Waiting for Christmas and Santa Clause can be so overwhelming as a child. I remember, I absolutely could not wait for Christmas Day ...but there is always that little piece of you that worries and wonders if you will get what you asked Santa for.....I am definitely felling that way this week.

As you may have read in Empathy Blogs 1-8 we have been dreaming about this for 20 years....and of course expectations are high and we want everything to be perfect. It is however an old house and things come up and we are responding ...and reminding ourselves of that.

Things are chugging along. Some days it feels like virtually nothing has happened. While I am certain this is not the case, I seems as if everything is in slow motion.

The dust is now everywhere. As they have begun to work on some of the overlapping spaces. The original hall bath was demolished last week and we are now traveling to the attic to our new mostly finished attic bath (the one that was taken out of the scope of work to save money and was added back in early in the framing of the attic.) So your choices if you need to wash your hands, go to the bathroom or fetch water are.... up to the attic or down to the basement. Depending on where you are ...it is a minimum of one run of stairs but could be two.

No door, Nothing but a space heater and a construction light the first week.  Heat and Lights added this week. — No door, Nothing but a space heater and a construction light the first week. Heat and Lights added this week.

Even though I know this is not forever, I am feeling agitated with our kitchen pushed into the dining room and the dining room furniture pushed into the living room ...it is challenging to even move around in the space let alone manipulate a vacuum through the obstacle course of chair legs or dust the piles and boxes that surround us with a rag. We have given up on the idea of a Christmas tree...leaving everyone slightly disappointed and a little depressed.

Like everyone, we have a budget and it is not out the window. In an effort to save money, we were not going to do the third floor but we did $$. We decided to recycle the toilet from the original powder room for the attic and the pedestal sink and faucet from the original hall bath for the attic. Turns out the toilet did not work and we had to use the one from the original hall bath and order a new one for the new hall bath$$. Turns out that the faucet is shot and leaking and that we need to get a new one for the attic $$. We purchased new lights for the attic that were budget lights with plans to reinstall the existing hall lights back in the hall bath. Yesterday we arrived home to find that the rather nice hall lights are now installed in the attic. "whatever!" It's fine....I am just ready to be done....so just letting you know that all projects are organic and you have to pick your battles. I am saving my must haves and big asks for the things that matter....not many people will make it to the Attic or Hall Bathroom when they drop by for a glass of wine.

Deliveries are keeping me jazzed and pulling me up when I think I can't take it any more.

The Cabinets for the kitchen were delivered. All the plumbing fixtures are on site.

AND The tile has made it across the sea and is due to arrive at my house on Tuesday.