A Time to Tear Down & A Time to Build

We bought this house a number of years ago as a trashed foreclosure and tore everything out to the studs -- and even moved some of them! My man, with not nearly enough help from me, did it all, with the exception of laying carpet and one tile job. But then the demands of his job increased and we had small children and the house never got completely finished. I've had a full kitchen for years, but I have no doors on the cabinets or drawers. (Actually, it's kind of convenient; having to open a cabinet will seem like a tedious step! And when my MIL helped out when I had surgery several years back, she said it made working in someone else's kitchen much easier - she could just look around to find things instead of opening numerous cabinets in search of the right dish.) Some of the sheetrock in several rooms had never been finished (taped, floated, painted), along with some other miscellaneous jobs.

Anyway, to make a short story long (as a friend of mine likes to say!), we've decided to contract the remaining jobs, which also included a new roof. It's amazing how much more a crew can accomplish as opposed to one person!

So things have been crazy around here for the past couple of weeks with more to come. But yesterday a bit of a bittersweet event happened. The kids' playscape was (partially) dismantled so that one of the workers could transport it to his house for his four-year-old daughter.




Since they are in high school, it's obviously been some time since our kids have utilized the amazing playscape Daddy built for them. And it's (mostly!) nice to have it gone. But the backyard has a big empty spot where it used to be, and it just foreshadows the empty bedrooms that will appear all too soon as the kids leave the nest. (And it made me grateful the kids still enjoy our traditional Easter basket treasure hunt!)

The reactions to the playscape's removal this weekend were a bit varied. My girl was rather nostalgic. My boy? He just said "It will be a lot easier to mow now!"

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