Contractor - I found a good one.

My house has never been so strapped down.  It has been seismically retrofitted, with monster brackets tying the whole thing together.  That and the posts and beams are new should make this all more solid.  Should.  I notice my south wall is moving.  I notice this because the previous ding dong owners built the stairs so they don't all touch the wall... it looks like a floating staircase at points.  Yes, in architecturally significant homes they do this purposely and it is quite a feat, in my house... an accident because what - they ran out of wood?  I dunno, but it has always been this way and I have called it "charming" in my mind. If I think "charming" and "original" that allows me to be more generous of spirit than if I focus on the words "idiocy" and "cheapskate".  Some days it is a toss-up. 
The staircase is becoming more and more floating.  As in, the wall has moved a quarter inch away. 
Sigh. 
Guess we aren't done in the basement. 
I will have a structural engineer over to confirm, but I will have my contractor do the work.  Because even if I question how he supported the south wall, the bottom line is I can call him up and say "Walter, seriously, this wall is moving because of what you did". He does not argue, get all blustery about it and grumble that it was like that before, or he did it all correct it must have been something I did (can you tell what sort of people I have had do work previously?) He just says something like : Sue (the project manager) differed in opinion on how to support this but we ran all the numbers (and boy did they run numbers) and I thought this would work but I guess we need to revisit this, or yeah, we didn't know (blah de dah), let me come over and figure it out.  Other than this, they stayed in budget and did phenomenal work. The ease of working with them all on a plain old farmhouse is worth it.  And, with this house, nothing is ever simple.  And no, I don't want a new cookie cutter development house which would take no brain power to own. Because for me, I need to have a challenge.  Oh, you say, having teenagers, being a single mom, health adventures, a geriatric horse or two,  acreage, gardens, aging cars, chicken eating coyotes is not enough of a challenge for you?  No, no, it isn't.  I need an old bug chewed, slightly tilting, story-filled, farmhouse thrown in the mix!   And yes, I should probably plan on being buried in the backyard because all my money is sinking into this landboat. 

Kids. House. Health.

1. Kids. 
I had a dream:  My children were kidnapped.  Taken to an apartment complex which I tracked them to and waited.  I had to rescue them so I enlisted the help of the police.
Reality: My kids are teenagers... it is like they have been kidnapped. Rose has repeatedly pushed the ticket and a couple times gotten into trouble.  She just opened up about acquaintances and friends being abused, drugs, sex ... all that crap that I hoped she could avoid until adulthood (NAIVE I KNOW).  Wilder is 13.  Enough said.
2. Getting work done on my house.
 I slowly figured out my house is an analogy for me.  I cannot fix all the things with me, but I can on the house.  Like new posts, beams, and joists to strengthen the foundation of my house....will also somehow strengthen me.  At least I am aware I am delusional.  There is concrete improvement occurring on the house that you can document and take photos of  which is not available with my health.  There are no pictures to be taken of my returned ability to stay awake for 16 hours straight or work an 8 hour day.  Or the lifting (89% of the time) of the fog on my slogging self-repairing brain.    I feel lucky.  But obviously not lucky enough to win the powerball (ohhh, think what I could do to the house then!!) (that may be because I did not buy a ticket...)
 

Signing the work contract - Replacing joists and posts.

What an enormous amount of legal-ese goes into the paperwork to hire a contractor --three pages of obscurity to read and sign. The job starts in the basement --we are leveling the house and adding structural supports . (See, I can listen to suggestions!)
First we are adding or replacing beams and posts... and sistering joists.  Then, and this one cracks me up, we are going to take a laser level and even out the SW corner.  Laser level and my house just don't seem like a good blend.  Abacus and my house.  Eyeballing by squinting next to a straight tree as a guide seems like my house.  Not laser.  But it will be grand in the end and she can stand up a bit straighter.  Never mind the cracking walls I will be repairing after they move things that have not been level in a century. 
We are still in negotiation on replacing siding/windows.  I lean toward bringing it back to the 1904 style windows, albeit with insulation and double panes.  But my budget keeps me in the "keep it the same" style.
Sidenote: we have a historic company town (Port Gamble) 4 miles away that is such a great resource for my home.  The exteriors of the 20 or so buildings are virtually unchanged.  The interiors- not so much. Someone described them as "Pay-n-Pak'ed" (you have to be an old northwesterner to get this reference). Pick any cheap materials do-it-yourself store and you get the idea.  This company town was built in the late 1800's by Pope and Talbot for processing lumber. They still own all the buildings that make up the little village.  Nowadays individuals can rent the homes and businesses from the company.

  This is my original window style.  Not the 80's sliders they put in.  (At least they are not aluminum). (Image of Port Gamble home)

NOT my window style.  I took it for the plain detailing of the board trim at the roofline which I am thinking of adding. (image of Port Gamble home)

Dave the contractor

I mentioned before talking to a contractor about my house.  His name is David.  He has a slightly gravelly, slightly nordic (NW) voice and asks all the right questions. We walked through my house, and he just wanted me to talk about it.  Seriously?  The first person not bored to tears about old house stuff ad nauseum?  About history and old beams and fires and how that all shows in the house?  It was all good to him.
After my list of stuff that was beyond my skillset --mystery leaks through siding, unsupported bathtubs, strange wood chewing insects eating the top of my fir floor and foundation work--he wants me to fix the foundation (as you all said I should do first).  My foundation is not attached to my house, a common thing in an old house.  Some posts are missing or taken out. The SW corner of the house is taking a slight tilt downward - gravity must be particularly powerful in that corner of the house, or, the 102 years the house stood without gutters did not do wonders for the foundation.
David and Sue, the project manager, are going to add/replace/sister all sorts of materials in my basement.  They are going to attach my balloon framing to the cement foundation.  They are going to have me clean out my basement so they can access everything.
OMIGOD.   Clean out my basement?  THIS is why I don't get this particular job done.  I have no closets in my house, my basement is basically my house size closet.  You know, the one that you shove things in when people come over and rapidly shut the door so it does not fall all out on your head?    The garage is not an option - it is full of construction materials.  My horse trailer is the only available covered protection I have and not near large enough.  I'll figure it out.  David says they will help with the moving....