Okay. So we could get from the old house to the new addition all along, but the two houses always felt separated. No longer.

The roof didn’t fall on my head! I can walk from the present kitchen directly into the addition! Can I use any more exclamation points?!?!??!!!

A week ago we started moving the kitchen furniture around to make room for this project. Moving kitchen furniture took two days.

We put a nailer in the corner (a board to which we can eventually attach wallboard), moved insulation from the future entryway to the corner, and put up plastic so we don’t have to live with insulation dust forever. Or until we wallboard this wall, which might feel like forever.

We took a day off to play with the Grand Boy and feed his parents. He makes us so cheerful!

We removed wallboard.

We removed part of the window framing that wouldn’t make the roof fall down.

Michael rerouted all of the wiring and then we installed wallboard in the half of the old window that will not be part of the walkway.

I removed all the nails, screws and staples from a beam gifted to us by friends when they were rehabbing their house in Minneapolis. Thank you Danica and Zack!!!

Michael devised a system to keep the roof from falling on our heads while we took out the studs and installed the header for the new entryway.

We used the old studs to supplement the beam to create an 11 inch header, which is more than what was needed to support the trusses for the roof. My daddy taught me that over-building is a good thing. Michaels daddy taught me that under-building causes problems. Clyde also taught Michael everything he knows about small engine repair, so it balances out.

We now need to stabilize the edge of the flooring exposed by our efforts. It was rotting from leakage from the window. This is why we will replace all the windows and doors eventually. But today, we celebrate uniting the old house with the new.