A rose no longer grows

Alas, even the phoenix roses could not survive the botched transplant we did. If only we could have found the root ball...

Lest I have not been clear...

...just how backwards our electricity is, here's a shot of our old meter and fuse "box." And yes, the meter was INSIDE the house!

Hm. So maybe that's why we haven't gotten an electric bill yet?

Our Inner Ghetto Just Grows and Grows

The former owners put a new roof on the house...on all of the house but the bump out I love in the dining room.

With all the rain we've been having, we sprang a leak. Luckily, our contractor was on his way over and was able to seal it off for now with a little trusty visqueen. That stuff is my new favorite thing!

More Signs of Progress

This may look like a whole in the wall to you, but to me it looks like a future electrical outlet, where I can plug in my laptop without having to run an extension cord halfway across the living room. Hurray!

Dwarves and Giants Lived Here

Every light switch in the house is at a different height. So when the lights are actually working, you never know where you to reach to turn them on.

Just one more reason I can't wait for the house to be rewired!

Charlie Brown's Engelmann Oak

After nearly two months, the little guy's still standing -- and strong enough to hold not one, but TWO Christmas ornaments.

That's more than can be said for the roses we transplanted...

Oops! A little too big...

We thought our tree would fit in the bump out in the dining room, but it's a tad too tall and I refuse to top it!

Signs of Progress

This is our new electrical panel. It's pretty ugly, but when we redo the siding we plan to hide it in a little box that matches the house. Not sure how much of the ugly tube leading out of it that we'll be able to conceal, though.

As soon as the city signs off on the installation of the panel, our contractor can start rewiring the house. Ceiling lights, anyone? Woo-hoo!

Embracing Our Inner Ghetto

Both our front and back doors have these "security" gates/screen doors that are totally ghetto. We can't take the one off the back door because it's the only door there.

When the cold snap hit, we had to cover it with visqueen so we could turn on our oh-so-lovely heater.

What an improvement!