HR while I was Away

I walked in the door late (very late) last night only to find this. Wow. It is so much more spacious than I had expected. Still wondering when I will be able to cook again. Eating out is losing its appeal. Had GREAT food in Boston. I'll write about that later. In the interim, my new motto is:
"Life is too short to waste calories on bad food."

HR Day #16

Happy Birthday Ms. C! Love you.

Thanks to my neighbors L and T for inviting me to dinner! It was yummy.

Thanks to B and S for lunch and conversation at La Jolla Groves yesterday. Also very yummy! I'll definitely be back.

Here is the house progress for today. The addition looks bigger from the outside than I thought. The inside looks about what I had imagined, based on the lines I spray painted on the grass multiple times during the "deciding" phase:

Looking north

Looking south

There will be three windows on the east side-- just doesn't show here

Inside looking out. This wall will be gone one day soon.

HR Day #14

Today is best summed up by saying, "It was Ben and Jerry's day." I took 45 minutes, went to the park, and enjoyed a pint (or near pint).

Finished the Bathroom.

Before

After

All three walls are up. The space doesn't look quite as big as when they dug that hole two weeks ago.

There is a temporary wall in the kitchen, holding up the trusses. I'm not sure when I'm going to be able to cook again.

I miss the air conditioning. Fortunately we are not having 100 degree temperatures this week.

While I was gone for a couple of hours, they cut the wire to the garage door opener (removing the beam in the kitchen). Fortunately they were able to fix it before they left tonight.

The dust is wrecking havoc on my sinuses.

Life is good!

House Renovations Day #13

Oh what a day. I am exhausted. And I still have more to do!

This morning at approximately 8 a.m. my kitchen looked like this:


By 5:00 tonight it looks like this, including a hole in the ceiling (which you can see the in the upper left corner of this picture.

This morning I asked the contractor if I needed to clean out my kitchen cupboards that morning. I was trying to plan my day. He assured me that I didn't. Around 1:00 my brother showed up to help me finish the bathroom (yes, it's done!). A few minutes later my friend Kaylene showed up to help me drape plastic in the kitchen and the storage room which will try and contain the dust that is going to show up in the next few weeks. About the same time I notice the concrete cutting truck here. Ah... that wasn't supposed to happen until tomorrow. Whew, it won't. But the project manager suggested I clean out half my storage room where they will be cutting. I called my friend Laura to see if I could still take her up on her offer of moving boxes. She said yes and came right over. So between Kaylene, Laura and I, in record time we got the kitchen cupboards unloaded, half the storage room moved, and sheeting draped.




Fortunately my brother helped to put this paper down to protect the floor while they work.

And now my house is in complete disarray. This picture just doesn't do it justice. There is stuff in the family room, both bedrooms, the basement. And I have no idea where to find anything.


In addition, I also made a trip to both Home Depot and Lowes; sealed the grout in the bathroom; stained and varnished the bathroom threshold; and tried to water the lawn by hand.

Two of the three walls are up! Yeah.



I had planned on making Pasta with basil cream sauce for dinner. I had all the ingredients. Hum...no cooking in the kitchen now...for quite a few days.... Instead my brother and I went to Wallaby's for dinner. Second time in two weeks. Great food. If you live in Utah, try it out! Yum.

Lesson re-learned today: starting the day with prayer always makes things go better, even if it is a hectic day like today!

Life is Good!

House Rennovations Day #8

Earlier this week I attempted to replace the small cabinet that goes over the toilet. I thought I had it secure. I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard "crash." The cabinet had fallen and bent the pipe that comes out of the wall. It was the end of a very bad day. I was just grateful that water was not spilling everywhere.



Today I went to Lowes to get a new part. My brother told me exactly what I needed. I wrote it down on a sticky note. It seemed pretty straight forward. That was until I get to Lowes and realized that there are several varieties and sizes of quarter turn valves. None of them matched the description I was given. Thank goodness for cell phones.

This experience reminded me of my mom. When we lived in California one of the men would send her to Medford, an hour and a half drive, to get a part for some broken piece of ranch equipment. She would get so frustrated trying to get the right part. The people at the store would look at her like she didn't know what she was talking about. Sometimes she would return home with the wrong thing. Ah... Mom told me that she finally got to the point where she would only go on an errand if they gave her the old part first, so she knew exactly what to get.

What mom wouldn't have given for a cell phone. At that time, you couldn't call a rancher who was out in the middle of a field or working the cattle.

I called mom today to and told her that I sympathized with her. Whew.

Here is the house progress for today.

The Crane

I walked out of my front door to discover this....amazing what they can do.

House Renovations Days #4, #5 and #6

Day #4
This day was pretty uneventful. I started by painting the bathroom, mostly a second coat and some trim work. We made a trip to Home Depot and Sherwin Williams to buy a new toilet, baseboards, paint, etc. Friday had wiped me out, so I wasn't very productive on Saturday. My brother did get the baseboards cut and a new door trim applied. He suggested that we go to Plan B and finish this week. I am all about Plan B. I know how to live Plan B.

Day #5
The Sabbath. A day of rest. I really needed that.

Day #6
Started by painting baseboards and door trim. Painting is not going well today.

When I visited my sister I noticed she had a new bathroom mirror. She said it wasn't new, but she just put a border around it with frost. It was really cute. Since I am not buying a new vanity, which would include a new mirror, I thought I'd try copying her. Bad idea. She is so much more talented than I. After a few mis-attempts with the stencil adhesive and spray frost, I finally got the hang of it. Note to self-- next time buy one long stencil instead of one small one that you have to continually reposition. Hope it looks good once it is up on the wall.



Footings were poured on Friday. Today the walls are being poured.