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Day 30 - Final day of renovations this trip!

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 Bonjour! Well, I'm going to just jump right in.  Today I finished demoing the last two walls around the boiler room and cleaned up all misc. wires hanging from the ceilings and electric panel.  With that being said, my portion of work is done for now. As I locked up the doors today, I must admit I got a little emotional. I've given this house my ALL in the almost 5 weeks.  We look forward to the journey as we enter this new chapter in our lives and the many memories to come. What a trip....I traveled here to Oloron Sainte Marie https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oloron-Sainte-Marie with expectations of light rehab and possibly start buying furniture. Anytime I work on a project big or small I try to through in a surprise for Jon.  In this case, I was thinking kitchen cabinetry.  Well, as you read along the way, we opened a can of worms and the demo got a bit (okay A LOT) more in depth than originally planned.  It's been a fun, physically straining, so...
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Day 29

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 Bonjour! Damn I'm HOT! LMAO.... It got up to 89 today.  90 for tomorrow. I will be trying to get a early start tomorrow for sure. Today was a productive day. I finished up moving all of the sand, bitumen and debris left over from the wood floors from the other side of the house today. Between yesterday and today, I shoveled and moved 300+ buckets of sand and such. I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie (the plumber) today.  We did a walk through of the space and my plans for what and where everything is to be roughed in. As usual, I had to ask Jamie where he's from because he's British.  He was last in Manchester but when I mentioned my grandmothers home town, he knew exactly what I was talking about.  He had asked if I've been there and my response was "no,  but want to"!  He had asked because there's not much there he said.  I said how disappointing that was as my grandmother used to tell me all these great stories of where she grew up and lived t...
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Day 28

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Bonjour! Had a bit of a rough morning as I couldn't sleep well thinking of all I have to go home to.  Especially, the work I need to jump into at the church with the chapel renovation. Today, I was able to move the sand from one side of the house outside. I lost count at bucket 57.  There had to have been 30 more buckets.  Once everything was shoveled up I went back and shop vac'd up the little bit of sand and debris in the cracks and crevices.  Six hours later, I was done for the day. Tonight, Mykle yet again outdid himself with a pork fried rice and a cucumber, onion, chile peppers and sushi vinegar salad.  Yummers! I have 6 more full days left here in France and thinking I have 2 full days of work left before leaving the rest to the trades. I'm very much looking forward to a couple of free days before leaving and jumping right into work both physical at the church and J Harper Design  work.  I do know that I want to hit at least one of my favor...
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Day 27

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 Okay, where do I begin?  Honestly..... Today is both Mykle's birthday and  a nation catholic holiday "Assumption Day" https://nationaltoday.com/feast-of-the-assumption/ today. So knowing it's a holiday like a Sunday, there is no work today.  So, keeping this in mind I took a sleep aid last night in every attempt to sleep in.   I woke up naturally and spent the morning working on J Harper Design work.  I finished up some work on a client in the northwest suburbs of Chicago and a client in Mooresville, NC.   Mykle and I headed to Le Clerc to pick up a few groceries and souvenirs before they closed for the holiday hours.  We also swung by the Lindt chocolate factory to pick u a few things to take home as well. Came back home and took a nap. While we were watching a cooking show on tv and Doug was in the kitchen cooking dinner, we heard a weird rumble and felt it at the same time.  WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE, 3.0 hit our area!  Not quit...
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Day 26

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 Bonjour! Had an early morning this morning.  I needed to be at the house by 8 to meet the debris guys for their pick up.  However, our street is a one-way very narrow street and the debris guys need plenty of room to back in their truck.  There is no parking on our side of the street and on the opposite side of our gates to enter the courtyard. People park in those spaces anyways and I can't get deliveries and such if cars are there.  Therefore, Mykle helped me by making signs to put on parked cars, peoples front doors and a barricade with string tied to a post and the other end to our trash bin with signage.  It worked!  LOL I can only imagine the responses that I would get from people in the states.  Here, people almost go out of their way if asked. :) So, I finished removing ALL of the wood floors today.  All but a small area approx. 4'x4' because the boiler is on it. Mykle posted on some of the Expat Facebook sites that I had parquet flo...
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Day 25

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 Bonjour! What a day what a day!  Started off to a late start.  I slept like a baby with the windows wide open (no screens as we don't get bugs here) and a donormyl (sleep aid/hauger). Doug, Mykle and I went into a neighboring town called Bielle https://www.google.com/search?q=bielle+france&sca_esv=556568527&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1066US1066&sxsrf=AB5stBgIcvCxI_Y00QqIUNDK_hJTDWIBNQ%3A1691950249649&ei=qRzZZLfPJtDtkdUP9a2yiAE&ved=2ahUKEwi9jYqcntqAAxXHUaQEHfpXCDMQnZMFegQISBAC&uact=5&oq=bielle+france&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiDWJpZWxsZSBmcmFuY2UyBRAuGIAEMggQABgWGB4YDzIIEAAYFhgeGA8yCBAAGBYYHhgKMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIIEAAYigUYhgMyFBAuGIAEGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEBSOxIUABYwkJwAHgBkAEAmAHHAaABzQmqAQM5LjS4AQPIAQD4AQHCAgcQIxiKBRgnwgIEECMYJ8ICDhAuGIoFGMcBGNEDGJECwgIIEAAYigUYkQLCAgUQABiABMICCxAuGIAEGMcBGNEDwgIHEAAYigUYQ8ICGhAuGIAEGMcBGNEDGJcFGNwEGN4EGOAE2AEB4gMEGAAgQYgGAboGBggBEAEYFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp&si=ACFMAn-pRAQ4u...
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