Take a good look at these holes and piles--they'll be gone after tomorrow!
Also, Matt renewed our building permit yesterday (after surviving a fire drill in the county office...) All of which means we're now ready for an inspection on Friday. Here's hoping it all goes well!
And, of course, he lacquered the drawer fronts, too, as the sun set.
Saturday, Mom and Dad, Emily, Phil and Shan came up to take care of projects. Mom vacuumed. And then re-vacuumed. And, again, re-vacuumed.
Dad hung most of the cabinet doors, which is really pulling the kitchen together. :)
In the distance, you can see Phil and a piece of trim for the stairway.
Here are the kitchen cabinets after Saturday--looking good, don't you think?
Mom removed all the plastic from the appliances, and she and Shan took more plastic off the windows outside--our view is getting clearer and cleaner.
Emily and Matt did some landscaping planning, and began reshaping the hill in front to be more lovely.
I think that removing the giant pile of dirt by the road goes a long ways toward making the property look less like a construction site... :)
The fading light (and a cold) didn't stop Phil's work.
When we arrived, we found Roger at work digging to help us fix up the septic system. But, when we couldn't find what we were looking for, our neighbor Bob decided to call on the memory of an old friend and neighbor, while Matt explored the options up close.
Happily, we've since found some paperwork evidence that should help the task. That, and it's still just exciting to have the help of a backhoe. Backhoes are WAY more fun than shovels.
Some quite nice things happened, too, though, including one most visible through absence: check out the yard without a trailer parked in it! Thanks to neighbors Bob and Eric, who shared 4wd and expertise to make it possible to get it up the hill to the road.
Here's the trailer, which Matt towed down the hill to Nona's driveway, where it'll get a little (much-needed) TLC.
Matt went up again on Sunday, when the weather was more pleasant, and made good use of the space freed up by moving the trailer! Here, it's home to a new painting spot, for the last interior door.
Then, he continued to clean the garage, heartened by Mom's good work the day before. He built a clever rack for lumber and containing a bit of our mess.
Looks quite organized, no? Perhaps even like the kind of garage you could park a car in!
Ah, yes. It works.
Nicely done, all!
Matt showed off some acrobatic skill getting it plugged in.
Emily climbed into its hole to try to corral the cord into place so it'd all fit nicely...
and then showed her acrobatic skill in getting out before it slid into its final place.
Nice, eh?
We put up all the final bits of window and door trim, and Mom worked hard getting them all sanded and ready for lacquer. 
Emily and I put up the rest of the baseboard--now it's all in place. Even behind the laundry area and in the closets. :)
Matt started hanging the lovely new shower door downstairs--the doors in place, but the tile-cutting bit wore out before he could get the side panel installed. It's gonna look great, though!
And, again, Mom worked at conquering the muddy disaster that has become of our entryway. Now there's plastic dropcloth protecting it. And, someday, hopefully, our walkway paths will make travel from the street and the garage a little less muddy...
As Mom and Dad left, the snow began to fall. Matt and I stayed to lacquer the new wood trim, and by the time we left, there were 3" of snow in the driveway. It was coming down fast, in giant clumps! 
We're happy to report that the window and door trim is all installed and lacquered, the baseboard all in, the pump that recirculates hot water all wired and functioning, stairway trim partway done, appliances installed...and we're nearly ready for an inspection. Perhaps one more weekend of clean-up and odd jobs and we'll be ready. :) Then (inspector willing) we'll be ready for a real electrical hookup. And we can turn the heater on. Ahhh...
It was rainy all day today, and chilly in the house, but we enjoyed some time together, anyhow. The lemon meringue pie was good, too! (For evidence of this, look at the brightness of Dad's smile as he dishes himself a piece...) The kitchen's as clean as it's been, thanks to Mom's cleaning and sorting.
In the garage, Phil got to work lacquering the baseboard, while Shan put polyurethane on some oak trim pieces.
Dad took care of lots of little jobs, including detaching the range cord so it can be shortened.
Shan sanded the trim around doors downstairs, getting them ready for lacquer. We ran out today, but things are all ready for next time.
Here we are toward the end of the day. We'd thought we were past the point where saws belong in the house, but the rain and the mud between the house and garage convinced us that the big room makes a fine workspace for the time being. :)
Phil got some vent covers in, trimming the floor to make it work. If only we hadn't had to move the stairs (almost exactly a year ago!), this would have been less work today, too...
Matt and I also installed the upstairs bathroom vanity--another antique dresser transformed into a vanity. Now, given that it has a door and toilet paper, the upstairs bathroom is definitely the finest one to use. Thanks to Mom for cleaning it all up and getting it ready to use.
The big (unexpected) excitement, though, came from our attempts at getting Matt's truck out of the mud. It was convenient unloading the vanity from so close to the front door...but not so convenient to get the car back to the road. Here's a few fun pics of the project--toward the end, you get to meet our new neighbor, Bob, whose pulley figured prominently in the eventual solution. Thanks, Bob!
We finished the first coats on the floor, admiring how good the oak looks with a clear coat on top!
On Saturday, Mom and Emily came up with us, to sand and add another coat of polyurethane, and to do a bunch of other jobs. Now, the electrical box is well-labeled, the wall patch in the bathroom is repainted, the hot water pump is mostly installed, and the step up to the front porch is done and stained!
Today, Matt and I went back for the final coat--here's Matt just before sanding the floor. We definitely got better--or else we did a better job of estimating how long things will take: the last coast took less time than we figured.
The floor is looking great, and we look forward to it getting nice and hard before next weekend, when we'll return for more fun!
