Working on the House

Sorry for no updates on the house lately (though I surmise that everyone who is really interested in how the house is coming along was here for Thanksgiving). I've been busy and didn't get many pictures through a lot of the work.

There has been MUCH work since October, when I last updated. Drywall was installed. Plumbing was installed (one toilet doesn't yet work, but the other does, and all the sinks work). In fact, Andrew helped Uncle David put fixtures in one of the bathrooms.

We have done lots of painting; one night we had a painting party and painted our bedroom (blue), painted the new upstairs bathroom (yellow), painted the new laundry room (green), and primed the new kitchen area.

The new flooring was installed, and it is wonderful.

Then we had another painting party and painted the kitchen area (two brown shades). This is what it looked like Thanksgiving, shortly before food was served.

There is still work to be done - the siding is going up, and there is a deck to be built on the back (right now, the first step is a doozy). The closets need shelves, bathroom lights (and fans) need installed, and the bathroom off the kitchen needs a door.

But if you look at what we had on Labor Day and what we have now... what a difference!

Thanksgiving!

So much has happened in the past year, so much to be thankful for! In fact, we have a lot to be thankful for right within the last couple of weeks. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering if the house would or could possibly be ready for company. We had people in pretty much every day doing something, whether it was plumbing, running electric, putting in doors, and so much more, but shortly before the first of the company came, the house was (almost) ready for company.

There is no door on the main level bathroom, which is OK because for some reason the toilet isn't operational (a good reminder not to use it). There is a lot of cosmetic work that still needs to be done, closets and pantry need shelves, and there are some other things that are still waiting, but the laundry room is operational, as is the new upstairs bathroom!

We hosted my family for Thanksgiving, and it was great. On Sunday afternoon, my brother and his wife got here for their stateside visit, and it was great to see them. On Tuesday, my parents got here, and on Wednesday, my sister and her family got here.

Our Thanksgiving meal was a thing of beauty. Everything made with fresh ingredients (if at all possible) and lots and LOTS of real cream. Mmmmmm. I consumed a year's worth of carbonated caffeinated beverages. Mmmmmm. How many miles do I need to run to make up for it all?

We've played lots of games, including such classics as Mouse Trap and Dominoes (with the 4 year olds) and Pangea, Settlers of Catan, Chrononauts, and Bohnanza with the adults. It's been a lot of fun with not much drama at all (except from Andrew's little cousin on his first night sleeping here. Oh, did I say "sleeping"? He didn't do much of that, and was up "ready to play" at 1:00 am - but even he decided the second night was fine for sleeping!)

This was the best Thanksgiving all year!

Slowly But Surely...



...the work on the house continues!

The plywood is off the double door upstairs (the door into what used to be the sunroom, which will be replaced as the room is transformed into a bathroom).

It's amazing how bright the stairway is once again. It's also a reminder of how quickly the weather is getting chilly (supposed to freeze tonight).

This is what the upstairs looks like inside. No, this isn't the finished product, but it is a lot closer!

Outside the roof has shingles (I've heard that's a really painful condition; I almost feel sorry for it), windows and a door are in, and the house is wrapped up. Careful: that first step's a doozy!

Today "they" are supposed to be coming by to do more work. It's a beautiful day for work, but we're unfortunately competing with our church's fall festival AND the ohio state football game (which was a TBA on the schedule but then was scheduled for right smack dab in the middle of the festival. grumble mutter fuss).

Progress!

I last blogged about the progress on the house a month ago, when the work (finally) started. After the addition was torn down, a hole was dug, a footer was poured, and a foundation was built. This past week, Chip came and built the floor.

This past Saturday we returned from an outing to find Chip back at work, building walls. We (meaning Tara and I, as well as Julie and Johanna, who happened to be passing by at the time) helped him lift the third wall into place. Then, as I chased after our kids, Tara did the sawing and Chip did the building.


Sunday afternoon, I left to be a supervising elder at a charge conference in Heath (just up the road). When I returned, there was a crew working on the house (no, not these guys. or these guys, either). Chip, Arney, Dr. Jim, Terry, and Rudy were all there to build the second floor.


It looks like this might happen after all! :-)

I've Got the Power!

Now it's for real. Power was restored to the Greater Millersport Metropolitan Area as of about 7:00 pm last night. Life as we know it has resumed!

I've Got the Power!

Or maybe not. Like 1.9 million Ohio residents, we have no electricity.

More Work Going On

Digging the footer revealed some very nice dirt, which we needed for the side yard by the retaining wall, while the workmen worked in the back, Tara loaded dirt around to the side yard, where more work took place.

As you can probably tell, they loved it.

Here are Those Promised Pictures

Digging in the Dirt

In my first year participating in the Appalachia Service Project, we were digging holes to put in a handicap accessible ramp off an existing porch. The going was tough and slow, especially because of the rocky West Virginia soil.

One little boy was standing on the porch, leaning on the railing. He sighed and wistfully lamented, "You guys are lucky! You get to play in the dirt!"

The second stage of work on the addition was the digging in the dirt. We had some boys who were really excited to see a backhoe in our own backyard! They dug a nice hole for the footer.

The soil was very nice, so Tara appropriated some of it for the retaining wall alongside our driveway (it drops off into the neighbor's yard). Then our boys got to do their own construction in the dirt.

(photos to come)

Tearing Down the House

Phase One of the house remodel began today with a crew showing up bright and "early" (not Vinson kid early, but certainly Labor Day adult early!) to tear the "addition" off the back of the house. The addition included the back of our kitchen/dining room (first floor) and an unusable sunroom (second floor). The problem was in the foundation.... wait, I mean the lack of a foundation. Therefore everything slanted, windows wouldn't seal, open, shut, etc.

The goal of the project is to dig and pour a foundation, rebuild the addition (including a 1/2 bath on the first floor and a full bath & laundry room and a huge closet on the second floor).

Anyway, this morning the guys from church showed up to destroy.

Jonathan was really excited about the action - he was so excited that he got out his play tools to "help" and wanted to be wherever the action was. Andrew was a little more hesitant and nervous about it; he didn't seem to really understand what was going on and why he couldn't play with all the fun people who were at his house.

The first step was to take out all the windows and the door, to take off the siding, and to remove all electricity (and the couple of fixtures) to the addition. That went pretty quickly. Then it was time to take off the roof. Thanks to Arney, who brought his toy (a crane), it went much more quickly than it would have otherwise.

Then they used the crane to tear the walls off the upper floor of the addition. That was exciting, especially as the walls swung around suspended high overhead toward the dump truck. Tara thought it looked like he was taking apart a doll house with the walls swinging around with their wallpaper and/or paint.

It took a lot more muscle (and time) than anyone thought it would to take apart the addition, because it was way better built than anyone imagined. In fact, Bill S (who really knows his stuff) remarked that if the original builders had made the pilings 1 1/2 feet deeper, we'd never have had to do any of this in the first place. As it was, they didn't, so we did, but the rest of the addition was built sturdily, so it took a lot of muscle to tear it up. Chip was up to the task, though.

After tearing out the walls of the lower level, it came time to rip up the floor. Speaking of floor, we found that (once again) there was beautiful hardwood flooring under the carpeting in the sunroom - and it extends into the hallway upstairs... look for that to be exposed sometime in the not so distant future. Anyway, the dining area floor had been redone multiple times, and each time all that was done was a new level was laid upon the last. There were many levels including linoleum and other flooring, possibly to counteract the sinking of the whole section. Finally this section was ripped up and put in the dump truck.

Now, besides the clean-up, the only thing left was the back steps and the railing which Tara had repainted only 2 months ago. We all teased about saving the railing (even though it got scraped up a couple of times and was eventually ripped right out of the concrete steps).

Now the hole is drywalled over (in the kitchen - plywood covers the upper hole behind the double doors we're losing), awaiting the new room addition. And tomorrow the backhoe arrives...

Let's Get a Deal... or... God is Really in Charge



A couple of years ago, Tara and I went on a wonderful pastor's retreat in Holmes County, Ohio (home of a huge Amish community). On one of our day trips through Amish country, after coming to the conclusion that though Amish furniture is highly superior, we could not realistically afford it, we stumbled upon a wonderful furniture store with really decent prices.

We didn't have the money right at that time to buy anything, but we decided we'd be back. As we moved, we came to the conclusion that we wouldn't have space for our huge office desk (especially since I won't be keeping a designated home office), and since Pastor Dennis (my replacement at NK) didn't have one, we asked him if he'd like ours. Thus we didn't move that heavy beast of a desk, but we still needed something to put our computer(s) on (instead of Tara's craft tables)! We were also looking for two bookshelves, not wanting to (but willing to) settle for the el-cheap-o pressboard kind we already have.


Thus the whole GPS fiasco of last week, where we returned without having found the store or purchasing any furniture.

Now we figured that we knew where the store had to be, so we went back on Monday, only to come to the conclusion (after an entire day of driving, getting lost, and having the only positive being that we did find the P. Graham Dunn store and that we did buy two pieces of artwork at a greatly reduced price from their sale area) that this store is Brigadoon.

When we returned home, Tara decided to check out craig's list for furniture. That very day, someone in Westerville had listed two desks, two bookshelves, and a filing cabinet, all for $400. Can you say "deal"??? So we planned to get the furniture on Wednesday.

Wednesday morning, Tara reserved a rental truck so we could pick the furniture up.

Wednesday afternoon was when things started to get interesting.

After I'd come home from work, a family from church stopped by because while they were at a Christian bookstore, their eight-year-old daughter found an angel ornament with Tara's name on it, and she just had to buy it for Tara. We told them what we were doing later, and the mom said, "My husband has a truck that you could use."

Not only was it a truck, but it had an extended cab so we all could go (and not take two cars).

When we got there, we found the furniture was in excellent shape (the only thing wrong with them is that there are some scratches on the top of the desks, but that's my fault for forgetting to put a blanket between items when I loaded the truck). The couple is moving to Phoenix and selling off many of their (very nice) home furnishings. He even helped us carry the (heavy) stuff out to the truck and load it on. It all fit exactly in the truck.

We got it loaded and headed back for Millersport. Just as we arrived home, two women from church, out walking togther, passed by. They asked, "Do you want some help unloading that?" Shortly we were joined by five teenagers, all eager and willing to help us move. One of them even apologized that they were out of town when we moved in.

When they finished, they were debating whether they would go play basketball or just go for ice cream. They even refused my offer to give them some ice-cream money (I was holding money out at them and they waved it away).

The furniture was exactly what we wanted, and for a fraction of the cost.

Isn't God good?

Last night the church Trustees met and the main topic of discussion was the parsonage. The result of the discussion is that this is what is going to happen:

1. The "addition" is going to come off. This contains the dining area (that lists severely) and the sunroom (that is not heated or cooled and is thus unusable most of the year). This process will also include moving the air conditioner unit that sits right by the addition

2. The foundation will be fixed (so it doesn't sink anymore).

3. A new addition (not to be confused with New Edition) will be built where the old addition used to be. This addition will be slightly larger and will include the following: on the first floor (off the kitchen), it will have a 1/2 bathroom, a pantry, and a new eating area. We will get new floor covering for this area and the kitchen (hopefully something that will show a little less of the mess that certain male members of the family make on the floor every meal). Upstairs will be a new full bathroom, laundry room, and walk-in closet.

3. The current bathroom (upstairs) will be remodeled and incorporated into a master suite.

All this work is set to begin next week and to be done by Labor Day...