It has begun...

Ah, the yellow siding is going.  

James removed this beautiful pile in order to cut out a hole for the first new window. I feel better already...

An update

The upstairs windows have been ordered.  The electrical and heat/air and plumbing -- all done.  Insulation estimates are being gathered.

Next up. Removing THIS: (the hideous, rotting yellow siding)  Yes, we'll be sad to see it go...

Then, taking out the windows, installing new ones.

New plywood, new siding, insulation.  

That's going to be a busy weekend!

And what's after that??? SHEET ROCK!!!!!

(This post mainly for future reference)

The walls upstairs are a mess.  James discovered that there is no plywood on the outside of the house (under the siding). There are also multiple "fixes" to address some not-quite-right measuring.  He's temped to tear it apart, but I think we're going to work with it.  Good times.

The Power

Time for some electrical work.

Switches, plugs, and fans in place.

Walls, people. We have walls.

Well, this is big, folks.  There are bedrooms upstairs. Closets. Doorways. A hall.  Wow.  James knocked this part out in a day. It is, of course, what he spent 13+ years of his life doing daily -- framing. And he's good at it.  

The girls took their first tour and proudly stood in their bedrooms, checking out closets and running up and down the hall.

Gwyneth also decided it was time to take a bath...

And because I can't resist the cuteness... Lily pretended to use the "toilet"...

And here's Gwyn giving you the rundown...

A Pile and a Fire

Did I mention the neighbors' house caught on fire?  Yes, while we were peacefully playing with Play-doh, a fire began next door, outside our living room window. It was quite a traumatizing experience for the girls: while I was outside making sure there was no one in the burning house, my girls were inside, thinking they were about to be burned. I, of course, knew they were okay, but they didn't know that. Poor things. By the time the fire trucks arrived and I got back inside, the girls were all screaming and crying. I don't blame them one bit. It was scary.  And best of all, we get to stare at the damage every day.  It really hasn't helped them get past the drama...

(Update: 3 months later, it's still untouched.  Come on, insurance money!)

In the meantime, James has been collecting a pile o' trash (yes, we already took one load out to the trash -- this is all new).  I'm grateful that the fire didn't touch this!

Bye-Bye Itch-ulation

James is always diligent to remind the girls not to touch "the pink stuff", and therefore, they have assumed it is actually called "itch-ulation" -- cute, huh?
Well, it was time to remove said itch-ulation to make way for the new stuff. James is still thoroughly enjoying all demolition parts of the remodel. Talk about stress relief.

See future blogs for the "after"...