The story of a Little House

This little old house was the cheapest house for sale in the neighborhood. It was cheap because it was small. It consisted of 4 tiny rooms, each 9 x 9 ft, and a closet-sized bathroom. There was a decent sized side yard full of weeds and knee-high foxtails, and the front side walk was so cracked and damaged by tree roots that the previous owners blocked it off so no one would trip, fall, and sue them. Sounded like the perfect house for us to buy as first time home-buyers. We realized though, as soon as we brought in all our stuff from our apartment, that there was no point in unpacking, because there wasn't any place to put anything. Once a baby was on the way a couple years later, however, we knew we had to do something. So, like most silly young expectant couples, we decided to undertake a complete remodeling project.



That 1975 Green Jelly Bean VW was my first car. I sure do miss her. But believe it our not, we still have that 1986 Mitzubishi Mighty Max truck. Yes, its a "clunker", but we aren't turning over to the Government for $4,500 credit on a replacement truck we can't afford. No way. And anyhow, Mitzi's part of the family.



So here we go. It's August. I am 8 months Pregnant, and Jerome is beginning to demo the house. He got a prybar and and hammer, and tore down the lean-to laundry room out of the back patio. He's feeling pretty good.



Then he rented a jack hammer and starts taking out the concrete. He forgot, however, to read the instruction and safety manual. And he had a little accident that took us off to the Urgent care Center for treatment.



He was really lucky that the bit only bore through his work boot and not through his foot. He only had the slightest injury from it. But his demo days were over after that. Yes, I took pictures of every little thing that happened.



The contractors took over, cleared the yard, ripped out part of the walls,the plumbing was gone, the lights were jerry rigged, and they set up a porta potty out on the front. Imagine having to go out to potty during your last month of pregnancy. I didn't like it one bit.



It was sweltering hot that summer. The only window that opened was the one at the partially demolished wall. I used to sit there with my three Poodles, Pippi, Sheba, and Conrad, just wishing for a breeze, while the guys worked all around the place.



My last night in the ripped up construction site was September 11th. We had to move out because the 4 old rooms were going to get completely torn apart and redone with new walls, floor, electrical, and windows. We moved everything into a storage unit, and all we had left in there was a futon mattress and a little TV set. I went into labor while watching "Dinosaurs" (a weekly sitcom about dinosaur family drama)Went to the hospital, had the baby, and then we three and the Poodles moved in with Grandma and Grandpa until the house was done. Here we are, checking on the progress,with Jerome's parents, a couple days after the baby was born.



The house was done and we moved back in the week before Thanksgiving. I wanted a safety fence to keep my child and my Poodles from running out into the street. So, the last thing we did was to install the fence, and replace the damaged sidewalk. All done. Hurray!



Within our fenced yard, we had a vegetable garden, a little blow-up swimming pool in the summertime, Poodle puppies running around, and treasure hunts. The fence kept the son in, but Conrad always found a way to escape.

We increased our square footage from 650 to 1200, added a real living room, master bedroom, and bathroom. Later we re-did the kitchen cabinets, after they fell off the wall and crashed into the floor one Sunday morning. There is still much to do, and we've packed this space to capacity (and we still have the storage unit!).

This little House, built in 1925, has seen alot of people come and go over the decades. There's been alot of skunks under the house, we've had burst water pipes, water damage, one calamity after another. But its still standing. And so are we.