Worst news first. Yes, those were the contractor’s words to me today. That’s just code for “there’s no good news, just bad and worse”. But I won’t start you on the worst news first. You just know it’s coming…

First, the sill plate and all the rotted framing in the front of the house is complete! The whole front is just boarded up for now and will be cut when the window is installed. Side note: windows are suppose to arrive today! We’ll see if they make it, but they should be here very soon!

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Next good news: Plumbing!! The guys finished laying the barrier in the crawl space, making it a little nicer to work in. We have hot and cold outdoor taps. And. TADA! I have a bathtub! Also, I love this plumber’s slogan.

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In addition to plumbing, electrical is in process, almost complete, and all the interior reframing has been finished up. All the leftover debris is finally out and you can walk through the entire house without circumventing large piles of rubble.

We had some nice weather, so it was time to remove the old, leaking chimney. The woodstove being installed is going in a slightly different spot in the living room, which means the old chimney that was taking up room in the kitchen is also gone. All of the old chimney has now been removed in prep for the new triple-wall insulated pipe! Pat can’t wait to have a wood-burning stove again!

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Yesterday, the contractor said they needed to start removing the old siding because the new windows are coming and they got started with ripping the aluminum off. Today was the “worst news first” business. Rot. Much more rot. To the tune of more money coming out of the bank (cue Pink Floyd). But what are we going to do? It would be silly to not fix it after doing so much here, and if we hadn’t decided to do the siding, we wouldn’t have found it until later and possibly under much worse circumstances. It also means setting back the schedule for inspections and time spent living in the RV. We already had a night that dropped into the high 30’s and this RV is not meant for cold weather living.

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But again, what can we do? We can be grateful that we have a place to live; I can layer on more clothing than I’m normally comfortable sporting around in; and I can develop an even greater appreciation of my new home when it’s ready for move-in! Those are things I can do and find gratitude for. And with that, I should give some thanks to my professor, Dr. Kay, who assigned “Attitude of Gratitude” journaling for my Social Work capstone course. It really can help you reframe a bad day. And so can a bottle of Malbec.