Things are progressing

 So today I wrote a Very Large Check (for me) and handed it off to the business manager of the contracting company (actually the wife of the owner). It's a down payment so they can buy the materials.

And Martìn and his even-quieter colleague came by for a while, they did some measuring and also ran a special magnet-on-wheels around everywhere to get up the nails they pulled out from the old siding (yesterday, when I went out to see what they'd done, Martìn saw I was in sandals and said "watch out, there are nails")

Later, the carpenter guy came by and they all walked all around the house and I heard them banging on stuff and trying to pull siding off. So I'm guessing the work starts in earnest tomorrow.

Martìn also came in yesterday and asked to look closely at one of the windows. I had him look at the ones in the guest room - currently the most accessible - and he opened it up, and tilted it (they tilt for cleaning) and looked it all over, and said "Yeah, we probably won't have to do the whole elaborate taking-out thing Normal recommended; I think if I have to remove the windows to shore them up I can just unscrew the fasteners holding them in to the frame and take only the window out" and I implored him to convince the head guy of that if he could because it would be SO much easier (the original plan was: pry off the interior trim, pull the windows out, CUT INTO THE WALL and replace some of the studs, and then put the windows back, which then requires new drywall AND PAINTING and in the rooms with wallpaper - well, I don't have any scrap wallpaper, so I had planned on either just painting a coordinating color around the windows (which would look goony) or finding a coordinating "border" wallpaper that I could just apply around the windows (which would be more work but probably look better) but if Martìn is right, I don't have to worry about that - and probably don't have to do such extensive moving and packing away of stuff. I've already done a lot of it but I won't mind at all having done that (anyway, it allowed me to do some more deep cleaning). In fact, he said "some of the windows we may not even have to take out to re-do the sills and trim" - he described a way he does it, it's very similar to the house one door north and their window trim looks good, and he said he'd paint it any color I wanted. (I want a sage green; that's kind of what the original color of the metal trim was). The house itself will be white, the roof is black, so I think that's a good color scheme. 

I feel a little more hopeful about this. Also the business manager as much as said "this is the only job this team will work until it's done" and I know some construction places here have guys who work like two days and disappear for a week, and that was actually one thing that made me drag my feet on having all this done - I know someone here who was without a kitchen for nine full months because the guy she hired kept haring off to do other jobs. 

At any rate: when fall and winter come, it will be nice to have a house without mystery holes under the siding. Martìn found where the mice were getting in, and I explained that that had to be where they were entering, and he was like "yeah we will be blocking that off so you won't have to worry any more" 

So it seems like a really good company, even if I am basically spending all my savings (and then some) on the renovation. If I clear out all the savings I have, and if the price doesn't go up, I will only be about 8-10 thousand dollars below the estimate, and they're giving me six months to pay it off in full - I figure if I can live VERY frugally for a bit, and send off $1000 out of each paycheck, and then when January rolls around, take my RMDs from the IRAs my dad left me, and I can pay it off. And my mom might be willing to give me a small loan, with longer terms for me to pay it back. 

No mention was made of "oh it's going to run over" and I know Martìn sent photos of everything to the head guy, so I am hopeful it doesn't. 

But anyway: thinking about a winter in a snug house where everything is tight and the main mouse portal has been sealed off is going to keep me going through this.