Lot's of work was done!

Well... Hil's cousin Steve came to visit and to help us with the house. Needless to say... he lit a fire under my ass to get some stuff done. All the work that needed to be done seemed so daunting, and it was hard to stay motivated. But with getting a ton of work done, it's feeling a lot more manageable and I can TOTALLY finish the rest by myself. I learned a lot from him and most importantly his presence made me feel guilty about spending way more time and attention to detail on things that didn't warrant it. So here are some before and after photos of some of the work we did. Enjoy.

Before.. the "middle room" as we called it.. which is now the nursery


After we cleared out the furniture.. which included a bed, a desk, three dressers, and chest of drawers thingie, an irnoning board and a clothes rack.. we started the painting prep work. With 130 year old cracked plaster... there was a lot of patching to do.

Here are before and after photos.. taken at roughly the same angle.



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Here are some shots that don't have before versions... but you can see the finished product. Steve added a couple new outlets and installed a fan for us. The fan and light are remote controlled (hey.. the ceilings are 9.5 feet..). This will help us quietly check on the baby from afar during the night.









Now let's move on to the third floor. You can see a lot of 'before' pictures in previous entries. We hung drywall (I'm getting pretty good at mudding over joints and such...), did A LOT of patching, put in a new outlet and switch, and cleaned up/lowered to the truck bed by rope about 20 bags of plaster and other randomness.

Here are some photos of it's current state:











The patched cracks in the ceiling (with light that is original to the house):


Well... that's the state of the Thorne household. Steve also spent a lot of time installing a shower on the clawfoot tub in the bathroom.. which we both are TOTALLY loving. We just feel so much... cleaner. No more shaths for us!!!

Now.. I will be taking a couple days off from working on the house to do some things for myself... maybe go play some hockey... definitely go snowboarding.. and then it will be back to the grind on Thursday.

New Post for a New Year

This have been fairly busy lately, with Hil finishing up a semester in school (with a 4.0 no less!!), a trip to Michigan for a family Christmas, TJ 'fixing' (more like organized destruction) up the house, and TJ coming down with the flu. Please note that he also go his flu shot this year. Go figure.

Anyways.. We went to Augusta, Michigan to spend the holiday with Hil's Dad and her Step-mother (Smother), her sisters Rachel and Megan, Rachel's husband Mike, and Aubrey, Elijah, and Georgia.. the nieces and nephew. Emma came and had a great time playing with the family, jumping up onto the counters for food and making a new friend in Lily, Steve and Patty's new pup. Here are some photos:

Hil and the Baby made cookies to take to Michigan.


Here's a blurry picture of the tree...


Georgia is already giving her cousin tons of love...


Georgia also got a long really well with Emma...


Emma liked Georgia so much because she always thought she was going to get something from her...


Emma searching the bottom of Georgia's cup for something tasty...


An action shot of Emma playing with Lily. They did really well together...


All that playing (the family for Emma and Wii for TJ) can be exhausting...


TJ and Hil at xmas eve dinner...


Steve and Patty at xmas eve dinner...


The family on xmas day...


Hil sporting her new Cashmere Glove, Scarf, and Hat set...


That about sums it up. Good times with family.... and it was nice to get out of the Burgh for a weekend, but once we returned it was back to the grind, and this is a short video of the project TJ is 'working' on up on the third floor. Hil's cousin Steve is coming to visit and help out this weekend... so maybe it will be a lot close to being complete and our company will have a nice bedroom to sleep in when the baby is born.