I don't know about anyone else, but I'm finding that time is flying by WAY too fast. With our work, commutes, and extra time spent on the house, it seems as if life is whirring right by us. So much has happened, I can't keep up...but here is my attempt. I'll start with the latest and move backwards....
The county has begun a project to install pipes in our immediate neighborhood. No one is quite sure what is going on. All I know is that ALL of this equipment is sitting on our property. They have dug the ditches deeper, but they aren't draining so well because the outlet area is still higher than where the water is to drain (dumb, huh?! That's our county...). For the most part the standing water in the ditches serve as a breeding ground for the mosquitoes....fun (NOT). Our one neighbor called and complained to the county about this problen awhile back, but their (the county) response was "well, you have a lot of frogs and toads out there--they should take care of the problem". Believe me, that response was not well received by my neighbor, and she continued to complain. Now we have all this equipment, but not sure what they are going to be doing with it. Sadly, they are destroying the whole front of our property.
Here are the pipes--they are huge, but we worry that the sand and silt will just clog them too...
This is the ditch that they have dug deeper (it runs between 2 of our lots and drains to the back of our property into the sinkhole on the plantation behind us---that big sinkhole is supposedly over a hundred years old and has not changed). But, this ditch is actually higher than the outlet, so it has a bit of a problem moving the water unless there is a lot of water---and we really don't want or need a lot of water here.
The house renovation continues. The interior has now been primed and textured. The next step is to prime it again, fix the ceiling in areas, and begin to paint. I am still trying to decide on all the colors. Here is a picture of one of the walls---exciting huh?! Well, for us, it is....isn't the job nice? These walls have never looked better...
Now for the cabinet saga. Back in 2004 when we renovated the kitchen for the first time, we purchased beautiful Kraft Maid cabinets from Lowes. The cabinets were Hickory and looked fabulous. Unfortunately the bottom cabinets did not fare well in the flood. They had to sit under water for 5 days, and when pulled out, the particle board literally disintegrated. Although we thought we might be able to salvage them and reuse them, the damage was too extensive and the mold began to set in quickly. Despite our clean-up efforts, they were a casualty that landed in the nearby dump. We did not remove the upper cabinets because we thought for sure that they would be easily matched and we could just order the bottom cabinets again. We then began our pursuit....we got the bid for the lower cabinets and it was only a bit less than what we paid for the whole set almost 5 years ago! We both about died! So, we decided we needed to look around before we invested that kind of money again.
Since I drive past a Cabinet Warehouse every day on my way to work, I decided to stop in and see what they had. It did not take long to realize that these people were going to be our answer! Their cabinets are solid wood---no particle board and they are guaranteed to be 40-60% LESS than Lowes or Home Depot. We had them come out and measure, and design our kitchen to our specifications... and sure enough---they were WAY less for the WHOLE kitchen (installed) than the bottoms purchased from Lowes (uninstalled)---more than 50% LESS! But, the catch is that the selection is extremely limited---they only offer 3 levels of cabinets (cheap to expensive) and in only 7 colors/stains/styles. In the mid level we were choosing we have only the choice of the light blonde maple or the cherry. So, we have been trying to decide. In the meantime, this week, Dave and Derren ripped out the existing hickory cabinets from the kitchen (how sad, I really love those cabinets). This was extremely emotional for Dave as he had installed those cabinets in the first place with our friend Ron, and this was the last thing in the house to "survive" since the whole house has been gutted.
I carefully measured the den, and determined that our long cabinets will work well lined up along the back wall of the room---hooray! My beautiful hickory cabinets will live on as storage for pictures and other den things. I think Dave was a little hesitant at first about putting kitchen cabinets into our den, but I think he now sees the vision. So, our old cabinets will provide valuable above-flooding storage space!
So here are the pictures with the cabinets ripped out (see previous blog pictures for other pictures of the cabinets before). This is the area that is around the refrigerator, sink, and diswasher.
This is the area over the stove
And here are pictures from the showroom to give you an idea of what our choices look like:
Maple
And the winner is (after much debate and consideration)....
Now on to the random things portion of this blogpost:
When we aren't busy with working, commuting, and working on the house (Dave's second job), we try to spend time with Stef, Danny, Ethan and Emily.
On July 4th, we met at Remington Park for the annual fireworks display. We bring out the blankets and portable chairs, and sit back and relax. There is a band that plays and there are booths and activities for the kids. It's been a tradition since we moved here...
So, while we were waiting...I got some cute pictures of Stef and Danny and the kiddos:
Photo attempt number one: Emily decided she wanted to pull on Ethan's hair/ear. Ethan did not share her enthusiasm:
And attempt #2: Cute!
Ethan showing off his firecracker face painting/tatoo
And, what would a community activity be without food? Dave enjoying his boiled peanuts. When first introduced to boiled peanuts, I was a little reluctant, but now they are a favorite and another July 4th tradition for us in Georgia.
Back in May or June we had a tree break apart in our yard--look closely at the tree (darker one) to the left at the top---it just broke off. Then notice how close the fence and swing set are and where in relation to the tree they sit....
We couldn't believe it---that huge tree limb missed the fence and the swing set and fell off to the side. We're not sure how it happened because it's final resting place isn't even in the falling radius of the tree...but we are so grateful. This is a huge tree portion and it could have done a lot of damage. Another blessing...
In June, we decided to venture down one of the side roads on our way to a friend's house. Many of the county roads remain unpaved, and this beautiful red/orange clay/dirt is really quite pretty. Unfortunately, when it rains it becomes the consistency of peanut butter and can be quite challenging to maneuver in (Our street here at the rental is this same kind of road), but I thought this view was just so pretty---that striking red/orange color against the rich green of the lush landscape. Pretty huh?!
Another random thing:
Dave decided to catch me one night while I was snacking on a bag of popcorn (not a great picture, but ah well...). Our dogs are not fed any kind of table food except for popcorn...they love it. When the bag is popped in the microwave, they are already lined up to get their share. This is serious business....Dave just thought their intensity was too funny. Pepper, our oldest poodle (she's 15 years old) thinks she has privileges. She thinks she is entitled to be as close to me as possible. The others know the rules...
Then the last random thing:
About a month after the flood (September 2008) I took my car into my friendly oil change place and had my car serviced (with all the commuting--that's an event that occurs every 6 weeks), and also asked them to replace my windshield wipers. Well, shortly after they were replaced we had a HUGE storm and my windshield wipers ended up failing AND scratching my windshield all the way across the passenger side. Apparently, the windshield wipers were installed incorrectly.
I went back to my friendly oil change place and showed them what happened. I figured I'd at least get a new set of wipers. But, I was surprised....the manager filed a claim against his insurance and I got a new windshield out of the deal. They gave me enough money to replace it with an authentic Honda/Acura windshield, but the windshield guy said that I would have to have it ordered and installed by Honda. He gave me my options and showed me that I could get a similar quality windshield without the Honda insignia for less than half the price of the Honda windshield and that included the installation. The off brand windshield has the same warranty as the Honda, and the installation is guaranteed as long as I own the car. When I thought about it, and made a few more phone calls... I learned that I could have the new windshield installed and have enough money left over to tint my car's windows and Dave's car's windows. No brainer---I got the generic windshield and we got our windows tinted (although it was a few months later before I got them tinted). All I can say is---No problems with the windshield--it is just as beautiful and has the same warranty, and now with the tinting our cars stay cooler in this Georgia heat! Another total score!
Unfortunately the pictures are not great and really don't show how dark the windows actually are, but the windows are tinted as dark as legally possible. My car looks fabulous and Dave calls his car the Mafia car (even though it's my car that is black--his is silver)! Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of his car's tinted windows (and I'm too lazy to get them right now for this post).
I told you that this post would be random. You may now wake up, I am almost done.
So, that's the excitement around here! Until the next post...
Reminder: We are so blessed!
1 comment:
Wow, now that was a lot. I hope all the home stuff continues to move along and you don't get any big storms. Love you guys!
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