The remodelers have concentrated on the exterior work so we still have our stove and sink.

Access is the big issue. Because the back entrance floor will be raised, even though the doorway is framed in, they have the doorway covered with sheathing. Our only access to the house is through the front door. Because of foundation work they have to do, they tore out the front steps so we have been using a ramp for the last week and a half.

Two weeks into the project and lots of changes.

When I went to work last Thursday work had not yet started but workmen were filling the driveway with pickup trucks. I did not get home until very late that evening. My husband had put up an orange snowfence so that I would not fall into the huge hole between the sidewalk and our back door. In the morning I could see the huge pile of dirt in the backyard and see that the forms for the footings were done. It was interesting discover what was left of the old cistern that was made of red bricks and cement.

We have been considering ways to upgrade our old farmhouse. It was built in the 1880s and remodeled 1940-41.

Now that we own our own home (after renting it for a number of years), I feel torn about what I have wished for and what is good for our budget and what is good for our environment. Do we really need to add more square feet? Can we modify what we already have and still get that breakfast nook I long for? ...that separate shower, rather than standing in the tub with our head hitting the ceiling in the upstairs bathroom in our one and a half story house?