The Fruits

Below is the result of an exhausting amount of cleaning, timed delicately between coats of varnish on the hallway floor, the last wood to be finished. As it turned out, we were unable to sand off the (potentially harmful) glue residue from the nearly 100-year-old wood, and had to lay new wood on top. An unforseen expense, but well worth it.

We started cleaning around 7am Sunday morning (which felt like 6am due to the time change!) and cleaned until 10, when we lay down the last coat of polyurethane and left. By the time Marie's train arrived around 6pm, it was just about dry. Of course I already have some new photos, but here a few from our toils yesterday morning. More soon.



(Note: the red sofa will eventually go in the sunroom once we get a new living room couch. But it does the trick for now.)

A Little Break

On Sunday night we escaped the fumes of floor stain and polyurethane and raced out to my parents' house in time to beat the snowstorm - the March snowstorm, I should add. This is what we awoke to.



As much fun as it is to watch our house come together, sometimes it's absolute luxury to be in someone else's.


Back home, we went from this:






To this!



(Pardon the horrendously messy kitchen.)


And that's only coat #1. The third one goes on tonight, and then we're furniture ready. Except for not having furniture. We're heading to the new Charlotte IKEA as soon as this weekend, before Marie arrives on Sunday.

I wanted to share a few more neighbor pictures with you, though many more will gradually be introduced on the Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood blog.

This was my idea, not Tyler's - hard to tell by the light, but he's blushing like a rose:


This is James and Lisa, who live across Oakwood from us:


And this is Hector, who lives next door to them:


Aaaaaand, great news! Bronx, our little foster dog, has a new home. He is with a fantastic couple and is adjusting like a rock star. Here's a photo they sent of his first day:



I am so happy about it. This is a hard neighborhood to live in when it comes to animal neglect and being a big old bleeding heart. You have to harden your heart a bit because there are just so many animals who are treated anywhere from not-great to downright badly. But when this little guy appeared it was just too hard to watch. I'm so glad his owners did the right thing and gave him up to someone who was able to give him above and beyond adequate care.

Time to clear out of here before the fumes get to me!