Dec. 31 , 2006
The last few weeks have kept us busy as we prepared our house for the rush of Christmas activities. We kicked off the festivities with a combination holiday/house warming party on Dec. 16th. About 30 people visited that night and with all the extra space it felt like we could have packed in at least 30 more. Surprisingly, no food or drinks were spilled on our new carpet so we were happy about that.

On Dec. 22nd, Toby's family came down from Oregon to visit over the long Christmas weekend. They were the first to test out our new guest room on the first floor (the boy's old bedroom). The guest room passed the in-law test and they reported that it was both comfortable and private. If you ever come out to visit us then we're ready for you. There's no need for you to sleep on our floor or in a hotel room.

After Christmas we rented a U-Haul and spent all day clearing out our off-site storage unit. Now our garage is overflowing with old boxes and almost every room in the house is a mess as we juggle our possessions around trying to figure out where everything is supposed to go. I can already tell that this final organizational phase of the project is going to take a long time; possibly longer than the construction work.

Well, it's the end of the year and most of the work is done, so it's a good time for me to conclude these web updates. Our house saga is going to last for several more months, but I don't think you'll find it too exciting to look at pictures of our family hauling around furniture and sorting through a garage full of boxes.

Our off-site storage unit has accumulated a year and a half worth of junk and it's time to bring it all home.

Dec. 10, 2006
Bill stopped by for a day and finished up the last touch-ups that were on our list. A large mirror was installed over the sinks in the upstairs bathroom, a loose step was repaired, an end-cap was placed on a banister rail and the boys' closet doors had a half-inch shaved off the bottom so that they wouldn't drag along the carpeting. Nothing really major or exciting, but we like it that way!

He also brought over the final bill and the city inspection papers. We paid him off in full, which means everything else is officially our problem now, not his. After all was said and done it looks like Bill came in right on budget and on time. From what I've heard from other homeowners this is rare, but we are happy to be the exception case. But none of the credit goes to us; it all goes to Bill. He was an ace contractor that was always on top of the situation and refused to work with anyone who wasn't in his league. If you are reading this, Bill, then thanks again and feel free to refer any prospective clients to this site.

There are still plenty of small things to do, including unloading all the boxes in our storage shed and garage. We are still not certain that everything is going to fit back into the house again. We can only hope that we ended up with more storage space than we had before this all started! With all the Christmas festivities coming up we are probably not going to get the moving and rearranging all done until...oh...around June 2008, I would suppose.

Dec. 3, 2006
The boys are settled into their new rooms but there was still a lot of work to be done this week. The carpeting upstairs was finished, but we still needed to move everything off the first floor so that new carpeting could be installed downstairs. Our original idea was to push the biggest pieces of furniture onto the outside deck, but a sudden rainstorm changed that plan. Toby's dad quickly rigged up some tarps that so that we could put a couple of couches outside, but the rest of our stuff had to be stacked up into the kitchen and bathrooms. Luckily, the carpeting work was finished in one day so we weren't too inconvenienced.

The blinds were also installed and they look great. We are happy to finally throw out the 20-year-old blinds that have been here since we moved in. Getting the new blinds up was a huge milestone because it was the last thing on our list that needed an outside contractor. Unfortunately, that means most of the remaining work is up to us.