So, I've been a bad blogger. I haven't touched either one of my blogs in almost 2 months. It's not that I haven't had the time, it's just that my time has been constantly interrupted. My landlord has finally decided to start some much needed renovations on my townhouse, and it's been two weeks now, and we still have a ways to go. Starting tomorrow they're are going to be working on the rear wall of my unit, and well, that sucks, since that is where my sewing desk is. The sliding door is going to be replaced (which is right next to my desk) and the sheetrock along the whole wall is going to be redone. Upstairs in the boys' room is probably going to need the same treatment.
Here is the front of the house before they started:
This is from May of last year. Not much changed before then and now, except it's gotten a little worse with all of the rain. Turns out there was a lot of termite damage. So, they had to replace the studs. In taking out the old studs, they tore up the sheetrock, so they had to replace that too. Here's a picture from inside of my living room:
Here it is after they were done for the day. A little more was needed for the windows and the rest of the band across the middle.
And this is how it looks now:
It still needs a little touch ups here and there (including the massive amount of cable wires), and then painted, but this is pretty much it. As for the plywood on the window, well, it's a long story.
In taking out the wall, they also took out my window. When they put it in, they put it in backwards, so they had to take it out and do it again. Then they put it in too close to one edge and too far from the other. **SIGH** So, after the sheetrock guy came to do the mudding and taping a few days later, he left a mess. I was scraping mud off of my window and the window sill, and cleaning the dirt/dust/whatever out of the tracks of the window so it would slide open and closed. I vacuumed the track while it was closed, then opened the window and showed the contractor what the sheetrock guy had left. While the window was open I vacuumed that part of the track. Once done vacuuming I grabbed the WD-40 to lube the track up (just like I've done to the sliding doors in the rear of the house numerous times). Well, when I went to close the window, it wouldn't shut. Something in the top track was catching it at the last 2 inches. After tugging and pushing, it wouldn't budge. Are you kidding? It's getting ready to rain! Ugh! So, I reach up to the top of the window and kind of knock on it to loosen up whatever it is that is blocking it. Well, it didn't work. Instead the window broke. It looks like somebody punched it. While, yes, I can punch, I can't punch square on that high. Thankfully, the contractors where still packing up, so I asked them for help, and they happened to have a piece of plywood they could put over it as a temporary fix. I then used plastic bags to stuff into the gap it left. The sheetrock guys had left his mesh tape behind, so I used that to tape up the broken window so keep it together until either the landlord replaces it or I replace it.
So, yes, this is what has pretty much kept me from blogging and sewing the last two weeks. The contractors are here from 8am to 4pm during the week, and everyday I have to rearrange some part of my house for them to work. Right now my dining/sewing room has my laundry/storage room stuff in it (except the washer and dryer).
All in all, I will be SO glad when all of these renovations are done!
Now, I have been able to get some sewing done of rainy days, in the evenings, and on the weekends done. Here's what I've done since I've last posted (cell phone inside at night = poor quality):
I am going to be a vendor at Charleston Scrapbooking's Craft Fair April 15th - 17th. I'm so excited! I'm fluffing up my inventory, and hoping that it goes a lot better than the last two times I've tried selling in person. If you're in the neighborhood, stop on by!
