Only a week in and it is already a blur... but these are my top 10 most memorable phrases from our first week as home owners:

1. From Jude, upon hearing which house we bought, “Mom, don’t make me go downstairs until you clean it and de-stink it, ok?”

2. From the two teenagers who came to our house opening who are “in the know” about our neighborhood, “Did you think about that this house was really close to all the college kids? “I think your neighbors might sell crack.”

3. From my friend Akos, after 4 hours of painfully and faithfully pealing wallpaper glue off of the ceiling, in a beautiful broken Hungarian accent, “Whoever is the man who thought to wallpaper this ceiling - I do not congratulate him today.” I could not have said it better myself.


4.Over the phone, from me, after leaving my crazy perfectly-good-wood-striping father for only one hour unsupervised, “Dad,
where is my bedroom door?” He missed the memo that we are trying to renovate a 5,000 sq ft. house in 5 weeks, and was just “playing around with it in his garage.” And then my mother, after being told that there were things more helpful for her to be doing than dividing spring bulbs from the yard, “If he can take your door - I should be able to take your flowers.” Really - without them this wouldn’t be possible - but come on guys - let’s focus. My second least favorite saying from my father is, “See this? We have to fix this.”

(My two perfectionist heros and their 3 day window project)

5. Jarod, over a lunch break, while staring at our perfectly good bathroom ceiling, “Why do you think they put in this drop ceiling?” Apply pressure. “opps.” “Oh, that was why.” As he stares at a peeling plaster ceiling cracked and crawling with mold.



6. Jarod, over a lunch break while staring at a perfectly good wall, “Well, we might as well take off that paneling to do the plumbing.” My dad, with folded hands, “Yeah, just take down that wall.” (Are you starting to see the pattern?)



7. Jarod, when I still hadn’t recovered from the wall and ceiling, “Well, while the wall was down I just thought I’d rewire this whole area.”


8. From Ernie, our general contractor friend who generously came in at 9 p.m. yesterday - after I had worked 11 hours - to give us some much needed advice, “Really, you can’t work with this bathtub.” “Really, you can’t take this bathtub out.” It didn’t seem like we had a lot of options. Because we don’t. And because I was very tired. He also let me know, "Oh see that discoloration as you scrape? That means it is lead paint." Good to know - after I have scrapped it for 9 hours.

9. Carl (one of the men who lives with my parents), in a whisper, after obsessively sweeping our floors for 5 hours, “Well, Amanda, what do you think of this nice little house you bought?” I look up from my wall wiping and after a long pause he says, “It’s not a very little house is it?” If Carl gets it - you know it’s true. Conversely, after BJ helped move all of our earthly possessions into one corner of our garage said, “You guys really don’t have much, huh?” Nope.

10. From EVERYONE who walks through the beautiful wooden front door, “It has such potential.” Clear translation: “Wow, what a lot of work.” And thankfully, “We support you a 110%.”

I can’t begin to thank everyone... and the list will just grow. Wether you were at our house the first night to bless it, or if you have been there every day since doing the dirty work, or watching our children, or just being a phone call away for me to say, “this wallpaper is coming off in fingernail size pieces.” We are thankful for you and your prayers.