The Top 10 Greatest Things About Our House:
#10: Free water!
There's no visual for this one, but we just got our first water/sewage bill and there's a magical $282.63 credit on our account. Based on our usage thus far, this means we won't be paying WSSC until about 2012. Finally - a clerical error in our favor!
#9: New cabinets in our dining room!
#9: New cabinets in our dining room!
Our overhead cabinets were removed from the right side of our kitchen to make room for the fridge. But apparently they thought we'd like to keep the shelving? Since haul-away seems to be pretty low on our contractor's to-do list (oh I really need to take a picture of the landfill in our backyard), I've been making daily trips to the MoCo dump (errr... Transfer Station) to get rid of the debris. 
(Despite the lack of storage space, it is pretty cool having our refrigerator where it belongs.)
#8: New kitchen door!
Seriously, there's no latching part to the knob - it only closes using the deadbolt. It's an easy fix, and we have the new hardware, but to avoid replacing it again when the contractor is done, we don't want to re-install until the work is complete.Super double bonus: Since Erik and I never in our wildest dreams expected the reno to take this long, we never made me a front door key - instead, I had a key to the back door. That worked out just fine until they replaced it... and I was locked out of the house for two hours while Erik picked up a friend at the airport.
#7: Sharpie everywhere!
Erik and I were expecting friends one Friday night when all of a sudden three men showed up to tear out our front steps. The original plan was to fully reconstruct them in concrete, but our darling Ms. Marcella did not show up with the needed additional cement. (Surprise!) Due to all the action, we had to greet our guests via the kitchen door. Luckily, the guy in charge of the steps project spoke my language (literally and figuratively) and wrote us this helpful note on a plank by the front door. (That sounded facetious, but I mean it: I love notes in Sharpie.)#6: Grown-up appliances! (...droooool...)
I am so flipping materialistic. In fact, when I came home one day to find spackle splattered across the top of my beautiful babies, I got so mad that I scrawled a big mean nasty note (yes, you guessed it - in Sharpie!) on a box that I then used to house the machines. It says something like, "Don't you DARE move this box! If you move this box I will charge you $$$!!" (Because "$" seems bridge the language gap?)#5: No more roofing tiles!
Instead of roofing tiles, we've been stuck with ...well... that. Not the biggest improvement in the world, huh? Erik's favorite part is how the first step is (uneven and) 1" off the ground, the next step is (uneven and) 3" up from that one, and then you have to leap about 8" to reach the porch. Our contractor told us three weeks ago that this wouldn't be the finished product. But, umm... I'm starting to think it is.#4: We're totally wired!
Erik and I spent about two months without internet or phone service. (GASP! I know!) Amazingly, we survived. When it came time to install our low-speed, bare-bones connection, Erik first had to figure out how to tackle the multitude of wires in our house.
Luckily, he's a lot more patient than I am.
"We" finally started tearing up tile in the basement to make way for the couches (gorgeous! pictures to come...). Unfortunately, any amount of squatting/kneeling makes me a mite uncomfortable and maybe even a little mean, so Erik's had to handle the vast majority of this project. Due to all the damp, the tile glue is super-sticky and hard to remove, but we hope (read: dream) that we'll have our floating laminate installed in time for the baby.
Some down, TONS to go!
#2: New neighbors!
We knew when we moved in that there was a slight bug problem. (Big hint: finding ~50 dead bees and wasps upstairs.) So we weren't hugely surprised when the hot weather hit and we started finding more wasps inside the nursery. Turns out, we had a colony of little neighbors living in our hood's exhaust vent. The wasps were then entering our home courtesy of the gaps in our 60-yr-old windows (nope, our new ones STILL haven't been installed). Erik gassed these hives and knocked them out, but apparently it's harder than that to get rid of wasps - they've now taken up residence under our back stairs and in the dining room window frame. #1: Knowing we're going through all this for a reason.
Yikes - 32 weeks! (Dear Universe: I apologize for wearing a dress and sandals yesterday despite having neglected my legs and toenails for such a long time. I simply couldn't reach. Love, Amy.)
I am so sorry that you endured these hardships with your home. I too hired Marcella Rutherford to renovate my home. Needless to say it was a nightmare. She not only stole the money but did not do the work on my home. After I fired her, she went and applied for a permit to do the work which was 4 months after she was paid. She was unaccessible and very unprofessional AFTER she was awarded the contract. I wish you well in your new journey.
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