Busy Busy Busy

Our house has seen a flurry of activity lately.

Jeff got a nice bonus and I've been working all available overtime, so the extra cash plus a desire to get all this home improvement stuff over with, has led to us enlisting help. (Hiring folks to do the work for us.)

Now with the help of a handy-man, a plumber, and a tree-guy, we're going gang-busters!! Our handy-man deserves a post all of his own. He's quite a character.

The main project is our hall bath. Our handy man is re-tiling for us. Floor and tub. Also the walls are a wreck, so he's fixing that too. If we really feel like blowing cash, we may have him finish the flooring for us, too. We've had a ply-wood floor in our hallway for a month or so. And two bedrooms are still waiting for carpet removal. I really want all of this done by April, because I feel like a June referral is in my future (once again, no guarantees here)

I never remember to take "before" pictures, but here are the "during" pictures.




This project should take another week or so.



The tree guys were only a one day project, but what a day. They took out our dead Sweet Gum tree, two 80 ft pines, and some other big branches. It was scary to watch the guy shimmy up the tree, hang from a tiny branch up top, and have his chain saw swinging from his hip. I saw him lose his footing while cutting branches around our power lines. I had flashes of dead tree guys and huge law suits. Crazy.

It costs a fortune to have trees cut down, but we did learn a thing or two about our trees. Turns out we have a pecan tree. I told the guy it didn't produce pecans and he reached down and picked one off the ground. Oh. I guess I've never seen unshelled pecans before. Now I know to look for them.


And as for the plumber, he has to work around the handyman who is re-tiling and repairing walls. I also think he'll be removing one of our hot water tanks. (We have two....long story)

Even though we're now hiring folks to do stuff, it's still a lot of work. Every night last week was spent running between Lowe's, Home Depot, and Ikea picking and choosing tile, sinks, vanities, and lighting.


Add to all that, today was re-fingerprinting day. We had an 8am appt down in Atlanta. And this afternoon is my Dr. appt for the homestudy update. All they have to do is sign this little form that says I'm not contagious or mentally/physically unstable. Should be quick.

And whew...I guess that's about it for now.