Moved Out

The last couple weeks have been insane.  A lot of progress has been made though and construction truly will begin MONDAY! FINALLY!!!!  So exciting.  What is not exciting however is that I no longer live in my house.  Last weekend was a very busy weekend of removing the flooring , furniture and cabinets from the first floor.  I personally chipped out all of the tile and sub floor in the hallway which was no easy or fun task.  However it did beat Matt and Eric removing 30 year old nasty stained pooped on too many times to count horrible carpet and padding and nail strips - so tile removal truly was the better option.  Once completed however it was very obvious the house was no longer child or pet safe so Maddy, Apollo, Max, Lola and I have moved in with my parents.  They currently are in Italy so we have the place to ourselves but they do return Sunday night so that should be interesting.  Hopefully we can move back in to our own home very quickly.  Things with the original contractor ended up not working out with scheduling issues so we have hired Shawn to do the entire project.  I am very happy with this decision as we have been very satisfied with him and all he has been able to do for us so far.  Furthermore, he claims 2-3 weeks and he will be completely out of our house which is fantastic - less time living with the parents!  This is just his construction - the demolition, moving of the walls, inserting the window, finishing work, new front door and installing the hardwood and new sink and toilet.  When he is done we still will have to paint, install the cabinets, granite and appliances and finish all of the trim work.  When his work is done however, we will at least be able to move back into the house so that is what is most important.  Madelyn has been suffering some anxiety issues with all of the madness in our lives right now.  We went on vacation so she stayed somewhere else for a week, and was with me 24 hours a day for 10 days straight.  After only 3 days home, she went and stayed with Matt's parents in Cincinnati for 4 days without us.  When she came back she was babysat by other people while we worked on the house, only to move her out of her own house completely now.  Furthermore, she is used to spending every day with my mom who she adores.  With mom being gone she has had different babysitters which has been confusing to her.  She has become a very clingy child constantly hanging on to me telling her sitter she misses me at all times.  My independent doesn't need me little child is starting to have issues.  So the sooner life gets back to normal for her, or for all of us for the matter, the better!!  Below are some pictures of the destroying of the kitchen we did this weekend.

Back to reality

Last week we headed to Destin Florida for a nice, very first family vacation.  Madelyn was super excited to go to the beach.  However the massive waves from tropical storm Lee scared her away from actually going in the ocean, and she stood on the beach screaming "Go away waves, I don't like you!"  Such a character she is.  It was very relaxing, with daily naps, laying on the beach and playing in the pool.  No decisions about pendants, wiring, cans, hardware, paint.... to be made.  A nice escape from what had become a very overwhelming stressful consuming remodel.  I asked Matt if I could become a vacation housewife - stop working and just hang out at the beach and pool with Maddy all day but not worry about cooking or cleaning, but he rejected my offer.  Perhaps it is time to find someone to support that dream lifestyle of mine! :)  Hard to come back to reality and work and the madness of the remodel.  Things are progressing along however.  Everything seems to be lining up and we are hoping to start Monday, September 19th.  We have to order the cabinets this week and finish clearing out the first floor, the cabinets on the first floor and all of the flooring.  Might be in for a busy weekend!! Progress is being made and Matt's precious budget has been blown, but he has stopped freaking out about it.  I have no idea when this project got so big or so expensive.  Hopefully in a very timely manner however our house is put back together better than we can even imagine and it will all be worth it.