The Dust Bowl, but with insulation, saw dust, and 100+ year old yuckies

It has been windy here on and off over the last few weeks. The house resembles more of a sieve than a weatherproof home. The wind blows --- the drop cloths over the door ways move in and out like the house is breathing. It is very good for eliminating any sort of stink.

I vacuum ALL-THE-TIME. I use our beloved Sebo and the Shop Vac, but it doesn't really matter. Once a breeze blows again, dust, sawdust, insulation, and general yuckies land everywhere.

Now, at first this made me a bit crazed, but now I just pretend that I am living in a current day Dust Bowl. This appeals to my inner History Major and makes me think that if my grandmother could do it, I can too. (The little voice in the back of my head says, "but for how long??? Didn't some ladies lose it because of the dust in The Dust Bowl???")

We are going through the shrinking stage right now. I have some before and "now" photos to share with you....

 The master bath/laundry room when we moved in and now.....

 We recommend not using this toilet. Privacy is doubtful.

 This was our bedroom when we moved in and now.....

This would also be where this lovely photo was taken a couple of weeks ago.

Look at those blue eyes! 

We also are saving every piece of 100 year old clear grade fir flooring we can get our hands on in the house.  We are saving trim, shingles, and siding. All of it we can't afford to get today and why not reuse it?? It is in good shape. All of this has caused our front porch to be turned into what I call 

"The Lumber Yard."

Soon we will be pulling the fir floors in the kitchen. I am not convinced that they can be saved as right now I think they are gross. Anything that touches them is immediately thrown away or burned. E is particularly annoyed by this because he likes to hide food away for later consumption. (He might be part squirrel.) Ohh, he gets so mad at me when I throw his food away, but really wouldn't you when you look at those floors?

Moose assures me that I just need to sand them and they will be fine. He also told me that this stage of a remodel is like being pregnant. "Everything gets really squished and then pop! You have more room." I don't remember giving birth going quite like that.

A nice surprise was that we found pretty fir tongue and grove sub floors in the master bath. We are going to save them and promote them to actual flooring.

They look all dirty here, but trust me, they will be great!

The chicks have left their fluffy little cute stage to the pullet teenager stage. I need to get them a bigger brooder. Every time we come into the bathroom 1 or 2 of them are perched on the edge of the bin. I am just waiting for them to decide to wander into the rest of the house.