With the recent economy, Daddy has been doing more renovation work and less new construction. Steadier income, less risk. One of his projects is for an extended family member, renovating a house that hasn't been updated in decades.
The few times we've been over there either to visit or to help Daddy, Connor refers to it, quite appropriately at the moment, as "the dirty house."
It's a sprawling 1970s ranch that was built with too many rooms and not enough open spaces. So some walls are coming down, some doorways are being reconfigured and the whole thing is getting a major facelift - wallpaper removal, paneling removal, drywall installation and repair, new paint, new flooring and updated bathrooms, and some other cosmetic fixes.
Right now, the inside is in pieces. And like any house under construction, it's dirty.
But all in all, it's a nice house. Solid construction, all brick, with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, and an attached two-car garage. It has a big, professionally built sunroom and a concrete patio off the back that opens to a large, fenced yard with big shade trees.
It's in a good neighborhood full of similar houses, with good schools very close by (and actually zoned for that neighborhood) and a big city park within walking or strolling distance. It has possibilities. Maybe even for our family one day.
But, for now, it's simply "the dirty house," as Connor calls it.
Hopefully he will reconsider the name when Daddy is finished with the remodel project, especially if we do decide to move in there one day. Can you just hear him telling his friends to come over and play at the dirty house? Because I can. And I can also picture his friends' little faces at such a request.
