Brief Update, Long Overdue

Thanks faithful blog readers, for sticking in there with us even though we haven't updated the blog in FOREVER! At least, I assume you're one of the ones who didn't give up on this blog if you are reading this post. :)

So - no - we did not get back in the house for Christmas. Or New Years. Things really slowed down during the holidays, which was really tough for me especially, because I was sure we would be back in the house by the end of the holidays - so as everyone was getting back into the routine of getting back to work, etc., we went back to the routine of living in our friends' third story townhouse. That was a bit of a low for me.

We did actually have a pretty nice holiday, though, with lots of family to help pass the time, and help watch Ben so we could get a few things done. I hope to follow-up later with a post with pictures of our holiday fun.

Today marks the four-month mark since we were chased out of our home by Ike. At that time, I packed three days worth of clothes - who could have known that it would be over four months before we would get to return! It's just crazy to think back about those couple of days before the storm, when we had no idea that our lives were about to get turned upside down.

The latest estimate is that the house will be ready by the end of the month. We're hoping for much sooner, as our "hosts" have friends coming for a visit from overseas in a week-and-a-half, so we need to vacate for at least four days at that time. I have a feeling we'll be staying in a hotel - which is okay - but, obviously, would much rather be in our house!

Things are beginning to move along again, so that is encouraging. The bathrooms are almost complete (just built-in medicine cabinets to be installed), the ceramic & wood floors are down and sealed (as of today), the walls are painted (with rather cool colors, at least we think), the doors are in, the trim is up. So what's left? Engineered wood floors, carpet, second coats of paint, and lots and lots and lots of clean up. The "fit and finish" as our contractor calls it, can take a while - so while it doesn't seem like there is that much left to go work-wise, it sounds like time-wise there still is.

I'll try to take pictures next time we're at the house and post them - but the last of our holiday visitors (Mark's parents) are leaving in a few days, and our "hosts" at the Hippie Commune return tomorrow (after 4 weeks away traveling), so I have a feeling life is going to get hectic again rather soon.

But hang in there with us - we'll try to post again soon!