The address

One of the things which drew me to our house was the beautiful stained glass over the shop door. When the shop door was removed I made the guys take extra care of the stained glass so that we could keep it - assuming we could find a space 4 feet wide. I was surprised to learn that the glass was not original to the house (oh, of course - Burgundy was called Craps originally) or not even done when it became a shop, probably around 1930. The beautiful glass was done by the lovely and talented Cindy during their remodel, some time in the 1982-1994 time. It's going home with the rightful owner, Mike, and I hope to some day fashion my own - smaller - version. I've long wanted to learn to work with stained glass - Cindy has inspired me.

Others before us

Mike E. came last night. The OTHER Mike E. The one who lived in and loved and cursed this house from 1982 till 1994. He and Cindy labored many hours on this place which started out much worse than the condition in which we received it. They took it back to bare bones through the house. He showed us albums and we talked a bit about Cindy - who he lost last year in a car accident. She must have been a very special lady. Here are a couple of his before-and-after shots. They did an amazing job, didn't they??

The heat is coming

Not very clear but he's not yet to the close part.

Now there's the tight squeeze.

The heat is coming - but so is the A.C.!! Mike has been working on the duct work for the heater and a.c. that Colin put in back in December. He spent some really sweaty hours in a tiny space this evening getting the hardest part of the ducting connected. It was all very carefully engineered to fit the space, but for the most part there was no space for the INSTALLER available. But he managed - as he usually does - and we're steps closer to having cool air.

Ever onward

After a busy day at school (trustees have been on campus all week), Mike came home just after the foam guys left and was excited to see their work. It inspired him to begin to lay the plywood subflooring upstairs in the section that was foamed. He began working as I left for a meeting. True to his pattern, he worked while I was gone and got all that could possibly be done finished by the time I got home. Hard working guy, huh?

Stay puffed marshmallow man exploded!

It's been a crazy week of prep, and we had a real disappointment yesterday when we'd stayed up late Tuesday night to be ready for foam insulation blowers and they didn't come. But they had unavoidable problems and today were here by 9. They were great - a father and son from Arkansas. The son did the spraying - in a white suit that made me think of Ghostbusters - and the father handed him things and cut off the excess foam. It was sprayed on in a layer that looked like it was about 1/8th of an inch, and within 15 seconds it expanded past the wall studs and in 45 seconds it was firm. In the upstairs room, where it went into the roof line, the floor (for sound barrier), and even some walls it now feels like you're walking into a big marshmallow - or into a pillow. This is supposed to be really good - made from soybeans - and good for sound as well as heat insulation. We can tell a difference already.

Miles to go before we sleep

Pulling down some drywall.

This is MY wall! I'm now a demo-diva.

Kitchen is almost totally gone!

Will this prep NEVER be finished?

Yesterday Mike made it home by noon - and I did too, after almost 4 hours of Lowes/Home Depot shopping. From then until 10:15, when we felt pity on our neighbors and stopped running power tools, he worked steadily and I did a thing or two. Most of these pictures are from Saturday, but represent what we've been up to - all in order to be ready for the spray foam insulation guys again. The school, for some unexplained reason, did NOT cancel the visit of the Trustees, after knowing we had a busy week. Mike has to be "on" all day today, Tuesday, and even my presence is requested this evening. Mr. Optimism says "we'll make it" by working late tonight.

So much - so little time

Two men came with a big truck and white plastic overalls and sprayed some of the insulation in. They were early (see other post) so we didn't have all of the prep done, but the reason they left without finishing was that the foam was a "winter mix" instead of a summer one (it was in the 70's), and that makes it pull away from the wall. Not good. So they went away with a promise to be back on Wednesday and we've been working fast and furiously since. That was Thursday afternoon and we'll do well to be finished by Wednesday; there's so much to be done.

I love the spray stuff, though. I just kept thinking of "Ghostbusters" and the Sta-puffed marshmallow man! With a house this old and the distance between any two joists or studs being like no other, the time it would take to put in regular batting insulation would be huge - and it wouldn't be nearly as effective!

So, here this is the first step!

Thanx dear daughters, dearest of all . . .

Well, as I hear Courtney and Elijah working next door, I also hear the "Green Bean" insulation men working upstairs. Such music to my ears! And while I'm hearing them, I'm working on curtains. Thanks to Angie, the fabric I have now is wonderful Indian cotton - seems to be hand woven and has such wonderful texture and great mingly shades of color. I'm pretty sure one of my "love languages" is touch; I KNOW my shopping language is touch. I really enjoy textures. AND, thanks to Vicki, I'm reminded of how satisfying it is to create something - even like such simple curtains. I once read that one way you can tell if something "feeds" you rather than draining you is if you lose track of time while doing it. And I really do. Simple, straight stitches on simple cotton fabric. As my friend Cathy D. says, "it makes my heart smile."

Surprise

Courtney joined us for supper and Mike used him for a sounding board on several things around the house, so it was after 8 before he left. Wellll, that meant we headed up to watch a little TV and gave up on getting any work done - too late to start. Buuuut, about 8:30 Mike's phone rang. The blown foam insulation folks (yes, they're putting soybeans under our roof and in our walls!) had a cancellation tomorrow. Would it be possible to come start the job TOMORROW instead of next Tuesday?? FIVE DAYS EARLY! Mike had planned to work most of those 5 days just getting ready. Well, of course, he said yes and we started scrambling. They won't do all the work; most of the prep for this part was done. But we still had to take down some beams in the upstairs room; put up some braces; move lots of stuff and generally clean up so they would have space to work. After less than 2 hours, we were ready! So here we go!!

Alternative for contractor bags

The norm during construction phase seems to be to cover windows with black contractor garbage bags. It makes good sense. It's practical - serves the purpose. But the thing is I'm sick of 'em. And I was given a great little simple sewing machine. And this is something I can do rather than work on the mess I've made of another project. So, for a few days, I'm making curtains. Though they'll eventually be replaced, we may actually keep these little things for a while. My contribution of the moment.

The slate is finished!

Some of you have heard us talk about Courtney-our-roofer for a couple of months now. Well, TODAY Courtney, our friend, actually became our roofer. Here Courtney is out on the slate, on foam cushions, replacing slates damaged by Katrina. There were no leaks from any of them, but several were broken. One was in place but had a slit in it where it seemed that another slate had been driven into it. I watched and learned a thing or two from both Courtney and his helper Elijah. Now, on to the part that doesn't have any real roof covering.

FINALLY!!

Well I'm finally able to post something and most of you won't believe what I'm posting. It's one of the things I dislike doing; put off doing; get someone else to do in places where it costs little to have it done. I can iron now!! I put off getting an ironing board because I'm pretty sure I saw that I have one in storage. I kept thinking I was going to be able to drag it out, and even when I tried to get it and failed to see it, I thought it must be there & said, "Who needs 2 ironing boards?" But I broke down and bought one and pulled out the travel iron Phillip left (dear Phillip, dearest of all Phillips, without whom we'd never have survived). I LOVE being able to have a somewhat larger wardrobe just by being able to iron. Some of us are rather easily pleased, huh?