Dry Wall

is getting done. Kenton ditched them to go milk but our friend Ken and my dad are trucking along. They worked so hard they burned up all the saws and had to use their teeth. True friends and family or what?

Do you think Ken is working hard toward honorary Finn status? You don't have to be crazy...but it helps.
The kitchen is mostly done.

The dining room has three walls yet to go.

I was wrong. Every wall, for one reason or another (mostly rot) had to be replaced.

Mom and I repainted the living room today. I'm holding off on pictures of that until everything is cleaned up and looks halfway decent. Right now it's a dusty mess.

Drywall is going up

and the kids were tumbling down.


Jamison really enjoyed helping put up drywall. Apparently he was a big help. Too bad we didn't rent one of those things back when Kenton's dad, Kenton, and I did the ceiling in Jamison's room.



Most of the ceiling drywall is up and they hope to begin working on the walls. Kenton needs to stop at 3:00 to chore this afternoon so they won't get as much done today.

Moving along...

Things have been moving this week but the changes have not been as dramatic as last week. Thus, the picture drought.
The last window and exterior door were put in. All the exterior walls had to be replaced. This interior wall did as well.
Of course, everything that's been done has lead to MORE work that needs to be done. In addition to putting in can lights (dad) they had to redo part of the ceiling where a set of backstairs used to go up.
The nightmare (for the dimensionally challenged like me) wall is started between the kitchen and the dining room. The electrical is roughed in - including half a dozen things that dad thought I needed for now...or later.
The drywall is being delivered today. The insulation is going in right now and, hopefully, they'll be able to start drywall today or tomorrow.
After a hard day's work, all four kids needed to show grandpa and grandma their albums. I'm sure admiring four hundred pictures was just what they wanted at the moment.

Mom refinished the office floor, steps, living room floor, and is working on living room trim(the refinished floor made it look awful) and has cleaned everything in sight. Multiple times.
I think we should multiply their wages. Don't you? Of course, anything times zero we can afford. :P They've been a huge help. :)

Hissy Fit

I'm ready to throw one. A certain person insisted on moving a wall at the last moment.

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I hate last minute changes of that proportion. It doesn't allow time to think through all the ramifications of the decision.

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In this case, it was an epically bad decision.

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I will have to abandon plans for the way it should have been.

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Ever walked into a place and thought, "What was the designer thinking! This looks stupid!"

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That will be my kitchen.

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Blogging about it may not be the wisest move...

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as an alterative for the lumps I'd like to pound into the hide of the person who refused to listen

it's pretty minor.

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I know I sound like a drama queen: no one has died, my family is not starving, the house didn't fall down around our ears, etc. but I am massively angry that my eating area is going to look like it was planned by an idiot. . . even if it is true.

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SEEING RED!

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a color I normally like.

Jericho?

Moving along...Another wall had to be replaced. It does make me wonder what was holding this thing together.
The kids are having fun being spoiled by their grandparents.
Mom found the boys big brother shirts. They were behind the radiator in Davis' room.

Rebuilding the Walls

Are you tired of this yet?

One of these walls was moved slightly out. I've never been in favor but it was a battle I lost. Kenton is positive that it will give us more room in our eating area.

The weather has been lovely and warm. As a consequence my yard is trashed. :P The process of beautification and repair is not lovely.


This was one wall that had to be totally rebuilt. It was rotted.

Maybe today some of the new windows will be installed. I think we only have nine more windows to replace after this: our room, Davis' room, and the living room. All of them will go on rattling when it's windy.

Everyone is getting worn out.

The Concrete is in

While we were waiting...Kaitlyn loved playing the piano with my mom. After some waiting and with help from some friends the concrete went in.
This morning it looks pretty good. It's been interesting to see how different parts of the process "change" the size of the rooms.
While the guys have been tearing up the kitchen, my mom has been hard at work. She stripped and sanded the living room floor. It's ready for finishing.
She also redid the stairs. They still need to be varnished, but I love how the color is turning out.
Of course, everything has a lot of red in the stain. I love red. How soon do you think I'll get tired of it?

Waiting for Concrete...

Waiting for concrete...All ready to go. The gravel's in, the insulation is laid, the radiant heat tubing(or whatever it's called is done, the plumbing (after a basement waterfall) is ready (we hope!), and the gas line is installed(after driving all over the county, waiting on the phone with Sears for 30 minutes, the lumber yard gave wrong advice - again! )
We only LOOK like we're from West Virginia. We're missing the fridge with grass growing over it and the trash flowing from the tipped over trash cans.
I will say that although ethnic jokes are not prevalent here West Virginia jokes abound.

Q: Where was the tooth brush invented?
A: West Virginia. Anywhere else and they would have called it a teeth brush.

Q:Did you hear that the West Virginia's governor's mansion burned down?
A: All that's left are the frame and the wheels.

Q: If West Virginians get a divorce are they still cousins?

Yeah, they resemble those remarks. :P

My darling daughters :D

Spreading the Gravel Base

The crazy Finn above is my dad (I think I own two pictures of him where he isn't wearing this particular expression) He and mom came out to help with our project. Dad's handling the electrical part of the project. Mom is cleaning everything in sight, being my personal advocate, and getting all sorts of odds and ends accomplished.

This is the brilliant method they came up with to move eighteen tons of gravel into our house.

It looks like a nightmare(and probably was) but they had it all in in less than three hours. Kenton recruited our friend Nick to help again. How long do you think he'll stay a friend at this rate?
The gravel has been compacted. Now they're working on laying plumbing. Plumbing screw-ups could be a nightmare since concrete is going over it all.
Meanwhile, back at the home place, the kids are enjoying TV, the runner sled on the driveway,
and entertaining friends at their grandma's. (Those jeans of Megan's have seen better days. I don't think we'll even save them for the barn. Anyone else HATE Walmart jeans for kids?)T
Ted, Sam, and Natalie came to play while their dad helped Kenton.
Next week should be busy. Ideally heat coils go in on Tuesday and concrete on Wednesday.

Down to the Dirt

Grandma gave Megan some fun and bought all the stuff for her to make fancy cupcakes. They were a big hit. Megan especially loved decorating them with oodles of red frosting and sprinkles. We are down to the dirt in our remodeling. We ran into some surprises...although that was expected. Some places we expected to be rotted out were not(i.e. the floor - other than in the places we had gone through - was solid).
The kitchen wall beside the rock wall is pretty punky. They expect that they will need to replace the entire wall. Ugh!
They're replaced the beams that were rotted out(several places) and are preparing to put in a layer of sand today...I'm not sure why....

All the foundation beams appear to have been set on top of rocks. The oldest part of the house has hand-hewn beams in the basement. It's kind of neat.

In other news, my mother-in-law has experienced her first loss due to squatters. Fortunately it was just a mattress protector. I melted it in the dryer. Megan threw up, slept soundly the rest of the night in her puke, and (Go figure!) needed her bedding washed in the morning. Nice, eh?

Demolition

Should I be concerned when my husband brings his chainsaw in to begin the remodeling?
Davis and Megan were snuggled up watching tv at grandma's. When the camera came out, Jamison and Kaitlyn weren't going to be left out.
The tentative plan for the dining room included wainscoting on the walls. When Kenton started pulling off drywall he discovered that someone else hated the idea and had covered some up. It would have been fun to try and salvage it but termites had beat us to it. Oh well, stripping bead board would have been a royal pain anyway. :P
Kenton, my dad, and our friends Nick and Ken helped rip out the wall between the kitchen and dining room and tore out the ceiling and floor. We are down to the dirt.
During the process Kenton stepped on one of those wild cats that had chosen to kick the bucket in our crawl space. Unfortunately it was not yet desiccated. Bodily fluid was not the only thing that oozed. The area needed to be evacuated for a few minutes. Grose!

Children's Museum

To celebrate Kaitlyn's Gotcha Day, we went to Pittsburgh to the Children's Museum. Nick and Wendy and their kids, and Isaiah C. went too.
Everyone loved flying this airplane. It had great props. :PThis car was especially popular with the three three-year-olds. They spent a lot of time hanging out in the front seat taking seat belts on and off.
I told Davis to stand up straight and smile. I'm not sure what he was thinking.

Flying in an airplane watching out the window watching the clouds go by....Barney, anyone?

This day is coming all too soon. Happily, the first thing he did was reach for the seatbelt.

Catching letters and being a star
Taking after Grandpa - being papermakers.
Gotta love that one uncooperative ponytail.

We had a really fun day...although, we were totally unsuccessful at finding Chinese to eat afterward. Nick and Wendy led us on a merry chase all over Morgantown trying to find it...well, that's not exactly the way it went, but we sure don't want to take the credit for that particular snipe hunt. Bob Evans was a happy alternative. :)