One Sixty: Small is Tremendous

Small is Tremendous

Ahhh, Wednesday. And I am crawling up the hump on my hands and knees, exhausted and looking forward to rolling down the other side while screaming, "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee" at the top of my lungs.

Although I have been trying to keep my butt rolling with the momentum generated by last week's frantic Czech footage editing spree.

Monday I purchased a new light for the hallway and winter-time fertilizer for the lawn. Then I got home and cleaned the house. (Because it had fallen into shambles due to ast week's frantic Czech footage editing spree.) Meanwhile, Mike was kind enough to install the light for me.

Tuesday I brought my beautiful poster from Czech to be framed. At a cost of $WAYTOOMUCH. Seriously - I can't even tell Mike how much I spent and on what. I just have to smile and let him by the nerf bars for his 4wheeler. (That's probably not how you spell it - I just never spelled it before, but I'm imagining nerf balls.)

WAIT A MINUTE. It's freakin thursday isn't it? I just realized that. God damn it, I should already be rolling and screaming. Ok ok, let me get on that right now:

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Back to Tuesday.

Then, when I got home on Tuesday, I attempted to install a fan control and dimmer switch in the upstairs. That didn't turn out so good. When wires aren't the right colors - I get highly confused. So Mike had to bail me out when he got home. (And he rightly pointed out, why are you installing a fan control when we don't have the fan yet and why are you installing a switch for a light we don't have yet?! My argument - we bought the switches, so why not get a jump on it?)

Wednesday - yesterday. I finally took the fertilizer out of my truck. But didn't apply it. In fact, I don't even know what I did last night - after my shower, it's all a blur. Must have been the shiraz.

Tonight - I want to fertilize.

And this weekend is going to be soo busy. But maybe if I have time on Sunday, I'll be able to stripe my hallway. We'll see. I have a 10% off coupon from the deep-Ho. And they just increased my credit line to $10,000.... those fools.

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.

One Sixty

Small is Tremendous

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