The Digging Has Begun!

Oh my gosh!! This is only the second week of the project and so much has been done already! The whole house is cleared out inside - floor boards, bathroom fixtures, doors and insulation preserved for use in the new part - decking, siding and sheet rock removed - and best of all the digging has begun! Right around Christmas we had a couple big storms that dumped lots of snow but rather than that hurting our project, it helped protect the ground from freezing making excavation possible. This week we are having a winter heat wave - 60 degrees and counting - so that has made things even easier. Our excavator thinks we'll be ready to pour concrete starting Thursday. The guys are great - very respectful and dedicated - most of them local to Ghent - and our GC, Jim, calls in almost every day with an update. As frustrating as the delays have been, all of this was of course meant to be and Jim thinks we'll be back in by July. Soon we'll have to start making all the endless decisions - counters and tiles and floors and cabinets and appliances and lighting and and and. .... but for now we're revelling in the fact that it has all started and there's an end in sight.

Breaking ground on 271!

We did it! We finally signed a general contractor!! They started preparing for excavation this week - took off the back deck, etc. So 2008 is going to be the year of the renovation after all! At the moment, they are predicting to be finished in July so we are now scrambling to amass our renovation finances into a liquid state so we can pay them as they go. Since it's a slow time for construction, we're getting the benefits of the GC wanting to keep his guys busy - so he's passing along all his discounts and not taking his usual profit margin. Building supplies have come down since they were first estimated also so we might be able to stay within the budget.....well mostly :-)

We'll start taking pictures this weekend and posting them so you can all see the progress. It's pretty exciting!!!! Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas time in the Country

Today we just got our Christmas tree. Any tree just $30 .... and they cut it down and load it for you! What a deal!! The ones we used to get in Dobbs Ferry were twice that or more and not nearly as fresh. It's up now in our great big huge kitchen and we'll decorate it tomorrow. It's so beautiful up here in the country in every season but it's truly magic at Christmas time. Big vast expanses of land, animals, mountain views.

We've had a few dustings of snow which make it feel more like Christmas but the time has just flown! This fall has been a crazy travel extravaganza and I'm so glad to be back to a semi-normal schedule. Our trip out to see David's family for Thanksgiving was the best part of the insanity. we got to spend some real quality time with Donna, Kenny, Glenn, Jason, Kristen and Delaney ... worth the time and energy to get all the way out there :-)

So Delaney has a web page too! http://babypages.com/babyroberts

That little girl has been through so much in her short three years - major surgery to close her cleft palates happened just a few months ago but it doesn't stop her. She's an inspiration to all of us!

More later....we're off to the second neighborhood Christmas party of the night.....