One of the best parts of being at Montrose this summer is that we are not too far away from lots of folks that we love. We figure anything under 400 miles is “not too far away”. And one of the trips I know we’ll make several times is back to Lancaster, where the renovations on Pine Street continue. Indeed, that’s where we were on Friday and Saturday this week.
As usual (with old house renovations at least) the unfortunate “twice as long-twice as much” adage has reared its ugly head. The boys this weekend were starting on the built-ins around the front double window.

Although they have an inspiration photo, it’s pretty much a design as you go type of project. Not just to see how it’s all going to come together, but also to keep the drain on the budget a little less.
This weekend’s goal – getting the lower bench area built, and figuring out just what the storage under it would look like.



and finally – rough though it is -

The bench. Opening in center will be a large toy drawer, on both sides of that basket storage, closed storage next to those. Got it? Going up the walls will be shelving – probably corner cupboards (right side will accommodate the TV) or maybe straight. By getting the bench done and marking out their different choices, I think they’ll come up with a great final design. Everything in due time! I think our next trip will be to work on the baseboard and window trim. Won’t be too soon, though. Gotta let the budget recover from THIS trip!
But while the boys were busy working, we girls were tasked with keeping out of their way. Ah, sounds like a good excuse to head to Central Market –

There is so much to see and buy there – it’s truly a delight!

We concentrated mostly on veggies, but my goodness what a wonderful market! I highly recommend it to anyone heading to Lancaster, PA!
And of course, the rest of the time was mostly spent just hanging out with our little Weston.

I don’t want to say he’s the best part about coming to Lancaster, but, well, yes, he’s pretty much the best part! At nine months, he’s interested in everything around him, waving at all his new friends, and is just plain a love all around! Such a fun age!!!!

I confess I’m pretty frustrated with my lack of ability in taking pictures of my grandbabies. Let’s face it, they just move too fast! Here’s one of Gary with Weston that turned out OK -

But trust me, the face he was making seconds earlier was cuter! Oh well, I’ll just keep clicking away! Practice, practice, practice! And I’m happy to do it!

Next up – Progress in the attic!
Have a great week, friends!

It’s hard to know where to start when it comes to Josiah and Abigail’s renovation. So I guess I’d better start at the beginning!
They have a sweet row house in downtown Lancaster (yes, Lancaster is not all Amish farms and quilt shops ).

That’s their house – the gray one on the right. With the lumber on the porch.
It has a classic layout – stairs on the left, living room, dining room and kitchen front to back. And when they bought it, it was freshly painted and had a relatively new kitchen. It also had paneled walls and a dropped ceiling.

Clean and neat, but not really what they wanted in the long run.
The renovation plan was simple.
Tear out the dividing wall and the hall wall, remove the dropped ceiling, re-wire the area so it actually made sense, drywall the remaining walls and (now 9 ft) ceiling, and then lay a new wood laminate floor. And do a built-in cabinet around the front windows.
Oh, and do it in a week.
Oh.
Well, we got started right away – first the ceiling and then that paneling!


We discovered that whomever installed the paneling/dropped ceiling put it right over the original woodwork. That was good news/bad news – good news in that it would be great to re-use it,(though it will be a lot of work to get it ready to re-install), and the bad news in that it was just another layer to remove to get to the rebuilding part.



Yeah, there was some pretty ugly stuff underneath that paneling!

Pretty much the wall on the left, from where the stairs end (painted wall) to the tiled entryway needed to come down.

Whoohooo – an intact transom window!
Ok – so we’re starting to get down to the studs….


And then they started with the Really Big Hammers!
Soon we were down to the studs – looking into the kitchen

and looking toward the front.

and before you knew it

they were discussing whether or not that last beam was just maybe holding up the second floor.
Happy to report, it was not.
Before the drywall could start

the electric had to be run.
(So, do you like the truncated wallpaper scraping? Since they were going to be gluing the drywall up on that wall they needed me to remove the wallpaper. I was having trouble commandeering a ladder to finish up the job!)
Here it is -

the first sheet of drywall! Since Josiah works for a drywall company he was using pieces that had been damaged (and therefore free!), so it was quite the puzzle putting it all up.

But with a little bit of team work, it was soon up and the drywall “mudders” were getting to work!

(I was away playing with my girlfriends and Weston while the drywall was going up. I can guarantee you I was having more fun than they were!)

At last – time to paint!

Once the painting was done, Josiah and buddies laid the new flooring, and then Monday was spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Nothing  was untouched by the construction dirt and dust it seemed.  After a busy, busy week, Josiah was back at work, and Gary was finishing up the electrical. And by Monday night, you could tell that even though there was still plenty to do (trim work, built-in cabinets around the front windows, and lots of odds and ends to wrap up) there was some definite light at the end of the tunnel!

I must say that Gary was exhausted at the end of every day (well, except maybe the day the drywall finishers were there). But I believe that Josiah was right behind him on the exhaustion scale. We left before those final three pictures were taken, so it was delight for us to see that their lives would have a bit of normalcy as they work through the remaining portions of this renovation. I know they love the new look (we do too!), and it was a great excuse to wash every dish in the kitchen, right, Abigail?

Our week between SOWER projects (you know, the take-it-easy rest-up before your next project week) has been full, full, full! So full, in fact, that it spilled into the next week! Of course, the renovation at Josiah’s house was the primary focus of our week “off”, but before I get into the “reno saga”, let me share some of the fun stuff that we enjoyed!
First and foremost -
WESTON!!!!

We hadn’t seen the little guy since Thanksgiving and we were delighted to get reacquainted! Although Gary was stuck back in Lancaster with the renovation, I was able to spend a lovely day in Philadelphia with Weston and his Momma, Abigail (who were staying far, far away from the construction dirt!). What a delight!
First of all – he’s crawling!








Check out the teeth!
It was a very special day, filled with grins and giggles and hugs and kisses!



(Love this one of Weston and Abigail!)
Of course, while I was in the Philadelphia area I also enjoyed a great dinner with my quilting ladies (so good to see them – but sadly, no pictures!), a fun lunch with my co-workers, a long over-due hair-cut, and a great morning checking out the sale racks at Kohl’s and Marshall’s with my good buddy Janet. It was a wonderful couple of days away from the rubble!
Another highlight of our week in Lancaster was being able to worship with and visit with our dear friend Bill, who lost his beautiful wife (and our beautiful friend) just two months ago. Sunday was Dolly’s birthday, and we were honored to spend it with Bill.

This beautiful overlook was just outside of Harper’s Ferry, WV and it’s where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers come together.


It was a very beautiful and special day all around!

So this morning we pulled out of our neighborhood parking spot (thanks again, Martha and Greg, for your “ministry of the flat driveway” )

and we have arrived safely at our April-May-June SOWER project at Montrose Bible Conference.

We’re the first ones in the campground this season (they were just turning on the water when we arrived!), but I know the neighborhood will fill up as the weather warms up. We’re looking forward to a great spring and early summer as we serve here!

Oh, the renovation? Next post, I promise!

We got out right on schedule, Thursday morning last week, for our long drive (1100 miles) to Lancaster, PA to help with a big renovation at our son’s house. We were thankful to beat out a huge storm system and had a safe trip all the way, getting there in just two days. You know the “road less traveled”? Well, we weren’t on any of those! It was interstate all the way but we were so delighted with the beautiful selection of spring blooms, that it seemed to make the miles fly by (that and a good audio book!).
We had beautiful wisteria draping the trees -

Red Bud lining the highway

and fields of yellow (weeds, maybe?) that flocked the meadows.

We had our first glimpse of mountains after months of relative flatness (TX and So. Alabama)

and mist in the morning as headed into the Appalachian Mountains

(and apparently we had a lot of bugs on the windshield, too. Sorry!).
I tried to capture the beautiful sunrise on the morning we headed out pre-dawn, but alas, trying to capture the sunrise from a moving RV out the side window leaves just a bit to be desired.

But I’m always trying for you guys!

Right now we’re in Lancaster, parked at the home of a friend from long ago. Gary & I were Martha’s youth group leaders, and we connected on Facebook about a year ago. I contacted her about getting together (like for coffee!)while we were in Lancaster when she generously offered her driveway for our home to sit on while we were in town! What a huge blessing! And to make it all the more sweet, we were able to join them on Saturday night for their Sibling Saturday. Gary & I knew the whole family (from our “previous life”) and it was such a delightful evening! It was so fun to share memories and stories – new and old! We’ve been so busy with Josiah’s project we’ve hardly had the chance to say boo to them since, but I know I’m looking forward to another good visit before we pull away!

So, the Big Renovation. Josiah and his lovely wife are making some drastic changes in their downstairs, taking out a wall, removing the dropped ceiling, and changing the wiring (so it actually makes sense!). DIL Abigail has asked that I not share too many pictures until it’s done (but then again, this is the same DIL that took our grandson, Weston, to her Mom and Dad’s in Philadelphia during the construction. While I agree with the wisdom (she also took the dogs – a GREAT idea), SHE TOOK THE GRANDBABY!!!) So here’s just a little peek of what’s been going on -

Yes, this rubble has been my constant companion the last couple of days, and since they won’t let me play with any of the power tools (or even the sledge hammers!), I’ve been taking bucket loads of the stuff to this -

Bucket after bucket after bucket. Sigh.
Since they removed a dropped ceiling and then took the paneling off the walls, we were able to get a good feel for the previous “life” of this house (which was built turn of the century – 1905-ish). All the walls were wallpapered several times over!
These three were on the top layer -
Dining room -

Living Room -

(and I loved the picture “ghost” – well, until I scraped it off anyway)
and the Hallway -

Bring back memories, anyone?
But underneath that layer were some really fancy – and quite well thought out – wallpaper choices -
Dining Room

Living Room

Hallway

I think she was working with a designer, don’t you?
(There was a third layer in the hallway, but I couldn’t scrape off layer two to actually see a pattern. But trust me, I KNOW it was there!)
As we work through the layers of these old houses (the house we raised our family in was built in the 1860′s), I am always intrigued by the stories of the people that lived there before. I’m afraid the wallpaper choices are the only stories I’ll be gleaning from these wall, and the next folks that do a reno won’t even have that! After I was done hauling all the rubble to the dumpster, they did let me remove wallpaper.

Thank goodness for Ibuprofen (and we have a Costco size bottle!).

Exhaustion has set in! Tomorrow, while the boys work on the drywall (thankfully there is not to much rubble for me to cart, and the walls have all been scraped clean), I’ll be heading to Doylestown and Philadelphia, where I’ll be catching up with friends, getting my hair cut by my “regular” girl (you ladies can appreciate that, I’m sure), and playing with Weston. Can. Not. Wait. By the time I return on Thursday I know the room will be transformed!

Sweet dreams, friends……..

Many thanks for the prayers offered on behalf of Gary after his fall.  He had a reasonably good night’s rest and decided that working was better than sitting around getting stiff.

No ladders. I promise!

He’s moving pretty slowly tonight, and I think bedtime will be early again. Tomorrow is a legitimate day off for us – so he might be just a little more apt to “take it easy.”
Maybe.