Crowbars and Snow Storms

No sleeping in for me and Pete this weekend!  We had to be at our house by 8AM on Saturday in case our Verizon Fios installer showed up on time.  {They gave us a window of 8AM to 5PM...quite a large window if you ask me.}  We didn't mind getting to the house super early because tearing down the plaster ceiling in the garage was not going to be easy peasy, and we wanted to put in as many hours as we could before the early season snow storm started to accumulate.  The weather forecasters were calling for 6 - 10 inches, but we thought there was no way we'd really get that.  HA!  We were wrong.

By the time we arrived at the house, the wet snow/rain was just starting to fall.  Pete and I got started moving some stuff out of the area we were going to begin on...then we got to ripping down the ceiling.  We were tentative at first, but once we got going, we were just pulling away with the crowbars. 

The hubby hard at work.

And again.

Me having some fun pulling down the ceiling.

And again.

Part of my debris pile.

It wasn't too hard to get the ceiling to come down.  The worst part was going back and removing the hundreds of nails that were still in the joists. 

Bunch of nails that needed to be removed from the joists.

And again.

They needed to come out so that our contractor could easily put up the new insulation and drywall, without having to worry about doing any of the time consuming, nit-picky {that's a technical term} stuff.

Pete and I were so very happy we ended up removing the ceiling, because thanks to that huge leak that occurred in the old master shower, there was quite a bit of black mold growing on the backside of the plaster and the {pathetically thin} insulation.

Mold growing on the back of a piece of the ceiling.

Mold growing on the old insulation.

Our Verizon installer showed up a little late, but it was better than our electrician that just did not show!!

After about 4 hours of work, the Verizon guy had our phone, TV and Internet all hooked and ready to go. 
It was about that same time that I told Pete we really needed to head home.  We were a little more than halfway through the garage ceiling and the snow was really coming down.  All we could hear outside was the cracking of tree limbs and sirens in the distance.  The roads were untouched and we just heard cars spinning their wheels trying to make it up the road.

View from our front yard as the snow was falling.

First snowfall at the house.

First snowfall for the super cute couple that lives across the street from us.  They just got married and bought their house this past Spring/Summer too!

Another view from our front yard.  So pretty, but too bad it causes so many problems for people.  Oh yea, and it's cold when this happens...booooooooooo.

The hubs finally agreed that we should get on the road...especially since we needed to drive 45 miles west to get to his parents house.  This is a little of what we encountered on our way home. 

Driving down the road in Whippany.

Good ole' Rt. 80 West.

More of Rt. 80 West...it's WAY too early for all this nonsense!

One of the downed trees we encountered.

Driving through Blairstown to try and get home safe.

Our usual 50 minute drive took us 3 hours!!  It was one of the scariest and most frustrating drives {trees down everywhere...trapping us on roads, gas tank on empty because we burned through over a quarter of a tank when the car would lose traction the entire ride} we ever made...but we got home safe.  Now if we could only get power back.

I hope everyone else had a safe and less eventful weekend!  Fingers crossed that our electrician actually shows up today!  {Gosh, I feel like I end a lot of posts saying that we are crossing our fingers for our workers show up....hmmmm.}

Surpriseee!

I couldn't have been more surprised when I saw that Debbie from My Little Mess awarded me with The Versatile Blogger award.  Quite frankly, I'm shocked that anyone, besides my awesome parents, even read my blog...so a hugeeee thank you goes out to Debbie! :)

The rules of the award are:
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave the award to you.  --see above...you rock, Debbie!
2. Share 7 things about yourself.  --see below
3. Send it along to 3 other (new/newer) bloggers and let them know you have awarded them!  --see way below


7 Things About Me:
1. My family means everything to me.  My hubby and parents are some of my best friends in the whole world.
2. I really, really hate the cold.  That means, in my perfect world, after New Years Day is over, I would like for Spring to come and the temperatures to warm back up.  {Snow and cold weather are only appropriate during Winter holidays.}
3. Pete and I have a cat {who is like a child to us} named Copernicus...Perny for short.  He is the most loveable little guy...and we are convinced he is part dog.  Can you tell he likes to sleep, belly up in the air?!?!

4. I tend to be crazy organized and detail-oriented.
5. I LOVE clothes...and shoes...and jewelry.  I feel like I never have enough of anything...meanwhile, I have more than enough, and I'm planning to do a major clean out of my closet before we move into our house so my new closet and drawers will be super organized.
6. I am obsessed with crime shows {NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, Criminal Minds, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-O}, HGTV and I can't get enough of trashy reality TV shows.
7. I was always strong in math and science...go figure, I'm working with numbers now...but that doesn't mean I don't have a major creative side.  I grew up drawing and sketching everything {I was the only accounting major taking a drawing class in college}, and now I can't get enough of creating stuff for party decor or our home.



I'm passing The Versatile Blogger award on to....
- John and Lisa @ Our Home from Scratch
- Erin and Sean @ Olive Our House
- Michael and Rebecca @ The Lil' House That Could

All Patched Up!

Our hardwood floors have been patched!  Once we get some tiles installed we can officially kiss the sub-floors good-bye!

Flooring patch near the front door.



And again.

Patching finished near the basement door.

Kitchen and hallway floor.

Love the hardwoods in the kitchen!

And again.

One more time.

And, just in case you didn't see it in the previous pictures, the ugly kitchen backsplash was removed, leaving an even more ugly glue pattern on the wall.  The backsplash needed to come down so that our electrician can access the walls this weekend to install wiring for future under-cabinet lighting.

Our kitchen is atrocious right now.

So horribly ugly.  And yes, the inside of our cabinets are aqua.  It will look a lot less odd when our kitchen is finished.

Unfortunately, there will be no progress at the house today.  For whatever reason, our contractor said he will not be coming by.  Boooooooo!!  But Saturday will be a busy day for us.  The hubs and I will be ripping down the garage and basement ceilings...our Verizon Fios installer is coming to set up our TV, phone and Internet connections...and our electrician (and possibly a crew???) is coming to start their work on our house.

Keep in mind, they are calling for the first snow storm of the season to hit our area tomorrow.  Let's hope it doesn't throw a wrench into any of Saturday's plans!

Happy Friday!!!! :)

Forgotten Pictures

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I totally forgot to take pictures at the house when we met with our electrician.  So here are the pictures that I should have taken two days ago.  Our master closets are completely framed in and have a real floor now! {Please forgive me for the horrible lighting in my pictures.  The days are growing short and we barely have any light sources in our house!}

Ready for the framing inspection...and we even have floors!

My closet area.

The hub's closet area.

New hardwood floors carried throughout the space.

We also had two out of three basement windows replaced.

Not sure what those wires are doing, running through the window frame, but *hopefully* our super electrician will resolve that!

Much better than what existed before.

Yesterday, our contractor started to install the hardwood in the kitchen, and he began patching the hallway, as well.  Plus, we passed our framing inspection!  So far, so good!

Definitely the right decision to carry the hardwood flooring through the kitchen.

Halfway done.

Old fridge sitting in our dining room.

Patching the hardwood floors in the hallway.

Another view of our red oak flooring getting installed.

Hopefully the hubs and I can see the floors 100% complete when we get to the house after work.  I really can't wait to see how everything looks when the floors get refinished and stained a different color!

Good News/Bad News

Ahhh, the good news.

Last night was a success.  The hubs and I met with our electrician and contractor.  We went through most of the house and discussed what needs to be done and what we want to get done.  Unfortunately for our contractor {and our bank account}, the to-do list is a mile long.  Thankfully, our panel is in good shape, but beyond that, everything else needs help.  We have junction boxes, wires and a major lack of lighting all over the place.  Not gonna lie...when we heard our electrician use the phrase "bring a crew in", we couldn't have been happier.  We know our house is not a one-man kind of job.

The electrician is scheduled to start on Saturday...which coincides with me and the hubby ripping down the garage and basement ceilings.  Doing this dirty work will save us some cash, allow us to properly insulate the area below our master suite and give our workers direct access to the spaces they need (to run wires, etc.).  Our contractor is bringing a dumpster by today to get us set up for our weekend o' fun!

When we arrived at the house last night we saw that our master closets had been framed, and the wood flooring was patched and installed in the same area.  Two of the three basement windows were also installed.  Unfortunately I do not have pictures of the progress.  We were so wrapped up talking with the electrician and our contractor that I completely forgot to take pictures...even though I had the camera IN MY HAND.  Duhhh!  {Clearly, I was too busy daydreaming of a day when all the work we were discussing would be d-o-n-e!}

And then, the bad news.

We were informed that we will not be in our house by the deadline given to us.  They said we'd definitely be in by Christmas, but we shouldn't hold our breath for Thanksgiving.  MAJOR bummer.  Trying to wait until Thanksgiving has been hard enough...and now, we just have to wait even longer.  Anyone want to loan me any patience?!?!? 

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

The hubs and I have been hoping that this week would be a full and productive one at the house.  We stopped by last night and saw that a few things had gotten accomplished.

The temporary, support posts that were up in the living area were taken down, leaving only the permanent beam in place.

View from front door area.

View from fireplace.

View from dining room.

The sub-floor was laid and the tub walls were framed out in the main bathroom.

View into main bath from the hallway.  Tub wall to the left has been framed and sub-floor has been laid.

Tub/shower area has been framed.

No more holes in the floor to the garage below.

The hole that existed on the backside of our house because of removing the old master bath window was closed up and covered with new cedar shake shingles.

No more plywood covered hole in the house.  Brand new cedar shake shingles.

The hubs and I are supposed to meet with our contractor and electrician tonight.  Let's hope this meeting does not get cancelled last minute like last week!