I left some comments on Saturday evening but in case you didn’t see them, we decided on a roofing company…so my hubby said it was time to bring down the chimney! We are doing it because the chimney used to be used for the (coal furnace probably) back when the house was built. My hubby is running the gas hot water heater through that area now, but the pipes won’t extend that tall… All the brickwork starts down in the basement and up 6 feet past the shingles… Let me tell you it was a LOT of work. We had Kristoffer’s help but they worked on it from 10:00 Saturday morning till 8:30 that night… they were tired puppies…
We are without hot water until the new pipes go in… I’m not sure when that will happen… (probably when my hubby recovers from being so sore!) In the meantime I am heating water in the microwave to do my dishes… and Rebecca got the last lukewarm shower today… :o)
I’m not sure of all the particulars… I was just the helper and runner on Saturday when they needed something on the ground and they were on the roof… We now have a square (hole) about 27 x 20 in the roof but it’s sealed shut with a piece of wood and silicone for now… it will be finished off neatly when the roofers get their hands on it. I’ll just show you some pictures for now…
Here is a clear picture of the chimney before…when we first bought the house…
…and one last picture Saturday morning…as it was being demolished… Joy, they did build a sort of chute for the bricks to slide down on… but they were all covered with mortar so a lot of the time they just got stuck half way down… but it was better than carrying them all the way down that ladder each time…
Kristoffer was on top by the chimney knocking the bricks out and sliding them to my hubby who was on the porch roof, gathering them and putting them in buckets… when he got all the buckets filled, Kristoffer came down and they both worked on getting them off the roof and dumped them on the concrete over by the courtyard…
This is what it looks like up in the attic… a big hole (not now) from where all the bricks and tile went through the roof… They removed all the bricks that were from that hole in the roof down to the floor in the attic… they did have to cut some of the drywall out from the attic. My hubby found a glass paned window up in the attic and they laid it on part of the hole because the wind was blowing all that fine dust in their faces…
This was going down the stairs… I was in charge of sweeping that up and getting it outside…
What comes next? I’m not sure, but my hubby has it all figured out… so I’ll just wait for my assignments! :o)
That was the first big thing that happened this weekend…
The second thing was I GOT ISABELLE’S DRESS LISTED ON EBAY! Can you believe it? I was pretty busy Saturday doing things to help my guys but every few minutes I could sneak in some computer time, I was working on getting Isabelle’s dress ready to be listed on Ebay.
Sebastian sent me the pictures where he turned the dress from aqua to mint and my job was to sort all of his pictures and all of my 300+ pictures into some kind of order so I could make a reasonable presentation on Ebay! I hope I succeeded! If you see a minty picture, it’s probably Sebastian’s and if you see those aqua shots, guess who took them? :o)
A few of you asked what Sebastian did to make the color seem more minty instead of aqua… I’m not technical like he is, but he did say it was a challenge he hadn’t faced before… it had something to do with the settings on phones and digital cameras today and the skin tones used most often… He brought a little gray and white set of cards with him and used them to get his camera to think the gray was more white or something like that…I took a picture of what “he” was taking a picture of… once he got the color set on his camera, he took the card away…
The night before Sebastian came back the second time, I decided to get out my light tent (that one of my sweet ladies sent me!) and try pictures in it… it was the ONLY thing I hadn’t tried… Here is Isabelle looking pretty sweet in these pictures… I’m going to try this again when I don’t have a “problem” fabric…
So… I did get the dress listed with some of mine and some of Sebastian’s pictures and you can see it by clicking the picture at the top right side bar or you can click HERE.
I did end up using one of my “aqua” pictures for my gallery picture on Ebay because it was clear and showed the hat and jacket pretty well… and Isabelle looked pretty cute in it too!
Well, those were my 2 great things that happened… hope you had a great weekend too!
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow, what a Huge job your guys tackled this weekend! I hope they are able to get the water heater working again really soon–lukewarm showers aren’t much fun (unless it’s about 105° outside! LOL), and cold ones are worse! And it’s tedious to heat water in the microwave (or on top of the stove)–I remember my mom and aunt doing that (stove top–no microwaves then) when we went to my aunt’s cabin, which didn’t have indoor plumbing!
Isabelle looks lovely in her outfit, and I think you explained the dilemma very well in your auction post.
By the way, for those of you who asked questions about my dolls from the previous post, I did answer them, and you will find my answers after your posts. Thank you all, for your nice comments about my dolls!
HI Charlotte,
Rebecca just commented that it was like Little House on the Prairie around here… she had to heat up 2 big pans to get some hot water for a bath… we have all be laughing about it…
My hubby and I are working on fixing that hole up in the roof… want to get that sealed up before any rains come our way…
Thank you for your pictures Charlotte… I’ll use them soon…
Blessings, Jeanne
Jeanne, while reading the first half of your blog today, who would know it was a doll blog? LOL I’m sure you never dreamed it would be an illustration on how to take a chimney down! But my goodness, what a job, and who better to handle it than George and Kristoffer? I swear, you three, plus Rebecca should have your own HGTV show!
I did see that you got the dress listed, and I think you communicated very well the dilemna you had in getting the color right. Who ever is lucky enough to get this dress won’t be surprised at the color, for sure, when she opens it up!
We don’t appreciate things like hot water until we don’t have it, right? Good luck with “toughing it out” until you get the hot water heater hooked up!
HI Linda,
I never envisioned I’d be writing about this kind of stuff either… I’d rather be sewing! ;o)
I was never so happy to get a doll dress listed in all my life… I think it turned out okay using both sets of pictures… and I hope the winner loves it when they see if for the first time!
My hubby is working like crazy to get things ready… mostly for rain…I’ve been to Lowe’s to pick up some things he needed so he could stay here and continue working…
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
All topics today are so interesting. Can’t wait to see what the used brick is made into. A garden walk, veggie bed edging, maybe something for the owls, around their coop, sunken planter bases for easier mowing without having to move the pots?
Isabelle looks very pleased with her outfit, I love how there is enough yellow in the fabric to pick up the golden glints in her eyes. I have some brown and greenish eyed dolls and that can really affect trim choices, just like our own accessories.
BTW where was Rebecca in this family fun time?
Hi Dorothy,
As much work as it was getting those bricks down, my hubby might just want to throw them in our neighbors hole he said we could fill up… they aren’t pretty bricks and are covered with mortar… but they are piled up on a patio area by our courtyard right now…
Thank you for liking Isabelle’s pictures… I tried hard and so did Sebastian…
Rebecca was at work so she got the day off… :o)
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I can certainly see why the guys were tired! After carrying buckets of bricks down that ladder, wow what a job. Now the new roof appears to be a reality. I would love to see the pile of bricks. Will you be knocking off the mortar to reuse the bricks? Another job, but the bricks are so useful. When you first mentioned taking the chimney down to just under the roofline, I wondered why not go farther? Well they did and what a great job. Looks like your vacuum will need a new filter though. That fine dust is awful. Guess you’ll be visiting your son’s place to take showers until the new gas vent pipe is installed. Does your dishwasher have a heating element? If so, why not do the dishes there? Would definitely be better than microwave water heating I think. But then, you are probably already doing that.
Every time I see photos of your house, I have to blink. It is just the most adorable place. Like a fairytale. You are so lucky to have it.
Glad you have Isabelle’s dress listed. It will definitely be a huge draw. I’ve probably forgotten to mention how lovely the embroidery is on the jacket with all of the back and forth about the color. Well, it is beautiful and brings out of the colors in the dress fabric. Job well done.
HI Joy,
I took some pictures of the bricks and will try to remember and show them tomorrow. I don’t think we are that ambitious to knock off the mortar and reuse them, but maybe…
We were trying to think of where we can go to shower… right now it’s heating up water for spit baths but the idea of washing my hair in cold water doesn’t seem too exciting…
Unfortunately our dishwasher is connected into our hot water heater so no help there…
We fell in love with it the day we first saw it, but as we’ve lived here, we’ve discovered SO many issues with it… but like we said from the very beginning, “it will NEVER be perfect!’ and so we carry on with whatever comes our way…
I am VERY glad to have Isabelle’s dress done and listed… I enjoyed very much making the dress but the picture taking got old and sort of bummed me out when I thought I had made this adorable little mint green dress and no one was ever going to get to see the real color of it… Oh well, it’s on Ebay and there has been lots of interest… 245 hits so far, but I guess this might be one of those late bidding dresses…
Thanks for your kind compliments on it..
Blessings, Jeanne
Maybe you’ll have to rent a motel room for a night or two, so everyone can get showers/wash hair. Or perhaps one of your friends will offer the use of their shower….
I remember when I was a little girl, our bathroom sink (where I washed my hair because I couldn’t reach the kitchen sink) had separate hot and cold taps, so mom would have to put water in a pitcher, mixing hot and cold until she got a good temperature, and then pour it over my hair. Not very convenient! No, we didn’t have a shower–just a nice big, deep, claw-foot bathtub!
My goodness, what a huge project! The pictures you shown us makes it clearer as to what had to be done. I’m sure it will be a relief to be completed. Good method getting those bricks down too. Hope you won’t be out of hot water for too long. That can’t be fun working without the use of hot water for daily use. However, I get the situation. It will be worth it when all is completed.
Thank you Charlotte, Joy and Linda for your comments on Charlotte’s doll names and Joy and Linda’s “Betsy information. “ Charlotte, thank you for sharing how your girls got their names. Very nice and touching stories.
Joy, I’ve never heard of Barbara, Dru and Jimmy. Who were they? I recall Sandy, the boy cousin and little Linda, who was Sandy’s younger sister. Thank you.
Jeanne, Isabelle’s whole minty set is adorable from hat to her stockings! Love the darling hat. I’m sure everyone will understand you explanation on the true color.
Hi Paula,
Yes, this was a huge project and it’s far from finished… we are working on fixing the hole in the roof now before it rains… A nice hot shower will be a wonderful reward to this job! :o)
I had never heard of Dru and Jimmy either…but knew of the other dolls… my what we learn on here!
Thanks for your kind words on Isabelle’s new minty set… I hope whoever buys it LOVES the color it is!
Thanks Paula,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a difference in coloring. That’s amazing how Sabastian changed the hues. I’ve been frustrated myself when my colors come out wrong. I’ve used different backgrounds, gone from room to room, and cried. If YOU have trouble I shouldn’t feel so bad. Anyway, I love how this outfit turned out. It’s so pretty.
Thanks Debi,
This set certainly has to go down as my most troublesome set to photograph… my goodness when you have to call in the “big guns” to get a few pictures, something is wrong… I’m just glad I was able to get it listed and show approximately what color it is…
Thanks so much!
Blessings, Jeanne
Wow, what a project taking that chimney down. I’m also curious how the old bricks will be used. The old ones are so interesting .
That is great that you finally were able to get Isabelle’s dress listed and have the color show up as true to what it is. It is such a lovely spring outfit. Well, got get the groceries sanitized and put away.
HI Laura,
Right now the bricks are just piled up in a heap out by the courtyard… I don’t dare ask my hubby if we can do something with them… eep!
I was never so happy to get a set listed on Ebay as I was with this one… I loved how it looked and it sort of spoiled it for me when I wasn’t able to capture just how sweet it really looks in person! Oh well, the winner of it will know soon enough… and I can’t wait to ask them what they thought when they first opened the box! ;o)
Thanks Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne
We had a new roof put on a couple summers ago. Luckily we didn’t have to do any prep. They did an excellent job of taking all the debris away. There was a lot of thumping and banging but not too bad. Rico adjusted quickly and didn’t jump up to bark at every thud.
Laura, how do you sanitize groceries? Is this a covid precaution or something you’ve always done?
HI Julia,
The guy told us there will be at least 4 guys up on our roof, nailing, hammering, banging and more and it would be loud! He said to take valuable things down off the walls too… I just hope our windows don’t crack… yikes!
Reuben is petrified of storms… well, mostly the thunder… we’ll have to put him my hubby’s office and turn up the music for him…
I think Laura’s sanitizing her groceries is a covid thing, but I’ll let her tell you…
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, wow, the chimney is finally gone. That did seem like a ton of work. I hope that you were paid double time for working on the weekend (laugh).
The dress looks very nice. Sebastian definitely fixed the problem.
I thought that you and the Sofa Sisters would like to know that I “met” Kaye Wiggs! Well, not in person but on Zoom. A UFDC doll club had a meeting and she attended, all the way from Australia. I don’t have any of her dolls but I think they are pretty.
If anyone is interested in the club, let me know and I can put you in touch with the president. I am guessing that the club will continue to meet via Zoom because it has members from all over the country. It’s a club centered on BJDs.
Hi Dorothy,
The only one who got paid was Kristoffer… my hubby was SO grateful for his help… :o)
I saw Kaye on a video one time doing a drawing for a doll…live! I might have you put my name in but I can’t right now… too busy zooming myslef!! (to Lowe’s and True Value!)
Thanks Dorothy,
Blessings, Jeanne
I had my roof done about 3 years ago now. It was a relatively simple job, as roofs go, lol. They finished in 2 days but it was only long iron and no chimney on the roof to remove, that had been taken down after the earthquake, the rest of the brick goes down the outside of the house. It was compromised in the earthquake as well so can’t be used but we had a flue put in so I can use the wood burner if I have to. After the Feb quake my friend had no power (or water or sewerage) for 3 months. Her husband got a generator but it wasn’t a very big one and provided only a limited amount of power. She was going to friends for showers!
Laura, we were told to sanitise our groceries during our lockdown. I did it once I think. It’s bad enough having to put them away without messing around as well, however I situation is quite different to yours and I probably would have stuck at it if we had had more community cases here.
I checked out Isabelle’s dress on e bay, the listing looks lovely. I, too, think the embroidery on the jacket is lovely, echoes the pattern on the dress exactly.
HI Anne,
They told us it would take 2 days for sure to do our roof… I hope there are NO surprises that we hadn’t known about… under the shingles… We picked a color called Pewter Gray… instead of just going with black like we already had… I hope we like the new color… It should look nice and fresh, but it’s hard to pick a color from a 2″ swatch!
Thanks for your nice compliments on Isabelle’s dress. I’m glad you liked my listing…
Blessings, Jeanne
You might consider wearing a mask for that cleanup, but only if it doesn’t obscure your vision when you are looking down, The fine dust is not good for your lungs. I would not advise a mask for anyone on a ladder or roof.
I remember my father standing on top of a stepladder. unsupported, while he worked on something above his head — great balance and lots of experience also keep people safe..
That light box really worked, didn’t it? It gives you one more way to add variety to your pictures. No troublesome shadows either. I don’t know if it’s big enough to hold some of your props, but to focus only on the outfit it really works. I think the outdoor photos are my favorites, but not my only favorites. The Scenes and Settings books are not ideal for reflections, but they do provide interesting backgrounds.
I combined Samantha’s house from the front of her Scenes and Settings with a fabric panel for the setting for my tea party. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to put that stuff on the front in large print? I found a way to cover it up creating a flower bed ‘wall” using some flowered fabric I had but I still had Samantha’s head in the picture. I just pretended it was a little girl looking over the wall of flowers at the tea party. Imagination is everything.
Hi Marilyn
Well, a mask might have been nice to keep the dust out of our face, but we were up on scaffolding in the attic on the stairway and had to be very careful where we stepped… so we needed to see clearly where we were.
The fine dust was mostly on Saturday when the bricks were crumbling and the mortar disentegring… today it was sawdust and silicone caulk that were our enemies…then up on the roof we used some Flex Seal…we had to coat the board in case of rain till the roof gets put on.
I did like the looks of the light tent and will use it again…it was the first time I really liked the results… I will use a pretty fabric for it…anything but minty green!!!
Thanks Marilyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
I did a little weed eating today and some spraying trying to get started on tidying up around the yard a bit. I didn’t stay out too long because it was actually my first time out in awhile and I hadn’t been doing much physical labor recently. I can’t believe how sore I am and how wiped out I was until I took a nap. I can’t even relate to the physical labor that has been going on around your house. Sending much empathy your way.
I’m sure you’re over the moon at getting Isabelle’s dress listed. I know it will do well. It is such a lovely ensemble, no matter what color. At least there is a comparison now.
I think I’d take the neighbor up on using your used bricks to fill his hole. I watch my guys dismantling old A/C units for recycling and it’s a lot of work but there is at least some reward in making some from the recycling. You wouldn’t even have that to look forward to. Yours would just go into the construction refuse bin and you don’t make money doing that.
Easter Tea Party pictures should be arriving shortly to use when you see fit.