An Irish Blessing.

"May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face. And rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand." - Irish Blessing

It's St. Patrick's Day, which holds more meaning for me than the traditional feast of St. Patrick. It's a day I pay homage to my late Grandmother Mary Virgina, who was one of my only grandparents I had the privilege of knowing and who happened to be 100% Irish. She loved celebrating her heritage and always wore a green hat and an angel pin with a shamrock on it to celebrate.

The house has been buzzing with contractors. The HVAC subs are finished with their rough-in and the plumber is scheduled to finish up tomorrow. Next week the electricians will have run of the place to get all of the wire pulled that they need to, switches and outlets placed, etc. By next Friday, our plan is to be 100% ready for insulation. There is still a bit of framing that needs to take place (primarily that arch) on the interior, but nothing that can't be finished in the matter of a day or two. At this rate, drywall will be going up in less than 2 weeks. How amazing!

Susan our architect was out to the house today to discuss the raising of the cantilever I mentioned (at length) yesterday. The verdict was to raise it 8" to give us a nice amount of head room and plenty of room for trim.

The exterior crew put 3 more windows in today.

This small window is now in the new powder room. Where there was a large window on the side of the powder room, it has since been closed up to make ample space for a mirror above the pedestal sink. This new window in a brand new opening is great for letting light in and making the powder room feel a bit bigger than it is, but not at the cost of privacy.

The two windows that were previously here were original to the home's 1940 structure. We simply kept the openings as they were and popped in new windows. The exterior crew also finished taking down about 99% of the siding today leaving us with a glorified big brown box. Yikes.

Remaining for the exterior crew on phase one of their project is 3 more windows and one door. Wonder if they can finish it all up by tomorrow? Looking ahead, our exterior trim and siding materials will be delivered in two weeks (phase two of their project). The last phase of their project will be the new roof which should be perfect timing with the weather warming up. We'll wait until the ground is free and clear (and completely thawed) before building the deck and pouring the new concrete stoop out back. While we wait for that to happen, I'll call my old trusty painters to come paint the exterior and get it looking like a finished project. I have to say, the house is a bit of an eye sore on the block these days:-)

It was a beautiful day in Minneapolis today, a perfect day for a tandem bike ride with the family. Tomorrow Jeff and I celebrate 5 years of marriage and in honor of our special day, I found him this bike trailer for the girls on Craigslist. Should make for some fun family outings this summer.