A little bit about the kids. . . .

Now that you have heard about the kids, here is an update on the kids.  Abby is officially walking.  She has been walking to and from people for months now but would never go off on her own.  Something happened on Monday night and she just took off.  She walked laps around the house. Yesterday, we went to the library and she walked around the isles of books.  She is also getting quite a personality.  She is a little spitfire.  I guess you kind of have to when you have a brother.

Jace is being difficult these days.  Challenges everything.  Having meltdowns.  I hope it is because he is 3 and this is what they do.  If not, he may be slightly manic.  I mean he can be screaming one minute and laughing the next.  I realize now why parents are such patient people.  

Some pictures from our week in NC/SC.  

A little update on the house

We are back in VA.  We ended up spending a long Easter weekend in SC than the kids and I stayed in SC to ride with my parents to NC for Sally's funeral.  It was going to be easier and I parted ways with my job so I did not need to come back to VA.  (That is a long story and I will write about it but not today).  

Sally's funeral was the most amazing celebration of life.  Sally's son, Mike, did the eulogy.  He captured Sally's life so perfectly.  As I know Sally was watching, she was so proud.  He did such an amazing job.  They also had several other people speak including my mom and it was heart warming and breaking at the same time.  I am going to miss her so much.  I still can't believe it.  

While I was gone, the house progress continued.  Unfortunately my 4 Chinese men that worked on the house, are not working on our house anymore.  It turns out, they did almost all of the plumbing and electrical not to code.  Also - the stairs to the basement and some of the framing as well.  So last week, the work was redone by new people.  The upstairs first inspection was completed by the city which is good.  The windows were put in throughout the lower level of the house.  Here are some pictures . . . .

The new windows in the kitchen.  It is now a double window - before it was a single.   

The opening between the kitchen and dining room.  Now is framed and ready for drywall.   

 The plumbing for the basement bathroom.

The new windows in the living room. 

The bathroom upstairs which is ready for finishing  . . . .

To be honest, the renovation is taking a toll.  I spent last night at the laundromat.  We have not had a washer and dryer in two weeks and it does not look like we will have them back for a while.  The renovation is definitely going to take longer than planned.  

We are headed to Charlotte to see Molly, Wes, and Parker for their annual Derby party.  We are also getting Finley back which will add a level of stress to the situation.  I realize now why people want finished houses . . . . this will be our last renovation.  Mark my word!!!

Cosmos

I am sitting at cosmos laundromat.  We are officially down to nothing clean.  Since our contractor unhooked our washer and dryer over 2 weeks ago, I am officially spending my evening at cosmos.  Come by if you would like.  Will update about the house tomorrow.  

And also our trip to NC and SC!  

Sally Newton

I have taken a blogging break to focus on more important things.  Last Thursday, a dear friend of our family Sally Newton, lost a tough battle with cancer.  Sally was my mom's best friend, our childhood next door neighbor, a tailgating comrade, a woman I admired, a friend that I could talk to, cruise ship mate, the list could go on.  She was an amazing women.  Someone that everyone loved. She was a women who was independently successful but also a wonderful mom and she did both with a smile on her face.  She was everyone's best friend.  She lived life wanting to make the world a better place and she did.  I only wish that I could be half the women that she will always be remembered as.  

I thank god that her son Mike and I both went to NC State, and our families got football tickets together.  The past 12 years we have spent every football weekend together struggling through seasons cheering on the Wolfpack.   I can't wait to tailgate with her in heaven and we can finally cheer for a winning team.  Love you Sally!  You will always be missed.  

http://www.greensborosports.com/2014/04/18/sally-newton-local-sports-champion-and-a-hero-to-area-gymnists-dead-at-age-63/

http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Sally-Newton&lc=7294&pid=170689014&mid=5934632

No pain, no gain . ..

So this week is when the stress of the renovation hit me.  I don't know if it is because we now have 4-6 people in our house at one time or they have disconnected our washer and dryer indefinitely or the water is shut off from 8 am - 8 pm most days, or Abby has 2 ear infections or work sucks right now . . . .play me a violin right?  

Well this week has been tough.  Things have been in such disorder and I finally hit my wall.  I think it was also the reality that we have probably have 6 more weeks until the renovation is done.  We got out of the house a lot to get away from the noise and mess.

Here is my week in review:

Picked up doughnuts again for the crew.  Jace insisted on a chocolate covered sprinkle doughnut. 

Visited a playground . . . .

Grocery shopping 

Huge beer score at Safeway.  50% off great beer.   

And they painted. . . .  

Another playground with friends . . . 

Week highlight . . .  the wiener :)

Finding things to do indoors because of the rain . . . .  

Framing of the bathroom and laundry in the basement . . . . 

More framing . . . 

2 ear infections but somehow happy!

So this week the pictures are not too exciting.  They are trying to have the first inspection for the main level projects next week so they have focused on plumbing and electrical.  They also have framed all the rooms in the basement and finished most of the electrical downstairs.  They are digging tomorrow the hole for the plumbing in the basement.  Should be some good pics.  

Jace, Abby and I head to Charleston Friday morning and Jay comes on Saturday and we all stay till Monday.  Looking forward to it.  

Major shout out for my sister Jennifer.  She has helped us so much! Forever grateful.   And our amazing babysitter (who I know does not read this blog) that watches are kids while I am at work for being a trooper with the kids.  She has opened her apartment as a place to take Jace and Abby during the day.  

Happy Wednesday!

Cherry Blossoms

So the house continues to progress.  Will post more house pics tonight or tomorrow.  They have done alot of plumbing, electrical and structural work.  Nothing really fun to look at but very loud.  They primed the back room yesterday and are possibly painting today.  Yes - today on Saturday.  And they are still doing more electrical and plumbing.  I think we may have the most hard working crew.  They work weekends and leave late at night.  I don't think they left last night until 7.  I am not complaining. . . . we pretty much live with three very nice Chinese men.  I actually bought them coffee and doughnuts yesterday which I plan to do one day each week until they are done.  Here is the back room with white.  It makes an unbelievable difference.  

Finally cabinets are on order.  Here is a link to our cabinets.  They are from 6 Square and are the inlay style. . . .which means the doors are in the opening not on top.  http://www.6squarecabinets.com/products/door-styles/detail?s=Princeton

We found a new granite because the pricing came in too high with the other.  And we actually like it better.  We are picking our final slabs on Monday.  We have alot of things to buy within the next couple of days.  

With everything going on with the house, we decided to face the crowds and go to the Cherry Blossom festival.  

More pics on our picasa album. 

https://plus.google.com/photos/116585055195987734868/albums/6001483686788690785?authkey=CPzS3qzC65OCvgE

Loving this spring weather!

More demo and framing

The last two days have included some remaining demo and framing.  The bathroom is for the most part framed and the basement framing work continues.  

The bathroom is starting to take shape and it is slightly smaller than expected because of a load-bearing wall but we think it will work.  It will be tight.  

The basement work continues.  As I am excited about all the new spaces, I am especially excited about the basement.  A place for toys.  I know they will continue to be everywhere but at least some toys can have a permanent place.  And also a place for our desk.  With my new job, I do some work from home and I am really needing a desk.  

The biggest problem right now is the cabinets.  Jay again has done all the work on this . . . . . he has worked with multiple cabinet companies and we are coming over on our budget.  The cabinets should be on order but he has been going back and forth to get the price right.  To be continued. . . . .

When it rains, it pours . . . .

So today it rained .....actually it poured.  And a little bit of that rain is in our house.  Yep . . . . we have a very small leak in our ceiling in the new den.  Lovely.  So it is not bad but it is something to add to the list.  It is slightly perplexing since we have never noticed it before.  But we have mostly had snow and a cabinet was under this spot, so maybe this slight leak would land on top of the cabinet and evaporate?!?  Who knows.  So now we are pricing out a new roof.  We knew when we bought the house the roof would need to be replaced in the next 5 years.  We were just hoping to do the roof after we were finished hemorrhaging money :)

No progress on the house today but we got alot accomplished this weekend.  Jay did some work in the yard (with the help of Jace) and we picked out alot of stuff for the kitchen. The contractor said tomorrow should be a big day so hopefully I will have some pictures to add tomorrow.

A preview of the kitchen . . . . 

This is our faucet

This light will be centered over the sink, coming out from the wall

This will be hanging over the bar

This is the granite

Major demo work and trampoline fun!

So our contractor said they would be back in the house today doing work so we met some of Jace's school friends at a trampoline park.  Coolest place.  I can't wait to go back without kids. :)

Thank you preschool friends for inviting us because the kids fell asleep on the way back to the house.  I was able to put both of them down for naps and they slept for almost 3 hours.  And they slept through some major demo work.  No idea how.  

Today was a productive day at the house.  The kitchen ceiling was removed as well as the wall between the kitchen and dining room.

Before 

After

They demoed the bathroom and hallway to the bathroom.  

And finished the demo in the basement. 

They also removed the baseboard heating as well as the wall units in the family room . . . . .productive day on the job.  

As you can imagine, the house is a mess.  So we headed out to dinner and Jace was rewarded tonight with movie night.  Tomorrow we head to pick out the final cabinets and counter tops and place orders.  Our babysitter canceled last minute so lets hope the kids are on their best behavior tomorrow or better yet, I am will bring a Thermos of bloody marys :)  Night, night!

Permits

So here is the story on permits . . . . . . 

We decided with our contractor to get a permit for the upstairs work and not a permit for the downstairs work.  Yes. . . . we know that we should have decided on permitting the entire project but there is this lovely code requirement that was not required back when our house was built - which is 2 exits out of the basement.  So when your house is built like most in this area (which is the basement is mostly underground) you have to add something what they call an egress window.  See picture . . . . 

This one window will costs us around $4000 because they have to dig out beside your house to install it and add the window well. I am only telling you this amount of money so you understand why we originally made our decision.  Long story short, our contractor was concerned (after demo is started, contract was signed) when they came in to inspect the upstairs work, the inspectors will see the work in the basement and there we go. . . .  getting into trouble.  To be honest, we think our contractor thought we would decide to not permit the entire project.  Decision time and we are going to do this right and get the permit.  But there goes getting any new furniture.  

So the guys were back to work today.  Fixing the shed roof.  If you were reading the blog from the beginning, this is the second time we are fixing this and hopefully the last.  

Jay decided that we do not have enough going on that he is going to work on the yard while Finley is gone.  So we have the aerator and seeder coming next weekend so we have to tear out some natural areas.  Also - the dumpster is out front of our house so we can remove some of the wood trim in the yard. 

These are the bushes he decided to remove . . . . .

That's it for today.  Time for bed.

Kitchen demo

For the most part these first few days have been demo and there is still more demo to come.  It is really messy.  I clean every night.

The big accomplishment in the kitchen is the demo to fix something structural.  Hard to see with the picture angle but the partial wall that comes down in the middle of the kitchen was load bearing.  It has been removed and reinforced.  The second picture shows the new ceiling.  It really opens up the space.

All of this happened last week as well as the basement demo. The past two days there has been no work. One of the guys is sick.  So someone new will be working tomorrow if hector or Henry cannot work.  And someone better be working tomorrow. Jay and I both talked to the contractor today.  I gave him a hard time as well as jay. 

We also met with the contractor today about some decisions that have to made about the permit. Will write about that later. A lot of detail but let's just say our contractor did not expect jay to print the entire code book and memorize portions.  Ha!  

More to come. More things bought yesterday and today.  VISA loves us.