Completely Random Updates

This has been quite a busy week, which explains the lack of blog entries.

For starters, Dave began the much anticipated kitchen demolition this past weekend. After he tore out the cabinets and opened up the walls to get at the electrical wiring, he found that the chimney was literally crumbling and had large holes where the bricks had already fallen out. We shouldn't have been surprised at this finding, since the same thing happened to the chimney on the other side of the house. (We ended up tearing that one down, and the new space became our closet.)

Since the water heater vents through the chimney, we have no other option but to remove the whole chimney... and replace the water heater with one that vents some other way.

And so, this weekend, Dave will tear down the house's last remaining chimney, brick by brick... cinder block by cinder block. (As he pointed out, it's a real shame that he spent so much time meticulously replacing the flashing around the chimney when he reshingled the roof this past summer, only to have to tear it all up months later.)

Taking out the chimney will be an arduous and labor intensive task, especially trekking up and down the rickety staircase, which will be replaced at a yet-to-be-determined date. We'll also have to move everything out of Eva's room before the work begins, since the chimney goes right through there, which means repair work on her ceiling and floor/carpet will follow.

The bad news is that the stenciled mural I proudly created while pregnant with Amanda will be destroyed.

May 2005: Stenciling a 4-sided mural on the chimney

This was taken before I added the bees.

I guess I never took a photo of the finished product.

Now that I think about it, it doesn't really fit with Eva's stenciled tropical fish theme anyhow. It's going to take a while to get used to a pillar-less room, but it will give us more options as far as furniture rearranging. I guess the girls will soon have to find a new hiding place for Hide-and-Seek!

The good news is that removing the chimney will open up both the kitchen and Eva's room a bit and the space will be much appreciated. The other good news is that as of yesterday, we now have a brand new energy efficient tankless water heater!

All of these unexpected glitches have forced Dave to completely rework his time schedule on the project. As we always joke, take the original estimate and triple it. But we're plugging along and making progress.

Thank goodness he is able to do most of the work himself! I can't even imagine how much the whole project would cost if we had to hire contractors.

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In other news, the potty training with Eva is going fantastically! She is really getting the hang of it, and tells ME when she needs to go... rather than me suggesting that she try. She woke up one morning with a dry diaper, and also been dry after naps a few times this week! She has already filled up half of her potty chart with stickers.

It would be soooo great if she was fully potty trained by this summer, as it would make beach going and other outings much easier!

Eva counts the stickers on her Potty Chart.

As soon as Eva goes potty, she bounces up and down and announces,"Chocolate!" (We give her one or two M&M's, depending on what she does.) Amanda gets the same reward, assuming she was a "good cheerleader." Each and every time, she asks,"Mama, was I a good cheerleader?" It's quite comical to see how enthusiastic Amanda gets when she congratulates Eva.

And it's truly amazing how effective a simple M&M can be.

This morning, as Amanda was sitting on the potty, Eva patted her on the back and said,"Good job, Nana! Chocolate?"

To which Amanda responded somewhat glumly,"I don't get chocolate for going potty. I'm a big girl."

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Yesterday, as I was doing the breakfast dishes, the girls were playing quietly in the next room. After a while, Amanda said,"Mama, look! I made a man."

I went in and this is what I found:

Amanda's "man"

I was very impressed with her creative use of train tracks and bristle blocks! She definitely takes after her daddy. (You should see the two of them with the Legos! Pretty crafty indeed...)

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And my final update for the day...

Grampy arrives for a 2 week visit this afternoon. I hope he remembers to bring his work clothes because Dave has a laundry list of things to do and not much time to do them. It will be interesting to see how we fare hosting a guest without a kitchen. So far we're doing pretty well with the crockpot, toaster oven, microwave and the portable 2-burner "stove." Luckily they're predicting a sunny weekend, so hopefully we can use the grill.

Dave is planning to smoke a turkey on the Weber, which is always a treat!

Have a good weekend, everyone!