A brief respite

John and I have been having cabin fever... BAD. We realized last week that neither of us have traveled in the last 6 months. During the past 3 years, each of us usually traveled at least once in a 6 month period to see the other person. Needless to say, not having a change of scenery in 6 months is really odd for us... and so we took care of it.

On Saturday, after a shortened day of work for John, we piled into the car and headed "up north" to Two Harbors, MN. We reserved a spot at our favorite get away - Grand Superior Resort - where they have cabin suites with fireplaces and jacuzzis. We didn't realize until we got there that we had unintentionally reserved "The Love Shack." After dinner at Grandma's, we settled in for a good night of relaxation with a crackling fire. We both slept great. :)

This morning we headed down to the lake... John almost slipped into Lake Superior with the digital camera in hand, but both ended up fine. We had brunch at Betty's Pies - and took home a couple of slices of their famous pie.

We of course needed to work a little on the house this evening - but the walls of the dining and living rooms are now fully prepped for priming and painting. The back of the house is still open, but we're awaiting the delivery of the 20 foot rafters to frame in the roof. Cross your fingers that we're getting "boxed in" this week!!!

2/18 Morning News

Yesterday our contractor was very nice and stopped by around noon to ensure that the pipes were working just fine, which they were. However, by the time evening came around and we were starting to get ready for bed, there was no water. Denny got a call at 9p, and the pipes were defrosted by a little after 10p - we caught it earlier this time around. And we have water this morning, despite dropping to -11 F (-31 with wind chill). We're at a balmy -7 this morning... I'm not going out for a morning paper or coffee - John is already out the door at work.

Last night we moved rooms to sleep, crashing on our fouton. John has been having trouble sleeping with the tarp (that is tacked to the other side of our closet) flapping in the wind. Truthfully, it is pretty loud, but I've been learning to sleep through almost anything since October. John has reported better sleep, which means we both can have a good day.

Hope you all are staying warm!!!

It's friggin cold outside!!!

Winter has arrived. Our high for today is 2 degrees above zero. Unlike my friends out East, we are not enjoying the white stuff with the cold. It's brown outside. The most snow exposure we've been getting is what is seen on Torino for the Olympics.

As you loyal readers know, I had a discussion with the contractor the other day... and it resulted in some progress! Here's the latest house picture:
Look! You can see our addition!!! The left corner will be the laundry room. The big space on the front wall will be the sitting area in the kitchen - all windows in that hole. And the far right corner will be the stairway entrance to the basement/pantry. We're supposed to get a new roofline and get completely encased in plywood by next weekend (the cold snap is only to last until Sunday). Cross your fingers that we have more to show off in a few days!!

On other news... it's friggin cold outside! I am so glad that I have plenty of house projects to keep me inside all weekend. I need to finish the 2nd coat of mudding the dining room, sand, apply the 3rd coat, and wash down the walls. Then it's time to vacuum the floors, lay down tarps, prime and paint away!

The plan for the walls is such: Rouge for the living room, Cappuccino for the dining room, Butter Cream kitchen, and Sea Green bathroom. We aren't buying the paint from Restoration Hardware... it's $30/gallon!! Everything has been color matched at Menards. :)

That's all the big news. Hope you all are staying warm!

Lotsa love

Happy belated Valentines Day to you all! I hope you all had a great day... John and I had our share of ups and downs.

Over John's lunch hour, his 2nd graders managed to get wet playing on the playground. The stench of wet kids got almost ridiculous... and then it was discovered that a Porta Potty near the playgound had tipped over, mixing its contents with the melting snow. Yum. Ecoli. Needless to say, all of the kids clothes were bundled up and a note sent home.

I, meanwhile, had the pleasure of having one of my bariatric patients make it out of her room to her first gym treatment since her admission a month ago. She was glowing at seeing some walls other than those in her room. And she's a social butterfly, and so that chatter in the gym greatly increased.... surrounding adult Valentine activities. It was a clean discussion... just... festive. :)

We had reservations at The Lexington, a supper-club type restaurant with no windows and lots of dark hardwood. We were greeted by cozy warmth as we stepped inside, out of the arriving artic blast. The air was filled with the slightly cheesy duet of an accordian and violin. The two performers obviously have done this gig before, finding the Valentines Day regulars and playing at their tables. Couples of all ages were there - high schoolers to grandparents. The food was great, and we were stuffed silly as we made our way back home at 10p. We were exhausted... since when has 10p become "late"?!?!

Much of our conversation was around our family and friends. Know that we were thinking of you all!

PS. As followup to the previous post... I did have a conversation with our contractor. I was worked up and my voice cracked as I tried to calmly voice my disapproval of the progress. He then proceeded to outline the next week's worth of activities... the exact same plan he gave us for last week - and I called him out on it. Well, it must have had some impact because he has been here for the last 2 days, and has made some progress. Thank. Goodness. The cold snap that's coming isn't going to be as bad as predicted, more good news for our checkbook....

Frustration City

It's been piling up for a few weeks now, but I am finally able to let it out.

Contractors suck.

You give them lots of money, let them tear apart your home, and you are at their mercy until it gets complete. Even our contractor, a family friend, has allowed the back half of our house to be exposed to the elements for 17 days now. There is merely one layer of plywood, a blue plastic tarp, and a random pile of insullation between us and the great outdoors. Winter has finally arrived, and will be coming in force starting on Friday, and we're heating the outside. Arugh!!!!

I am generally a patient and understanding person, but my top has blown tonight. John and I would like to move downstairs ASAP, but we can't without a kitchen or (more importantly) a bathroom. I do not do well with confrontation, but enough is enough. The adrenaline is running. Desparate times call for a little bit of straightforwardness.

The contractor has been called... he's out at dinner. Here's hoping I don't collapse like a wimpy girl when he calls me back.

Congratulations!!!

We just got word that all of Pat's (John's younger brother) planning worked out... he and his girlfriend Emily got engaged this evening!!! Contrats you two! We look forward to hearing about all of the wedding plans!!

Oy update

The water just started running up here (11:10a)... now I guess I need to go work. Damn. :)

Oy

And welcome back to adventures in home ownership! The adventure of the day is.... frozen water main!! That's right, loyal readers, we woke up to NO WATER today. (Which, I might add, is much worse than no hot water, as we experienced a few months ago.)

We have been wondering why our contactor has been MIA for much of this week, when is was GEORGOUS out. Not too much has changed from the last pictures... we have our new kitchen/living room floor framed, but no plywood on it, and, as such, the 6 degree weather was in our basement. As a good dutiful daughter with no space heater, I called Dad (while John ran off to work) and he literally went and pulled our contractor out of bed at 7a to come fix the problem.

We now have a little bit more of the basement sealed off, and a space heater running, but no water yet.

*heavy sigh*