Keep on Working

Since we both had the day off, we decided to get some more work done in the living room. Originally we were not going to remove the plaster and lathe from the south and north walls, but after rethinking some wiring things, we decided to just go ahead and do those two walls as well. What's a little more plaster to clean up and lathe to burn, right?

So we started the day on the south wall.


We got most of it done.




I'd like to take this chance to update the whole knob and tube wiring thing because I got that wrong before. Andrew re-explained it to me. So this little white guy going through the stud is the tube:
Its purpose is to keep the wire from touching the wood and causing an electrical catastrophe.

The knob is this little white guy:
His job is to hold the wire in place.

So there you have it. Knob and tube wiring: still a pretty simple concept.

Christmas!

We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day at my Mom's house. Christmas Eve was filled with food, games, and a few early Christmas presents! This year we all drew names and because we could wait no longer to exchange our gifts, we opened those first. I got an awesome pink tool box with a pink drill from my brother-in-law, Paul! Andrew got a circular saw from my brother, Aaron! Mom was so excited about her new apron and matching chef's hat she got from Joe and Amanda, she wore it for most of the night! She does look pretty cute in it.


We also all got some quality time in with Bridget and Paul's new baby girl, Madison. She's very sweet! Look at that grin!

Really it was just nice to hang out with everyone for hours upon hours talking and playing games, it seems like it's been a while since we've done this.
Joe and Amanda introduced us to the games Apples to Apples, and now we're all hooked!



Christmas day was more of the same: food, presents, and games. And of course, playing with Madison.


Mom had us all vote on the person with the most Christmas spirit this year. The winner was going to get a surprise gift. Well, her ploy to get rid of the gingerbread house backfired. She was elected the one with the most Christmas spirit and won the gingerbread house! So, she fed it to the birds.



It was a wonderful Christmas!

Burning Down the House!

We drove to Little Rock Thursday to see Andrew's father and step-mother for the holidays. His sister Carrie flew in and we drove into the city just in time to pick her up from the airport. We had a great time. Andrew and his dad, Ed, hung out while with ladies did a little shopping. Catherine took us to some neat little shops in her neighborhood.
So we did Christmas with them this morning and then drove back home. We did a little unpacking and then cracked open a bottle of champagne to celebrate an early Christmas present! We got a chiminea.


Not only is it fun, but it also helps us solve a bit of a problem we've been having: What do we do with all this plaster and lathe that is on the living room floor? We'll figure the plaster problem out later, but we've solved half the problem (good thinking Andrew!) . We burn the lathe!




Lathe burns great! It's pretty quick to burn, but it burns nice and hot- so we were warm for about six hours.


My brother Aaron stopped by to have a beer and check it out and then later my other brother, Joe and my sister-in-law Amanda came over. We all sat around and burned all walls. It was great!
We burned about half a wall. Only three and a half walls left!

And it continues...

We began working on the east wall of the living room tonight. This wall has two windows and a fireplace. So we figured it should be pretty interesting. Plus, we thought there would be insulation to add to the ever growing pile of junk we still have to figure out how to dispose of! Oddly enough, there was no insulation. That's one less thing to dispose of, so yay!



This wire goes to a socket and I'm glad we hadn't used it yet! It's a little scary, but apparently this is not a problem- it's just what this old wiring does! Yikes, glad we're rewiring too!

Another odd thing is that the plaster and lathe is under the fireplace mantle. Maybe this is how houses are built, I just always thought brick or stone fireplaces were put up before the walls. It appears I was wrong!

Living Room work continues

We spent the day working on several projects (and laundry). I dismantled the rest of the ramp from the front of the house while Andrew finished the west wall in the living room.

When we bought the hosue the ramp also had a rail on the right side. It was removed by Joe and Corey on the first day because we all agreed it would make moving things in easier because they wouldn't have to manuver around the it. We opted to keep the ramp part because the guys figured that would come in handy, which in did [fridge, washer, dryer, dishwasher, etc.).

So in the front I did this:



I was pretty proud of myself. This weekend we'll take out the A/C unit. We're not sure why it's there since we have central air and heat (which it awesome!).

Meanwhile, in the living room Andrew was working away.



I finished up outside and headed in to help Andrew. We got the whole wall done!





We also found the wiring for that second hidden wall light
(I thought this stuff was cool because I had never seen knob and tube wiring up close before. I especially like the simplicity of the name. Knob and tube: so called for the white knobs that hold the black tubes (that contain electrical wires) apart, thus preventing a fire- I think that's what this all is anyway).


And here's some of the scripty writing that says Miss something L-something.

Serious Renovations have begun!

The living room renovation has officially started. First we sealed the doors so the rest of the house would stay clean.


Removing plaster and lathe isn't so much hard, just long and it can get a little boring. Andrew took down the crown moulding. Then we began pulling lathe, starting at the door. The plaster usually just fell off, in chucks that create a lovely smell and dust. We like wearing masks for this job.

Progress wasn't slow.


I'm glad we kept the carpet from the bedroom. It was the newest and thereby the cleanest! And now we're using it to protect the floor (sometimes we think ahead!). As you can see, all that plaster adds up. It's heavy too. We haven't fully decided how we're going to remove this junk. We'll either take it to the city landfill at a cost of $7.25 a cubic yard or have a 10 yard bin dropped off by Environmental Services, Inc. for $205.00 (total for drop-off, 14 days, and pick-up). There are pros and cons to each and we're still wieghing them. The landfill drop-off will cost less especially if I didn't throw the last utility bill away when we paid it. I am told the first 3 cubic yards of junk are free if you have a utility bill (showing you pay for garbage services in the city of Memphis) and a driver's license (with the same address as the one on the bill). But the major con with the landfill trips would be loading the plaster into what? We have to get something to put it in before loading it up- and that stuff gets heavy fast! So garbage cans don't work. I fulled one up the other night and we couldn't even pick it up! So we may go ahead and spend the extra money for the convenience of throwing the plaster and lathe into a large bin that someone else will pick-up.

The most interesting thing about taking the plaster and lathe down is what we've found in the walls. First we found electrical wires that used to go to 2 wall lights. The evidence of their existence had long since been patched up and wall papered over.
Then there is the pipe that goes to nothing in the attic and didn't come out of the wall. It was just hidden behind the wall. It it close to where the radiator used to be, so we are assuming it was part of that.
We've also found writing. Now I was expecting to see a small amount in the form of theconstruction notes and marks, but what we found seems to be different. First we found this "B."


Then we found some very scripty writing, in the same blue-green pencil, that says Miss somebody L-something. It's very scripty so it's hard to make out anything past the Miss.
So the plaster and lathe removal will continue on Sunday!

Not much getting done

We've been keeping pretty busy unpacking so in the last week we didn't really get any major projects done, unless you count box removal! We had planned on starting a project last night but instead we got our first niece!!!!


She is, of course, perfect. Congratulations Bridget and Paul, she's great and we love you all!

New dishwasher!

The dishwasher works just fine, but it takes about 3 hours and 80 gallons of hot water for a load so we decided it would be more economical to go ahead and buy the pretty new one we'd been eyeing at Appliance Liquidators. Plus it's our birthday week (Andrew and I celebrate a whole week because our birthdays are a few days apart) and Andrew thought a new dishwasher would be a fun birthday present from each other. I thought this was a great I idea.

So first Andrew took out the old one.

Which proved to be fairly simple. Then we were off to Mississippi to get the new one.
Installing a dishwasher wasn't too bad. The major frustration was tracking down this tiny little part that you have to purchase: an elbow joint. It costs less than $2.00 and is about an inch and a half in size. It connects the water line to the dishwasher, so it is very popular! It took 1 Lowe's and 2 Home Depots before we found one! They all really should keep more of these little suckers in stock! But after we got that little guy things went smooth.

And now we have...

It looks great with the floor, doesn't it!!! Still scrapping away at that one.