On the job

Here is the house after we cut down the forest outside. You can actually see it!

Below: Here is my first mistake (it is a learning process, right?) I was so excited to get in there and started on something that I came over to the house before Bob was off work and started tearing down wall paper in the master bedroom. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Then Bob came in and said, "Oh no, Jamie, that is not wall paper, that is dry wall you are tearing down." Whoops. At that point I didn't even know what dry wall was. Now I do and am a master since I tore it down on purpose in the garage.
Walt, who we live with, and his friend Andy, have been a tremendous help to us in this process. They helped us fix the water heater and cut down trees and fill up the dumpster.
Bob starting to tear out drywall in the garage. We had to wear masks because of the dust and because one of the reasons we were tearing down the dry wall is that a lot of it had mold.
Me tearing down drywall on purpose! The previous owners had turned one of the garages into a room, so we are making it back into a garage. Bob laughs at me because I held the hammer with both hands. Buy me a tool belt, someone, because I am becoming a master at using them!

Process

We are having fun ripping things out of our house, cleaning it up and making it ours. So far we have torn out all of the dry wall in the basement, including the room they made the second garage into. We have lifted the sagging porch, torn out carpet, torn down some wall paper, cleared out mold, cut down the jungle out front, and have filled 2 dumpsters full of trash.

It is definitely a work in progress and will be a while, but we are having fun and it is ours. Here is a link to all the pictures I have taken so far, if you are interested.

https://picasaweb.google.com/106338896800545130178/OurNewHouseWorkInProgress?authkey=Gv1sRgCLvFt6fkiJunOw

On a funny sidenote, the other day in class with my 5th and 6th graders we were talking about aging and a student said, "I heard everything starts doing downhill after 30." I told her that while that may be true, I am almost 30 so that gives her a picture of what 30 looks like. She quickly changed her mind out of embarrassment and said, "Well, I mean 45. Isn't 45 senior citizen age?" I said, "No, dearest one, that is 65." Blessings to you, my child, for making me laugh so hard and be able to tell this story over and over again.