Living on the edge
As we receive God’s greatest gift, that of his son, Jesus Christ, born as a baby to bring salvation to us all — remember that Christmas is not over, it has just begun. May the seeds of love planted in our hearts continue to grow and flourish during the coming year.
Merry Christmas to you all!
At last!
The day is here.
We will be in church tonight celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
All preparations are done (almost). My to-do list worked just like previous years — there’s a big long list and I start checking things off from the top as I get them done and crossing them off from the bottom as I realize I’m never going to get to them. Eventually the two sections meet — usually on about December 22nd or 23rd. With some of hubby’s gifts yet to wrap and put under the tree, I’m running a little late, but this has been an unusual last couple of months. Kitchen construction resumes with the electrician and the carpenters next week. But in the mean time hubby and I are enjoying 6, count em’, 6 days of having the house to ourselves!
Α – Ω
The kitchen area is now completely gutted. As we peel back the layers, it is very interesting to discover the wack-a-doodle things the prior owners did on the first and second remodel of the kitchen. This large blank area in the middle of the floor is the result of a re-tiling from 14 years ago when they apparently did not remove and reinstall the island. No wonder it always felt a bit short as they had raised the level of the floor around the island without raising it too. So, those ugly white, cracked tiles are soon to be gone. Handy thing about putting in new windows. The carpenters are tossing all the old stuff out the rough opening for the window so they don’t have to walk through the finished area of the house with construction destruction debris. And, of course, there is a big open hole in the house and the temperature is 20 degrees.
And where am I hiding out, you might ask? This is my temporary hovel in the laundry room/downstairs kitchen. Everything in one tiny little space including the table which now serves as my office where I’m about to start writing the annual Christmas card.
The plastic wall is up and I’m taking this photo from where the other small plastic door will go — as if this could keep the rest of the house warm and dirt-free. This was just before the first day of destruction began and before the carpenter ants were found in the base of the greenhouse window. They are still crawling in and and being sprayed as I write this. Wonder how many there are and how far the damage goes? Guess we’ll find out as destruction day 1 continues. There will be a bit of reconstruction today as the new bay windows will go in where the old windows were. And they are quite a bit larger, leaving us the possibility that the damaged wood will just go to be replaced by new windows. Keeping fingers crossed as I type.
Note that even though the house is in shambles, from the outside there are still signs of Christmas (see the big wreath on the window?).
After two very hard days of work, the old kitchen is fully packed up and moved either upstairs to a spare room or downstairs to a very tiny mother-in-law kitchen for the next few weeks. Two cabinets are already down and headed to Housatonic Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore operation tomorrow. The rest will come down and out by the end of the week. And then the walls come out as we look for wood rot and any other damage that might be there before we reconstruct. Ceiling is coming down too.
It will be the coldest day of the year so far — high temp maybe up to 27 degrees — and this window in the photo is coming out tomorrow. Good timing on our part, don’t ya’ know. But in its place will be a giant deep bay window. Then the second bay goes in the next day — right before the weather changes and the temps get back up into the 40s. But at least it’s clear and not raining or snowing.
