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Those who have spoken to us in the last 4-5 years know of Terra's desire to expand our living space.  This comes because of all the houses we have owned our current home is the smallest, and our family is the largest. This difference between number of people (and size of people) to amount of living space is becoming more and more pronounced.  Terra has explored many different options including purchasing a different house, building a house, and adding on to our home. I think Terra would much rather move from this place and not have to deal with the hassle of adding on to it.  However, for one reason or another we have not settled on this course of action.  We are getting older and more and more picky about what we want.  We don't really want what we have, but it is better than what is for sale.  This naturally leads to the *just build what you want, then* philosophy, but alas, that has issues too.  If you have ever explored new construction there are many issues with it.  First, you need to live somewhere while you are building your house.  This is an expensive option unless you can find cheap intermediate housing, but then two moves are required, and what in the world do you do with all of your junk in the meantime?  The second problem is the shear costs of new construction.  New houses are more expensive than existing houses on a $/square foot basis.  This means if you built a house it is more expensive than moving to an existing structure.  The third issue is where do you locate you new sturcture?  We are vey fond of our current piece of dirt and don't really want to relocate to a different piece of dirt. All that being said, we are going to add on to our current house - or at least attempt to.  As we start this process, the very first thing we are going to modify is the kitchen counters.  Terra hates the tile counter tops.  Oddly enough all of our 3 house we have owend have had tile kitchen countertops. Now you may ask yourself if we are intending to expand our living space, why start with the countertops - well Terra is the boss and I have learned not to argue with direction.

Since we are going to change the countertops why not make them bigger, so the wall needs to be moved.  I think this is what is referred to by software engineers as feature creep.  Meaning that while software is being designed, features keep being added until the entire software package becomes expenintaully more difficult to compete than when the project was started.  I think this also applies to remodels. We started by removing the sheetrock on this wall that needs to be moved to expose the headache lurking with the electrical. I have complained many times about the lack of insulation in the interior walls of this house adding to the echo or noise generated within, but in this instance it was actually helpful to not have to deal with the insulation. I have found that the kids were more than willing to help out in the destruction of our existing walls.  I had to put the breaks on them to slow them down and only destroy what needs to be removed.

As expected, the wiring within this wall was plentiful. The plan was to only expose the studs and remove the sheetrock for the night.  I spent two evenings after work taking the wall board off and then debating how to deal with the electrical. Terra wanted all four switches re-located to the wall just behind me in this picture.  She wanted the outlet to remain, but lower it down.  Well since it was fed from the ceiling, lowering it down was going to be difficult.  There was an outlet lower on the table side of this wall, so I was planning to try to back feed it from a different spot. This planning has only proved to be somewhat successful at present.

On the first available Saturday, I unhooked all of the wires from their wire nuts, outlets, and switches, labeling each wire as I went.  Then I put Ethen in the attic and pushed the wires up to him with the instructions to push them back down another hole I drilled in the double boards that made up this wall.  This seemed to work well until half of the wires were too short to reach. We made a quick trip to the hardware store and picked up some junction boxes.  I showed Ethen how to hook them up and had him install them in the attic and push the wires into them.  Then I would push up a new wire and he could join them in the box such that we could hook them up to where they were supposed to go. We had to install 2 junction boxes in the attic due to the amount of short wires.  After Ethen (who drafted Kyle to help) had finished, my job was to re-hook up the switches and everything would work perfectly.

After all of the switches were hooked up, three of the four switches worked, but the remaining one did not function.  Further the entire living room was out of power.  The light, fan, and outlets as well as the back yard porch light all did not function. After the electrical was removed from these outlets, the only remaining wire was one that went between the switch box and the outlet on the bottom of this wall.  I assumed that this wire was to feed the outlet below, but I took a volt meter and measured the potential between the wires zero (they were connected) and both were hot when compared to the ground (120 V). I put a wire nut on both wires (as they were exposed) and determined to spend my next available Saturday fixing the issues.

When the next Saturday came, I spent the entire day in the attic trying to troubleshoot the electrical issues.  During this troubleshooting, I discovered many wrong or broken wires in the boxes in the attic.  I ended up taking all of the wires apart and then reconnecting them where I thought they should go.  This didn't accomplish much - except that the two wires were no longer hot, but they were still connected some how.  And all of the power to the living room is still out.  Perhaps turning the kids loose in the attic to fish and connect wires wasn't the best idea. I am now to the point of not really knowing which wires go where and why.  I know most of them, but there is still the fact that things are not working.

I now need another Saturday to devote to fixing the electrical issues.  I won't have another Saturday for 3-weeks.  So this probably means that I get to do some work in the evenings afterwork.  I don't really mind this solution, but it is not ideal.  I like to have the electricity off to the circuits I am working on, and in the evenings it gets dark soon, so naturally I get to work by flashlight. Aren't remodeling projects fun?

Terra: Well, hello there! I guess Nate needs a filler, so I get to share my opionion on this adventure. : )  From the very first day we moved into our home (it started out as a rental), I spent every day looking on the internet searching all the real estate that was for sale. I believe we have looked at over 100 homes in our little area of Benson/St. David. We have prayed & fasted on what to do, we even placed offers on a few homes. But always felt that our home here was the best choice. We even extensivly looked into bulidng, up to the point, that we had house plans picked out, and a bulider, and all that was left to us was to find the land. However, I am one who can not go against a gut feeling. A prompting if you will.  Each and every time we go down a path that will lead us to a different destination, I always feel strongly, like undeniably strongly that we are to stay put in our home. I have tried everything in my power to ignore that prompting. Seven years worth of ignoring it.  Finally, I gave in and said, "Ok, if we are supposed to be here, let's get to work." I'm not going to lie, this has been such a HUGE decsion and has occupied my thoughts every day for over 7 years. And I still quesiton why? Finally time to move forward. And listen. And DO something.

Now that we knocked down our first wall, I have to tell you I am a bit excited with this endeavor. I have loads to learn and I am ready! To catch you up on our family. We are doing well. Ethen is 14 now, can you believe in a year from now he can get a learners permit?  Pretty crazy, eh?  Kyle has found a love for hunting & outdoors, he loves to go shooting. He got a shotgun for Christmas and loves any chance he gets to be in the great outdoors to use it. He and his best friend, Cougar Jones will be going to a Jack Rabbit camp in March.  In order to attend this, he is taking a hunter saftey course. He has completed the class poriton of it and in February he has a field day. Rachel, got her ears pierced! The older she gets the more she is leaving behind her tom boy ways. She loves to learn and has had straight A's since Kindergarten. This year, She has one of the hardest teachest my children have ever had (Kyle and Ethen both have had her in previous years) and Rachel is doing so well in that class. She brought home her report card and not only does she have stragith A's but she had 3 grades that were over 100%.  I love her brilliance. I over heard her talking to Landen the other evening at bedtime. She was quick to say that she gets all of her "smarts" from her dad. And her love of animlas from her dad's side of the family. She couldn't think of single thing that she inherited from her mother. I just sat and chuckled as I over heard her.

Landen is doing well in shcool. He has a great teacher, Mrs. East. He is learning to write in complete sentences and is making great strides in reading. Janelle, is full of life and energy. She loves to hold my arm and loves to be with me where ever I go. She gets to go to Preshcool on Thrusday's.  However, her favoirte day is Wednesday, our library day. She is now a Sunbeam. I just can't believe it! She is talking up a storm. Dressing herself. And so self suffiecent. Well that about sums up my tid bit of info...now back to Nate.

Here is Ethen & I getting ready to go up in the attic and argue with the electrical.  Ethen is helping out on this project so far, but his enthusiam is wayning.  Too bad for him that we are just begining on this journey.

Here is what the kitchen looks like currenlty.  I keep thinking that I will be done with the electrical and be able to move back on to the structure, but that has not as of yet happened. The plan is to put one big arch arcoss the entire wall and leave the vertical section out.  This will make room for a larger counter area - that will not be tiled. As they say, stay tuned for late breaking news.

After my attic adventures had frusturated me to the point of needing a break, I switched to starting to fill out my taxes. Janelle was kind enough to help me out on this task, and sat down next to me with her stickers.  She loves stickers, but she doesn't like to place them on paper.  She contunially walks around the house looking for someone sitting down and will place the stickers in their hair. I don't know if she really likes the look of stickers in hair, or if she likes the rise this behaviour elicits from her syblings.  They go to hollaring and screaming and she goes to laughing.. Needles to say, she is not only content with trying to get a response out of her syblings, but is happy to spread the fun around.

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