Getting there...

Busy week ahead. We are still trying to get the bathroom finished for the party on Sunday, so I won't post any pictures before the then to spoil the fun! But, we have the floor finished, the wall painted, and we are sealing the floor tonight and installing the fixtures on Thursday.

I stayed home from work on Monday to accept the delivery of a few of our appliances for our future kitchen and meet a chimney contractor to repair some damage to our chimney. I was able to use my uncle's pressure washer to wash much of the concrete around the house. The carpet adhesive on the front stoop was particularly pesky (required the use of an attachment that concentrates the stream to the point of being able to penetrate wood) and the mold and mildew in the exterior basement stairwell was beyond gross. It was like peeling back a layer of black paint from the stairs and walls! 30 years of mold gone in minutes. I don't think I'll ever look at a regular garden hose the same way again. While all that was kind of fun, I did get soaking wet in the process and as the day wore on it got cold and windy. October in Chicago is maybe not the best time to be soaking wet working outside.

While the bathroom should be finished, we're still a bit behind schedule. We wanted to have the laundry room finished, but we have to wait for the windows and siding guys to re-hang the laundry room door before we can safely do the stone floors. Also, the washing machine seems to be permanently out of balance, so we're going to take this opportunity to upgrade to front-loading high-efficiency washer and dryer and put a working countertop over the top of it (along with the new cabinets for the room.

Yesterday was a very frustrating day at work with lots of IT issues keeping me from delivering some work all day and making life very frustrating, so it was a good release to come home and tear some stuff up. Mostly just cleaning some hanging wires up, but also finishing the removal of what was left of the wall between the kitchen and family room with my reciprocating saw. FUN FUN FUN and a good stress relief.

Hope to see lots of friends and family (my sister is in town from California) this Sunday at our party!