Just More Photos

During: Part 1

Don't be alarmed - I'm not going to try and blog every single day of the remodel. I'd bore even myself. However, I thought it worth noting my makeshift kitchen/dining room. If I do say so myself, it's pretty workable. We've effectively been using this kitchen since Sunday, but it's only been the past two days that the kitchen has been totally inaccessible. 

I also feel compelled to note that our contractors make a sink available to us every night so that we always have running water - they totally rock. 

We're also starting to see some real demolition. Aside from them not being able to get the dumpster into the alley, everything is sailing along perfectly. See for yourself. 

We've also found that we're damn lucky that the refrigerator didn't fall through the floor in the kitchen. There's nary a board to be seen in that corner - we really don't know what it was resting on. 

Now, on to day three!

Before: Part 3

There are only four parts to the Before posts, I promise it won't go on forever. In fact, we've just completed day two of the remodel, so this post is quite late. However, moving the entire contents of one's kitchen, bathroom, and catch-all-room-o-crap (mudroom), takes up quite a bit of time. Especially if you wish to have a marginally functional existence during the project. 

So, without further ado, part 3 of our series on Why the Cerdas Are Sinking Mountains of Cash Into Their Home. I'd like to draw your attention to several aspects of the above photos. Namely:

• That we've not been using this bathroom for many months due to the imminent migration of the toilet from the bathroom into the crawl space
  
• The overall and inescapable crappiness of the bathroom in general
  
• The evidence that this bathroom has had repeated and un-repaired water issues at least a handful of times over the past couple of decades
  
• That the plumbing was done with putty, duct tape, and pvc (I'm not shitting you)
  
• The fact that it was remodeled in the late 70's/early 80's using entirely salvaged materials (we like to think of it as green before their time)
  
• Did I mention that the toilet was going to fall through the floor?
  

I won't bother with the final Before post until it is time to tackle the upstairs bathroom. Now, on to the During posts.

Away We Go!

She's three! Despite her best efforts to get either Chad or I to do her in, she's made it to three. If she weren't so freakin' cute, I think she'd be history. I think it's payback. She was an exceptionally easy baby, if you don't count the not sleeping till she was 9 months old part. She's ornery, stubborn, clever, and willful. And yet, from time to time, she can be the sweetest, most endearing girl. 

I think that it's a built-in survival mechanism. It goes something like this:

• Friday, 8:00 am, spend 1/2 an hour throwing a screaming tantrum on the floor because Dad unrolled her socks
  
• Friday, 8:30 am, spend another 1/2 hour saying "no way!" to Mommy about the size of bites I cut
  
• Friday, 9:00 am, spend an hour running around the house, refusing to listen. We especially like the "if mommy wants me to do it, I'll do the very opposite game." This generally consist of things like taking clothes off, rather than putting them on.
  
• Friday, 10:00 am, spend two brutal hours making our way from store to store on errands.
  
• Friday, 3:00 pm, just got up from a nap, "Mommy, Grandma and Grandpa are here!!!! Now, you and I both have our mommies here. You and I both have our daddies here. I'm so happy!"
  

You get the picture - almost kill her, almost kill her, almost kill her, awwww she's so cute! Repeat - all day, dawn to dusk. I, for one, am exhausted.  

Before: Part 2 The Mudroom

Hmmm, I'm not really certain how much commentary these really need. I think perhaps I should only point out the really crucial details:

1. Note the door to the mudroom from the kitchen - we have an Ikea curtain acting as insulation, most likely this in part accounts in part for the heating bills...

2. Note the quality workmanship at the bottom of the door. Hell, is there anything that duct tape can't fix? 

3. Can you find my pots and pans? Yes, this really is the only place to put them.

4. And, note the fancy storage facilities for my small appliances. Those shelves were groaning under kitchen overflow not more than a couple of weeks ago. The kitchen is now fairly close to empty as we prepare for the demolition. 

5. Did I note that the mudroom is open to the out of doors, is uninsulated, and is chock-full of crap that doesn't fit in the kitchen (note the 3 cabinets we do have - all very full. 

Tomorrow the downstairs bathroom horror show, then on to the upstairs that is, if possible, worse. Then, it'll be back to blogging as usual until I have some during photos! 

Before: Part 1

Since we're just about to be in the territory of "during" photos, I thought I'd start excavating the before photos and getting them posted. 

I'll comment along the way for those of you who've a) not seem my kitchen, b) not seen my kitchen in all its glory, c) been gullible enough for me to talk out of seeing my kitchen. 

We have a four-square style home, an architectural style that equates to a roughly square home of two stories, with four rooms on each floor. Ours is no exception, but that we have a small addition on the back that contains a bathroom, a kitchen, and a mudroom. We're basically going to be gutting this entire back bump-out. We'll be keeping the bathroom where it is, but fully replacing everything. We're going to incorporate the mudroom into the kitchen, to achieve a more spacious kitchen. We'll be without kitchen and downstairs bath for more than two months. Lest you ask why we'd do such a thing, let me show you...

**Note: in the photos above, the china cabinet looks vaguely respectable at first glance. Don't let it fool you. It is as half-assed as everything else that's been remodeled in the house (the stuff that's never been touched is in remarkably good condition.) Look closely at the two photos that follow the main image of the china cabinet. It actually has exhaust plumbing running through the cabinet, and they basically just cut a chunk out of the drawers to make them accommodate the pipe - stellar engineering. 

On the Drawbacks of Wearing Panties

I just found this photo on our computer. Chad must have snagged it.

Keira alternatively hates and loves getting her picture taken, but mostly she hates it. That makes it really hard to get good candid shots of her because she's always focusing on the camera whenever it's out and won't go on with whatever she's doing. 

The result is that every photo of her looks relatively similar. It's either the top of her head or her grinning like it's a contest. But, this gem really captures her personality - for better or worse, that sinister grin sums her up really well. 

Now, on to the topic of this week's post - undies. Or, should I say, why we've now discovered that undies aren't always the schiznit. You see, sometimes when you wear panties, you get budgies. Yes, you heard me correctly. According to our daughter, if you hike up your undies too far, you end up with an avian infestation of your nether-regions. And, then you have to pull out your budgie, or ask your mommy to pull it out for you - and yes, you caught that correctly as well. I can now add to my mom resume, budgie extractor. Poor parakeets, they never saw it coming.