Progress comes in a warm and scratchy pink package

It has been almost three weeks since my last post. I know! I am sorry. Forgive me. I tend to have holiday-related panic attacks around this time of year and that, on top of rebuilding a house, has just about been enough to kill me.

This is what the electrical system of the house looked like.

Needless to say, a lot has happened over this time. Luckily, for you, most of it has been the non-exciting, can't really take pictures of it kind of work. Such as... electrical and plumbing. The good news is we have one room in the house with fully functional electric! The kitchen! It is amazing... you walk in... flip on the light switch... and voila! Everything you expect to happen, happens. Room by room we are hooking switches and outlets up, then patching the giant holes that appeared every 6 foot of wall space.
We also have functional plumbing! There isn't a toilet or a sink to be found, so this is really just an assumption until everything is put in place. Which will be soon!

We have also been able to insulate around the windows and rooms without walls with roll-out insulation. The other exterior walls received some much-needed blow-in insulation. This means; more holes. Unfortunately I was not in town for this adventure, but I have been the assistant on several other insulation projects. It's amusing. James likened it to a pink cotton candy christmas wonderland. I imagine that is exactly what it was.

In the meantime, our windows have finally arrived. All but one is installed. That one fell out of James' truck into the middle of Taylorsville Road, and was run over several hundred times before he found it. In his haste to retrieve the smashed window, he sliced his finger open. By the time he showed up at Home Depot to complain about his window, he had a handful of blood and some seriously tested patience.

This is actually the third time we have spilled blood over the house. The first, being when I ripped my thumbnail back pulling nails. The second, being when I was helping James strip the rubber coating off of our old copper wires. Razor blade to the pinky finger. Double points for difficulty.

Fortunately, we have yet to make it to the emergency room and have a stockpile of camouflage band-aids.

The two of us were able to haul several hundred pounds of scrap to the scrap yard together, and what an adventure that was. If any of you have seen The Brave Little Toaster you know exactly what I am talking about. It was terrifying. At least we were able to make enough cash to pay for the window we broke destroyed, right?

Little by little, ceilings and walls are beginning to go back up. The house is starting to feel more and more like an actual house and not just a shell. Soon enough we will be painting and decorating!

You may have noticed, by now, that I am trying not to post too many whole-room pictures. I am saving these for you. I decided since we won't get to have the big HGTV-style reveal, that someone should. So, I am weening you off of the photos, until we can do some totally badass before and after side-by-sides. Trust me, it will be worth it. At least that is what everyone keeps telling me.