More Early December

Happy Birthday Brett! We even got to go out on a date, thanks to Brett's parents for babysitting!

Oh, boy, what are we doing now!!!  Well, we've been gutting the basement since we moved in- yes, for 3 years, it's been a process.  We don't have a garage, so we really use this space.  Unfortunately, it's sooo gross down there- well it was when we started.  I'll have to dig up some of the old pictures of what it did look like originally- think old, nasty, tiny kitchen, old, nasty, tiny, lacking a 4th wall bathroom open to a dank nasty bedroom and a cob web, mouse grave yard, rotting doors remaining area.  Okay- that's a little harsh...but it was pretty gross.  We cleaned out 2 dumpsters worth of yuck to start.  Then we needed to use the space for storage and 'work space' while we worked on more pressing projects...3 years later we've decide this is out next project.  We've cleared out as much as we can- built a shed to help with storage, moved some things to the attic, etc.    It's still tricky working down there- imagine the game where you have one open space then have to shift all the other blocks around.  Again, we had to do some more 'gutting'- we had to clear off the old horse hair plaster that was crumbling.  Talk about a dirty job- thanks Brett!  You can see in the pictures some of the walls that Brett's been working on repairing.  The lower picture is a wall that he's taken the crumbling plaster off of and repointed the stone.  This wall, we have since re-plastered.  The top picture will eventually be a new 3/4 bathroom.  It'll be small, but we think it'll work.  You can also see in that photo- the ceiling is gone!  This was a majorly yucky job, that had the 'privilege' of helping- I can't tell you how many mice (non living), walnuts, pecans we found.  Yuck yuck, yuck!  I shiver just remembering it! Anywho, over Christmas Brett had a break (shock!!!) from school and work, so he got a bug to make some progress on this project.  We now have the walls up and we'll hang the rest of the drywall this weekend.  The electrical is done.  The repointing is done.  It still looks very unfinished, but we've put a lot of work into it!  We're looking forward to the next steps (like drywall) that will obviously show the progress is being made.

And no post is complete without at least one adorable picture!