Superhuman strengths

"Amy's Door" drawn in soot by Willis

Willis & Ethel, aka Amy's Mom and Dad, covered in soot

awww, so pretty!!

The long hallway--what the house would look like with no center bathroom

yep, that's right--our 3rd full dumpster

Toolbelts hung by the chimney with care

A clean room!!

More hallway pics

Ceiling beams resting on the floor

June 20-22 Weekend

Kade and GMan installed the large picture window * Kade cut the grass * Mom and Dad came to visit * Never thought they'd get that dirty in a gutted house * Also never thought a house had that many nails * Mom was a champion at dumping buckets * Dad scrapped the front porch columns * Kade & GMan pulled out bathroom floors * Mom and I braved Wal-mart * Having no toilets is intersting * I think a shop vac is the world's greatest invention * I tore out last remaining plaster/lat sections from the top of the ladder * We have mini cucumbers & the corn is growing fast * Garden hose water is not that warm when you're taking a shower in it * Got some good pizza at Michael's with everyone * Dad and I moved more lat to the wood pile * Dad wrote notes in the soot dust for me to find * I climbed on the baker's rack and held a ceiling beam--I am She-Ra * Kade removed the ceiling beams in the dining room * We closed up the dumpster * Kade, I mean He-Man, booby trapped the dumpster door with the toilet * Our work here this weekend is done! *

Are we on a farm??

Dirty Elliot!

"A GOOSE!!"

Saturday Stroll

The goose egg--no kidding--in our front yard

Old medicine bottle Shon found near the fireplace



New picture window!!!



Room with a view but no window

Soot flakes in the kitchen

GMan and Kade

Bye, bye goregous linoleum, LOL

New windows!!!

GMan, Kade, and Shon--does anyone see Elliot?? LOL

Awesome new dining room window


June 13-15 Weekend

7 of 8 windows delievered* 3 installed * Kade, Shon, Elliot, and Galloway, enough said * Kendall rocked out for us * Elliot was a mess after being in the house while Kade destroyed ceilings * Shon discovered an old medicine bottle * Shon also discovered he liked shoveling chicken s#&t back in Ohio better than he liked shoveling plaster & soot * The poor wheelbarrow got a flat tire * Kris & Sarina came by * We said goodbye to the gross kitchen floor and the bathroom walls * A goose laid an egg in the front yard * Shon and I made a trip to Home Depot & Domino's * Jason came by on Sunday all fired up and ready to work * Heard a lot of "working for the county"stories & "The Ghost" stories while Jason drank every last drop of the biggest drink Sonic makes--RT44--on our porch *

Fun House

The entire side of the house in studs--from the back bedroom looking forward

Hallway view into the middle room

No top corner cabinets!! No plaster!! Just beadboard

Cabinets be gone!

Found this old paper in the chimney--from October 5, 1955--Brooklyn fans were happy that day!

Kade always finds the fun stuff--a candleholder from one of the cabinets

Kade's done more demo work this week at night to get ready for our last weekend of demo & clearing out all the debris!! yay!! The dining room walls are bare and the top row of kitchen cabinets are gone. Our windows should be in today from Home Depot and this weekend looks promising for installation of those. Got $25 off the 3rd dumpster I ordered yesterday--I guess in the dumpster business they give $$ off perks to repeat offenders. :o) Sometimes if you look sideways at a weird angle or the light comes in differently you can't tell the rafters from the walls...we have our own little version of Fun House!

100 Degrees and no pool

Our wood pile...that's gonna be one big bonfire!

Our new roof & construction zone

I'm a hot sooty mess!

Kade's dirty arm

Kade on the roof

Rafters at dusk--no roof

Sunset through the beams

No more fireplace, kitchen looking into living room

Soot leggings--nice!

A frame house with no roof

Frame under the arbors

Exciting changes over the past week or so! We no longer have chimneys-Kade and Galloway took those down last week. There are no more living room walls/ceilings and most of the kitchen is gutted too! And...we have a new roof!!! The roofers came out on Friday and Saturday tearing off the old roof and putting up the new one. Kade and Galloway redid the roof's center portion--and they all worked in 100 degree heat. I made my own path carrying wood lat by stepping over the saw, under the extension cord, through the kitchen, down the shingle covered ramp, trying not to hit the ladder, around the plywood, around the roofer van and finally to the wood pile. Kade and I worked a little on Sunday trying to clear out the kitchen debris and the remaining plaster. We tried but surrendered to the heat about 2 p.m. The second dumpster is full of roofing stuff so we'll order another one to be delivered later this week.

FYI: We have a guy Kade has nicknamed "Scrappy" who likes to come get our scrap metal to sell (we think for beer $). Random, I know. Our cucumbers, tomatoes, sunflowers, and cantaloupe are doing great!!! I can't say the same for the lil' baby blue jay (R.I.P little fellow).

Santa??? I Know Him!!

We say good-bye to our first dumpster tomorrow, but the nice Home Depot dumpster people are bringing us another one!!! No worries! After two huge weekends of demolition, we decided not to load the minimal leftover space with plaster, so we filled the remaining space with old insulation and ceiling tiles. Keep your fingers crossed we're not too far over the 4 ton limit. In addition to moving Kade's entire apartment to the storage shed, we managed to tear out the master bath, the third bedroom and the living room, including the ceilings this weekend. Kade climbed the ladder with Elliot's sledgehammer (merci) and knocked out the ceilings. This process is soooo funny because when Kade rests on the ceiling beams, one boot and a lil bit of an ankle sticks out making it look like Santa is coming through the ceiling (Santa??? I know him!!). HUGE THANKS to Aaron and Jason for helping move Kade, knock out walls, tear out ceilings, and endure endless wheelbarrow trips to the dumpster and the wood pile!! And thanks to Cindy for delicious Domino's pick up on Friday night! We would not have gotten this far this weekend without them!!

If any of you are wondering why Santa only comes one night a year, its because Mrs. Claus spends the other 364 days of the year getting chimney soot washed our of his infamous red suit. Yesterday, Kade and I were covered in dirt and soot--I'm positive there is still soot in my hair after 4 washings. That stuff gets in your hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, under your fingernails, in your shoes, down your back... In a moment of weakness I made fun of Kade covered in soot and he informed me promptly that I wasn't exactly pretty. I think his exact words were, "Well, you should see yourself. You look like a coal miner's daughter." I had a VERY attractive soot ring around my ankles and when Kade took his shoes off, he looked like he was wearing black leggings--HOT. My camera batteries died yesterday afternoon so I apologize for not having any pictures of our loveliness.