Done Done and Done

Everything is about 99% completed. Mike has a bit of painting to finish, and a few other minor touches but overall its done and done!!! We are going to move Israel into his room sometime this week where I expect him to take naps and maybe sleep about 10% of the night up there. He has a 6th sense and when we go to bed he feels the need to suddenly eat all night. Anyways, can't believe we have 2 bathrooms! What a luxury! We also met with our Realtor and our house is officially for sale!!

After

Israel's nursery... 95% completed.

Before

http://tmvigneau.blogspot.com/2009/08/baby-boys-room-pre-demo-day-1.html

Storm damage

This is our neighbors house.. you can't really see it as the tree that crashed through their roof is on the back side of the house and this pic is of the front. All you can see is the tree branch poking over the top of their roofline. Some crazy crazy weather last night!!!

More fun and drama

This is what happens when you have cabin fever bad. You allow your very messy toddler to have a real tea party complete with real sugar, cream, and tea unsupervised ( due to crazy unhappy little brother) In case anyone is curious... wet sugar makes your floor very very sticky. Ahh well. Keira had fun.


Here is the patched ceiling pre paint job. So take 3 of toilet installation is a bust..... Take 1 was the plumber no show, take 2 was the ceiling/ light fixture floor, and take 3 is no power ( for the plumber) We lost power last night but only for about 30 min or so. It was insanely dark. I don't think we have ever lost power at night along with the busy street that is right next to us.. AKA fast food mile. There was no street lights, no business lights. NOTHING. Israel was right next to me and I literally could not see him. But lucky for us the power was restored very quickly because a Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's without power simply cannot be. Our plumber didn't have power so instead of coming to work he understandably needed to get his house hooked up to a generator. The wind and rain last night was crazy. Tons of people have no power and our neighbours have a tree in their bedroom! Crazy weather!!!
The house is to be listed Monday. Our realtor had someone interested who was going to come by on Sunday but apparently they don't like the location so that was disappointing. Can definitely tell its the first week of lent. Its been a trying week here to say the least. At least the kids are on the mend and feeling better although Keira I think is about as stir crazy as me.

ohhh the horror of it all

25 steps back and zero steps forward that pretty sums up today. Today the second hired plumber/handyman was here to install the toilet and the sink. If are following our boring life you know that the plumber that ran the water lines from the basement to the second floor was a no show last Friday to install the sink and the toilet in the bathroom. Again Mike can do these things but we are on a time crunch if we want to get our house on the market as the first time home buyers $8000 tax refund ends April 30th and since Mike does 99% of the work himself we figured what the heck. We will save ourselves some time and hire it out. BAD IDEA. VERY BAD IDEA. Anyways back to the drama. So Dennis ( who is actually Mike's cousin is upstairs installing the water shut off valves for the sink and toilet and I am in the kitchen with Keira who is washing dishes ( aka getting water everywhere and making a mess). We laid plastic down over the living room rug as Dennis has to keep going in and out to get parts/tools in his truck and its wet and slushy out so we wanted to keep the rug clean. So I have my back to the living room and all of sudden I hear water hitting the plastic. I turn around and see water pouring ( and yes I mean pouring the pics do not do it justice as those were taken later when it stopping pouring out) of one of the recessed lights in the living room. I yell "Its leaking its leaking!" and he comes downstairs to check it out. I called Mike at work who had to come home to assess the situation. So fast forward a few hours. We now have a hole in the ceiling and drywall dust everywhere. Basically its a huge mess. The source of the leak was located and after 2 trips to Home Depot by Mike ( of course the first store he went to didn't have the part and he had to drive to a neighbouring town to get it). Yet another thing for Mike to fix. So yes we hired a plumber and paid him $1000 to do the job... and here we are. A month later with a leak, a day of work lost by Mike, more money out of pocket ( time lost by the second plumber as he couldn't do his job ), More mess, more headache, and the job once again done by Mike. Which leaves us asking the question.... why again did we hire this out since it ended up costing more time and money than if we had done it ourselves. Mike has called the original plumber at least 10 time and left messages and we fully intend to harass the guy until we get some money back. The house was to be listed Monday but not sure what will happen at this point. ARGH!!!!!!
And just in case you are wondering why on earth we want to do it all over again ( the construction and the mess) with the new house we don't. We fully intend on getting a house that needs only minor repairs like flooring and paint. Not new insulation, drywall, electrical etc etc etc!! Been there done that! Mike wants to turn his attention and skill to building other things like a playhouse for Keira.

The aftermath and mess

The hole

The leak point- the T joint of the blue tubing

Mike cutting into the ceiling

Water dripping from the light

Busy Busy

Mike continues to work at a frantic pace in the upstairs. Israel's room is complete except for the molding. The hallway just needs the built in shelves and the new bathroom just needs a plumber that shows up. Last week was a bust when our plumber was a no show. We have since hired someone else and the toilet and sink are to be installed tomorrow. I'm not posting any more pics until the finished product... this weekend!!! :o) We met with the Realtor and have all the paperwork to list the house. We just need to fill it out and take pictures. I have been busying de- cluttering. Its amazing how much stuff we have. All out storage type stuff and excess furniture is being stored at Matt and Mk's ( thanks guys!!) but that all requires being packed up, boxed, and marked and loaded into the truck ( my job) and being delivered and unloaded in their basement ( Mike's job). You want to make it appear as if your house is comfortable, clean and cozy. Not crowded and busting at the seems as it currently is. Luckily we gave up TV and Internet after dinner this week for lent so we have plenty of time in the evenings to play catch up.
The kids are getting over colds, croup, bronchitis etc etc so they have been alot of fun lately.....

You know its time...

to put away the bouncy seat when they start sitting up in it!!

Israel with a fruit snack wrapper

It really is very entertaining for a baby...... :o) Who would have thought?

Keira as a baby with a fruit snack wrapper

Even the babies are sick....

Ahh the joys of winter

Israel getting "nebed"

Keira with her twice daily inhaled steriods

Getting there...

Israel's room has drawers with knobs ( ignore the missing knob in the picture- its there now) and

a completed built in bunk.

The bathroom just needs a door. The plumber is coming Friday to install the toilet and sink ( to save time)


Flooring in the landing has been completed ( its the light bamboo in the bottom of the picture) and started ( Beech) in Israel's room.
Mike hopes to get most of the last major stuff done this weekend. And next weekend be completely done.
We have been in touch with our real estate agent and hope to list the house next week. We have a better chance of selling it before April 30th since that is when the tax refund for home buyers expires. Meanwhile we continue to pack boxes and declutter ( in hopes of having a better chance at selling). Mike's brother and sister in law have kindly let us store a bunch of stuff in their basement while we declutter. And so we ( as severely sleep deprived as we are) embark on our most stressful adventure yet-- selling, buying (hopefully) , moving, cleaning, packing etc with 2 young kids in tow. YIKES!!!!

snow!

Yes I am so done with winter. Especially since I had to take Israel to the doctors office again today ( I swear he picked up the germs there!) where he was diagnosed with a cold/virus and reactive airway disease aka Asthma. Yippee me. I have 2 kids with Asthma. Anyways back to the picture. Even I will admit the snow is beautiful!

Dinosaurs

Things have been busy busy around here lately. Mike has been working at a feverish pace on Israel's room because frankly we are all just sick of the construction mess ( especially me), and we would like to get our house on the market as soon as possible. We are both betting that the house won't sell and we will end up staying here for another few years ( which is okay I guess). But we won't know unless we try so list it we shall...

In between preschool shopping for Keira for next fall, and cleaning up the drywall dust, sawdust and other debris, I have been trying to keep the kids busy to avoid the inevitable cabin fever. We have barely had much snow this winter but its still been pretty cold and impossible to get outside unless you count walking from the car to the house "being outside."

Mike took the day off from "working" today so we spent some much needed family time at the SEE Science Museum and the Dinosaur exhibit.