A Quorum

We have a quorum! There is nothing better (during a renovation) than looking out my new window at 9am and seeing several work trucks. It tells me work is being done today and we are that much closer to being done!!

 Here's how I spend most of my spare time...removing wallpaper.  I've become quite the expert!  It just takes a ton of time and a LOT of patience.  It's actually become therapeutic for me - I get the music turned on and with each piece going in the garbage I see progress.  We are keeping some of my mom's wallpaper - in the dining room and half bath.  But the rest is coming down - and it's my job to do it!

 Yesterday they moved my tub into the bathroom to dry-fit the pipes.  This took 3 guys to do and I'm sure their backs are hurting this morning.  I'm so excited to see that it fits well (good thing b/c I don't think the company I bought from in Canada takes returns....plus I can't imagine the shipping cost for this).  It was exciting to see it in there - although now it's on the back deck serving as a large birdbath until such time as it makes it's final move.

 The guys came to remove our granite on Wednesday.  We are keeping the granite but it needs to be re-cut to accommodate my farmhouse sink.  The 2 gentlemen pictured below were in rapid-fire Spanish as to how to move this nearly 300lb slab.  Finally I asked if they wanted me to get Michael and Jason from off the roof (where they were fixing the rotted wood of our dormer windows).  "Yes, Please!" was their response.  So 4 men were able to move it to the truck.  Good thing Jason and Mike were here!

 No kitchen sink makes for an added inconvenience.  Luckily we still  have a sink in the half bath that works (although not right now because the plumber has the water turned off).

I came up with the ingenious idea of using one of our old doors as a counter top.  It fits perfectly and even has the added ornamentation of a door handle.  I'm thinking this door counter-thing may take off and be the next hot thing!

When Helen saw we had no counter top this is what she said:

Helen:  Mommy, where'd the table go

Me:  It's called a counter top and we are getting a new one

Helen:  Are we getting a batman one or a princess one?

Me:  Umm...neither.

Though my parents built this house out of mahogany (which is a super strong hardwood), we've decided to go back with hardi-plank on the dormers because they are along the roof and are constantly exposed to water.  Although you can't tell in this picture, the new boards are not touching the roof line.  There is also flashing running underneath it.  Hopefully we won't have anymore issues with rotting wood here.

 This is what all the boards looked like - rotten.  None of the boards were sealed on the ends that had been cut and were exposed to water.