Keeping Busy Renovating

We have been busy, busy, busy with our home renovation! Eric only had to work at his rotation Monday-Thursday so (since January) we have been driving to Idaho every Thursday night to work Fridays and Saturdays on our house. It has been hard work, but also rewarding work. It is fun to see how much progress we have made. I wish I could say it was finished, but it isn't... not even close (we are living in my parents basement). I still see a dirty house, but Eric, Russell (bro-in-law) and a nice neighbor spent 3 hours cleaning the cat feces out of the crawl space (they carried out over 25 gallons!). It may not look pretty but at least it smells a little better.
First rule when doing a massive renovation... you must wear large dangly earrings because by the end of the day you are dirty, sweaty, stinky, calloused, sore, and blistered-- and you don't want to look/smell like a man-- so the earrings help you feel like less of a man and a little more feminine.

Like I said, we have been busy, busy, busy but we are also lucky, lucky, lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful helpers. I don't know what we would have done without them! Eric and I probably would be sitting in the house twiddling our thumbs saying, "So, now that we screwed that project up, what should we screw up next?" It seems like whenever we work on a project by ourselves, someone with more experience has to come along and fix whatever we just did.We have been busy sawing the lath and plaster to create a new opening for the master bedroom.
We have been busy knocking down walls.

We have been busy pulling staples out of the hardwood floor. And busy working in the yard... raking leaves, mowing lawn, cutting down obnoxious trees, locating the sprinkler system, watering the grass, killing weeds, and moving dirt. It feels like a never ending project.

We have been busy rewiring the house with new electrical.

We have been busy playing in wigs and with purses the previous tenant left behind. Eric thinks it is gross. I think as long as it entertains the kids long enough so I can finish something, let them have fun.

They love the wigs!

We have been busy cutting the siding in the sun room.

We have been busy caulking the cracks in the ceiling and walls. I will never own another house with plaster walls!!! At first, caulking seemed therapeutic, but after the fourth day of caulking, I was ready to tear down the lath and plaster and hang drywall!!! It is amazing how many cracks are in our ceilings and walls.
We have been busy framing in a new walk-in closet (I am SO excited) and a wall.
We have been busy sweeping/dusting the cobwebs and dirt.

We have been busy doing trim work around windows and putting up baseboards.
We have been busy sanding the hardwood floors.
They even let me have a whirl with the sanding machine.
We have been busy staining the floors... which, I might add, we have to re-stain because apparently there is a right and wrong way to do it; we did the latter.

Again, busy sweeping/cleaning... a never ending task.
We have been busy adding plaster and sanding walls and ceiling.

We have been busy stealing mom's camera to sneak pictures.

We have been busy building an entertainment center.

We have been busy installing all new windows.

We also have been busy working on the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning). Due to the camera man forgetting to show up on HVAC day, we don't have pictures of Eric's brother, Josh, and his family working hard.

A big thanks to friends and family who have all pitched in and if you are ever in town and need something to do... head on over-- we will keep you busy!