Whew, and it's only Saturday

I. Am. So. Sore.

Yesterday I woke up bright and early and grabbed my friend Karen for a road trip mission 45 minutes away to pick up a pedestal sink I found on Craig's List. Karen was my backup in case the guy selling the sink was a psychopath. Not so sure how much she appreciated that part, but it was great catching up with her. When we arrived we found a very nice petite European man. When we left I looked at Karen and told her I totally could have taken him. I think she was just a wee bit relived.

The sink, GORGEOUS! While it isn't vintage, it is great. Unfortunately all the vintage pedestal sinks I found were very cracked or very chipped or both. While I love vintage, I do want something nice that will last. The sink sells for $270-$320 retail. Get this....$80 with hardware and faucets!! I love haggling. See horrible picture from the ad. Doesn't quite do the sink justice. (I am still trying to locate the cord which attaches my camera to my computer. Can't share till then.)

After this wonderful adventure, I went up to the farm and got in the way of the heating and cooling guys. They are almost done! I also know why folks have basements. We now have this huge heating system in what was once a front bedroom, which is now the mechanical/laundry room.

I spent the afternoon scraping wall paneling adhesive off the drywall so we can smooth it out. J and I are still debating on hanging new drywall over it, which doesn't make me appreciate so much the elbow grease I put into smoothing out all the rough spots, or skim coating the existing drywall with new mud, maybe in a texture reminiscent of the plaster in the rest of the house. We have time to figure it out.

Then, I went back to the dreaded adhesive on the bathroom floor. It is truly wretched and after an hour and a 1/2 of a square foot later, I said, pardon my french, screw this. I got on the phone to Home Depot asking for tool rental. They have an electric scraper thingy that should do the trick. I told J and he said, oh, I have something like that in my handy stash of tools. (Oh really, and you just thought of this after I have spent some insane hours killing myself??) Oh, the joys of renovation!

We also had a big delivery of 2x4's and plywood. Today, we build the bathroom wall, and then move outside to put up the 2x4's on the exterior in order to have the insulation blown on. We are doing this for two reasons, to encapsulate the lead paint, and to more easily insulate the house without having to either remove the existing siding, or remove the plaster walls inside. Most of the walls have some insulation, and this will add  an additional layer. Then once the insulation is put on the exterior we will sheath it, wrap in tyvex and re-side with James Hardie cement siding. The house, as they say, will be bullet proof with an insulation rating of R-19/R-20. With that and new windows, we will be able to surely withstand the Northern Colorado winds and winter, and reduce our energy expenses/consumption considerably. The cement siding has a very long life and also withstands high wind and hail, of which we will have much of both in our little corner of the universe.

I also think much of renovation is actually moving vast amounts of building materials from one place to another. While we ordered the plywood (a lot of it), we don't need it right away, and don't want it to weather. Had the whole front yard not been trenched from running the electricity underground, I would have had it unloaded in front of the garage (the one that leaks, yes). Since we couldn't they dropped the delivery, literally, in between the house and garage and behind the two dumpsters we have. The bands holding the plywood broke in mid fall and the plywood slid out and moved the dumpsters. They tend to leave things where they fall. When J arrived, we then proceeded to move each piece of plywood into the garage, in the dark, with camping headlights for light. I think in that time we could have finished the exterior! Only, to be moved again in a week. See what I mean. The actual work doesn't take that long.

The one amazing discovery is, the local company didn't deliver everything we needed for working this weekend (totally not their fault. Something was lost in translation.) Not only did someone answer the phone after they closed for the day, they delivered what we needed last night. He also gave us his cell number and said he would be around this weekend if we found we needed anything else. That is why you shop local!!

So, after a very long vaca day, I am very stiff and tired, and ready to start again, after a very hearty breakfast, thanks to "the girls" (my hens).