Progress...and HEAT!!!

We are still in the throws of construction mess, however, there have been big strides made, namely I have first floor heat! That has been HUGE! My eventual bedroom downstairs has gotten new windows, ceiling and walls and a newly framed in closet (it had none before). The dining room had its ceiling and the top walls above the chair rail painted this weekend by Steve and myself. The kitchen floor is finished and our friend Kevin is working on new cabinets/drawers surrounding the refrigerator so I can hopefully get my kitchen boxes emptied and have a really functioning and well stocked kitchen again. Caitie's eventual bedroom upstairs has been totally gutted and is awaiting the contractor to head up there. Right now our contractor is coming only when it rains as he is splitting time between our work and a roof job he has. The one thing I STILL don't have is a damn fence. It is still my biggest stressor and with cold weather here it is NOT fun to be out walking at night, which is the best time to walk Sadie so she has the smallest chance of acting like a raving lunatic!

Steve was here this weekend and for the first time we didn't have to spend the entire weekend working on the house! We took the girls shopping for winter gear, ate out, watched a family movie together (Ant Man and the Wasp...so good!) and just got to relax and spend time together, it was very much needed for all of us! The next time new see him will be when we head to TN for Thanksgiving break.

The girls are doing well and keeping busy. They both just auditioned for the school play today and will find out if they got parts on Wednesday. They both also tried out a Jui-Jitsu class on Sunday and really liked it. It's close to home so they can walk there and since it's on a Sunday it doesn't interfere with school work etc.

I've been busy with new private clients and classes. I am currently working with this incredibly sweet and adorable baby bulldog, she makes my day when I get to see her. I just spent a week in Memphis at the Association of Professional Dog Trainers conference and really enjoyed myself. On top of getting to see some great speakers and meet people, I was able to spend time with two of my best girl friends AND see Steve when he and the girls came for the last weekend there. It was a nice way to spend my birthday.

Life is pretty mundane, which I can't complain too much about. I'm feeling much less stress than I have been the last few months. I'll taking boring over prolonged chaos any day!

Enjoy the day!

Wall and window demo in my bedroom

I got rid of this third window so my bed could go on this wall

Putting my bedroom back together...a new closet is built!

Caitie's bedroom demo'd...neither of these rooms had any significant insulation in the walls and barely any in the attic above Caitie's room.

Newly built kitchen cabinet progress

I got a little carried away scraping the ceiling...

And in the process spilled paint...sigh

New Dining room walls and windows and a new coat of paint!

Joy!

1 month and 8 days later

So, I have a fully functional laundry room that is only waiting for door trim to be painted, a fully functional downstairs bathroom with a lovely large shower and a sliding barn door that is just waiting for touch up paint to the trim, a beautiful new back splash so no more wall dust on my stove top! The kitchen floor had its' final sanding and is awaiting the varnish (or whatever the heck it's called!) That I will be doing on Wednesday (if all goes according to plan) the dining room is still waiting for one wall of new drywall but I have one new bedroom door and a new basement door, no more ugly bi-fold doors! Other than that....it's all still the same. We are having another friend come in to finish up the downstairs bedroom, Caitiff's room upstairs and the bathroom upstairs hopefully quickly enough so we can get our heating system up and moving before it gets much colder. Right now a few large space heaters are sufficing to take the chill out of the air when we wake up to 48 degrees outside! I am STILL waiting for my yard to be fenced! I swear that has been the biggest strain on me and caused the most stress. The poor dogs have been relegated to one leash walk a day, going out back on leash for potty breaks and being sequestered in the one room that isn't torn apart. Sadie is handling it relatively well, I think the stress has gotten to Jojen. He is frantic in his sniffing outside now, even more food driven than normal (and he's a pig on a good day) and he's just plain more spazzy than normal. His nearly impeccable training has collapsed as well. It is very disconcerting but I'm doing my best.

The girls are doing well in school both have all A's with one B so far. We discovered the other day, thanks to the paper because the school doesn't officially recognize it any other way, that both girls made high honors last quarter in the last school year. I believe Caitie made high honors all year and since Rylie went back late she was only there for that quarter. Rylie was excited because "colleges like that sort of thing". Rylie is challenging herself with her AR reading goal this year. The AR is Accelerated Reader and it's a program that tests your knowledge of books you read. You accumulate points based on how well you do on the comprehension tests. By day 4 of school Rylie had already surpassed her given AR goal by double so she asked her teacher to put her goal at 1000. As of last week she was over 800 and we are making a list of books she's read that she hasn't tested for yet. This goal is quarterly too so she will need to meet or exceed this goal each quarter, this is the type of challenge she lives for. Saturday she went to the library and brought home 40 books, by Sunday she had read 5! I have't tested her but I have a strong suspicion she is a speed reader. Her comprehension of what she reads is off the charts, we've quizzed her, many times! It's crazy and inspiring! Of course I am their mom so I will brag on their good qualities, but they aren't perfect, believe me! They still make me crazy with being late in the mornings for school, not picking up their clothes after a shower and general teenage stuff, for the most part I can't complain, they are good to each other and really good kids.

Steve still loves his job in TN and is doing really well. He still hates being away from us and I am afraid that he may turn into the crazy guinea pig man (instead of crazy cat lady) LOL We miss him a lot and really look forward to his visits, even if we seem to be working on the house every time.

So that's where we are, still wrapped up in crazy and taking it day to day, sometimes, minute to minute!

1 month and 7 days later...

I am still drowning in a dusty, deconstructed, slowly being put back together house. Things are progressing but not fast enough for my level of impatience! All the asbestos piping was removed, the old boilers taken out, old radiators and piping removed, walls have been torn down, floor jackhammered (yes, jackhammered) up; but we've also put in a new bathroom floor, a new shower downstairs, new electrical...all over and still more to do, new toilet, sink, washer plumbing, new subfloor in the pantry and fresh insulation in the bathroom walls. Still on deck: new windows, replacing walls, hooking up washer and dryer (finally), brand new heating system to be installed (currently in the works) linoleum in bathroom and laundry room, finish work and then it's on to my bedroom! Yeah, that list is mainly the kitchen, new full bath and laundry room! It is no longer a project it is truly a renovation of an old house! I would be truly lost and overwhelmed though if it weren't for the help and friendship of the Beaulieu family. They have really made this process much more bearable.

The girls have been lucky to hang out in TN these last 3 weeks and not deal with all the mess and constant flow of work crews. They are happily enjoying central AC, a pool and all day tech access! We did manage to get them enrolled in a couple online classes through Outschool.com and they are doing some review math lessons on IXL but mostly they are enjoying the new phones we gave them. We held off longer than most but it has come to the point where they are spending enough time away from us and on their own that we felt it was time they had a reliable way to contact us.

Steve and I had a wonderful anniversary celebration in Boston. It was so nice to get away and just spend time together. My visit to TN over his birthday weekend was equally nice and now I am counting down the long 4 weeks until he comes home for and extended weekend over Labor Day.

I hope you are all enjoying these last vestiges of summer!

Karie helping me take down the ugly brick facing

Icky insulation under the window

New plumbing!!!

Pretty new shower in what used to be a laundry-1/2 bath

Kevin and Wyatt ripping up the brick hearth

making one of my glass projects

Cutest little red menace

He does this and I forgive all his transgressions

Best napping buddy

Sherman found a perfect hiding spot

Holy mess, Batman...

I have never been accused of being a neat freak (except by my kids, and that speaks to their lack of neatness not my uber neatness!) but there is nothing relaxing about living in a house that is being torn up and worked on in every single room. Trying to make food on a tiny sliver of the only counter that you were able to clean, cook in a toaster oven on the floor cause the outlets are being worked on in the kitchen, having to move my bed from room to room so painting can be done or the electrician can install new overhead lighting or switches or outlets...I'm exhausted! However, it is exciting to see the slow but steady progress. Two rooms are completely painted with new overhead lighting, wiring that is up to code and switches rather than dimmers. Both rooms are painted in the same colors as the Ashlee Dr. house so it makes me happy to see those colors again. There have been setbacks but also some pleasant surprises as well, all in all it's a pretty typical home renovation project. Walls will need to be re-sheetrocked in some rooms and the floors need work. The important stuff is getting done, plumbing repairs, electrical and wall/ceiling repairs and then we can tackle the other projects like fencing, windows, and adding a shower to the 1/2 bath downstairs. The first week Caitie and I were here she spent most of every day down at the library so it was just me and the workers getting stuff done, now I have both girls home as well as the dogs and cats...making things a little more challenging. Luckily I can crate the dogs upstairs away from the work being done and the cats can be locked in there too, not ideal but it's the safest option.

The week in Maine was gorgeous weather! We missed the scorching temps here and even though it was nearly as hot there, it was by the ocean so, not so bad! The water was really nice and refreshing. Caitie spent two whole days in the water on her boogie board or swimming in the waves or snorkeling. When Steve came we all played in the waves, well, Steve held my hand while I got hammered and nearly drowned by the waves but it was still fun. We had a lovely night for fireworks in York Village and the display was really great. We had originally planned to have Steve go up to Bar Harbor to pick up Rylie and then bring her back to York but it turns out she had an opportunity to be involved in a photo shoot with a National Geographic photographer for some photos for his portfolio and for AIO (her camp) to use for promotional materials so we decided to all drive up on Friday, pick her up and then spend the night in Bar Harbor so she could participate on Saturday morning. It was nice to spend a little more time in BH, it's a beautiful place.

We picked up the dogs and cats on Sunday and were pleasantly surprised to hear how great they all did and how much the staff loves them, ALL of them! Even crazy Sadie and grumpy Sherman got glowing reviews. Although, Sadie may be bouncy and loud but she is definitely a sweet dog, so I'm not that surprised that they loved her. They are all adjusting to the new house and all the new sounds, smells and activity. Jojen is actually more stressed than Sadie but I am giving them all Rescue Remedy and trying to establish some normal routines to help. I'm hopeful by August the house is in much more livable shape (all our belongings come this Sunday, YIKES). I'll just keep breathing and looking forward to when Steve comes back and we get to spend a couple days in Boston for our anniversary!

Enjoy some pics!

Our little cottage in York

Low Tide on Long Sands Beach

 High Tide

 Exhausted!

 Tide pool discoveries

 Dinner before the fireworks

Waiting for the fireworks!

Rylie and her friends at AIO

Saying goodbye to daddy

New stove that won't require a chunk of drywall be carved out!

My favorite color from Ashlee Dr., Mosaic Glass, in my new living room!

Freshly painted pantry (it used to be mauve!)

New front door lamp!

New front porch light!

Enjoy your day, tomorrow is never promised!