WE HAVE HEAT!!!!!

So, about 4 months ago I took out my wood stove to put in a newer one. In the process, I realized that the brick pad was all chipped and messed up. So A brother in the congregation mentioned if I wanted to put in a hearth, he'd help me. So we put the bottom part down because we need to put the flooring in around it, and then it sat like that for about ... 4 months.

This was all find and dandy until about a week ago... when it decided to get incredibly, arctic freezing cold! Then it became a pretty big priority... (this is pretty big seeing that I still don't have a bathroom). So, the brother came and we put the wood stove in. It look incredible!!!

Here is a picture of what the living room looked like before I moved in.

Here is almost the same angle after I finished up the hearth. I think Pyper make it complete. That's his spot since it is almost ALWAYS warm right there.

BUT, along the way in doing home improvements and things like, you learn some valuable lessons. One, your hand will completely dry out and then the top layer of the skin on your hands will flake off as if you have leprosy or something for the next week. But, the main one I learned in this project, is that mason's mortar is highly abrasive. If it is your job to come behind the brick setter and lean up the brick and fill in the gaps and sponge clean it, DO NOT USE YOUR BARE HANDS. It is the equivalent to rubbing your hands, specifically your fingertips with sandpaper ALL DAY LONG. it WILL leave you with no skin left on your fingertips. Which makes typing all of this in your blog EXTREMELY painful and take super long to type with just your thumbs and pinky fingers.
Thank goodness for my good friend here Mr. Strong. These are my very special band aids that I use that make me feel better when I have little owww-ies such as this.

Good memories always work to heal.