But the Fire is so Delightful...

So, progress on the new house is coming along...slowly, but surely. Over the past few months we have torn out all the flooring, scraped "popcorn" ceilings, ripped out cabinets, rewired some electrical work, pulled off wood paneling and baseboards, taken down wood beams, destroyed a bookshelf, stripped wallpaper, worked on plumbing, updated appliances, and replaced some locks/doors.

After our first blizzard together (and no heat) we decided we needed a fireplace...just in case. Not knowing whether the fireplace insert we had was safe to use, we had a good neighbor come over and help pull the insert out of the wall. Ironically enough, there was a large arch sculpted in the brick behind the box that had been cut out into in order to fit the insert. We pulled out each of the 300+ bricks out of the existing hearth and saved them for later use. After an old friend came over and fixed our brickwork, we decided to start looking for fireplace ideas.

After much thought and planning, we both fell in love with the idea of a stacked stone fireplace with an oversized wooden mantel. This is our inspiration:

With the exception of the white woodwork, we have mimicked this fireplace in our idea book. While stone-searching, we came across a beautiful color called "alderwood" and placed the order this last Saturday. To celebrate one of our first final decisions together, we grabbed some yummy chocolate donuts and headed over to our weekend stopping place...Lowe's.

After much pacing and picking out what we needed, we hauled two sheets of plywood, 8 concrete cinder blocks, 600lbs. of concrete mix, a mailbox, and some nails and bits. Then, we managed to pull out an old metal mailbox and dig a 25"x25"x14" square hole for a concrete base to our new mailbox. (I use the word "we" loosely...mainly, my Mr. Handyman did all the heavy-work while I took pictures and watched the puppies.) A friend of his is going to make us a matching mailbox with all of the great bricks we saved in the process of taking out the hearth.

As for Sunday, we woke up first thing and headed off to church. There was a wonderful sermon on Margin and making a lifestyle change with our spiritual mentality and finances. Wow.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at our local IHOP and made use of my coupon-clipping skills. Then, straight to the house to get to work. I started on my studies while Mr. I'llgetrightonthat changed and started measuring the existing fireplace. He cut the plywood to size and started to drill into the concrete. No go. He spent a good hour trying to make the basic drill and bit he had work. Finally, we asked a neighbor for a hammer drill. Oh my goodness! It took seconds (literally) to drill a hole. A little while later, all 15holes were drilled into the wood and brick for the lefthand side.

After I finished my classwork, I attempted to lend a helping hand on the fireplace work. As hard as I tried, I didn't feel I served as much help. Shortly afterwards, I fell asleep on the nearby couch.

Hours later, I awoke to Mr. I'msohungryIcouldeatahorse asking me to get up and around so we could get dinner. We met my parents at the pizza place and went back to their house for our weekend excitement with the fam. Before we knew it, time had passed and I was aware of the need to wake up at 6:30am the next morning for work. Bum deal.

Yet again, a weekend flew by.

BUT, this time next week...we'll be finishing up with a brand new fireplace to cuddle up to for our anniversary.