The Time (Dirty Bit)....

Yippee skippee! It's finally time for a little CONstruction...versus the massive amounts of DEstruction we've been doing to This Old House!  My last stretch of time off of work was spent removing the last of the outer walls. Can you say remove plaster, then lath, then  insulation, now repeat?  Now repeat again until it's all gone. We dumped over 6,000 pounds of This Old House when it was all said and done!  Phew...it was an all over body workout! And dusty filthy too. But it felt good to have the house stripped down to it's bare bones. Like we're moving in the right direction anyway.

Here's a little of what our work zone looked like...

(from the view of our camera phones)

Yep, that's me getting ready to rip off  some lath.
(Sorry the pictures won't upload correctly, blogger needs to fix it)

John's tearing off lath and insulation from the attic 

Recognize that beautiful wall color? That's our dining room!! No more mauve plaster :) 

The mounds of insulation were endless...I felt like I shoveled 5000 barrels full! 

These are the upstairs walls when we were finished
(I wish they would upload correctly!) 

The ceiling

Our second floor framing when it we were done removing all the plaster, lath and insulation! Whoo hoo!
Ready for framing and moving walls...pretty much anyway.

Now John's been working at framing up the downstairs little by little. It's not as easy and fast a process as new construction so we'll see how things progress. We're hoping to finish up our concrete mess in the basement this weekend and be finished with the basement floor for a while! For now we're just happy to be done with most of the deconstruction portion of the project and making some progress forward building.  I can't wait for warmer weather to get here so my fingers don't freeze and my nose doesn't constantly drip while I work in my mask.  And in general, we continue to have the time of our lives while we muttle through this house project together...and I must say it's definitely a dirty bit.  

Mi casa #1...the transformation

I've had lots of requests to post about our last house project (well, John's last house project) so that you can get an idea of his abilities and talents.  For my friends and family, who have seen our album and been with us through the projects, feel free to skip this posting.  :)   For all others, read along and enjoy!!

Here's the beautiful original home in all its glory....you have to appreciate that my husband has vision!

Front of the house (it had a pond with dead bullheads in it...mmm!)

Backyard

Living Room (Beautiful!)

Lovely Kitchen

After John removed the stucco and roof...there was lots of rotten wood. 

Can you see the new kitchen on wheels in there??  :)  

This one wouldn't upload vertical. You get the idea though...it was a dirty job! 

Good friends are a good thing....!
Framing is a go and the race is on to get the roof on while good weather lasts. 

Raisin' the roof! Getting the trusses up was no easy chore...

Out with the old and in with the new.  And a new house stands!! 

Upstairs!

The upstairs framework. Once that was done, John did the plumbing and wiring. Insulation went in and we're ready for sheet rock! 

Sheet rock...then floors...painting. It all moves forward from here! We almost have a house...

And the finished product....2 years later. After adding twelve feet on the back to make the house longer and rebuilding the first floor (and adding a second floor).

The front of the house (wish I had a better picture!)

Back of house, patio and garden

Kitchen

Basement family room

Laundry Room

Laundry Room storage

Upstairs hall

Upstairs guest bedroom

 That's the picture version of the last house project.  While it started out as John's project, it was definitely our project in the end (marriage has a way of doing that huh?).  I think blogging about this project house and seeing the transformation helps me to stay positive about our current project...despite the tortoise pace we seem to be moving these days.  Slow and steady wins the race, right?  Spring is around the corner and the changing weather has a way of jump starting motivation! Not to mention the days get longer and warmer...

Here's to new transformations of this old house!  Right now we need to get past re-pouring the concrete basement and footings and we'll be ready to start a little electrical! Here's what our basement currently looks like....it's a mess!!!

All I wanna do is a zoom zoom zoom...

You know the next line. Yes. Shake your rump! I'm talking Zumba people. Come on. Join the movement. I've been on the Zumba train for the past 5 years and I'm a huge fan. I guess I'd even use the L word. I'm that dorky. But over the past year I haven't been able to find a class and instructor that I enjoy.  I blame my first experience with Zumba at the YWCA in Minneapolis...the instructor was a fantastic latina woman who moved her hips in ways that a white woman could only dream of ever doing. She gave good instructions, offered a great music mix (reggae, samba, salsa, hip-hop, merengue) and had great energy that was contagious.  I left her class not only feeling every muscle that I'd worked, but feeling like I had gained three times the energy that I started with! Her class was a pretty hard act to follow.  So when I moved to the other side of the river, I joined the YMCA and was excited to try out their Zumba classes. The YMCA is literally 3 blocks from my house and Zumba meets primarily in the evenings.  I've tried the few classes they offer and walked away feeling pretty 'eh. They were missing the energy and good music mix that my previous class offered.  The intensity of the choreography was missing so I didn't feel like I got as good of a workout.  They just weren't that challenging.  So I took a break from Zumba. I've been focused on yoga, pilates and cardio workouts to pass the time. 

But today.  Today I took a chance and tried the Sunday class.  I noticed the schedule listed a new instructor. It's funny because usually I'm very into my routine and can be resistant to change. New instructor...ew. I don't know. But today it was a good thing and I took that chance! Damn I'm glad I did.  Because all I wanna do is a zoom zoom zoom and a boom boom...just shake my rump! This zumba instructor was amazing!! She was about my age (ok, who am I kidding...definitely younger than me by a few years) and clearly had previous experience as a dance instructor.  She had amazing music (classic zumba genres, plus some hip-hop hits) and cued like a pro.  Body roll....shake the dice...kick left, kick right...slide....shake your hips...shimmy your chest. Salsa...pony...jump it...shake it. You name it she did it.  I did it. And I looked good doing it (not like Beyonce good, but come on, who looks that good anyway!?).  How is it that dancing like that can make you feel good about yourself?  The best part was how packed the studio was and how everyone could follow along (except that lady in the middle and the back row, but we won't count them).  I'm pretty sure we could have been in a music video with this instructor's cues.  Maybe I'm a little over excited.

Clearly I'm in love.  Again. Next time you hear Shakira...think of me shakin' my hips.  Or not  :) Either way... I'll be gettin' my Zumba on soon.

 

Winter wonderland

Just sharing a few of my favorite pictures from the past few snow falls.  Even though I was home with yet another nasty cold, I couldn't resist going out and taking a few pictures of the beautiful snowfall! I love the trees when they are covered in fresh snow. The world looks black and white (at least until the cars start driving and things get dirty).  And who doesn't love fluffy snow? It's so airy and light, it almost looks fake!  Hope you enjoy the view from my winter wonderland...