Sunshiny rain is the most beautiful thing ever.

Demolition. It's not for sissies.

The first tasks on our agenda are rewiring & reinsulating. And with that goal in mind, the pantry room gutting begins... and so do the fun surprises.

We tore through the layers of the pantry room to get it down to the original bones. With the Winter months fast approaching, Jason made the decision to build a temporary wall to close off the space from the rest of the house. This also means that I lose the use of my office. But hey, what girls doesn't want a dining room/office/closet?  On a good note, we will renovate my office simultaneously with the pantry room.  Hopefully I won't find any more dead mice in there when I'm trying to work.

Discovery : The original exterior wall of the house is leaning outward. This is due to the lack of collar ties in the non-existent ceiling in the pantry. Jason's plan is to rebuilding the frame work to support the exterior and keep it from going out any further. We had planned to put a door to the side yard in this wall but now that will have wait until the exterior gets straightened out in the future.

Discovery :  We have our very own waterfall wall feature!   aka: a leaky chimney.

Jason begins building the temporary wall between the kitchen and the pantry room

Pantry room & my office after complete demo

two words : HOT WATER!

33 days. I made it 33 days. Luckily I grew up vacationing with my family at our rustic island cabin with no electricity and no running water, and my rustic camping skills have served me well this first month.

For the last 33 days, I've been boiling water on the stove to bathe with & do the dishes daily. Every few days, I would finally break down and travel to Jason's parents house for a proper shower.

I love doing the rustic thing. However, I am proud to announce that with the magic of Jason's incredible handy-man skills, we now have hot water.

Did I mention that I also didn't have a working toilet for the first 4 days? I believe in being sustainable but yup, modern conveniences are pretty darn awesome.