Front of the house...

Mike has been working on the entire front of the house. He has replaced 2 side columns with new ones. Then torn out all the ones in the front (top & bottom) to replace the box beams , flooring and ceilings. The first picture is Mike & Marissa outside talking. The second picture is Mike trying to figure out how to use the new camera. The third picture is what Mike usually looks like when he is done working. The fourth picture is Mike trimming the top of one of the new columns. The fifth is a birds nest that was in the corner of the porch. (love the new crappy camera. didn't ever get the full picture) The last 2 are just of pictures of the porch. While Mike is outside working i've been painting another room. I'll get pictures when it is done.
Time to make dinner.
TTYL
Kat

I finished a room.

I finished painting the tv room. Yeah me!! The pictures are really bad of course. The last one is Marissa and her cake. Devils food and pecan coconut.

Another animal added to the list...

The ones we have found living in our house. The millions of birds, kittens, frogs, mama & baby squirrels. And now we can add snake. Mike & I were working in our separate rooms about 12:30-1 am when he came down to me and said we have a snake. He was working on insulating the outside wall in the closet where he replaced the window and a larger door. It was funny the 2 of us that really don't like snakes trying to get this one out of the chimney. Thank goodness we could tell it had just eaten so it was not aggressive. We got it into a pillow case and tied the top. Mike then put it in a bucket and placed something on top and sat it in the back yard for the night. I of course had to get some pictures of it in the chimney.
Back to work. TTYL Kathie

Another Busy Weekend

Mike got all the beems up to support the front porch and balcony last week. Then it decided to rain so he couldn't work outside, so he decided to help me with our closet I've been working on. All he was supposed to do was prime the paneling so i could paint. The paneling was in such bad condition we decided to tear it down. (on 1 wall). So he had to run electrical for outlets and replace a few studs, then have the building inspector approve it, then hang the dry wall & tape & mud & sand. After all that he still need to replace the door that went out to the balcony in the back. We couldn't find exterior door that were 30" that weren't an arm & a leg so we got 32". So he had to tear the paneling off the back wall to open the door frame 2". Now there is no dry wall on the back wall and there are a few holes all the way thru that birds were living in. He also removed some of the really bad ceiling tiles and replaced them with new. It looks great with the new door but i am waiting for Mike to hang the dry wall so i can get the room done. What seemed like an easy room to bust out turned into the worst room. I decided to work on another room while Mike is working on the closet. So i decided to work on the "clothes" room. It was where all the clothes,blanket, quilts, towels and many other things were being stored. The kids helped me clear it out.(they carried the things upstairs to be put in the attic) The only thing that couldn't be moved out was the old washer, so i am working around it. I started painting the back of the door and the trim while Mike was priming around the corners and windows. We didn't finish as Sunday we have dinner early so the kids can get baths and off to bed for school in the morning. I will be happy when school is out for the summer but hate to hear they are bored.

Also Mike built a new pair of stairs for the back porch. We were going to use the stairs that went up to the balcony but they were in really bad condition. Sorry for the really bad pictures. The only camera we have is a really crappy one.

It's late and i should be in bed. TTYL Kathie

Front Porch

While I have been running the older kids to the orthodontist & dentist Mike has been working on securing the front porch to replace the columns and floor/ceiling. He is using all the studs we've taken out of walls. So we had to finish taking down walls that still had studs in them. The center wall in the downstairs hallway, & up around the stair well. TTYL Kathie

The small stairs

are gone too. I had decided to take the small stairs completely apart and replace them with part of the other stairs. Mike & I got most of the cinder blocks and brick removed and the 3 younger kids removed more while i made dinner.

These are the new stairs Mike built. All it needs is a hand rail and the are complete.

Braces

I took Marissa & Patrick to the orthodontist yesterday to get their top braces on. Last week i took them to get spacers for their back teeth. I will post pictures as soon as Marissa approves 1 she will let me post.
TTYL
Kathie

The back stairs gone....

Mike took down the stairs that went up to the second floor. We are going to cut them down and reuse them for the smaller stairs that go to the first floor.

First porch column

The first porch column has been removed. Mike is in the process of putting the new one in now. Heres a few picture. Sorry about the quality of the pictures. Both our cameras died and all we have is a crappy one.
Kathie

Porch

Mike has been working on the porch (when it's not raining). It's coming along nicely.