fire in the hole!

almost as exciting as our favorite ride at silver dollar city! almost. but definitively more exciting than dressing up in old cowboy and salloon-y type garb for an old time photo. ok. maybe equal amounts of exciting.

first, joren in the hole.

the stove, up on blocks, atop the wheely cart.

measure twice, hook the stove up once.

apparently, the instructions from denmark were less helpful than you might imagine. danes. i won't go into the details (mostly because i A. don't understand them and B. don't care) but joren spent about 100 hours researching how to hook an insanely heavy, danish stove to a NON MASONRY WALL. i am so tired of pretending to listen to things about NON MASONRY WALLS. it's exhausting!

and... we have fire.

for safety reasons, we've kicked some of the cardboard out of the way and broomed back the sawdust a foot or two.

and like a fool...

i was most dubious about ye olde hand crank. until, of course, joren showed up with the "foot jack scaffolding hooked to some 2x4's"

no. really. here's a closer look. some 2x4's hooked to some metal things bolted to the house. supposedly. at least he had the rock solid craigslist saftey warranty.

alright.

ALRIGHT! i'm all out of order. this is what happens when you ask me to cook ramen noodles with frozen peas for lunch AND sweep the job site all in one afternoon. multitasking is for amateurs. i prefer to hone in on one task and give it all 67% of my attention.

kitchen window hole. the biggest gaping hole of them all. aft, the saran-wrapped kitchen slider.

the crank is back! step right up and get a peek! THE MOST WOBBLY, UNSTABLE hand crank on the planet. men trust their lives to it! supporting seven thousand pounds of kitchen slider!

work crew: pants suit pat, young charles, smart phone eric and joren. not a one interested in a fun group photo.

chimney doin's

hold on. hold on. hold on. before we can even start discussing the chimney, we've got to revisit the WEATHERPROOFING SYSTEM conversation. you're wondering about the pink stuff. it went in all the cracks and nail holes. "ALL the cracks and nail holes, BETH," of which there were like a half a million. it was part two of the twenty-seven part weatherproofing system.

ok. the chimney. it's where we vent out all of our home's noxious fumes. also the smoke from the wood burning stove.

remember when there weren't any windows?

idiots. it was just like 2 posts ago. this will jog your memories.

i sort of miss the sheet plastic and plywood. but what we'll miss most? the cat conventions that the neighborhood felines held every night after we'd switched off the lights and securely locked the front door.

and the yellow stuff? some sort of paint-on weather protection. joren said it was in lieu of the black paper stuff. but guess what went up on top of the yellow paint? the black paper stuff.

window mania

i can't say i didn't love the window holes. i did. like the teeth on a jack-o-lantern. or a hobo. they suggested mystery, adventure or a story untold. a promise of what's to come. but less pulp and mouth stink.

all told, we installed 147 windows. or maybe it 47. either way, it seemed like 471. they're pretty. and the best part? all the stickers i got to peel off! now that's some honest to goodness wife work. thank god i'm here to head up the sticker removal committee. and the smudges! you should see them with the sunlight streaming through. spectacular.

window words i've learned: fixed, operable, casement, awning, glass.

ahh. windows.

i know. I KNOW. i've been busy.