Bid Day Redo

It is so nice to snuggle up with warm bodies and a blanket and warm cup of tea. It's even nicer to do this after spending the day in a house with no heat. We were up at the house at 9 am to meet the parade of subcontractors lined up to bid on our job. Today was a big success. Nearly everyone on our bidding list showed up and walked through and promised to send their bids in next week or sooner. While Justin talked and walked with the subcontractors, I spent the better part of the morning pulling out the bottom piece of lath from the studs. This last piece is shoved down below the flooring so it requires a lot of prying and wiggling to get out. I was nearly finished when Justin asked me to go run copies of our work scope and pick up lunch.

Seattle is still snowed under and the neighborhood streets are now all rutted out and very difficult to drive on. I didn't feel too great about driving up the street to run this errand so I walked. It was only a few blocks, but it was raining and the sidewalks are in sorry shape. I stopped by Delite Bakery for lunch which was the highlight of this cold and miserable day. The staff helped me pick out some delicious pastries for lunch (hombow, ham&cheese croissant, & empanda) and welcomed me to the neighborhood. I'll definitely be going back because their food is great and very inexpensive.

In the afternoon, Justin and I were both shivering in our boots and Justin got this great idea to build a fire in the fireplace. We have no shortage of kindling and dry, clean wood and we had a rip-roaring fire in no time. I figured if I pulled the nails from the trim pieces, I could sit in the living room in front of the fire and stay warm. The fire didn't heat up much of the rest of the house though. Justin got into the demo action a little in the afternoon as the stream of subcontractors slowed and pulled out a lot of the electrical wiring in the basement between the floor joists.

We're still waiting for it to warm up enough to melt the snow and ice on the roof and let us get up there to deconstruct the chimney. We want to be done with that by the 6th of January so our framing work can start. Tomorrow we'll have another big work day and hopefully even get onto the part where we vacuum up some of the dust. The dumpster is still full and the message is that *maybe* it will be picked up on Saturday but we aren't holding our breath.