This Place is a Dump!

The dumpster finally left this week. Hooray! It sat smack in the middle of the driveway. We didn't think we would need to get one since we were only removing one little wall. The kicker was breaking up the sidewalk and the hauling out the rocks. So not only did we have our cars parked out on the street (the garage is full of, among other things, appliances just waiting to be installed), a big ugly dumpster full of rock and cement, we also had a 20 foot long trailer that we have also used on several occasions that I was certain we wouldn't need. Yes, we were looking pretty trashy. We had my friend's daughter with us for almost a week while they were out of town. She told me "Your house is ugly and my house is pretty." I could not have agreed with her more. She is 3 years old and very smart.

Before:

After:
We have been working on the floor this week to have it ready before the cabinets go in. I don't mean putting in new flooring, I mean renting two different scraping and sanding machines (very LOUD) before finally, last night on hands and knees while pinching a razor blade between our fingers- scraping the floor.

In other news, the taping and first coat of mudding are done. Hooray. Now just another week of digging that ditch. Ditch digging... is getting old. It took us 10 days to dig out the line while destroying our backyard and killing 3 trees. The ground is hard and full of stones and rocks and roots. Now we just have to dig the ditch deeper to get to code.
(Ok I will admit I wanted to include this shot to show off my ditch digging muscles. I would rather be doing push-ups in a clean house away from the gnats.)

The kids have been... not well. Our change in diet has created a severe case of constipation which ended in taking both Allie and Luke in to see the doctor (at different times) since the usual remedies were not working. It is hard to see your kids in pain as well as exhausting and wearing to have the constant whining and crying. That is a difficult thing to add to the mix of our current life.

I have to end on a positive note and say that every time I whine and complain, I feel really guilty because of how lucky and blessed we are to get to do this and really how somewhat fun it is at times. I don't think Jason would say this is all that fun. I have had to apologize a number of times for my behavior. The highs and lows of this project have been pretty extreme and I feel bad to take it out on him. Someday, as everyone likes to remind us, it will be over and it will be beautiful. Someday.