Full workday

This morning we awoke with the solid beep-beep-beep of my alarm that becomes more frantic the longer you let it ring. Since the hot weather was coming we decided it would be smart to get to the house as soon as possible and try to work before the heat came. We don't have central air up and running over there (we aren't even sure if it works), so we need to make the best of the cooler mornings.

Today we were able to get our living room, kitchen, and dinning room primed and ready for paint! Joe also got the ceilings in the living room and dinning room painted. They look so nice all fresh and white.  After a lot of discussion we also chose to pull out the dishwasher. Nothing in this house has worked and it looked pretty old. We figured it probably was in line with everything else that was broken and nasty here. We took it out and that was our first time removing a dishwasher, but we did have an ooops and accidentally chipped a bit of the counter top. Oh well. I took photos of these things to put on Facebook, but I spared everyone the photos of me dry heaving with the lovely aromas that came piling out Joe detached the lines and stink water came pouring out. Sooooooooo gross.

We were finally done for the day around 3pm and so then it was time to do the other fun stuff of running to Lowe's and buying our new range and dishwasher. Our kitchen is going to look so nice when we finally get it all painted and get the new appliances in. We also treated the kiddos to frozen yogurt, some new pairs of shorts from Target, and then topped it all off with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. They were a little bummed that I wouldn't let them get cheeseburgers, but I feel strongly that if we are eating at a Mexican restaurant then the kids should try out some Mexican food. We really indulged and let them get special sodas and even split a fried ice cream.

I am actually not sure why we pampered them after some of the behaviors we have had lately. Our oldest..... oh... she is just..... Amelia. She started complaining to us about one spot in her room that needs to be touched up and how it "bothers" her to have to look at it. Really? It bothers you to look at? Oh, bummer. She then went on that she has been telling us about this spot for 2 weeks. Well, you can see all the stuff that we have been up to for the last 2 weeks and how touching up some paint wasn't our top priority. We explained that we would be doing the touch ups after everything else is done. She also then complained about how we don't do nearly enough fun stuff. True. However, she is on summer break, but Joe and I are still working very full time. I am sure all working parents deal with this.... there is only so much we can do. I don't care what she sees on television, most kids are not partying it up every single day of summer vacation. I can't complain too much about her, she helps SOOOO much with Fritzy while we are working. She often will put him in a sling and carry him around for hours :)  The middle two children decided that the slug bug game isn't violent enough. They no longer wait for a VW to pass by to smack one another, they changed the rules so that now they punch one another anytime they see a yellow, purple, or red car (of any variety). It makes riding in the car with them a bit loud.

Life with kids and home renovations.... it is everything I thought it would be :)

A few pictures and very few words

Look at our pretty roof!!!

I blew off a bit of steam jumping on our trampoline :)

 Edie jumped too.

Look! Look! We have a bathtub!

Fritz won't let me write anymore... it is marathon nursing session time and typing with one hand is HARD.

Life is just overwhelming at times

I am sitting here, all jealous, of some friends who recently posted about their runs. One had a baby a few weeks after I had Fritzy (yes, you know who you are with the new shoes) and I feel like I should be out there running too! Damn it! I was going to run a marathon this fall and I haven't been training at all. Of course, I can't find the time right now. Like, legitimately, cannot find any freaking time for anything other than work and renovations and then one day a week we frantically try to catch up on dishes, laundry, groceries, bills, etc. Each night when the older kids all collapse into bed, Joe and I sink into the couches for me to start an episode of Mad Men and the nursing marathon that Fritz makes my night.... the kid eats NON-STOP until dawn. As in, the other night, he only slept from 5am-7am without a breast in his mouth.

Normal people would just see this all as a phase in life and understand that you simply can't do it all. I would remind any friend or client of mine of this as well. However, I expect super-human things from myself and therefore I am mad that I cannot renovate a home while also caring for 4 children while also logging 25-50 miles a week in running while also working fulltime. Forget reading a good book or really having anything of interest to talk about other than paint colors. I can hop online while the baby nurses, but that is really my only "free" time. Even as I type this I am nursing this child of mine.

Lately, I have been daydreaming about quitting my job. I think it is just that I really miss my little strawberry blonde boy while I work. That, and my job can be super stressful at times. I can picture grad school and my kids and home renovations. I am not quite sure how we would pay our bills without me working, but I am right now pretending that giving up Starbucks would be enough to make the difference :)

Another weekend down

Another weekend has slipped away. It was filled with lots of primer, paint, and cleaning (and shopping).

Here was my office after I got it all primed. The color of it had been dark orange. Edie and I had to repair the upper parts of the walls and remove many, many, many staples. It isn't perfect, but we did our best.

Check out our new bathroom window! It opens and closes and everything!!!

Yay! We have a closet framed in! This will be our laundry closet in the bathroom. It is actually wide enough that we should also be able to store our vacuum and cleaning supplies in here too.

Why does it take soooooo long to paint a room? Oh, right! Because I have a baby who wants to eat while I am painting! This is how Fritz and I paint around the trim :)

The girls pretended to sleep in the back of the van while we worked. I wish they would realize that things would go faster if they would help just a touch more.

Finished office. At first I wasn't a fan of the color. It was pretty different than I had been planning. Now I like it. It might just be that it grew on me after I considered what would be involved in repainting.

Joe primed and painted the upstairs hallway this weekend and also hung new light fixtures. We went with a simple white to just keep the hallway light and easy.

We picked up what we will think is the last of our paint. Next we will need to prime and paint the living room and kitchen. The walls need a lot less repair then my office walls needed, so they should go faster.

Just a wee bit overwhelmed

The other day, for the first time since starting this entire home project, I ended up feeling a bit overwhelmed. This happened when we discovered that our water heater also needs to be replaced right away. So, we just bought a fridge and then within 2 days we found we needed a new range and water heater, both of which we had thought were fine. Now we find ourselves looking at the dishwasher with great suspicion. It will all work out, but I think my brain just needs the occasional freak out about it all.

The bathroom is coming along so nicely, I will have to post photos soon! We have a closet framed in for our washer/dryer and a new window in there! Oh, and we caught a mouse. He appeared to be the same mouse I saw the other evening, but we are keeping the traps set up incase he had a whole mouse family living in our wall.

My goal for this weekend is to get the stairs completely stripped and for Joe to get the hall painted. He has to do the hall because it involves a tall ladder on the stairs and I am a bit nervous about heights. I have some ideas about what to do with the stairs that I think may be fun and interesting, so we will have to see how that all plays out. First thing first, they need to be stripped :)

I find myself really wanting to pack up the kids and go to IKEA today as a way to blow off some steam. Lots of stress lately and IKEA is my idea of perfect retail therapy. Of course, my husband and I are a bit co-dependent and I think he would be very sad if I went without him.

We have support! And more expenses!

Just a few days back we discovered that we had no foundation. Today the contractor began his work to remedy this issue. These big tubes are now supporting the house where previously a single piece of wood was attempting to hold it up.

Here is a view from inside the bathroom:

Tonight we set mouse traps, cleaned up a bit, touched up the master bedroom paint, and tried to put in the ceiling fan. That didn't go too well. We discovered the ceiling isn't strong enough to support the awesome ceiling fan we bought. It will have to go back and we will just put in a nice light fixture. While setting up the mouse traps we found that we need a new oven. The door is broken mostly off and was simply propped up. There goes more money! Oh well, we knew this wouldn't be exactly a cheap adventure when we began :)

Of mice and... snakes????

Yesterday we encountered our 2nd injury on the job site. This time it was me :(  And it wasn't even construction related.... it was my BOB Revolution stroller kicking my ass. I was trying to pop it open so the kids could take the baby on a walk while we worked and I caught the bottom of it with the top of my foot (while wearing sandals). Now there is a gross goose egg on the top of my foot and I feel extra whiney about it. It hurt when I did it and then I kind of forgot about it until late afternoon when I was crawling around on the floor and kneeled back on top of it and thought I was going to faint. I would post a picture, but you all don't need to see how desperately I need a pedicure.

In related news, we got SOOOOOO much done at the house! Now the master bedroom is painted, the boys' room is painted, we got lots of holes patched and other various things. The contractor got carpet in the girls' room, took down the storm windows (and the wasp nests), fixed the broken stair and did new banisters that now meet code, and discussed the bathroom layout with us again. Good day at the house!

Today was Joe's b-day and so our very sweet friend, Jen, and her boys came over while we were painting and brought a cold 6 pack with them :) The kids ran and played while Joe and I painted and she pulled weeds. That was awesome! Something not so awesome happened when we were chatting in the kitchen... a mouse went running across the counter and then went into our stove/oven. Ugh. It was a big fella, too. Guess we need some traps. I am not afraid of mice, but afraid of what mice attract (snakes). So, you can imagine how THRILLED I was when the children came running up to report that they had found a snake in the back yard. Yeah, pretty sure I am not actually going to move into this house. I am that irrationally afraid of them. I am so sad this snake was chilling in my compost pile because I love composting stuff, but now I am going to be too afraid to even go back there. Maybe I need some hypnosis or therapy or something. I would jump infront of a moving car to save one of my kids, but if a snake were to slither our way it would be every man for himself and I would likely feed the snake one of the children to ensure that I had enough time to run away.

Here is our bedroom. The picture doesn't really do the color justice. It is a very pretty soft green. (see that super white ceiling? My man did that)

Owen's room is super-duper blue. He wanted it that way. 2.5 coats of primer and 3-4 coats of paint and it was finally done.

Girls' room with the new carpet. Pretend you can't see the paint splatters on the heater.

Our one disappointment was finding that the people who came in to paint over the lead paint didn't really prime well or use good paint that would adhere and so as the contractor was fixing the broken stairs, all of the freshly painted stuff was just falling off in huge sheets. Joe and I will have to remove it all, scuff it all up, and then repaint it all.

Another example of the paint issue.

But hey! Look at that brand new, not even broken stair :)

 Another shot of the girls' room.

We also have new light fixtures to install upstairs and a new ceiling fan to install in our bedroom. That will look so nice. We are really getting there. Now to finish off the upstairs, we have a few places that we need to touch up, do the lights, install all new light switches and power outlets and covers, and paint the hallway and the upstairs will be done and we will begin working our way downstairs.

Another Saturday of work

Today we tried to make things more comfortable for Edie who was stuck with us all day. The older two  had friends to visit or birthday parties to attend and Edie got the great joy of running yet again to Home Depot with us and picking out a power sander. Part of how we convinced her to come back to the house to work with us is that we brought a sleeping bag, DVD player, snacks, and let her just lay and relax for awhile.

Owen was being whiney at dinner, so we put his butt to work learning to use the new power sander we got. We pulled the gross carpet from the stairs and found a whole lot of glue under it that needs to come off so we can paint the stairs. This is not exactly fun, but keeps people busy.

We started priming walls!

Here are the stairs. Obviously there is a whole lot more to do yet! I promised the kids mini blizzards if they bust their butts working on them tomorrow.

The hall is all primed and ready to be painted.

We need a different light in the hall. This one is not at all our style.

Owen's room is primed and ready to go blue. It was a dark purple/pink color. 3 coats of primer. I am pooped!

We will need to get out the extension ladder to finish the rest of the hall that goes above the stairs.

Joe patched up the wall in the girls' room where he removed a half wall thing. We want to go back in and paint this.

Joe also filled all the cracks in the upstairs walls and our ceiling. Tomorrow we should really get somewhere on the painting and priming. How else would Joe want to spend Father's Day? :)

So, here is the deal

My expensive problem that I stated before? Yeah, half the bathroom doesn't have a foundation. Seriously. There was no way of telling that until Joe pulled the floor off and then started digging out some of the dirt to prepare it to put a new and level floor on. I guess that would explain why the bathroom was so uneven and sinking to one side. The entire bathroom is just resting on a wooden board. You couldn't see it from the outside because there was a cement lip poured around the base of the house (likely to help drive water away).  Some of the bathroom has basement under it, but the rest does not. My guess would be that many years ago there was a back porch area that was enclosed to make the bathroom space bigger. Building codes have changed over the years (keep in mind this house is more than 120 years old) and these are things they likely just didn't worry about.

The contractor got the building inspector out there yesterday morning and they came up with a plan together. We will need to put in a bunch of pillars and will basically build on those. I don't completely understand, but they think this is the best solution to this problem. Without a foundation, Joe has found a few fun things while digging.... including a mole who was quite surprised to be discovered by Joe's shovel as he was burrowing around. There was no harm brought to the mole, Joe is hoping that now that he has be disturbed that he will go burrow elsewhere.

I still don't know how much all of this is going to cost. While being all nervous about it, I cooked up a piece of thick bacon to eat and then after eating it realized that it isn't so good to sooth myself with food.... even if I do it in much smaller quantities than I used to. Oh well, I am only human and sometimes a piece of bacon works better than a prozac.

We ended up going out for dinner last night with my parents rather than working on the house anymore. I am thankful for that. I think we needed a wee bit of a break. Today, we will be back at it once Joe gets off work. Well, if the weather holds. We need to mow our lawn again and want to lay out some tarps for where we want our gardens in the future to kill off the grass. We also need to start thinking about prepping a few rooms for paint and finish pulling out all the staples in the girls' room floor so that it is ready for the carpet to go down. Their carpet is going to look so nice! And no animal urine!! And the lead paint issue has been being taken care of, which is making all the windows look nice and white and bright :)  You know, that is what is important, besides it suddenly being safe for the kids to eat the paint chips they find.

And it just got more expensive

So, being a couple of HGTV nerds, we completely knew that we would likely run into surprises along the way. Yep, it has happened. Some very expensive surprises. I don't want to say much more than that until we speak with the contractor and figure out a game plan, cost, and how we are going to fund the additional expenses. Besides, being all cryptic builds the anticipation, right? :)

Yesterday I had completely had it with the entire process. I was tired and with the kids ALL. DAY. LONG. and ran their happy asses all over town. Joe ended up working on the house after he finished work and I finally sent him a very snippy text about needing some help. He then came and was able to catch the end of the kids swimming, which was nice to share that time with him before I had to take off for a community event thing. I got video of the kids each going off the diving board, which was great. Owen backed out twice before he finally did it (with a gentle nudge from the teacher) and Edie just leaped without a second thought and then yelled, "That was AWESOME!" as soon as her little head came back above water :) That is just so the way that they are :)

I wish that there was a good way to cap the plumbing at the house. We have had the water turned off, but I really want to start putting in a garden and fruit trees, but we can't do that without water and we can't turn on the water without capping all the open plumbing. <sigh> it is just going to be a long process. A long, expensive process.

Little by little

Today being a normal work day meant that we had limited time over at the construction zone. However, the lead paint people started their portion of the work and then after Joe got home and the kids finished with swim lessons then we still got a wee bit of work done.

 Owen and Edie came with tonight to give us a hand.

Joe and I took out the kitchen island. It was pretty gross and pretty beat up. It had a cooktop on it that was chipped and broken. It was also a bit redundant since there is a regular oven/stove. Joe joked about adding one more in and then having a "super kitchen." However, I will be totally content with just a normal, but pretty kitchen.

Notice the sleeping baby on my back. That is how I have done nearly everything in this house. It means I work pretty slowly and lack flexibility. It also means that I burn more calories with an extra 17lb strapped to my back at all times :)

We let the kids go at it with hammers.

Kids went into the basement to look at the electrical with Joe. This is what they look like from the bathroom.

Our kitchen is so big without that island. We will likely put something else in here just so we have another work station, but for now I am appreciating how open it is. I cannot wait until we are ready to repaint the kitchen and make it all pretty :)

And then I stepped outside and appreciated these flowers growing by our garage. It is so refreshing to see something beautiful and something we don't need to change.

Weekend wrap-up

We got so much done this weekend! Joe and our wonderful friend, Steve, got the bathroom floor completely pulled up. You are staring into the basement in this photo :)

Here is the one disappointment of the weekend. Today I found that someone had taken a screw and put tons of holes in the walls in the front room. Grrr. Now that just adds to the amount of work we have to do. I guess it must have seemed like a fun idea. Of course, when I questioned the kids about it, all I got was, "Not me!" This not me person gets into lots of mischief around our house.

Got the carpet and the carpet pad pulled. now the girls' room doesn't stink like random animal urine. They will be getting a fresh carpet before we move in. They have the only room in the house that has carpet. I wish we could afford to put down hardwood in their room.

We got the rug pulled out of this room, knocked down the small wall by the door and pulled all the staples out of the floor from the carpet. We picked up a shop vac today and that helped put us in a good mood. It was so helpful to clean up a lot of the grime to show that we are getting closer to a livable home.

This next week the roof is going to be worked on and so will the lead paint. Joe and I will clean up the mold problem, pull the staples out of Owen's floor, and start priming rooms. Hopefully we will also get around to sanding the popcorn ceilings out of 3 rooms. Joe and I had to high-five one another over the amount we got done this weekend though!!