Hello! These past two weeks wound up pretty darn well, if I do say so myself! The first week, things seemed a bit sluggish. Yeah, we were git’n’r done, but it wasn’t a lot of high-impact, visual sort of things. We were mostly waiting for the floors to go in so we could finish the back apartment and get started with the commercial kitchen. I spent the entire week pretty much covered in primer and paint, but I still couldn’t seem to just FINISH already, and I was losing steam and enthusiasm. 

Late Sunday night, something wild happened (literally!). Kevin was already in bed, and I was just about to turn out the light and climb in myself, when I heard a brief, tiny rustling noise in the corner, about a foot away from my bed. I’ve been around long enough to know the sound of a creature when I hear it, so I paused and honed in on the corner, expecting to see a mouse, or a pigeon. Instead, something much larger zipped around in a circle and dove back behind the cinnamon broom that holds my pigeon feathers I keep in the corner (what, like you don’t have a pigeon feather cinnamon broom in your bedroom?) Obviously, I did what any sane person would do next. I jumped up onto the bed yelling “creature!” confusing Kevin for sure. I leaned over the edge from up top to investigate, and what did I see, but this:

A freaking bunny! In our bedroom. On the second floor. I climbed down and decided this needed to be a family affair, so I went and got Ethan out of bed too, and grabbed two small boxes we had, so we could try to catch it, which seemed the next most logical step. 

Have you ever tried to catch a rabbit in a bedroom after 10pm? It is not an easy task! The second I started to approach, it BOLTED under the bed, and dove for cover in the exact worst place that it could possibly go: It wedged itself deep in the back corner, behind the wardrobe that holds literally every piece of clothing I own inside of it, with all of our winter clothes on top of it. The wardrobe I had just cleaned out and reorganized. 

Despite our most valiant attempts with a broomstick, we could not get it out without risking crushing it, so we were now forced to get a step stool, pull down everything from on top, completely empty everything out of it, find the drill, and unscrew the braces that hold it to the wall. It’s still really heavy empty, and we had to try to slide it out of the very tight space it was in without turning it in any way that could crush the bunny. Quite a feat! Kevin did most of the sliding, and finally got it out far enough that I could contort myself back there, while Ethan played goalie at the entrance with his box. After unsuccessfully jumping high enough in the corner to get out (which was pretty darn high, I have to say-bunnies can JUMP!), it dove in the final corner that I could not reach. Kevin handed me a curd knife (it’s not really a knife, it’s a very long, thin, metal spatula with a rounded edge) so I could gently corral it backwards into the box. It worked! I climbed back out and around the maze of clothing and bins, and Ethan and I took it outside in the garden, where it took off. 

Amazingly, this was also the first night the volunteer moonflower bloomed. This was a surprise seedling that had hitchhiked in a mimosa pot my dad had given me. The jury is still out on whether the mimosa tree is alive (a seedling from the tree in my yard as a child), but boy is that moonflower pretty! I had given him one years ago, and they always did great at his house. Now, hopefully this one will do great at our house.

While we were outside saying goodbye to the rabbit, and smelling the moonflower’s heavenly fragrance, Kevin was screwing the wardrobe back in place. We then put all the things back on top, after a thorough wiping of the top and all the bins thanks to the layer of construction dust that had settled on it all, making Kevin sneeze about 30 times in a row (not even exaggerating!). I hadn’t cleaned or organized that part. Oops! 90 minutes later, we were finally back in bed with the lights off, and I drifted off with a head full of mystified theories of how in the heck that whole episode had just happened. 

Early the next morning, I looked up animal totems, and found all kinds of associations from many cultures around the world, especially in Asia, between rabbits and the moon and dreaming big and things happening in leaps and bounds. I thought long and hard while reassembling my wardrobe, and drew my own conclusions: This was an auspicious sign, darn it! What are the odds a little bunny can enter a house, climb up 26 stairs and go down a hall to wind up in our bedroom, forcing us outside the first night the moonflower bloomed? About the same kind of odds that we can take a massive vacant and crumbling home and turn it back into a bustling hive of love, action, and family! 

I proclaimed we were going to make incredible progress that week, and boy, did we! Behold, the befores and afters of the back apartment:

Ta-da! Looks GORGEOUS, right? Sure, there are a few minor things-the kitchen island still needs sides and a back, a few doors need tweaking, etc. But basically, the thing is done! Hooray! 

Next up on the list of things to concur: The final touches and installations of the commercial kitchen! I’ll have that particular set of befores and afters for you next time. 

Up next on the goal list? Completing all the outside work. The big goal date for that is October 28th, the 1 year anniversary of buying the place. That gives us 52 more days to get things buttoned up. Provided the materials all finally arrive to finish the dormers and the railings,  we should be able to make it happen. Why not!? Let’s gooo! 

-Sara