So, how's the house?

We are getting that question alot from friends and family. The short answer is that we love it. The long answer is that it was a short sale that was left vacant for a long time and there is a LOT of work to do. The good news is that things are cleaning up nicely. Turns out that dirt is actually a wonderful preservative and there's a beautiful house underneath all of this crap. I'm kicking myself for not taking before pictures of everything but think of this before picture of the pool as symbolic of the general state of neglect of the rest of the house. Yummy, isn't it?

I'd like to think of this after picture of the pool as a symbol of hope for the rest of the house. This picture was taken during a rain storm so it's actually much clearer now. I was looking out the window this morning and wondered what I was seeing on the bottom of the pool. It was the drain! Hadn't seen that before today. The kids were a little disappointed that there wasn't a gator in there afterall...

For our west coast family and friends, here's a new vocabulary word for you. The screened enclosure around the pool (to keep the bugs and critters out) is called a 'lanai.' New one for me.

Stay tuned. I'm going to try to post about each room in the house as they come together so you can see them if you are interested. It might give me some motivation to get going again too!