As we drain all of our savings to pay for the end of the project things are getting a little scary - waking up in the middle of the night, etc. I read my singer-songwriter friend Christine Kane's blog this morning (as I often do before starting the workday) and it hit straight and to the point on "How to Have a Great Day". If you don't already check out her blog, I highly recommend it. And order a CD or two while you are at it! On her blog, she shares so many practical tips on everything you need to live life in the best way, to be successful, to combat your fears, to build your courage, to stay positive, things you can learn from your pets, and so much more!! And she does it with humor and candor and from personal experience. Some of my classic favorites: At the beginning of the year, Christine suggests instead of a New Year's Resolution, you have a Resolution Revolution - choose a word for the year and use it as a mantra. Mine is "abundance" and it helps when writing those checks to contractors or to quell the money fears that keep me up at night. I also love her post on How to Get off the Hamster Wheel and Get on with Life.

The Drywall Crew

The Drywall crew has taken over the house. They work very quickly and in a few hours, the house goes from looking like a construction site to look more like a house. They started with the high ceiling work in the living room. They started early so get the hottest and hardest work out of the way.

Finishing work has begun

Jim has been cracking the whip on everybody to get them moving on the finishing so we can get back in the house. As soon as the electrical inspection was done the insulation began immediately and is going in fast. It was amazing how quiet it was in the rooms where it had been nearly completed. Sheet rock has been delivered and that will go up this coming week. Jim made sure that the sheet rock folks knew exactly where to stuff and where not to stuff - such as around the windows that will be finished in wood and in the shower shelf nook that will be tiled. Temporary stairs have been built to the guest suite - these will ultimately be done in oak. And Jim showed us around the excavation for the breezeway and garage. We decided to reuse the pretreated cedar decking materials that are in good shape from the old deck (which Jim actually built for the previous owner!!) This will save us money over getting all new materials of course and we feel like we're doing our part for environment as well. Our own field stone for the chimneys and reusing our old decking and flooring where possible. Yesterday we picked our granite countertop - uba tuba it's called. Flooring guys (slate solutions tile and five inch birch wood) are ready to go once the sheet rock is done. We still need to pick all the lighting and bathroom fixtures....but it's feeling like we might actually get back in there within a month!!