Martini anyone?

In all the excitement of closing, I don't think I ever thought about what "closing" would actually come to mean. Now that we have officially closed on the loan (a.k.a. owe a crap-ton of money), let's explore what yours truly thought "closing" was actually to be. Closing on the loan...ahhh...what a nice thought! It'll be wonderful I said! We can have people come in and do work for us! We'll have plumbers and electricians, HVAC people, and money for people to do glorious things to our house, all the while we're sipping martinis on the deck our contractors just built! Woo hoo! Wait, huh? What's that? No? NO? Sadly, as Homer (Simpsons, not philosopher) and my husband would say, "Doh!" Wait, that was me. I think Nathan knew all along. I on the other hand, fell abruptly from my dream world into reality. OH! Closing on the loan!!! We pay people to do the work, then we do more work. Then we do some more work, and a bit more work. THEN, we sip martinis from the deck. I get it now. (Oh and, we build said deck.)

I don't think I ever thought that would be the case, but it probably was my hope. I am still excited about the loan, and even more excited about closing. I think I'm just a bit more grounded as to what the process involves. Work. It's exciting now though. Even if there remains a ton of work, it will be worth it in the long run. There will be a satisfaction of knowing that we did that! We made our house! Or in my case, my husband made my house, and I helped (sung to the southern twang of the shake and bake jingle...it's shake and bake, and I hey-ulped).

Here Ye, Here Ye

(is that how you spell ye?) Ladies and Gentlemen...we have a closing date--next Thursday (I'm still holding my breath)! This comes at a good time, as alas, Nathan and I have made a final decision regarding the bathroom. We are letting go of the idea for a soaking tub (and walk-in shower, and a concrete tub, and a plaster tub, and a combination soaking tub and shower, and a round tub, square tub, high tub, low tub) and will be re-using our claw foot tub. Tubadillyicous! I think at this point we are both beyond excitement and more towards the point of exhaustion regarding the bathroom...after all, it's a place for hinders and bubblers (well...maybe not bubblers), rather than a place of grand importance (although Nathan might argue that point, as might I come to think about it). Regardless, the best news for the day is that we will be closing next Thursday!

Alex? Alex Trebek?

(hum theme to Jeopardy)
Doo-do-doo-do-dooo-doo-do...
doo-do-doo-doo-DO-dododododoo...
do-do-doo-do-doo-do-do...
ba-bababa-ba-ba-ba...(bum-bummm)

I think Alex must be our loan officer. I thought it was this nice girl, Jamie, but I must be wrong. Whenever I think of our loan and we wait to hear our closing date, I can't get the theme song to Jeopardy out of my head...it's like we're permenantly waiting for final Jeopardy to be over...but it NEVER ENDS!!!

Dirt and Work!

We worked all day long today and it was AWESOME! We got so much done!! First off, when I say "we" I mean Nathan and I, but more than that I mean Jonah and Paul, Al and Maggie, Peggy and Brad, Ian and Joe, and countless others who've offered their time, patience, and brute strength to help us get as far as we have! Today, thanks to Jonah's help this past week, we were able to reinforce the rest of the first floor joists and with the exception of the back stairs, we are done framing the frist floor! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty tired, but I wanted to post some pictures I took this weekend...the pictures are blurry...oops.


Nathan...looking quite scary (I think it's the lego hair)


Our future bathroom...ahh...you're looking at the tub!!!


'Tis the hole we cut out for a nice, open living room/atrium. We are now in the process of putting it back...um..yeah...not so much.


Liked this shot...you can sort of see the player paino the previous owner left (we're not sure how to move it, so we just work around it).


Nathan is working on pulling out bricks so we can reinforce the joists (so we can have a bathroom on the second floor).


This is the hole Ian and Nathan cut last weekend and this weekend the two of them plus Jonah helped build the stringers that will eventually become stairs!


Like this shot...just something Nathan found while digging around in the "dirt and work."

Crack House

I think the hardest part of rehabbing a house is the flop-house. Some might call it a transitional house, others a half-way house, others an apartment. For me, it's more like what I think a crack house would be. Now, I'm not privy to the life of an addict, but I would assume it's much like the life Nathan and I are living at the moment. Picture a place where you go to get a fix, a high from the latest way to quench your addiction..while high, you dream. Visions of finished bathrooms, and closets....a dishwasher (ahhh...a dishwasher...) and clean floors. Maybe there's a rug or two, or perhaps even a washer and dryer. That place, that dream, is your rehab home..finished and complete with woodwork and trim hung nicely in place. You dream and dream of what it will be like when you are finished and moved in, of what splendors will follow in your life post-rehab. Much like the addict, you try and stay high as long as possible...ahh....so comforting in the land of dreams. The drugs wear off and soon you are left to face reality. See, while rehabbing, we are also working and keeping up with the daily chores life tosses our way. There's the laundry, dishes, general cleaning of your living space, and a long list of oil changes and birthday cards, grocery shopping and get-togethers. While all of these would be easy tasks for an organized couple, Nathan and I are not. Add on the responsibility of a rehab, and the flop-house is born.

Flop-house is the term we use for our apartment. It's in complete shambles and so are we. I'm not sure which happened first, the chicken or the egg, but what we have is scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs from three days ago crusted on top a plate from four days ago, with leftover box-oh-noodles-and-natural-flavoring for added decoration. The flop-house is hard to maintain not because of exhaustion (although that too is hard), but because you now think of things in terms of time; time away from the house. The thought of doing laundry once a week like a good spouse (husband or wife..this is a 21st century marriage here), doesn't mean taking a night away from watching Survivor or Family Ties (I really miss that show), it means taking time away from the house to go and do laundry. It means one day less working at the house, which in theory means one day longer until you are in the house...living. It means enduring the guilt of feeling like you should be over there, but can't or don't want to. You are left with nights of feeling guilty, nights of should haves but didn'ts, and the nights you think to yourself, "hmmm...I should go over to the house and work right now, but I'm really tired...sitting all day at work has made my body ache from inactivity. I have to do laundry, the dishes haven't been done in a week, the bed is still on the floor and Bertie is still able to jump right in whenever she's tired (which is the better half of all day), 'I think I should' you say to yourself, 'but I can't'." That, is what I (perhaps Nathan too, but I don't know...I can't tell if this guilt is a rehab-thing or a woman-thing. I'll get back to you on that) I go through on a daily rehab-basis. I guess it's sort of obvious..tonight I was supposed to do laundry. It's sitting on the floor in a heap next to the laundry basket (too full to fit inside). Bad Kathy...bad.

PS - Nathan and I are not proud of the way we are currently living, nor do we like to admit we are responsible.