The Never Ending Story (a.k.a. details of our home renovations)

I'm only partially kidding (and giving Mike a hard time) by the title of this post. The renovations have been taking a while, but we did decide to take on quite a bit of work and we both work full time (and then some). Also, now that the renovations have a looming deadline (~5 mos.) it also makes it seem like it will never get done in time! With my work schedule I'm very little help with things. I'm also getting bigger...here I am at 16 weeks.

So the list of things that we are currently working on includes, but is not limited to: tiling the kitchen backsplash, choosing paint for the kitchen cabinets and baby's room, repairing water damage from a leaking chimney (covering hole in wall), "moving" a staircase to a different side of the wall (or moving a wall, either way, putting up a new wall and staircase). Mike made a video diary of the initial wall removal, but we don't have any pictures. We do however have pictures of the new staircase going up (with some lovely shots of our friend Ryan who has been helping with construction).

Mike and Ryan realized that they wouldn't just be putting the wall up on the other side of the staircase, but that they would have to remove and reconstruct the staircase entirely due to some sketchy construction. so here are the new stringers going up.

And currently, here is what we're looking at:


We had big plans early on and definitely had to change some plans due to schematics of the rooms. But currently Mike is in the process of finishing the dry wall and all we need are the treads and risers for the stairs and we'll be all set! All of this is definitely easier said than done. We welcome any visitors who might be interested in volunteering some elbow grease (i.e. future Grandparents of new Nashville Baby)!

First Post

We figured we should make an effort to let everyone know how things are going. So here goes...

Mike just got back from Atlanta from an exciting two day adventure in sealed air...not so much an adventure, but an actual certification class from Cryovac/Sealed Air at their packforum facility used to teach professionals how to use their product. So i'm not sure exactly what Mike is certified in now, but he sure did learn a lot about microwaves. Essentially, he had the opportunity to test his products for consumer use and made sure he knew how to develop them....well, so that they were great even though they were microwaved.

The past weekend for the 4th was a bust for me, I worked all weekend for one of the slowest weeks of the year...so many cookouts that no one likes to come to the restaurant. But Mike's boss had a cookout that he got to attend for most of the day on Saturday since they needed him to help cook. The highlight from the entire experience was not so much the fireworks, but the 200 lb. pig that was smoked overnight. Here is a picture of Mike being Mike and pulling apart the pig before the party.

This post is definitely our test run, so be patient while we get used to coming up with stuff to tell you....more to come.