The new and the old

What a fun day! Today we got to run errands - mostly Christmas shopping - which is always fun when it's about 10 degrees outside. However, the day has been capped off by picking up our first Christmas tree. It has been a few years since I had a tree of my own, and so I am looking forward to trimming it with lights and whatever goofy ornaments we both have here at the house.

We had a lot of help yesterday here at the house - our contractor and my Dad came to set a beam between the dining room and the kitchen. They also talked me through the placement of a metal beam under the dining room floor to support the ~2" dip that happens in the hardwood. As it turns out, one of the supporting beams for the floor has actually rolled about 45 degrees over the years, and therefore the floor is warped. The contractor seems confident that it can all be fixed and at least close to level between the rooms when he's done. Very cool.

The sheet-rocking of the dining and living rooms is getting close to done thanks to Pat and Eric's help. I found a bucket full of treasures from around the turn of the century (1900ish) in one of our exterior walls that I still need to dig through. Dad found an old school notebook that is dated for 1888 and 1889. And in the kitchen we found an advertisement for housing insurance dated 1870. Yes, we have an old house. We'll probably dig through our new found treasures and then donate them to the Historical Society to be preserved. I have to say that finding these items has made all of the demolition worthwhile.

The other really cool thing that happened yesterday is that John was able to get some spotlights put into the ceiling of the living room in our little alcove. Let there be light!!