March Update

Once again time has flown by us and it’s been awhile since we have posted. There are a number of things that have contributed to this, but I’m just going to hit a few of the highlights. The first is that the Bungalow is still a work in progress and that is causing an overall daily time drain. We still don’t have a working shower and the washer and dryer are not hooked up yet. This means that we have to transport all of our laundry to either Beech Grove or the office and do the same for showering.

The kitchen is still incomplete, so that means storing everything in the dining room and having to haul it back and forth to use it. Every week it gets a little better. In the past four weeks we’ve gotten the dishwasher installed, the waterline for the ice maker run, the microwave moved over (but not hung yet), and the walls and ceiling in the kitchen painted. We still have to paint all of the cabinets and trim, hang three cabinets and the microwave, and lay a floor covering. Also, while we have put a new pane in the boarded kitchen window we found that the trim strips that held the pane in place had been glued down instead of nailed. We still need to replace all of those, as the old pieces were destroyed in the removal process.

Out of the million and one pictures that we have taken of the houses this was the only picture of what the kitchen window used to look like! The cabinets have been removed and you can see the crossbar that was used as part of the boarding up of this window.

Here is the window without a board! One step at a time...

We have made quite a bit of progress on the Bungalow and that gets us one step closer to being able to focus all of our energy on Toad Hall. But living in a construction zone causes a lot of extra work on a daily basis. Things like having to hand wash all of the dishes before the dishwasher got up and running and having to haul everything in and out of the kitchen to cook dinner. Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t a complaint. We are in love with the Bungalow and it’s all worth it. These things are just slowing us down a bit and now that we live right next door to Toad Hall, it’s really hard not to be impatient to get back to work on it!

One of the other complications has been my health. Back in late November the doctors at the Mayo Clinic ordered more tests for me to have done when I came home. That led to more tests and doctor’s appointments, and eventually to what we were thrilled to find out was an incorrect diagnosis. But we spent about a month looking at the possibility of a rather bleak future. While we don’t have any answers, and I’m still very limited in what I can do, things are currently stable, and that’s a much better place than I was at this time last year. And while I have yet more tests and appointments, I have a group of some of the best doctors in the country and they haven’t given up hope that we’ll find the answers and get me back to normal. (Or as normal as I ever was. :D)

There’s one other thing that has greatly affected our available time in the past few weeks. Last weekend my brother turned 41 and we had a pitch in dinner and bonfire to celebrate. Cleaning, cooking, moving the fire pit and grill, and rearranging for the party took up quite a bit of time. But it was really wonderful to be able to have his friends and our family all gather together. The Bungalow has tons of space and a great atmosphere. And while we would have moved in here even if it were small and unhappy, it is such a great thing that we can be right next door to Toad. The Bungalow is a great house in its own right, and even with all of the complications, it’s a joy to be here.