Hello! This week, Troy, Guy and Dom finished up the dormers on the front of the house, and we said goodbye to the lift. Is it weird that I’ll kind of miss all its BEEP BEEP BEEPing? Troy was actually a pretty good DJ with it.

Surprise surprise, we STILL HAVE all the furniture. I got so annoyed by Facebook Marketplace that I pulled the few pieces I had listed off of there. At least it’s finally all clean! We set a goal to get it out of our lives by the end of the year. Wish us luck! 

The most dramatic and exciting thing to happen this week: The back porches were torn down! I love a good double porch as much as the next person, but they were in terrible, terrifying condition. Also, all of the posts and railings were replacements anyway, so they were not original to the house. I am excited for the day when we can rebuild them and make them look fabulous and period appropriate, but we’re not there yet! The bricks all need to be repointed first, and the mansard roof needs to be redone.  It will be much simpler to use scaffolding with no porch there. 

Looks better already, right?! So sunny and bright! 

This week I started Christmas/Winter Solstice decorating. I’ve been thinking long and hard about it. How does one decorate a massive unfinished house under construction with limited access to electricity? (getting the new box hooked up is the other end of the year goal!) Is it like putting lipstick on a pig? Maybe. But it feels important to be festive, and start treating the house like we’re happy we live here!

The best solution I could come up with was battery operated LED candles on timers. With how many windows we have, getting them without the holders was the most economical solution. I dug around and found 7 candlesticks I already owned, then went up the street to one of my favorite thrift shops, Mother Pauline’s, and found 10 more vessels that can hold candles. 5 of those are these really cute cups that Kevin REALLY wants to bring to the bar for Boilo. I told him as soon as he finds me replacements for them, they are his. That brought my total to 17 holders, enough to do the second floor sides and front, and the front windows on the first floor in our apartment. I have 7 candles left, which should be enough to do the first floor. I’m hoping to find more holders today. Here’s where I’m at so far:

It’s a little underwhelming, but at least it no longer looks abandoned! I still have further plans for the downstairs windows that may or may not involve chalk markers and three bags of styrofoam balls I scored at Mother Pauline’s…you’ll just have to wait and see!