Life as a House...

There have been days with this house project where I've been elated, giddy, worried, morose, dejected, fed up, frustrated, apathetic, joyous and completely and utterly in awe of the fact that we're fortunate enough to be doing this at all. Today was one of those days where, after all of the kicking and the screaming and the discussing and the futzing, after the times where you feel as though you do nothing but work and nothing seems to get accomplished, or the times where you do nothing but avoid the project and even less gets accomplished, I looked up and it was done.



The siding. The siding is done. I really can't believe it. It would've been done weeks ago, but we were waiting for some material to materialize and it was delayed, then the guys moved onto another gig in the meantime and, well, now here we are after three days of work and it's done.



The front needed new shingles over the porch, some siding pieces around the chimney (of what use this is, I do not know, as there is no wood stove or the like in the house...if anyone has any ideas, feel free to enlighten me) and finishing of the trim stuff on the peak dealy there (these are highly technical terms).



I don't know if you can make it out in the picture on the left, but the dormer over the apartment (upper window) also needed to be finished up. And now it's done too.



Then there was the back...oh the back.

Call me crazy, but I believe a house is a living entity of sorts. It can look sad and forlorn, especially if it's neglected. Houses can look mean and nasty too, if those who dwell within it are such. Don't you think that this house looked a little sad when we bought it? And now, doesn't it look like it's standing up nice and tall, as though it's a little prouder of itself?

I spent the day in the yard cleaning up the remnants of the work that's been done in the last month or so, tidying up some branches and getting ready for the lockdown that is winter. It was a beautiful day today, warm and breezy with that awesome golden October sunshine that I just love so much. Every once in a while, I would look over at this crazy house of ours and think 'it's done'. Not entirely done mind you, but the big stuff is over. The stuff that I thought was so insurmountable, so far beyond our perview that it felt as though it would just go on forever. And just like that, it's over.

All we have left now is the inside, which is entirely cosmetic in nature, with the exception of some pretty minor electrical work. We've ordered a tub for our main bath in the house, the electrician is coming on Thurs. or Fri.,(hopefully...everyone keep their fingers crossed...he always says he's coming and then doesn't...and yet we keep calling this guy...WTH?) and I've started scraping the paint off the stairs as my next little project. Suddenly, everything seems managable, and, dare I say it, as though it's coming together. I know that this is a never ending project, all houses are like that, but I can actually see a day now, in the not too distant future, where we might actually move into the house part of our house. How messed up is that? To think that I may actually unpack ALL of the boxes...well, I don't think I'm quite ready to go THERE just yet.

Anyhow, had to share. Knitty stuff tomorrow.

Until later...