They Came & They Delivered

And now, we need to unpack!

The movers arrived right on schedule and, with Kevin helping out, they managed to unload the truck and move all 200 of our boxes into the house in about 4 hours. We weren't sure if and/or how how the Government shut-down would affect us. Given how things have gone for us with this move, I kept waiting for the telephone call notifying us that our delivery would be delayed until the Government re-opened. Fortunately, that did not happen.

 

 

And, if I thought the house was unorganized before...

We had to empty the furniture and boxes out of the sun-room because Mimmo and Dan began work in there yesterday. We just shoved and piled all of that stuff in to the dining and living rooms and cleared little walking paths through the rooms. It will be a week or two before we can even begin to think about putting these rooms together. 

The family room.

Mimmo and Dan are still working in the entry area and, since there will be a lot of wood cutting and drywall sanding over the next few days (= a lot of dust), we will keep everything in boxes and undercover until that is finished. 

Even the pups were exhausted!

 

We are having somewhat of a heat wave here (85 degrees yesterday afternoon) but I guess Fall (and much cooler weather) will be here soon. I saw this pretty tree on my run yesterday morning and had to go back and take a photo. 

Have a great Friday!

Renovations and Movers

It has been a crazy few days around here but I wanted to post a quick update. 

On Friday, with the exception of installing the vanity and the plumbing for the sink in the bathroom, Dan and Mimmo finished their work on the lower level. The vanity should be delivered at the end of this week so I hope to have a finished bathroom early next week. We spent the weekend hanging hardware for drapes, arranging furniture in the family room, cleaning and getting everything ready for the movers to arrive Monday.

The living room. Please excuse the half-dressed window! I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do in this room for window treatments.

 

The dining room. That chandelier is going as soon as I can find its replacement.

Looking out from the dining room and into the sun-room and backyard. Dan and Mimmo have already started to remove the trim around the windows in the sun-room in order to install the replacement windows. 

There is water damage around most of the windows in the sun-room and the framing around three of the windows is so warped that the windows cannot completely close. We are going to replace all of the windows with windows that do not open and re-build the frames. The termite infestation affected this room as well so Mimmo and Dan will need to do a lot of work to repair/replace the drywall. 

A preliminary set-up of the family room. 

 

Kevin was happy to watch the Redskins' game (and their first win) from the comfort of a proper chair. Unfortunately, the Giants are still 0 in the win column. Ugh. 

We are thrilled with how the accent tiling around the fireplace turned out.

The movers arrived first thing Monday morning to deliver all of the items that had been in storage - some for as long as 8 years!

 

  

I can't even begin to tell you the state of chaos that our home is in. It is definitely a true test of my patience to live with boxes and furniture piled high in each room. 

More than once, I have said to Kevin, we have lived without most of this stuff for the last 8 years, why do we even need it now? It is very tempting to just put all of the unopened boxes out for the garbage collection. 

To add to the craziness, Dan and Mimmo began the third phase (and last!) of the renovation work yesterday morning.

In a matter of minutes, my family room was dismantled. Easy come, easy go. 

We are replacing the hardwood flooring in the entry way and re-painting. There was quite a bit of termite damage in the sub-flooring from an infestation about 10 years ago so a lot more demolition work was required than we initially planned on. 

The carpet on the steps to the lower level will also be replaced with the new hardwood. With the removal of the carpet from these stairs, the sun-room is the only room left in the house with that dirty and disgusting carpet and that should be removed next week. Yay!

We are extending the hardwood flooring into the bathroom and will also remove the wallpaper (and will paint) and replace the fixtures. Unfortunately, since this bathroom used to be a closet (well before our time), the plumbing was not installed properly and needs to be corrected. It is not a major job because it is only a half bath but it still is more work.  

Under the wallpaper, we found another layer of wallpaper and paint. 

 

 

 

I was so excited when Dan and Mimmo began to remove the wallpaper in the kitchen yesterday. I love how clean and open the kitchen looks now. 

 

 Fortunately, the drywall is in great condition and won't need many repairs.

We are sitting here waiting for the movers to arrive with our shipment from Thailand. Courtesy of the U.S. Government, Kevin is home with me this week. While we are so disappointed in the events that resulted in the shutdown, I am making the most of having him around to help with the movers, re-arrange furniture and unpack. 

Have a great Wednesday!

1,800 Plus 1

Running right along...this is where I was this morning at 1,801 miles into my transcontinental run. It is hard to believe that I am almost two years into this run!

1801.0 mi - "8.95 mi to Nickerson, Kansas", Rice County

I am just about halfway across the U.S. I think I have about 230 miles to run in order to reach the halfway point. But, and this should be of no surprise to you, that math might be incorrect. 

It was a chilly 45 degrees this morning (and, yes, the heat was turned on in our home last night!) but the sky was crystal clear and we could see the moon and the stars for most of the run. It was beautiful!

Dan and Mimmo are so close to finishing this phase of the work. 

We have a toilet! 

It is not connected but that is just a *small* detail.

The tiling around the fireplace was installed today and all that remains is for it to be grouted. 

 

 

I am so happy with how it turned out. Definitely a 100% (plus) improvement over what was there and well worth the 5 trips to Home Depots around Northern Virginia to find enough of that embossed tile!

All of the doors have been painted and re-installed, the light-switch, electrical outlet and vent covers have been replaced and the shoe molding and light fixtures are installed. We are still waiting for the vanity for the bathroom and, after the vanity, the granite counter-top/back-splash and plumbing are installed, this phase of the renovation is finished! Just in time for the movers next week! 

Have a great Wednesday!

Monday

At least Kevin is ready for the week ahead! 

 Me, not so much.

Just kidding. Seriously, Mondays are my most productive days - laundry, ironing, cleaning, grocery shopping (have I ever mentioned how much I miss my sweet and very helpful PeePorn?!?). I think I do so much on Mondays that I wear myself out for the rest of the week.

I did not run this morning. I planned to but did not sleep well last night and was really congested this morning. I am not sure if I am getting sick or if Fall allergies are beginning to affect me. I will run tomorrow and then I will take an Allegra (or something similar) to see if that helps at all. 

So, let's talk some football.

NFC East Standings

NFC East Division
Team	W	L	T	Pct
Dallas	2	1	0	.667
Philadelphia	1	2	0	.333
New York	0	3	0	.000
Washington	0	3	0	.000

Pretty dismal. And, although it is only because "N" comes before "W" in the alphabet, this might be one of the last times I can say the Giants are ahead of the Redskins in the standings. What ugly, ugly games we saw yesterday! You know things are really bad in D.C. when The Washington Post prints a headline like this, completely dissin' the QB...

Poor RGIII. However, I can honestly say that, if the Giants weren't having a similarly miserable season, I would be *all* over this. Alas, t'was not to be and I must keep my mouth shut. 

Since I am posting this late Monday evening, I will wish you all to have a great Tuesday!

Not A Mathematician

My run was a success! 

However, thanks to some funky math on my part, I ended up running 9 miles instead of the 8 miles I planned on. As I was running along this morning, I mapped out a route that, at 7.5 miles into my run, would put me at a spot that I know is 1.5 miles from our home. And, since we all know that 7.5 plus 1.5 equals 8, I would get my planned mileage in. I realized my goof when I looked at my Garmin about 5 minutes after I passed the 7.5 mile mark and saw 8.12 miles as the distance I had run. Oops.

Oh well. I got the mileage in and that was the important thing. Even with all of my preparations and planning, I was a little worried last night about how the run would go. Yesterday afternoon, I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold - lots of nasal and chest congestion and a lot of coughing. I tried to take an afternoon nap but couldn't fall asleep and I didn't sleep too well at night either. I got up this morning and thought that I would just run as best I could for as long as I could and not worry too much about it. I was pleasantly surprised. 

Caitlynne and I are going to a trunk/fashion show at Jan's early this afternoon and then I plan to come home and take a nice long nap. I am totally wiped out and we have a party to go to tonight so I need to recharge my batteries. At least the run is done and I can sleep in tomorrow if I want to. 

I am doing some organizing before the movers come with our stuff in less than 10 days (!) and found my camera with these photos that were taken on our last night in Thailand and in the morning we left Thailand.

We had pizza and drinks with a group of Christopher's friends the night before we left. I love these kids! 

 Saying good-bye. Sniff, Sniff.

Caitlynne and Christopher with our sweet PeePorn. She made arrangements to stay with a friend in Nichada the night before we left so she could come to our home at 3 am and say good-bye to us. 

 Kevin and I with PeePorn. I cannot tell you how much we all miss her!

 Sonder in his crate at the airport.

In the lounge before boarding our flight. I remember how excited we all were to be going home!

 Sonder and his first night in the U.S. 

Have a great Saturday!