Amish jealousy

If we were all Amish, the entire house would be finished already.

Case in point:

Yesterday, our roof looked like this:


Today, our roof looks like this:


Did I mention they only started working at 2 pm yesterday? All of the work was done by three "Amish youth" as Justin referred to them - they were all younger than us. While they were working, it sounded from the inside of the house as if they were running on the roof, that's how quickly they work. When you watched them from the outside, the reality wasn't much slower!

Once the old roof was off, they let Justin climb their ladders and dump our many bags of kitchen insulation back through the opening. We'd figured this was a smarter way to work (as opposed to fighting gravity and trying to put it back up before the drywall project was completed). He called this morning to let me know it was complete - at 7:45 AM. The Amish youth do not mess around.

With my Amish-helping fiance already asleep for the evening (it's 8 pm), I spent time on the front porch cleaning up the shingle dust and arranging the furniture (the last of which we picked up this evening). It's still in need of a few minor projects, but it's really coming together and I've immensely enjoyed sitting out here and eating dinner, chatting with neighbors, and working on the blog. I'm counting down the days (52!) until this will really be my house, too, and I can come out in the morning with coffee. A basement apartment doesn't offer such amenities, but I sure am thankful that I found the space!

With all the work that went on, I felt like I witnessed a little part of a barn raising. We might not be as fast, but slowly but surely we're turning the house around - and I'm enjoying [almost] every minute! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned!