She said: One of the best sounds ever is the sound of a running furnace!

Last Saturday Mark, Paul, Jae and my Dad put in two French Doors and the last window! All in a days work. I helped put the piping (foam tube) around the doors and window, Mark sprayed the insulation, and we were officially "closed up" for winter. Tuesday came and the furnace was turned on-works beautifully. Oh so nice to feel warmth when entering your home!

This week we had our first real frost and the roof looked great! No obvious loss of heat areas so another huge win for the Stankey renovation project.

This week has been mostly rainy and the contractor's have only put in 2 days of work. Maybe 3 if today starts shaping up. But they need to be done next week - it's just getting too cold for painting. Another bonus is the stucco guys are coming next week and will re-dash everything before winter so the only thing we'll be missing is a front door. And who does that really affect? Trick-or-Treaters maybe...

"We've got Glass, not class, glass" - He said.

Wahoo! Two windows in! Hey it's a start! Thanks Kevin for the help today. Mark and Kevin put in 2 windows while I finished burning the paint off the bedroom windows. Absolutely beautiful day! The plan is to have all the windows in this weekend and then both the doors next weekend. Pray for warm weather...then the furnace will be in full swing!

He said: Did you just get the butter out of the fridge?" She said, "Nope""

Last Sunday, after a long weekend of smelling paint fumes and bondo we sat down for dinner. Sat at the dining room table for a good hearty dinner of stew that had been simmering in the crockpot all day, french bread and a glass of wine. That is when Mark asked the titled question. Now, you have all probably noticed that it has been getting down into the 40's at night and with plywood for windows it's kind of frivolous to turn on the furnace. But man-if my mom hadn't brought over a space heater and an electric blanket last weekend I may have moved back in with the rents! It's 5:45 and my body is already frozen for the evening so this is going to be a rough one.

The good thing is the windows and doors will be delivered tomorrow!!! Yay! My father-in-law, Doug, and possibly our friend Kevin are going to help Mark put in windows this weekend.

The paint crew is making huge strides and will actually paint the front of the house tomorrow. This weekend I will finish burning the paint off the bedroom windows for the crew to sand and paint next week. Wow! 3 weeks has gone by fast! Once the doors are in place, I'm gonna crank the heat to 110 to make up for all the shivering I've done!

He said "We got 40 pallets for the cabin, how was your weekend?" She said, "Fantastic!"

While I'd love to tell you about my fun weekend with the girls - Pizza Nea, Nye's for Karaoke, Golf, Antiquing in Stillwater, dinner on the Freighthouse Patio - I know you aren't really looking for those details. So while I was playing, Mark took off for the cabin with Paul and Sara. Mark's Dad, Doug, surprised them all with a visit and helped them get the 2nd load of pallets for our eventual Pallet Cabin. Thanks Paul and Doug for helping!

Many of you get a glazed look in your eye's when I mention a "Pallet Cabin" so I'll attach photo's of the Pallet Barn (Scott and Paul's).

They drove into Duluth to loll furniture where they picked up the 40 pallets. Just a couple heavy loads! The pallet size is 5' x 12' so they are not light. And since Mark has been home he is realizing how "not light" they were with a decent amount of kidney pain lately-aghhh, kidney pain.

He said, "I know I have a lot to do here but the pallets are ready." She is thankful for a weekend with out loud noises!

The last 2 days have been wonderful. No more holes, no loud hammers or saws making the dogs anxious, but tonight that ends once again. Paul (Mark's cousin and pretty amazing all around guy) is coming over to help Mark remove the last window, at least in this phase. Then the waiting game for the windows really begins - should be soon. Yay!

This weekend I will have some more quiet time as craziness part 2 begins. This summer Paul came up with an idea to build a Pallet Barn on the Stankey family land south of Duluth. Check out the Pallet Barn at http://hivemodular.terapad.com. It went up really quickly this summer and Paul offered Mark his Pallet connection - loll furniture, so they are going up to Duluth this weekend to get 36 pallets that will eventually be a cabin for us. In our spare time...

On the link you will also be able to view Paul & Sara's and Scott, Krista and Aaron's cabin-you've never seen more beautiful storage containers than what they designed.

Well the noise has begun so I'll keep you posted.

He said, "Do you think we should measure that?"

Wow, First off I have to say that my husband is pretty ambitious. Some may say crazy (some of those being me) but even with the rain this weekend. Mark removed: 1 window in our stairwell, 1 window in the living room, 7 foot section of plaster, 4 foot section of stucco, re framed the opening for the new patio door off the living room, removed the plaster from below the kitchen window (that will be the next and dare I say last window removed) at least for now. Everything has been boarded back up and waiting the arrival of the new windows and doors. My Dad, Paul, and Ben all helped through out the weekend - Thanks guys! And yes-we currently have red carpet, pink counter tops and red /white floral wall paper. Surprisingly, the wall paper I will miss. Did I mention that our oven finally bit the dust this weekend. It's a bummer - vintage 60's, very cool.

He said, "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

If you have never been to a recycling yard-you need to go at least once in your life! It's a whole other world and every time I go I learn something new. Every time-is six times since the renovation began. I'm partial to Re-Alliance Steel in Minneapolis but I know other's who like Scrappy's.

And this is ridiculous to say but ladies if you feel comfortable going - go! Everyone there is much nicer to me than they have been to Mark and my Dad.

Our pile of aluminum in the photos started as the trim on our house. We (Mark did go twice today) hauled 3 truck loads to Re-Alliance that was worth roughly $350. Not bad for a day off-too bad it needs to go back into the renovation...bummer.