86'n It

Other good news: the tree that the cat uses to climb up onto the roof and into the house is a HUGE cherry tree. The cherries are really sweet and delicious too. I had to get some before the birds got to them. Here is to hoping that I don't have explosive diarrhea tomorrow.

We also really need to mow the lawn. The Tuna loves the long grass though. Isn't she cute?

Gas: Good News #1: Today was really exciting day at the less-crackier-by-the-day Crack House.
First, it was confirmed that we get a big discount on our "dream range". It is a Fisher & Paykel 36" gas range with a true convection oven. We had started to think about not getting it due to its relatively hefty price, so I was really pumped. We have to work out details, but still good news.


Power: Good news #2: we have light switches and power outlet boxes!  Almost done with electrical, so plumbing is up next. Check out the one wall of many walls of new switches:

Water: Good news #3: Marc finished the second opening from the hallway to the dining room. He had to make another header, but it is great to have this finally done too. things are really moving along it seems.

Only bad news is that the tankless water heater is most likely going to be put on hold for a couple of years. It requires us to be done with the kitchen and that is some ways off. The old water heater always had a very very slow leak under it and is essentially rusted out the bottom. We are pretty sure the only thing keeping the water in at the bottom is a 3" of deposits at the bottom. Yeah. Anyway for the last 2 weeks the puddle has just gotten bigger and bigger.
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Any second now, it is going to burst and spew 40 gallons of water all over the basement, so we are just going to get a new electric water heater. Boo!

My dad has been here since Thursday helping us with the "kitchen". Needless to say, our house is so wacky that he hasn't even started on kitchen work yet. It turns out that about 60% of the electricity for our house was run thru these 2 old cloth wires ----->

Yeah, looks real safe right? Now imagine this powering about 10 lights, 3 space heaters, 20 outlets, etc.... How this house did not burn down, I have no idea OR how the previous owner was able to power 3 space heaters on this (as we saw when we first saw the house) I will never understand.

Scary stuff.

In addition, I spray-painted this fan black instead if it's klassy flimsy brass.

After all the dead cats, hash pipes, and mouse nests, it was terrific to finally find something cool in our house.
Here is a postcard we found this weekend while demo'ing. It is a change of address postcard Pvt. William Young sent to his parents (Mr. & Mrs. G. W. Young) in December 1944 when he was leaving Fort Bragg, NC and being stationed at Camp Blanding, FL.



I will have to find out from Marc (who did research on our house at the library), but the Young Family lived in our house for about 10 years I believe. Pretty cool right?

I only studied a week for this one due to procrastination and kitchen demolition work, but I had a good feeling coming out of it which I hate to admit because then karma will for sure make me fail. Now I wait 2 weeks for the results. Ugh.

I'm sad, but relieved at the same time. We did our last good bit of demo this weekend. Eliminating the two closets to make room for the new bathroom and tearing down the old, sagging, water-damaged dining room ceiling.

Here is the dining room pre-demo and mid-demo. Like all the dust in the air?

So he does "hilarious" things to me like write my own name on my chest in dirt. Yeah, real funny. I was just too exhausted to even stop him.

This is what he was doing while I was getting dirty:

My advice to architectural interns wanting to take the ARE (Architectural Registration Exams):

Don't do this why you are renovating your house.
Or you could end up like this:
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Thanks for taking this nice pic hun. You just wait until you take your exams.
We might have to do that loft in the attic then.
Payback is twice as nice.

Luckily most likely IN Marc's truck with him, not in a pile of trash. I was all set and excited to upload photos of this weekend's progress (it was really painful). Then Marc, unbeknownst to me, decided to take the camera to the dump with him. I'll get him to send me the photos later, but for now, he better be getting some good dump photos.

Last weekend as I was procrastinating studying and landscaping in the front, a neighbor walked by and complimented me on how the house was coming along. I told her thanks, but it felt like it was moving pretty slow. She said, Well gosh, just think about what it looked like a year ago. And I told her I couldn't bear to!

Then her daughter asked to pet Tuna, who has a fear of children after being chased by my 2 nephews (who are actually really nice to cats). Anyway, as I was trying to catch Tuna and hold her so the girl could pet her, (with no success, she just clawed my chest and ran for the hills) I started thinking about what the house indeed did look like one year ago.... Then I got the chills and shivers so bad that the poor neighbor lady grabbed her child and fled yelling "I knew there had to be druggies still living here! (Just joking.)