What does minimalism mean for us

We are one adult and two children living in an 1100 square foot home.  It's not big by today's standards but it's not tiny either.  Because I got to make some changes to the layout of our home when we rebuilt after the fire, our home is now perfect for us.  The space is much more user-friendly than before and there is really no wasted space in our home.  We could get by with less space quite easily but it doesn't make financial sense for us to sell this house and find a smaller one.  It also doesn't make emotional sense for the girls, who have already been through so much and need stability right now.

We currently don't need to do a lot of downsizing in stuff either.  One thing with a fire like ours is that you lose everything.  We saved a few very special outfits for each girl, outfits bought in other countries with special people.  Outfits that can't be replaced here.  The little girl has one stuffed animal and one blanket from before the fire.  The big girl has a wax hand made the weekend before the fire.  I saved a desk my grandfather built when my mother was little and my childhood teddy bear. 

As we replaced stuff, I tried to be very conscious about what we were getting.  I got kitchen stuff that we'll actually use. I've bought some clothes for me but the only clothes I've bought for the girls are school uniforms and a couple of fun things.  We have the necessary furniture, although I haven't looked for real dining chairs yet and we're still using my parents' folding chairs.

The biggest issue with stuff is the little girl.  She attaches tremendous value to every. single. object!  She rarely agrees to throw anything away because it's all too special.  While I haven't bought her many toys, she's been given several stuffed animals.  She saves school papers and kids' menus and everything else.  It is a constant battle to keep her stuff under control. 

The big girl has seen the light as far as having enough but not too much.  She struggles to keep organized and realizes how important not having unnecessary items are in her quest to keep a neat room. 

I don't want to buy stuff for me unless I have to.  I'd rather not spend the money or have to figure out what to do with that item.

So, ultimately, for our family, I don't see minimalism as moving into a tiny house or scaling down possessions to fit in the back of my car.  For us, it means having only what we need...no more and no less.  Now if we can just get the little girl to see how much less she could live with.

Cleaning and purging

I am not a clean and tidy person by nature.  I blame my mother...not what she taught me but the genetic stuff she gave me.  I am so much better than I used to be but there is still lots of room for improvement.  Unfortunately, the girls aren't clean and tidy either.  For them, I'm not sure if it's genetics or living with me.  It doesn't really matter because the outcome is the same...we all struggle to keep the house relatively neat.

When we first moved back home, the big girl was doing such a great job keeping her room neat and tidy.  She was so proud of herself and she loved it.  Unfortunately, life got in the way and she let it go.  Because of Romeo, we keep all the bedroom doors shut so I hadn't realized how far it had gone until New Years Eve morning.  I had reason to go in there and saw the true disaster it had become.  In the past, I would have just started yelling and threatening and taking away privileges.  That's almost what I did that morning but then I took a deep breath and remembered all the great parenting strategies I'd learned over the last several months.  Instead of doing all those things I would have done in the past, I told her it was clear she needed some help in figuring out how to get her room reorganized and I was going to help her with that this weekend.

I picked the girls up from a sleepover this morning and I'm sure the big girl was dreading coming home to clean but after I had a few short moments to snuggle the little girl, we got to work.  It ended up only taking about 2 hours to get most of the work done (everything except the laundry).  We purged and cleaned and organized.  We threw away 2 big bags of trash.  There is another big bag of clothes that will go to the clothing bank at her school once they're washed. 

Her desk is now usable.  We stapled a ribbon on the back of her calendar to make it easier to hang when she takes it down to redo it each month.  We hung her new alphabet sign and bulletin board.  We organized her closet and she washed all the stuff on the floor...pretty much her entire wardrobe.  Then she put it all away.  This is where the benefits of having only what you need really comes to light.  When you don't place sentimental value of stuff, it's easy to get rid of things you don't need and/or enjoy.  That makes putting away the stuff you keep so much easier.

Her room looks great.  Her pride is back.  She spent much of the afternoon in there covering notebooks with duct tape and getting ready for the new semester.  We talked about things she can do to make the upkeep easier and when she can ask for help (anytime) if she's overwhelmed or unsure.

After we finished with her room, I moved on to my room.  I cleaned out my closets of the crap that had been accumulating...bags and boxes from the holidays, unfolded clothes that had been stuffed onto shelves in a rush.  I got my laundry and the little girl's laundry that was clean put away.  I emptied bags that had been setting on the floor for months.  It was mostly old catalogs and other trash.  I organized the little girl's hair ties in the bathroom...it's small and there is no drawer space.  They'd all been piled on the back of the toilet.  Now they're tucked neatly into a mason jar on the back of the toilet...so easy and so much better.  Why did it take months for me to do this?

I still have lots more to do.  There are some shelves in the living room that need to be cleaned off and organized.  Still, it feels so good to have gotten so much done today.  It's amazing how quickly messes like this can accumulate.  We've been here 6 months.  As I keep reminding the big girl, it's an ongoing process.  We won't be done until we can afford to pay someone to do it or we die. 

(Thank goodness, my mom helped the little girl clean and organize her room last week.  I have much harder time helping her since she's my hoarder...everything is special and meaningful and nothing can be thrown away or gotten rid of...ever.)

2014 in review

 The significant moments of our year in pictures...

January 6

A dumpster and port-a-potty in front of our house...let the demo begin

January 8

It doesn't take long to gut a house...too bad rebuilding isn't so fast

January 25

Checking out progress on the house on a nice day led to some time on the trampoline

February 15

My mom, the little girl, and I took a shopping trip to Ikea to get ideas for the new house

March 29

Bathroom tile is in

April 8

Kitchen cabinets are in...

...and the pantry is built and ready to be installed

April 30

Paint...

...doors...

...and a sunroom ceiling!!!

May 1
Kitchen drawers (I LOVE my corner drawers!!!)

May 7
Disaster #2
A paint fume explosion in the kitchen
Blew out the back window...

...and a hole in the dining room ceiling

(It also cracked some rafters and did some other damage.)

May 10

We rescued a turtle off a busy street.  The girls named her Sparkle Betty and we set her free where she could roam without getting in the street.

June 29

We took a roadtrip of a lifetime with my parents

Big girl got to check off a bucket list item

We saw this too

And this

And Old Faithful, checking off one of my bucket list items

Dinosaur National Monument was almost the end of our road trip sight-seeing

July 12

We moved in!!!

July 14

The first artwork was hung

July 19
Thrilled to have been reunited with our sweet Izzy, who stayed with a friend during the rebuild (we also had my grandmother's dog, Molly, but we lost her in May)

September 6
This sweet little boy joined our family and made himself right at home on my bed.
His name is Romeo and he lives up to his name as a heart stealer.

October 26
Great Pumpkin Sunday...the big girl in costume

November 30
We decorated for Christmas.  Romeo still chews, hence no ornaments on the lower part of the tree.

December 22
The big girl's gingerbread house (an annual tradition with Nana)

December 25
The big girl folded the napkins for dinner...

...and the little girl demolished her gingerbread house to eat the candy

There were other good moments that would have been included if I had pictures that didn't include the girls' faces.

All in all, it was not a terrible year.  It wasn't a great one.  It had some of the hardest moments I've been through, although not the hardest and it could have been much worse.  Nonetheless, I'm glad to close the door on a year dominated by the fallout of fire.  Here's hoping for a much calmer and smoother 2015.  So far, we're starting off right.

Going crazy...must blog

I've got to get back into the habit of journaling or blogging.  I feel like I'm losing my mind and need to deal with life's craziness.

The house is getting better and better.  The girls' bedrooms are completely done.  My bedroom is mostly done.  I haven't found any artwork but there's no rush for that.  The kitchen is completely done.  The living room and dining room are mostly done.  I need a tv for occassional family movies and some artwork.  Also, 3 chairs for the dining table and get the artwork hung.  The sunroom is completely done.  There are a few things in the garage to put away still but very few.  All of this is so much easier when you don't have much stuff.

The girls are in school and it's going great and so-so, depending on the child in question. The little girl had a birthday recently and turned 8.  The big girl will be 14 soon.  We added a new family member at the beginning of September.  His name is Romeo and he's a 1-year-old chug.  I'm not thrilled with his presence currently and he's been much more work than the big girl expected but I know it will get better with time and we will love him to bits.  It has been weird having a dog who can hear!

As I try not to bring more stuff than we really need back into the house, how did we handle the little girl's birthday?  Well, we didn't have a party.  That was for reasons other than minimalism but it helps with that too.  From me and the big girl, she got a dress and a bracelet.  From the grandparents, she got two books and an Elsa hat with a long blond braid.  That's it!  These are all things that 1) don't take up much space, 2) that she will use, and 3) that she loves.

Now I must contemplate the big girl's birthday.  It's coming soon and she never asks for anything so she's much harder to shop for.

4 weeks

Yesterday was 4 weeks home.

We were out of town for a long weekend last weekend so we didn't get anything done around the house.  The only thing we came home with was a Monopoly game and some Christmas ornaments.  There was lots of other stuff I could have bought so I'm glad I just replaced some stuff lost in the fire.  We'll have a full tree by December for sure.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day in the kitchen.  My mom came over in the morning and helped us can tomatoes.  She had previous experience but this was my first time so it was nice to have her input rather than just following a website and hoping for the best.  We ended up with 20 pints of tomatoes.  Yay!  We have a few more tomatoes in the freezer too.  As the last full batch was in the water bath, one of the jars broke open so we had to let everything cool to clean it up.  Fortunately, clean up wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  If these end up tasting good, I may do more next year.

I also made brownie bites for the big girl's back to school pot luck.  It was a new recipe but they turned out well. 

This afternoon, I need to cook a cabbage and potato dish (at the big girl's request) for school lunches later this week and then I'm going to work in the little girl's bedroom until time for the big girl's school pot luck.  There are a couple of boxes in there that need to be unpacked so I can get to the top of her desk to finish painting it.  I need to hurry since school starts soon.

The good news of the new house...the big girl has made her bed every single day and yesterday was the only day I haven't made mine.  She's also kept her room neat (although I haven't looked in her closet.)  In fact, the whole house is pretty neat.  It's easy to do when you haven't been home much but it's nice.

Home

We've been home 2 weeks now.  Two weeks.  It's hard to believe.

There is still a little more unpacking to do but not a ton.
I need to finish painting the little girl's desk.
I need to paint the sunroom floor once it cools off a little.
I need to build the coffee table.
I need to put the sunroom furniture together (planning to do that before the floor gets painted.
I need to hang the artwork we have and see what else I might want to look for.

I am amazed at how quickly this house felt like home again, comfortable and safe, both for me and the girls...mostly for the girls as they were both so nervous about coming back here.

We still have so much less stuff than we had before and I know there are a few things I still want to get (a new alarm clock, drawer dividers for the kitchen drawer) but overall, we have everything we need and want.  It feels great!

The big girl loves her room and has been working hard to keep it neat.  She's made her bed every day!  I'm trying to get into the habit of making my bed too.  With less stuff, it's been easier to keep things picked up so other than the stuff sitting around that we haven't decided where to put, our home has been easy to keep clean.

Izzy, the basset hound, came home and got settled in.  It was nerve-wracking at front because she was rather traumatized by the transition.  She's almost completely deaf and even though she came to the same house, nothing was the same.  She's settled in and is very comfortable now.  We are all annoyed by her barking and so happy to have her back with us!

All in all, WE'RE HOME!!!  It feels great!  I feel like we can live again.  I didn't notice it while we we're out of our home but now that we're back, I can say life was on hold for all of us.  Now we're living again.

Part of that living...the little girl and I are getting up and walking in the morning before work.  The big girl normally runs at the same time but she's at camp right now.

More shopping

While most people spent Easter weekend hunting for eggs, my mom and I took the girls out of town for a shopping trip.  Most of it was house-related shopping but we did surprise the girls with a trip to the American Girl store to replace the stuff lost in the fire.  Oh, the excitement!  I was told so many times that I was the best mom ever and making the best day ever by the little girl.

On the house front, we found some living room chairs and a rug at World Market.  I ordered the chairs tonight.

I found the couch I wanted at Ikea, as well as some shelves with storage to make a sofa table.  The big girl got a metal cart to serve as a bedside table and found a bed and desk at Ikea.  We also picked up some other stuff like another metal shelf for the kitchen and a shelf with a towel rack and toilet paper holder for the bathroom and a few other little things.

It seems like we're almost done but then my mom and I started making a list on the way home on Sunday.  Yikes!  There's still a lot to do.

We need to pick out tile for the back splash and a pedastal sink for the small bath.  There's still beds to buy for the little girl and me plus lots of other little stuff like trash cans and mats for the rolling chairs and bar stools and chairs for the dining table and a coffee table and a tv and, and, and.  It's feeling very overwhelming at this point but I know it will get better and if we move in with some things not yet bought, we'll be fine.

On Saturday, my dad and I are going to work on trimming the neighbor's cedar trees that hang way over the fence into my yard.  They need to be trimmed up so I can have the privacy fence put in when they get to me.

I've also hired a yard service for the first time.  My sweet father has always done it for me but he's having too many problems with his back so it was time to give him a break.  Although I'm not thrilled about the money, I'm kind of glad since I always felt a little guilty having him do it.

Painting started this week at the house.  The second coat went on the trim today.  I'm not sure if they'll start painting walls tomorrow or not.  The kitchen cabinet that was messed up is fixed.  Yay!  Progress is being made.  It just seems like it's going to be forever right now but I know it's not really going to take that long.

Trim and granite

Most of the trim is now up in the house.  Cabinets are mostly in.  Just a couple of small things that need to be corrected in the kitchen.  The pantry needs to be installed but it looks great.  The bench seat is in the dining room.  Paint colors are picked out.  I know today they came and measured for the granite in the kitchen.  My mom and I picked out the lighting on Friday.  (I found a couple of fans for the girls' rooms and the sun room that I LOVED but at $400+ and $700+ apiece, they stayed at the store.  Oh well.)

Progress is being made.  I'm hopeful for another month or so but we'll see how it really plays out. 

Getting closer

The big girl and I stopped by the house yesterday.  The outside that I'd never finished painting for something like 5+ years is now painted.  The kitchen cabinets were in.  Some of the crown molding was up and much of the base board was laid out.  The pantry unit was in the garage along with one of the built in shelf units for the living room.

There were a couple of small problems with the kitchen cabinets (which kept me up much of the night worrying but which were all quickly resolved this morning).  They are great though!!!  The drawers will be so much easier to open and close than what we had before.  We have these awesome corner drawers instead of a lazy susan.  I was a guinea pig for building them and I've heard that the builder said never again but they are AWESOME!!!

I stopped by tonight and the bathroom linen closet unit and the other shelving unit for the living room were also in the garage.

I went by the paint store today and they loaned me a fan book of paint colors.  Tonight my mom and I picked out colors for the whole house.  I feel so good to have that done!

I need to take back the bathroom faucets we bought because a different brand was recommended as being better quality and more easily repairable in the case of problems.  I also need to finalize the the pedestal sink and all the light fixtures, door knobs, drawer pulls and kitchen back splash tile.  Still, I feel like we're making progress and I can get through this weekend, with the big girl's birthday party, and next weekend, with our out-of-town shopping trip, without too much worry.

Then we need to get back to work on the house and the yard!

Shopping

My mom and I are taking the girls on a shopping trip for the house in a couple of weeks.  Of course, we'll be hitting up Ikea for a few more things for the house...

• Couch (double checking what I want to order online)
• 2 living room chairs(double checking what I want to order online)
• 2 book cases to make a sofa table (may have to order these online)
• Picture ledges for the girls' bedrooms
• 2 more metal shelves for the kitchen
• Picture frames???
• Counter stools for the kitchen bar
• Cabinet to go under TV for DVD player/roku/movie & game storage
• Wall lamps
• Rolling cart for the big girl's bedside table

 World Market

• Throw pillows
•  Floor poufs
• The little Indian dangly thing with elephants or birds on it (I promised the little girl the last time we were there

We're also going to be doing a little shopping that they'll like more but we're keeping that a secret.  Then we'll meet some friends at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (in that area...definitely not our fav overall!)

Done and to do

The girls and I went by the house on Saturday to look at the floors.  All the wood is down except the transitions between the closets and the rooms where we moved closets and the wood didn't go through.  Mark offered me two ways to do it, one that cost $50 per closet and one that cost $275 per closet.  I chose the $50 option.  The tile floors in the bathrooms and utility room are down and grouted too.  They look great.  I asked about laying the tile on the diagonal and it would have cost more so I had them lay it off-set so the grout lines of each row are off-set by half the tile width.  I really like how it turned out.

Mark called me on Friday afternoon and said he wanted to get together at the house this week to talk about the trim. 

I have lots of other questions for him too.

• When do I need to finalize decisions for...
•  kitchen back splash
• toilets
• pedestal sink 
• main bath counter and sink
• medicine cabinet/mirror
• lights/ceiling fans
• paint colors
• shower door
• door and cabinet hardware

• When will the heat and air unit be cleaned and tested
• Can they hang all of my shelves in the kitchen where I'm not putting upper cabinets and make sure they attach them to studs since they be holding dishes
• What to do about the ruts in the front yard and cleaning up the debris in the back yard (worried about glass and puppy dog feet)
• Shelves in the laundry room...mom suggested putting up a long board where the coat hooks are going and attaching the hooks to that so we don't have to worry about attaching them to studs...love that idea
• Counter top about the washer and dryer
• Is there some kind of fixed-length shower curtain rod...I hate how the rings snag on the bump in the middle of the adjustable ones...not good with the kids
• Can I put in rain barrels when they add the guttering

My most important question of all...

• What is the current estimation for move-in-day???

As we get more and more stuff, I'm getting more and more anxious to move home.

Yard work

There is a row of nandina along the back fence.  It was there when I bought the house almost 10 years ago (along with lots of other nandina that has since been removed.  One of my goals for this spring, even before the fire, was to get it all taken out.  One of the issues though is that in taking it out, I also need to put up a privacy fence because the fence there now is just a chain link one and it's got some ugly patches in it to keep Molly (one of the bassets) from getting out.

I bit the bullet today.  I spent part of the afternoon (not as long as I'd hoped due to fatigue) over at the house digging it out and trimming back the cedar trees from the neighbor's yard that hang over the nandina.  Still, I was pretty impressed with what I got done.  I want to get a lot of it cut down before the birds start building their spring nests in it.

I never realized how much room was back between the nandina and the fence.  It's going to add quite a bit of space to the yard to get it all out.

I talked to the neighbor today and asked about the chain link fence.  She's lived in her house a lot longer than me and she said the fence was there when she moved in so we don't know who it belongs to.  She would rather I just leave it up and put the privacy fence on my side.  The benefit of this is that it will be cheaper for me as there will be nothing for them to take down.

I'm going to call my insurance agent tomorrow because my dad mentioned that he has a good fence builder.  We're getting closer to moving home and I want to get it done before we get the dogs back there.

Floors

We went by the house last Friday.  They were in the process of laying the wood floors back down in the living room, kitchen and entry way.

My mom was there yesterday pruning the rose bushes in the front yard.  She said the tile guy was there working on the sub floor and would be back today to start laying the tile.

Yay!!!

Our spare bedroom here is filling up with stuff we've bought for the house.

We're getting closer!!!

Buying stuff

My mom made the point that I need to start buying stuff and stockpiling it until we move.

Tonight I bought the following on amazon...
food processor and blade holder...exactly what I had before
ice cream maker with extra bowl
popcorn popper
immersion blender
utensil set
insulated cookie sheet
2 cup measuring cup

On my list to get are...
kitchenaid mixer
bamboo spatula
measuring cups/spoons
bread pans
muffin tins
noninsulated cookie sheet
cutting board
knives
silverware
towels
dish rags
trash bin/recycle bin
pots/pans - set versus individual pieces
peeler

sheets
blankets
bed covers
towels

Trying to figure out what else I need and what I can get here to support local business versus what will be best to buy online.

Meeting

On Friday, my mom and I met with the contractor and construction supervisor.  It went well.

We talked kitchen cabinets and made plans for the few uppers and what I want on the lowers.  They're going to give me a good deal to use me as a guinea pig on these awesome corner drawers.  I'm so excited.  I picked out cabinet fronts and they're going to match the finish at Lowe's that I like.

I picked out the tub/shower surrounds.  Mark told me today that the solid surround is about $300 more than tile would be in the shower but the same in the bath tub.  That's $300 well spent to not have to deal with grout.  I still need to pick out the counter top/sink for the hall bath.

We're going to do the same wood floor in the kitchen.  That makes me happy.  I'm going to put linoleum in the utility room for cheapness and convenience with dogs food and water in there.

We talked about where to look at granite for the kitchen.  I'm not sold on granite.  I'm not sure why but I'm not.  Anyway, I need to go look.

The framing inspection was supposed to be done on March 3rd (2 days ago).  I'm not sure if it got done on time or not because of bad weather.  After that, it will be insulation and drywall.

I need to call the Container Store and change the delivery address on the closet systems and they can store everything at the warehouse.

They're saying end of April for completion.  I hope, hope, hope.  I could celebrate 41 in my own home!!!

Progress continues

I believe the electrical work is mostly done until it's time to install actual outlets, switches and fixtures.  The plumbing is done or nearly so.  New windows are in.  (It's amazing how much more light the house is now that the windows are not covered with soot.)  There's a bathtub sitting in the right spot in the bathroom.  Doors have been ordered for everything except the front door.

The weekend before last, my mom, the little girl, and I went on a shopping weekend to Ikea, The Container Store, and World Market.  I got closet systems for all of the bedroom closets.  Yay!!!  It's basically like built in dressers in the closet so we don't have to use that room out in the bedrooms.  I got a kitchen faucet I really liked at Ikea and found a sink I like but I'll have to go back and get it since they were on back order.  I found some couches I like at Ikea and World Market.  Many couches make me feel like a little kid because when I sit on them, my feet don't touch the ground.  Ikea couches tend to be lower to the ground so I can sit on them and feel like a grown up.  I also found a dining table I plan to order at World Market.  We came back from that trip with the car loaded down with stuff.  Thank goodness the big girl had lots going on and couldn't come that weekend because we couldn't have fit everything in the car on the way home.  We're planning another shopping expedition at the end of March or beginning of April.

Tomorrow, I have a meeting with the contractor to go over remaining timeline, dollar allowances for some things, cabinet finishes, etc.

The progress isn't as fast as I'd like it to be...you know, since it's not done...but it's moving along.

Walkthrough

Yesterday, my mom and I met the contractor and construction supervisor at the house for a walk through.  The framing is mostly done (except for where we were going to put a pocket door but now we're not.  They were in the process of spraying the smell-killing stuff on the studs so the smoke smell doesn't leach out of the walls.  Yay!  (It's been a little delayed this week because of the temp.)

We talked about outlets, lights, doors, cabinets, where to put the sink in the kitchen, how to build out the pantry, etc.  The back porch is now a sun room and smaller than before but big enough.  I think it's going to be so much more useful with windows that can be closed to keep out the dust but opened when we want to.  I'm really excited about the change!

I felt really good about the walk through.  They gave us some good ideas and get what I want.  Electric work measurements for cabinets will start to happen next week, pending weather.  Today, my mom and I are going to look at doors at Lowes.

I wish we could just snap our fingers and be home but at least it's coming along.

Windows and more

I spoke with the construction supervisor today.  He ordered my new windows.  Yay!  They were spraying the stuff that kills the smoke smell today.  We have a meeting over there on Friday to talk about doors, electrical outlets, light switches and fixtures, tv placement, etc.  Yay again!

Another visit

We went over to the house again on Saturday.  As I've mentioned, the little girl is pretty scared of the house right now.  It came out that one of her big concerns is that she is going to fall through the floor into a great abyss.  I tried to explain to her that, while a crawl space is not somewhere I want to be, it's not deep and her head would still be above the floor even if she was standing on the floor of the crawl space.

Anyway, Saturday was a nice day so we went over there after the big girl's basket ball game.  The little girl did amazingly well.  We looked around and talked about the changes.  In the bathroom where the tub was, you can actually see through the floor to the crawl space.  I shined a flash light in there so the little girl could see just how not deep it was.  That made her feel slightly better.

After holding it together to tour the inside, we went out back.  The girls decided to put the trampoline to use for the first time since the day of the fire.  It was great to hear the little girl laugh so heartily in a place that brings up so much fear right now.

After we left the house, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to starbucks for coffee and chai lattes.  Yum!

Moving along

I have a busy week this week so my mom met with the contractor yesterday at the house to go over some things.  So glad my mom and I think a lot alike on this stuff and she has some great ideas on design stuff.  She's so handy to have as a mom. :-)

Anyway, the contractor told her that they should be done framing this week and sometime next week, I'll need to do a walk-through with them to talk about placement of light switches, electrical outlet, and light fixtures.  Wow! Wow! Wow!  I know there will be times that it will feel like it's dragging but I'm so glad that that time is not right now.

The contractor also told me that by the end of this week or the beginning of next week I should have a better schedule of when I'll need certain things for the house and what the financial allowances will be on different things.

I'm so frustrated with the dryer situation right now (I paid extra to have the company I bought it from hook it up but then they couldn't and it's been a mess but I adore the plumber that's been working on it and part of the issue now is the way the vent was put in the house.  Ugh!) that I need some good news.