Merry Christmas from Emmaville!

We hope this finds you all well, warm and surrounded by family and friends this holiday season.  Melinda and I are taking a break from renovations to spend time with Adam and Hannah, who are home on their winter breaks.  Both have brought home the latest viruses from their respective campuses, so we're going through quite a bit of Theraflu and Kleenex this week.

Much has gotten done at the store over the past few weeks. The heating system and new doors and windows are in - it's nice and toasty inside now.  The floor is done and we bought shelving, which will be set up next week. Our grocery stock will arrive on Jan. 6th. 

We got our liquour license in the mail last week, which is good for 2011.  Our liability insurance and the license will only allow us to sell 3.2 beer for now, but we hope that will be a good start.  Mike is nearly done refinishing the old bar- it's going to look great! 

We've been putting Adam's two Masters degrees in English to good use this week - unloading a huge freezer for the kitchen and figuring out how to put together the shelving.  Once Hannah is feeling better, she's going to be working on our new logo and other graphics.  Nothing like free labor from your kids to make you appreciate having family around for the holidays.

Stay tuned for some new pics of the renovations after the holidays - meanwhile, remember the reason for the season!

One Month In: Plugging Away

Ok, it's been almost a month since we walked in the door, time for an update on progress.  The store is slowly emerging from the rubble - we've painted and stained all the walls and have started installing the new floor.  Mike is installing the new "old" countertop this week: we're recycling a wooden Sunday School table from the old Lutheran church in Nevis.  The counter will feature a display case for all the Emmaville memorabilia we've been finding.

The roofers are working their way across the building - all the snow has slowed progress here.  New windows are due to arrive any day now. The furnace guys are supposed to show up next week to put in the new heating and air conditioning system. We can't wait to turn off the hanger heaters we are currently using - ka-ching!

The petroleum equipment people tell us we will need to leak test the tanks and lines leading to the pumps (insert prayer here).  Looks like we'll be sticking with the old mechanical pumps for now. Sorry, folks, but you won't be able to pay at the pump in Emmaville - you'll have to come in and say hi.  We promise to greet you with a smile.

Last weekend, we had some extra help on hand when the kids came home for Thanksgiving.  Son-in-law Matt did some drywall repair (he's a pro) and some demolition work in the bathrooms.  Daughters Emily and Hannah boxed up all the kitchen stuff to get it out of the way and helped with painting the ceiling.  Much fun was had with hairnets found in the kitchen.  We also celebrated granddaughter Marley's 6th birthday. Happy Birthday Marley!!

We'll keep plugging away into Month 2 - still lots of work to do.  Right now, it looks like we will be fully operational in time to celebrate the New Year, although we hope to be pumping gas before then.

Thanks to all the folks who have been stopping in to wish us well, check progress and offer advice - we really appreciate it!!