life. However, the last time Dave asked me to help him on the roof, it took me several minutes to work up the courage to step off the ladder onto the roof, and even longer to step off the roof to climb back down the ladder! I may have to suck it up and get on the roof again anyway, but I'm waiting until there's no other option! For now, I'm working on the jobs that leave my feet safely and securely on the ground!

Look! An Entire Post Without Talking About Remodeling!

October in Albuquerque means balloons. The school system has a "Fall Break" day during the Balloon Fiesta, which is really just a thinly disguised way to let all the children go see the balloons without missing school. So, we jumped on the chance on Friday and went out to the Fiesta. Paige has not stopped talking about last year's trip yet, so we knew she'd be excited. (To be perfectly honest, the only thing she still talks about is the bus ride there, but she was still excited!) In her mind, riding a big yellow school bus from the Park 'N Ride lot to the Fiesta was the best part of the experience. She started asking to ride the bus back to our car before the sun was even up!

As part of the Balloon Fiesta experience, we got up at 4:00 a.m. and dressed in several layers of clothes. We then rode the beloved yellow school bus from the parking lot to the field. Then, we dropped a huge amount of money on such healthy food as mini cinnamon rolls, breakfast burritos, and scalding hot chocolate. Then, we tracked down the Darth Vadar balloon and waited until the sun came up. We were not disappointed! Right after 7:00, a van near the balloon opened up and out came a stream of Storm Troopers, followed by a very tall and imposing Darth Vadar himself! Paige was rather initimidated by the whole scene and begged Dave to take her off his shoulders so she could hide in my arms. After explaining that it was just regular people dressed up in Halloween costumes, she calmed down a little, but still refused to have her picture taken with any of them. She did wave at Darth Vadar and tried to get him to look at her balloon card.

Without really planning it, we got boxed into a small space between 3 balloons and were unable to move. As a result, however, we had the best seats in the house! We saw all three balloons inflate and take off. Even though I have seen the Balloon Fiesta for 30-some years, it never fails to be magical. There's something about brightly colored bubbles floating through the sky that just has to make you smile!

Finally, we boarded the yellow bus back home. Paige was so excited to see out the window that she promptly cracked her head on the window frame, and ended up crying herself to sleep in my arms. Maybe the bus ride won't be the highlight of this year's trip!

Before and After

When we moved in to the house in May, our living room looked like this:


After some hammering and quite a mess, it now looks like this:

We have officially connected the old house to the new house. It is still odd to look over to the corner of the room and instead of seeing a wall, see an entrance to a whole new room. Our dog, Sadie, doesn't know what to make of this new development. Last night, when the wall first came down, she came right to the edge of where the wall used to be and stopped. She stood there for awhile, before finally deciding it was safe to step over the threshold. I think we have completely turned Sadie's world upside down. First, we moved to a new house. Then, we started changing things in the backyard. She lost her comfy patio first, and then there was a whole obstacle course of concrete forms in order for her to get to the yard. Now we've added extra doors. Last week, when the doors had only been in for a day, we left them open all day. That evening, Garrett closed one of them, and Sadie came running full steam into the house. She crashed head-on into the closed door, creating a very humorous picture for us, but scarring her for life. She now approaches the new doors very carefully, and only walks out after sticking her head slowly out ahead of her. In the final insult, we've taken down the wall that protected her from all the madness outside. I'm not sure she'll ever recover!

The rest of us, however, are extremely excited. I waited all week for "D-Day". I thought it would be so much fun to take a hammer to the wall, knowing I was supposed to be messing it up. The experience didn't disappoint. Of course, cleaning up from all the fun almost made it not worth it. Garrett asked about 300 times yesterday when we were going to FINALLY take down the wall. Even Paige got in on the action, helping pull some paneling off.

Up to this point, our home life has been relatively uninterrupted. All the work was outside, so it didn't figure into our daily living much. Now, however, all the furniture has been squashed into a corner to keep it as far away from the construction as possible. My computer is nearly in the kitchen, the piano is behind the couch, and the TV is blocking the fireplace. And, it will only get worse as we add the new window and start the kitchen. I have pretty much accepted that life will be weird for awhile. Good thing we're flexible! In the end, we will have a beautiful new home that we can take pride in making ourselves. (Or in my case, I can take pride in handing Dave the materials to make it himself!) I continue to feel so blessed that any of this is possible for us. Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself "Are we really doing this?" It proves the Bible verse that God will give you more than you could ever ask or imagine! He is so good!