renovation flashback

my 1954 ranch style home is getting a makeover and i've moved with my husband and two cats to the house i was a teenager in, sans my parents. this blog will chronicle the renovation as well as my experiences as a sensory defensive living in a house full of memories.

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while i was posting my last blog, i received an email from the contractor with this foundation slab photo!

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this is from our most recent visit (earlier this week) prior to the pouring of the foundation. you can see into the bottom corners of our old bedroom. things seem to be moving along, but we really have no clue how on schedule things are. hopefully we'll get an update from our contractor today or tomorrow.

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flashback - sugar

i decided to attach the hose in the backyard so i could water what is left of the lovely garden my mom once adored and worked so hard on. after watering, i went to turn the water off. i walked along the rectangular steps that have been there for decades and had a flashback to the moment my family (mom, dad, brother, & myself) said our goodbyes to our one and only dog, sugar. my parents were going to bury him. now that i've buried a cherished animal companion of my own, i can't imagine having to explain it to children. i was a teenager and had to go directly to work, at albertson's, working behind the cigarette counter, where we also rented movies, on vhs. i think i even had my smock on when we were in the backyard with sugar. that sucked. i loved sugar. only dog i've ever had in my life. my parents got him for me when my brother was born. he was a wonderful gift and we loved him dearly. he was fiercely protective of my mother. i love him even more for that.  

when i find a photograph of sugar, i'll post it. i know i'll find one while we are here. i have so much to go through.

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who knew there was wood under that siding? the things they did in the 70s...

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somehow i ended up in a skee-ball league. yep. (sneaky husband). after a few rounds of practice, i was thankful to discover the skee-ball skill i had as a young lady is still there. just needed about an hour to oil those rusty skills. with my leftover coins i played pinball wizard, the who themed pinball game. i'll take more photos of the vintage games next time. they are quite spectacular.

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suburbs vignette number two.

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first vignette in the suburbs.

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we have been able to see airplanes flying into town since the airport moved in 1999. when i first bought the house in 1997, i was only a few blocks away from the airport & could hear the engines starting early in the morning. i loved it. when the city proposed the airport move, my neighborhood was told we'd be free of the airport noise. this was to encourage us to support the move. now, we are actually in the flightpath, something they specifically said wouldn't happen, but i don't mind. it has to be the one noise that doesn't wake me. with the backporch gone, we have been able to see the planes from the kitchen. after the addition goes up it might limit the full view, but i think we'll still have a partial view. at night it's really lovely & somehow soothing for me to stop what i'm doing & watch them fly over. meditative. i miss the planes.

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this room started as an office & later became the bedroom. it will be transformed into a hallway & closet, connecting the new addition.

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score! found my vintage battleship game. i loved that game.

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today i heard the postman

today, for the first time since i left this house at the age of 18, i heard the post gunning the little cart up the street to each mailbox. the house i've lived in for the past 14 years has a mailbox on the front porch.

anyway, the sound of the mailcart today shook something in my bones. i used to wait for that sound and basically stalk the mailbox, as if the answer to life were going to arrive. i think it started when i was around 11 or 12 and i began writing with a swedish pen-pal. 

so, for the first time since moving back into the house, i walked out to check the mail. nothing but junk mail. we haven't even changed our address with usps yet.

this is what i woke to today. it is a welcome part of project septic, which is now complete.

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the back porch is gone. my heart kind of sank, so did the husband's. it was rotting and felt like a rainforest with the green roof and giant holes that allowed the rain to pour in. many good times were shared on that porch. the concrete is next and that area will eventually become a courtyard. more good times to come.