Remodel 2008.

Apparently, this is the year. We had a 1970s era popcorn ceiling, which tested positive for asbestos. So we finally got our act together to get an asbestos company to come in and remove the stuff. We had to clear everything out of the house - and into the garage. Once the ceiling came down, and the final air clearance said it was OK us to go back inside, we decided it would be a good time to get the house rewired - and get rid of that wiring circa ??. (It wasn't quite knob and tube, but it was clearly quite old.). So the electricians are working on pulling all new wire, and we're getting canned lights in the living room now. We also have a drywall guy who's working on smoothing out the unfinished ceilings, and patching all the holes the electricians have been making in the walls. So cross your fingers, if all goes well, we'll be ready to paint this weekend - and then stuff can go back in the house! It's pretty miserable right now with a mattress in the middle of the room w/ nothing else in there.

So - ceiling, electrical, drywall, paint. Thought we might try and get the hardwood floor replaced in the front room too (that was pretty badly damaged from water - some of the wood pieces had started "cupping") - but it might take too long to complete - so thankfully - that project's been shelved until "later".

Holidays 2007

We spent Christmas at Sarah's parents in upstate NY. We cut a christmas tree at her grandfather's Christmas tree farm, (my first live tree!) and decked it out with lights & ornaments. It looked great with all the presents underneath it.

On Christmas day, we exchanged presents - one of the neatest presents was from Sarah's nieces & nephew - a webkinz. Specifically this stuffed toy, made by Ganz. You get a code with it - and when you log into webkinz.com, you "adopt" the pet (which has it's own online persona/avatar as well. And you have to "feed" it, and as you play various games, you "earn" kinzcash, which you can use to buy your pet various furnishings in their rooms - like food, clothes, electronics, etc. It's really quite addictive. I've talked to one parent who plays the game rather obsessively, earning kinzcash so her kids get to deck out their pets online... The real kicker is the subscription is only good for a year, so the parents have to renew each year or the kid loses access to webkinz world. What a great marketing idea at Ganz. I wish I had thought of this!

Sarah & I installed running boards on her Dad's truck the day after Christmas - his Christmas present from Sarah & her sisters. Looks pretty good - Kirby the dog certainly seems to approve.

PS: Bathroom remodel is coming along. New fan arrived, as well as new lights. We are waiting for an electrician to redo the wiring, but we did mount the mirror this weekend. It's coming along. We have the popcorn ceiling scheduled for removal, which will be a royal PITA as we have to pack everything in the living room & two bedrooms into the garage. Also need to finish painting the porch (waiting for weather to improve, although with the recent storms (worst in 2 years) it might be a while. Surprisingly, though - no fallen fences/trees, etc in our neighborhood. I had gotten used to our fences falling over almost every winter, but I guess we had enough support posts replaced with pressure treated lumber that things held up OK this year! Woo hoo!