Day 17

Lots getting done today, but not a lot to "notice" if you know what I mean. Nick and Nolan broke apart some old dressers that were left in the upstairs. They brought down the pieces and left them in the dining room. We have a dumpster, but they're starting the roof Monday so the old roof must go at the bottom. Then we can top it off using whatever room is left. There were lots of books, magazines, adding machines, scales, and various other old junky office stuff. Lots of foam packing bubbles and junk. Those were all in the storage areas under the eaves. Nolan is taking care of that. Slow and steady. Bianca finishing up in the garage with my help. I put a coat of semi-gloss on the walls and she finished the lowest part near the floor. Tomorrow she can do the last coat! Sam worked during the day - she and Nick bus tables at a local Italian restaurant. Today they asked Nolan to work and hired him. So he left to go make some $$ Bianca kept on painting... good girl!! Mark needing to take down the trees since the gas & electric company is not taking them down. Grr. The roofers came and dropped off some stuff for Monday's tear-off, too.

Day 16

Not a lot done today, just another coat of primer on the garage interior. Bianca is doing a fantastic job! Sam is painting too, but Bianca picked up the pace at last! Nolan picked up and raked and swept. Tiffany and Nick had to work tonight, so they'll help over the rest of the weekend.

Day 15

Another step completed!  Sammy, Bianca, and I finished the second coat of primer on the garage. Next up the shiny top coat. 

Nolan cut the grass and swept out the Florida room and removed another rug. 

A successful quick day!

NICOL Wieme
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Sent from Mailbox for iPhone

Day 14

Tiffany put down some grass seed in time for the thunder storms and together we painted another coat of primer in the garage. Not a lot done but Nick n Sam have AP tests tomorrow and Nolan n Bianca had CAP. Tomorrow we r workin!

NICOL Wieme
—
Sent from Mailbox for iPhone

Day 13

Today is Tuesday, Bianca has an orchestra concert for violin and it is to pour. So we will probably not do much. I will work on my kitchen plan some more and water the money tree! :)

Day 12

Met with Wonder Windows rep to price new windows on the front and kitchen, or the rest of the house, as well as glass block for the basement. Trying to decide if we are having them done or doing them ourselves. And by ourselves I mean Mark, lol. Cannot see myself installing windows. There's a lot I do, and that ain't on the list! Sammy, Bianca, and Nolan will be painting tonight and I'll post pictures of their progress. So Mark will be doing the windows.... not having them installed. $$ Thinking glass block on the basement is going to be cost prohibitive. Our basement windows were done last year for $300... these windows are bigger and longer and glass block has gone up. We will glass block the window they removed and boarded up that is in the shower. The roof is being done by Mr. Fussy. Cute name but high standards. They'll start soon. The dumpster was filled and removed... another one arrives this Friday! The girls finished priming the garage. It looks cleaner and nicer already. Nolan mowed the grass and played around. Gotta get him doing things other than cutting the grass and gathering sticks. Here's pictures of the girls and their handiwork:

Day 11 – Mother’s Day

Today is all about the garage. My plan is to empty it, broom clean it, and paint only the interior walls with some primer and grey paint. Mark questioned why my plan included doing something that doesn’t seem to make any difference. Well, I always have a plan, my mind goes 1000 mph about this project! I know that we’ll be in there for months, maybe the better part of a year, so we need a “break room” a place where the kids can eat, where there’s no dust in food and no spilled food in a finished area of the house. Cleaning up the garage will also show the future prospective owners that we’re thorough and tended to all the important details. So Mark said go for it and we started emptying that garage. What a mess! Mind you, the pictures shown are AFTER our first clean out. There was not a lot of stuff, just a lot of cobwebs and mess. There’s some old lumber and the usual garage chemicals. An old table stuck in the back might be an antique.

Here’s Bianca and Sammy removing the lower portion of the junk. The top was filled as well.

Here’s the other side of the back of the garage. Chemicals nearly gone. Mark will take them to some county facility for hazardous waste.

The North side of the garage The window on this side is broke out like on the South side, but there are two lights!

Another of the North side near the front. You can see the new garage door up above.

Here is the dumpster all filled already! Nolan had a great time pitching sticks and wood into it like javelins!

Here is that table…. I think it was the old kitchen table. The sides pop up to make it larger.

Nicolas sawing one of three long fence parts in half. The didn’t fit in the dumpster whole.

Bianca and Sammy starting the priming. They thought it looked awful cuz it didn’t cover in one coat. I assured them that this is only the primer and that the color will look great!

Day 10 – Interior Destruction

Mark has a LOAD of work to do today for his business – six service calls and it's only 1pm!

I'm working on the kitchen plan again. I can only do that when no one is around and it's quiet. I used to be able to work through anything… not any more! LOL

The kids are away at a Civil Air Patrol leadership weekend so they won't make any progress but it's a good break for them. They worked so hard to finish the yard. Tiffany is home and will work on some things tomorrow.

So it is a not-get-a-lot-accomplished day…. Hopefully one of few! Mark and I went to Home Depot and purchased some shrubs. Not ready to plant by any means, but the prices were good and later in the season they won't be available. Some Rhodendrons for around the Florida Room and along the front. A Japanese maple for the front by the walkway and three tiny Arborvitaes for the walkway by the front door. This fall I will have the girls plant lots of spring bulbs along the front walkway so it has tons of curb appeal. I still need an evergreen for the front and a tree for the front perhaps.

Day 9 – Dumpster Arrives

The dumpster arrived today and Mark burned some twigs and leaves in the fire pit. Made the neighbor lady incredibly nervous even as he kept the hose right there and regularly hosed it to keep it totally under control. When the wind picked up he put it out completely and stayed to make certain it was out. I think she survived!

Mark loaded the bags of leaves and junk into the dumpster and nearly filled it. He plans to get rid of a lot of carpets and tile tomorrow.

Day 8 - Water is On Back Yard Nearly Completely Cleared Out

Here's pictures of the Water Authority guy turning the water back on. It was shut off years ago, thankfully they had someone winterize it so nothing could go wrong.

Water Authority has been totally awesome with their customer service. Courteous, no voice mail hell but a real live person. The guy that arrived to turn on the service was there within ten minutes and had the water on. Mark installed a ball valve, something that shuts the water off right after the meter. That way we can just shut all the water off and walk away. We want to be certain everything is ok before we just go home with the water running and potentially leaking somewhere. The kitchen sink worked fine, but the faucet is totally shot. Hoping it makes it a few days if we need it. The bathroom was fine, the toilet needed new guts and Mark replaced those tonight. The previous owners had a makeshift shower on the second floor. We will attempt to put a half bath there and most likely get rid of the shower. A toilet and a sink would be great up there. The pipe to that shower leaked inside the wall between the main bath and the bedroom we are calling bedroom #2. So Mark ripped out the wall and fixed it so that we can try to have a sink and possibly a shower on the second floor. It made the decision to keep the bathroom tile a little easier! It had pink and blue flowered tiles every so often. Without that '80's touch we might have kept it. The floor tile is beige with brown grout. I'd considered keeping that as well and tinting the grout, but some of it was coming up so it's all going. The gold tub surround will go as well. Try not to be disappointed, ok? The vanity, sink and faucet are gross, beat and dated, so they never stood a chance. After getting the water on I went home and worked on a kitchen plan. Going to move the refrigerator and install a dishwasher. Space is tight. Super tight. But I think I can make it happen. The lady at Home Depot said the cabinets are going on sale at 20% off pretty soon. I want to be ready and buy them once they are on sale. The kids worked on the back yard again. Tiff had cleared the south corner last night so tonight all that was left was directly behind the garage. There is a GIANT, and I mean GIANT pile of branches, sticks, twigs, and fencing in a pile between the Florida room and the garage. Once the dumpster arrives it will be gone and the patch under it will be raked up and bagged. I wanted the kids to see that a stage of the project was started and finished by them in under a week. Pretty impressed at them all. While the outside has been working, Samantha and Tiffany have cleaned a few windows with me. That's when we discovered that the front window was put in upside down and caulked into place. Thinking the two front will be replaced. Estimate coming Monday. A couple roof estimates. One was over two thousand cheaper than the other. I question the quality. It needs a complete tear off and new plywood. Cha ching!! Mark is calling to request the dumpster tomorrow. Dominic was recommended by one of the roofing companies and we can keep it longer than five days - for a month! So it will arrive tomorrow and Mark will fill it this weekend. The kids except Tiffany are off to a leadership weekend for Civil Air Patrol so it's just the three of us this weekend and Tiffany is scheduled to work a lot. But with the toilet working and a dumpster.... Mark can bring our generator and get done what he plans... filling that dumpster!! Here are some pictures!

Day 7 - Wednesday

Tiff worked alone to clear the back south corner, looked great!!

Day 6 - Tuesday

Late night!Finally have the pictures for what we did!!

Day 5

Day 4 - More leaves and Garage Door

Mark and Nicolas put in the new garage door. Had to go to two different Home Depot stores cuz they fly off the shelves. The size was mostly right so Mark had to modify the track inside a wee bit. Then he will add the lock. Surprisingly, they no longer come with locks as most people have remotes.

Day 3 - Front Yard

Saturday was Day 3. We were up EARLY and worked on the front yard. Got all the overgrown bushes chopped off and bagged up. Sammy removed all the mossy worn landscaping stones and put them in the back yard. They later were placed around the hole left by the previous owners' pond to create a fire pit. Mark plans to have a marshmallow roast on an upcoming windless evening. With the fire extinguisher and hose ready! We heard the neighbors dislike the fire pits. But it's for a good cause.... improving the neighborhood. A few little fires or an abandoned house..... fire pit wins! Sam and Bianca raked the front yard finding it smaller than ours was a score for them! Bianca swept the gutter and sidewalk. Mark had brought the push mower and I cut the front yard and bagged it. Nick emptied the bagger every pass. He was grouchy and uncooperative. Hoping he can get inside to work soon cuz he hates outside stuff! All the kids pulled out as many of the shrubs as they could. All are overgrown. Tiff had her finger smashed when Nicolas dropped a stone on it! OWWWW. Here's the pictures!