DONE!

We started with this on March 6th, and had months of work ahead of us because of the glitch that put our house in "vacant building" status. We ran to city hall in the snow, proved we can rehab the place well beyond what most people choose to do on their own (tempered glass at the top of the stairs. . . really? Add an outlet 2 feet from an existing one. . . seriously?) and humored the overpaid, overnourished municipal employees by complying with their demands, one by one. This was hanging over our heads daily since the very beginning and we spent every available moment saving for work, doing work, planning work, or recovering from work on the house. Although there are many mysteries left unsolved, such as: How many paintbrushes have we gone through? How did I keep from maiming the Building Code Officer when he gave me an attitude and told me we've been living "illegally" in our own home? Why were there so many trees growing from underneath the house (which, naturally, we had remove)? What do you have to cook to form a layer of grease on everything within 20 feet of the kitchen? Who would ever hire Ryan's Plumbing? Yes, these mysteries may remain, but do we need the answers? Not really. Our house meets all city code, ridiculous or not. And that's just fine with us.