Keeping Up with the Joneses

A glimpse into the busy and very blessed life of the Jones Family!







Monday, July 9, 2007

The movie, The Money Pit, is an all time favorite of mine. Now, it's even more so. After a 5 month addition project onto our home, I can relate to the hilarity of it all. One scene that resonates so much with our situation would be the one where the main contractor looks at Tom Hanks and declares. "Your name came up in the lottery today... we WORK today!" There were days that Chris and I would look at each other across the dinner table and be in disbelief that so little was accomplished... yet again. As two people who truly look for the best in everyone, we were often caught off guard by how undependable people can be.

Chris and I took on this project back in January. We spent the fall getting plans drawn up and finally settled on a mere 934 square feet that would include a family room, laundry room, master bedroom, master bath, 2 closets, a front porch and back patio. Simple sounding, right? Well... the new year found us interviewing multitudes of craftsmen. We talked, negotiated, acted like we knew what we were doing, and finalized a crew we felt we could handle. After all, Chris and I were the "contracters" so to speak!

February brought on the first crew to bring down an oak tree in the backyard and construct the foundation. March brought the most rain San Antonio has ever seen in history for the month of March. Wait, did I say the MOST ever?? The foundation was completed at the end of March after many cold, rainy days of delay. Not to mention that a 60 foot long trench was dug so that we could replace our sewer line. The joys of older homes!

The framing was fast and furious and left us stunned. It was up in a matter of three or so days. With that, we got greedy and demanded the front porch be built. You see, we had planned on saving that for the end of the project to make sure that everything we were planning could be accomplished first. The front porch was to be the icing on the cake. Well, life's a little more fun when the dessert comes first. The porch, which really make a HUGE difference to the front of the house, was finished in a couple of days. We were thrilled.

To sum up since April, it's been a hurry up and wait game. We've had a lot to learn along the way. Anyway, there's a light at the end of this money pit. This Wednesday should be a day for final finishing touches. I remember telling my plumber I couldn't wait to see him again and it was mainly because he comes last... and he's coming Thursday morning. Hallelujah!!!

After that, pull out the broom, vacuum, rags, mop, Pledge, Windex, Clorox, Soft Scrub, Mr. Clean, Febreze, 409, and power washer.... we've got a lot of cleaning to do! Pics to follow~

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