Woodpeckers!  I actually couldn’t tell you the difference between a woodpecker and a red-crowned crane (or any other bird), but spring is almost here, which means the birds are returning, and one of the unintended consequences about our construction is that when you leave gaping holes in parts of your house, birds can fly in.  In this case, I am reliably informed (by the 10 year old who actually does know something about birds) that the bird that flew into our house the other day was a woodpecker.  (Actually, I was told it was a pileated woodpecker, whatever that means.)  It had flown out by the time I got home, so, unfortunately, there are no photos of bird-in-house.  Overall, that is probably a good thing.

Interior framing continues, but there’s not much interesting to see yet beyond what I’ve already posted.  I am including a photo of our entryway, which is now two stories, complete with picture window.

And here is a photo of the expanded section of the kitchen.  The large windows will make the kitchen so much lighter than before, although I’m not quite sure why we need a larger kitchen.  Then, again, I would never question the expertise of the foodie/chef husband on this matter, especially if it means an increase in the number of delectable meals produced in the new, gargantuan kitchen.  🙂

We have windows!  I realize that some people might take this state of affairs for granted in their house, but when you have been providing a banner year for your propane company’s revenues by semi-heating a house with huge gaping holes in it, windows are a positive development.  We even have state-of-the-art windows, which are made of a composite material for the exterior frame and wood on the interior frame.  The result is a window that lasts longer, being less susceptible to rotting.  (I am quoting verbatim here, as I do not pretend to know anything at all about windows.)

Here is what the new-fangled windows look like:

The exterior framing has been completed (yay!), and the crew is now busy framing the interior.  The foyer will be a 2 story entryway, and the kids’ rooms (including real closets and their own bathrooms) are taking shape.

Here is the bedroom for our 13 year old:

And here is the bedroom for our 10 year old:

We are thinking about going to a make-your-own-tile place and have each child make a tile that can then be put in their bathrooms.  It will be a nice, personalized touch to add to their rooms.

And did I mention that each of the bathrooms (with the exception of the guest bathroom) will have heated floors??  Naturally, the boys in the family have been completely indifferent to this epic development, while the girls have been dancing jigs of joy at the news.  Clearly, this is an X and Y chromosome differentiator issue.

Construction continues to progress nicely.  The goal is to finish the exterior framing by the end of this week, so that weather will not impact the work going forward.  (Of course, if we do have a significant snowstorm, no one is going to be able to get to our house to do any interior work, but I digress.)

Here’s what the house currently looks like on the outside:

The interior framing continues as well.  Some before and during photos:

Family room below:

Photos of the study:

A photo of what will be a 2 story foyer but is now just looking up into one of the bedrooms:

The Mole Family continues to do well in their subterranean existence.  I was out shopping with our 13 year old daughter and her best friend last Friday.  (Translation:  I drove the girls to the mall and was politely requested to stay as far away from them as possible.)  🙂  Upside:  avoiding the conversation of two 13 year old girls (see dictionary definition for “insipid”) and preserving my hearing by not having to go into stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle.

Our 10 year old son got braces yesterday.  It will be a few days of milkshakes and soft foods for him, I’m afraid.  His dinner of choice last night was mint chocolate chip ice cream.  Fortunately, he has a high threshold for pain (unlike the aforementioned 13 year old daughter) so this should be a very temporary state of affairs.

We got a tour of the structure that’s been framed on the right side of the house over the weekend (I know—it’s kind of strange to get a tour of your own house, but we haven’t wanted to be overly neurotic about the renovation–just normally neurotic).  The 3^rd garage bay is in good shape, and the master bedroom, closets, and sitting room have been framed as well.  Actually seeing the new rooms take shape is tremendously exciting, because it makes the whole renovation seem more real, somehow.  The construction is going smoothly and on schedule so far.

You can see the framing for the master bathroom (on the right) and two huge closets in the middle and on the left (yay!–but only one of them is for me):

This is the new and improved master bedroom:

They have started the addition on the left side of the house, which will be the new pool table room:

Regarding our living arrangements, we arrived at an additional truth.  You cannot put a wet cast iron pan (no matter how sturdy) on an electric burner.  Apparently, unlike a gas stove, bad things happen when you do that, such as the cast iron pan cracking.  I think Jim would have preferred to lose his left arm rather than the cast iron pan.  It was a sad day for the Lintott family.  🙁

I am digressing from describing our charitable organizations to say that we will be living in our basement for the next few months as our house is being renovated.  (“Few months” is set at 3 by our contractor and 6 by us.)  My theory is that we will either become incredibly tight as a family or 3 of us will be dead (I am not commenting on which 3 family members it might be).  Our contractor, Mr. Le, is doing an absolutely amazing job to ensure that the stay in our basement is as comfortable as possible.  And I think our house will be really amazing once the renovations are done.  In the interim, however, I’ll be giving periodic updates on how our existence as moles is going.  (Although, really, when you think about it, the fact that the 4 of us are sharing one bathroom is how most of us grew up.  Not to mention that the basement is larger than most apartments in New York City, let alone the rest of the world, so it’s not like we’re really slumming it.)

We’ve also had some concerned questions about whether Santa will find us since our physical location does not include a chimney, but that concern seems to be addressed.  Other than that, the first week has gone surprisingly smoothly.  Let’s hope it stays that way!