Come on in...

Are you cold standing outside? You are? Did you want to come in? Come into our TOASTY WARM HOUSE?!?!? Yep, that's right, we have heat! We also had a gas leak from a line our plumber forgot to close off, but post that experience, we have heat!

Ahh, and aside from heat, it's your lucky day as well! The delete key just saved you from having to listen to me gush on about the importance of heat and why I'm so excited. It was too much. We're on more than a need-to-know basis (and in-fact, I'm sure you know more than you ever quite wanted to), but it was boring. Really boring. And I spared you all. You are welcome.

The only other tidbit of rehab drama is my observation of (the OC rules and I'm completely addicted) the business of marriage. I do not mean the act of marriage, I mean exactly what was written. BUSINESS. To all future rehabbers, please note your relationship will change. Your significant other and you are starting a business, and believe me, it's all business from here on out. I am of course exaggerating, but the reality is that things change. The other morning I awoke to find I had a memo on my desk. The memo was from Nathan. It was typed. Is this normal? Nathan and I had always joked about the rehab-relationship and it's resemblance to a small business, but was it now official?

I asked Nathan about the memo and he smiled his usual "I know I'm so cute" smile and responded rather quickly with, "yes, but I signed it with a heart." Yes, tis true. The memo was signed with a heart. Made me laugh and smile, as usual. Rehab does make for stressful times, but it makes you appreciate everything else all the more. Heat, memos, and all.

Update

It's been a while since I've talked about the progress on the house, or posted new pictures, so I decided this weekend would be a good time to tackle such a job. Then I decided I should finish a freelance site I was in the middle of, and work on Christmas gifts, which I did do. It's monday and there are just as many photos and updates about the house on the site as there were on Friday. Seriously speaking though, new photos should be coming tonight. I hesitate to promise, but I really want to.

Progress on the house has been great! We have two new furnaces hooked up, all the electricity on the second and third floors have been run, and half of the first floor wiring is finished. We are still waiting on our plumber to finish his rough in, but knew coming into the job that his part would take a bit longer since he's a smaller business. Regardless, half the plumbing has been roughed in and we will be having the second and third floor wiring inspected tomorrow (this is good news!). We've been waiting for the inspection so that we could run speaker wires and have our alarm company run the permanent alarm (I don't know why, but I am very excited about this part). Aside from that, Nathan has installed one gutter, called a gutter company to finish the rest, and has been re-glazing our windows.

In these last few months until we move in, here's the timeline of what we have left (mine will differ from Nathan's, as he is the general contractor and I am more of the fundraising director): plumber finish rough-in; finish first floor wiring; get inspections (electrician's); run speaker wire; alarm company to run permanent wires; finish up on windows; get gutters installed; refinish/design front door/entrance and send to get milled (I think); insulate; drywall; tile; refinish cabinets (purchased from habitat store over a year ago); buy and install countertops; second rounds from electricians, HVAC, and plumbers; refinish floors; refinish tub; move in. At the start of that sentence I was optimistic. Still am, but am probably going to be a bit more realistic in thought-land.

Grrrr

It's almost three in the morning and I'm up waiting for Nathan to come back inside. We awoke fifteen minutes ago to the piercing sound of our house alarm blaring through our quiet neighborhood streets. Yes, I said quiet. Contrary to what one might believe, it's usually quiet up here. Living up here is like living in the North Pole to a child -- the feeling of living within a well kept secret, and it's one of my most favorite neighborhood feelings. The neighbors are incredible and I feel a sense of community I never knew existed growing up. But back to crime.

For those of you who don't know, our house is vacant and uninhabitable at this point, which is why we live next door in an apartment. Convenient, yes. I wouldn't have it any other way. The house is armed with motion detectors and an alarm, which is why we are up and thankful to be. Without it, someone would be adding an arsenal of tools to their collection. An arsenal of our tools. We've always been thankful for our families during this process, but at this moment I am ever grateful. I think it was Al, Nathan's dad whom he calls "Safety Al", who suggested we get an alarm, but at this point two years later, I cannot seem to remember. Regardless, we have one, and we owe many thanks to Safety Al for suggesting it, and to my parents who are paying for it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. Now more than ever, three months away from moving in, losing anything, tools especially, would have been devastating.

Nathan and I both jumped up in bed, blinked confusion, then ran to our general post-alarm positions; Nathan at the back window overlooking the back of the house and yard, myself turning off the alarm to wait for Erker Security to call. They did shortly thereafter Nathan was yelling "I see you mother f*cker" out the window. He did indeed see the asshole running from the back of the house to the alley, away from view, but proceeded to get dressed and run outside for the police to come.

Basically, tomorrow morning Nathan was scheduled to take down the scaffolding at the back of the house and return it with the help of his dad (Safety Al). Just now, someone climbed said scaffolding, pushed aside our "window" (plastic and an old storm window), and started to head in before being what we hope was scared shitless from our alarm. Ironic, eh? Last night scaffolding is up, first night someone breaks in. The police came and from what Nathan said, were really very nice. Not much they could do, but they scanned the property, vowed to keep an eye on the building (we love our police), and asked about the rehab. For all of those wanting to meet a special someone, rehabbing is a great conversation piece. You almost can't seem to escape. Yet, I digress. It's now 3:35 a.m. and Nathan is back in bed, so I too would like to get the rest of my nights sleep.

*Safety Al is a fun term used by all. We in no way endorse the use of any negative name calling (with the exception asshole-burglars intending to steal our belongings) on this blog, nor do we dislike Al. We love Safety Al more than anything.

**Yes, I have changed the title of this post three times now.