Sunday, November 28, 2010

Moving Forward

After a few weeks of very little happening, things are hopping again. The drywall crew is due to arrive on Monday and a large roof-support beam is supposed to be installed on Tuesday. In preparation for the beam, I had to remove all the upper cabinets in the kitchen and open up a couple walls for the support pillars. I had taken several pictures of the kitchen just before I started tearing things out, unfortunately, the memory card in the camera decided to go bad so those pictures no longer exist. So what is below is all I have. I had to remove the lower cabinet just to the left of the dishwasher and discovered that granite is pretty tough to remove. It had to be pulverized by beating on it with a hammer and then removed in very small pieces. This was a little hard to do because I just installed it three years ago.

As soon as the beam is in place, the wall with the window will be completely removed.


Meanwhile, the siding guy was hard at work on the exterior and will probably be finishing this coming week also.


Below are a couple pictures of the inside of the addition. It's just waiting for drywall right now.


Thursday, November 11, 2010

A Garage-Full

Our cabinets were delivered today. We're not near ready for them. The drywallers are not scheduled to arrive until after Thanksgiving, so, until the drywall is done, the cabinets will be crowding the garage.


I did manage to save some space by consolidating some of the boxes. One box felt rather light, and I opened it to find it nearly empty. It only contained a very small box with six knobs and four drawer pulls. So much for efficiency.


Abigail helped me check most of the shipment over. We discovered she was just about the right size to fit in one of the shelves, sort of looked like a doll in a box.


I spent most of the evening opening boxes and checking the paperwork. Abigail thought it was fun, sort of like a whole garage full of large Christmas presents, only we knew what they all were.

November 10, 2008 - Gotcha Day

Two years ago, we were sitting in a hotel room in central China, wondering what to do next. We had just picked up a scared little 9-year-old girl the day before and now we had the newest little member of our family whom we didn't have a clue how to communicate with. We could tell she was a talkative person because she jabbered continuously with our Chinese guide and struck up conversations with just about anyone she met on the street. She just didn't converse with us. In the two years that followed, she gradually grew nearly silent as one language faded away and then started to talk again as the next language was acquired. She now loves to talk again.

In the mean time, she has grown nearly nine inches in height and her hair, coming from the normal orphanage buzz cut, is now halfway down her back. I wonder if those she knew back in China would recognize her anymore.

She celebrated her "gotcha day" by making an apple pie. She had scratched "Abigail, 2 years" into the top crust before she baked it and we enjoyed most of it yesterday.

I must say, these last two years have been quite an adventure. Pulling two far-different cultures together in one family has been a stretching experience for all of us. Abigail has grown from a scared little 9-year-old into a lovely, outgoing 11-year-old. And we are eating more rice. Among other things.

It will be interesting to see what the next two years has in store...

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Warm and Dry (almost)

The new addition has been dry for a while, now it is almost warm. I spent most of Saturday hanging insulation, and finished the entire addition except for just a few wall cavities. I spent the next several hours scratching my itches. Fiberglass is fun stuff to work with.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Wiring Approved


The last several days have been spent drilling holes and pulling wire. It's amazing how much wire goes into a kitchen and a bathroom, especially when the bathroom will eventually contain laundry appliances. Today the electrical inspector came and inspected and approved the wiring. With that approved, I could proceed with the insulation and cover up my beautiful wiring job. I completed just about all the wall insulation, and the ceiling will follow shortly. Below are a few pictures of the current state of things. It is still technically outside the envelope of the house, since the original wall is still up and there is no heat yet, but we are moving closer to having the wall come down.


Looking into what will be the bathroom






Looking at the old wall of the house and the old kitchen and bathroom window