New Developments

We have had almost no new developments...hence no blogging.

We thought that we might have to rip out the dining room floor, that it couldn't be finished. But they have found a work around, so we remain hopeful. We'll just have to see.

Are the kitchen cabinets installed? Um, no.

Is anything painted? Again, no.

Are the stairs or stair rails installed? No and no.

What about the tile in the new shower? Not just yet.

As you can see, our progress is startling.

Dry Wall

They have been working on installing dry wall in our house since Tuesday. They have managed to do the downstairs ceilings and doorways. Now maybe they have taken a lot of soda/snack breaks. Or maybe they don't have enough fellows working. Whatever the reason, I am amazed at a particular comparison to television. I distinctly recall watching a flip-real-estate-it-is-easy-and-you-will-get-rich television shows and they dry walled the house in one day. One day. Not so much at our house.

But we are making forward progress, so I'm not in much of a complaining mood.

Now if the Historic Society would just get back to us so that we can order new windows...

Paying for our New Insulation

Nationwide sent the check for the repairs to us. But the check wasn't really for us. It was made jointly to me, Paul and Wells Fargo (our mortgage holder). We signed the check and sent it to Wells Fargo. They then protect the money -- make sure that we are spending it wisely. Today I had to meet an inspector at the house. He will release more money to the contractor based on the percentage of work that he determined was complete.

He decided 60% was complete. I am not going to freak out about the fact that it has taken SO long to get to 60%. We are moving into the house in August. That's just that.

But guess what greeted me this morning at 7:30? If you guessed a smelly port-a-potty, you are correct. If you guess oppressive heat, you are correct. If you guessed a REALLY smelly port-a-potty, you are correct. More importantly though, we have insulation. And dry wall has been delivered. Perhaps August isn't such a pipe dream after all.

We also applied to the Historic Districts Commission for permission to change out our windows. Any guesses about the chances that I will buy in a historic neighborhood for the next house?

Funny Habits

Following the fire, our life changed significantly. So have I developed any funny little habits as a result?

Two come to mind immediately. One, I now carry around a huge tape measure in my purse. And in my car. And I have one stored at the house. Two, I also carry my camera with me--almost all of the time. I NEVER did this before. But it just kept coming up that I needed to take a picture. So I replaced my camera (it really is amazing what you can buy at Target for $100) and I now have a smart little red camera. And when I don't have anything at the house to take a picture of, I sometimes turn the camera on The Girls.

Emma and Melissa

Over the holiday weekend, we met my family at the beach. The Girls (Sophie and Emma) went with us. A good time was had by all, but an interesting thing happened.

My sister-in-Law Melissa is nearly four months pregnant and Emma was obsessed with her. As soon as Melissa would walk into the house, Emma was right by her side. As soon as Melissa sat down, Emma was right there, sitting beside her. At one point, Emma curled up with Melissa in a way that Paul swears she has never done for him. Emma clearly knows that a baby is on the way, and was just getting to know Baby Lehman before the rest of us!

New Doors on a Crookie House

So the new french doors in the dining room have been installed. They look great. Or they will, but I can see the potential.

However, this week, our GC has told us that we need to buy new windows because ours are in such bad shape. And oh by the way, they need to fur 3.5" off of the living room walls because our house is crooked. I'm not joking. Three and a half inches!!! In case your house is plumb, furing a wall or ceiling basically means that they add 2x4s to the existing frame of the house. What a mess!

Bored

Ever feel bored of yourself? I don't know if I've ever felt bored by myself before. And maybe I'm not bored by myself, so much as bored of talking about myself. There are some people, all of them well meaning, who always ask me how the house is going. It is going slowly. It is a source of frustration. It is a source of stress. I don't really want to talk about it. I would imagine that all of these kind people think that they are asking me about something good -- like how is the wedding planning coming or how are the kids. They're not. I don't really want to discuss the house. I'm tired of thinking about it and I'm even more bored of talking about it. But, social rules dictate that I answer their questions with a smile. So ask me if you must. I won't tell you that I hate talking about the house and I will put a positive spin on what is going on.

Better still, ask me how Sophie and Emma are doing.