Our last blog update had us beginning two massive projects: Removing a diseased wall between the bathroom, and utility room, and painting the girls' bedrooms. We were off work and school the entire week before Easter. It took all week and more to get the projects done. (The bathroom is still not finished.) It took into the week after Easter to finish the girls' bedrooms. They are done now. We will post some finished pictures in the next day or two. Above is a picture of Kristin rag-painting her walls.

Lizzy joined right in the project, beginning with her ceiling.

My last bathroom picture showed me chipping tile off of the shower with a hammer and chisel. After several hours, and aching arms, all the tile was finally removed from the cement backing. I thought I could just set the new tile on the old backing, but it had several holes from banging away the tile.

With the diseased wall gone, I cut out the decayed section of floor, and inserted a new section. I had to mark, measure, and cut out slots so the new subfloor could fit around the pipes and drains.

Creating a new wall to go around pipes and drains was not easy. This new wall was made out of 2X6's in order for a new dyer duct to fit in it. I had to cut out the bottom and top parts, to fit around pipes and drains. Then I had to nail the upright boards to the bottom plate. I then slid the wall into place. Next I had to slide the top board on, and fasten it with metal angle irons. It was a tedious complex task to build just one wall. It took most of one day.

With the wall secure, I could place new sheetrock. This is the utility room side, after the sheetrock was put up.

Back inside the shower, I continued to remove the old wall. Removing the cement backing of the tile turned out to be a bigger job than I expected. This stuff was made of cement, and was heavy! The green sheetrock underneath had to be removed as well.

Finally, all the cement backer board, and sheetrock were gone. Now the wall is ready to begin rebuilding.

Katherine's newest project is sewing quilts to take to Italy as gifts.

Here she is cutting out quilt sqares to sew together.

Katherine has been busy sewing three quilts to take to Italy as gifts for Lucia, Andrea, and Nicola. Kanien has been here to help.

These flowers were grown in our yard, picked and artfully arranged by Katherine. They are almost as beautiful as she is.