RenovateKC

I hate it when people make a play on words with my last name, but I couldn't think of a more appropriate title for this post. One of the great things about living within an hour of my entire extended family has it's benefits. Case in point, almost every day that we have spent working on the house has involved us getting a visit, or even a helping hand from one or more of the Freund clan.

Jack and Sarah stopped by last Sunday while loading up on meat from McGonigles. Sarah was jealous with our proximity to that finest of butcher shops. Meanwhile I'm jealous of Jennifer, my sister, since she lives within walking and smelling distance. My dad didn't make it over last Saturday because of my other sister and her chauffeur needs, but on Saturday he and my mom both stopped by to help. Mom made me feel a little guilty yesterday -- she got over to the house two hours before I did, and she had the back yard cleaned up quite a bit with the help of our neighbor lady. Jennifer has stopped by twice, and she's even provided snacks and drinks. She was even there when we witnessed the arrest of "the drunk boyfriend", or so he is nicknamed by the folks on the street. Drunk Boyfriend helped his girlfriend move out yesterday, so woo hoo. More about them in a later post...

Today we were priming, and we got a surprise visit from Grandma and Uncle Tim. They stopped by to see the place, and they ended up feeding us and pitching in for a few hours. A note on the food: Tim, being a Freund, bought twice as much as was necessary. I was not shocked. I probably would have done the same thing. Today's visit did highlight a weakness in our project planning. Sometimes we don't know what to do. The priming finished hours earlier than expected, and then we had two extra people willing to help. We all kept busy, but that was more by chance than by proper planning.

We love having so many guests, and it is icing on the cake when our guests want to roll their sleeves up and spend some time on the house. We only have two concerns: make sure that people never feel obligated to work on the house - it's a mess, and it is a mess that we knowingly signed up for. We also need to make sure that there are things to do for people who do stop by to work.

To our family and friends: We appreciate the support you're giving us, and our doors are always open. Well, at least on the weekend and the evenings when we get a chance to work. If there is anything you want to learn how to do, but you're too afraid to try on your own house, let us know. We're going to be hitting up every major area of home renovation, so you can probably stop by to watch or help us make mistakes before attempting a project at your own house. Thanks for everything you do, you're the best.