Framing begins.

Now that the bulk of the demo is done (and been dragged away in a massive dumpster) we have even more framing to do that we originally thought. We have to start with a few key walls in both bathrooms so our plumber can (finally!) get started.

Porky found a safe spot to lay on one of my many birthday gifts. Cement board for the bathroom!

My dad helped us pry up the newer flooring underlayment so that the new tile will be closer to the level of the hardwood in the hallway. The area under the toilet was part rotted and part missing, so we cut a clean edge to easily replace the two layers.

The first layer of plywood cut to size and put in.

Then the second layer using scrap pieces we had laying around from the kitchen window re-framing.

This is my excuse for why everything takes so long. Dogs. Maybe they think they are helping?

This is about as far as we got before there was a knock, no, a banging on our front door. Of course we already knew who it would be...our friendly neighbor Tommy. Now, when I say friendly, what I actually mean is "he hates our guts". This is only something we had guessed, and was confirmed last night when he informed us that he is "sorry you *expletive people ever moved in". Well, ok then. Point taken, we will no longer be doing any work on the house that makes any kind of noise past 7pm. Awesome. Guess what I will be doing tomorrow morning before work? Yeah.

Come he'ah*!

We have now lived in the doghouse for almost 6 months! The move to South Boston has been quite the cultural experience. Many of the people on our street are in their 70s and 80s and have been living there for the last 50 years. One of these people in particular is Elaine. She lives two doors down and has been very nice to us “kids” thus far, that being said, I hope we stay on her good side. Elaine is very friendly, but has very strong opinions (which I am finding is a common Southie trait). Last Friday I was lucky enough to witness Elaine perform some of her very best "in your face Irish handiwork". The houses on our small street back up to the houses on the very small street behind it...so being not 25' away from 5 or more neighbors, you can pretty much hear everything going on. I don't mind this so much until one of the neighbors decides that they can be obnoxious. One such neighbor on the previously mentioned street behind my house owns a bulldog who loves to go outside and bark at nothing. Simultaneously this very same neighbor has been gifted with one of the strongest and most obnoxious South Boston accents that I have heard to date. So, for the past couple of months the morning routine has gone something like this:

7am: Let the bulldog out

7:05 am: Bulldog decides to bark

7:10 am: Neighbor decides to yell at barking dog (and for some reason the dialogue usually consists of “Come he'ah! He'ah! He'ah!” over and over with no success)

This pattern continues for the next hour.

Elaine had been mentioning to us how much this annoyed her and last Friday I guess she had finally had enough. I was outside cleaning up the yard for trash day and that dog was barking away. All of the sudden Elaine stomped out onto her roof deck/porch and started yelling at Mrs. He'ah. It was awesome. I grabbed the dogs and froze while silently pleading with them not to bark themselves (they seriously thought about it). Mrs. He'ah claimed that there were four other dogs on the block and that it is not always her dog (I resent that) and then Elaine shut her down with “then why is it always your dog I'm hearin'?”. You tell her Elaine. It was all very entertaining...here is hoping my dogs keep quiet and I stay on Elaine's good side!

Post from last weekend's events to come...including: a visit from friends, more flea market fun and some very exciting progress on ripping up flooring!!!

*He'ah=Here for those of you who haven't had the privilege of witnessing the beautiful Boston accent.