The Weekend Report - Monday Edition

The weekend was filled with more house-related activities. Gosh, we need a life that doesn' t involve our house! Quite frankly, I have just about had enough. Unfortunately, Dave reminded me that we still have the barn to go through. Ugh. It is about a hundred times worse than the house---and I'm sure there are muck-loving creatures living in there. Double ugh.

The house is just about done--being cleaned out that is....the fans and dehumidifiers are running 24/7 and it'll probably be weeks before it is thoroughly dried out. We will be treating the whole inside with the necessary fungicides and mold treatments--triple ugh.

The porch still has some stuff that we were able to salvage, but most of it needs to be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. We'll be having a lot of cleaning "parties" after work. Should be fun (not!).

Saturday afternoon we were able to take a couple of hours and look at appliances and furniture. Sadly, it's not fun when it is a required activity. We headed to Home Depot (the closest is about 35 minutes away) and perused the appliance and lawnmower aisles. Dave did not find a lawnmower that met his requirements, but we did find a washer and dryer set in the clearanced section. That made my day!! Since we will be renting we won't need to buy anything but the washer and dryer for now.

When we had the service guy out a few weeks ago to fix Stef's dryer, I took the opportunity to quiz him about washers and dryers. I used to have the Maytag Neptune series but have never been entirely pleased with their performance. So, I asked him---he recommended only a front loader machine and said LG or Bosch had the least repairs. He said both companies built the most reliable commercial washers and that their home machines were still built at commercial standards . He said Whirlpool is good, but not as reliable after the initial warranty period. He himself owns an LG. SOLD.

Okay, so we go out and check out LG and Bosch---can we say "STICKER SHOCK"? Well, we perused the Whirlpools and the Maytags (Maytag is now owned by Whirlpool), but the prices weren't dramatically different. Of course I liked the features of the higher end LG (surprise, surprise) and was bummed that they were so expensive. While I continued to look-- hoping that I would witness a miracle price drop while I stood there and stared, Dave wandered back to the corner where the display models, last year's models, and the scratch and dent appliances were set out. That's when he found an LG set from last year with all the features that I wanted. The miracle: they were marked down almost $1000 and were eligible for the 10% off sale price---plus they were brand spanking new, never-been-used! Score!!!! Now I can do laundry when we move into the rental. Hooray! I was afraid I'd have to haul everything over to Stef's or visit the laundromat for awhile. Since we had the trailer, we just took them with us. You've never seen someone be so excited over owning a household appliance. Let's put it this way---when you have no home and no appliances, a set that will bring some element of normalcy back into your life is a welcomed treasure. I will no longer take for granted my household appliances....

And speaking of household appliances, did we tell you that our old chest freezer came right on and is freezing like a champ? Yep, even though it was under water for awhile (and floating when the waters got deeper), it is still working. They sure don't make appliances like that anymore! We finally did get it cleaned out, but at least everything was refrozen. It's sad that this old reliable freezer has had to go out on this note. Who knows how long this thing would have lasted! We've owned it for 22 years and it was pretty close to 20 years old when we bought it!!

Alright, I know this is boring....so we'll move on...

Sunday was a true day of rest. We went to church where I spent most of the time melting down---the tears just flowed. It didn't help that I had to relinquish custody of my 21 chickens. Since we have no where to take them, I have asked the folks who took them, if they would take them permanently. It was harder than I thought, because it was giving up one more element of our "normal" life.

After church one of the men of the ward who has been in our muck as much as we have through this whole ordeal invited us over for lunch--burgers, salad and chips. Yum!! He had two of his cute daughters there and the 4 missionaries in our ward (who have also been in the thick of our mess from day one). It was nice just to relax and visit. BUT, do you know how WEIRD it is to go to someone's house and see your piano and pool table there?! Yep, he's watching those two pieces of furniture (actually he's got our dining room table top too---just the top; the base disintegrated). It was even weirder when we played pool on our pool table at his house. I'm just so glad that everything is getting used. Both the pool table and the piano need some serious cleaning and refinishing (since they sat in the flood waters for almost 5 days), but that will all come in time. They are the LEAST of my worries right now.

What's happening right now--Monday at just after noon!?

I am sitting on a 61lb bucket of joint compound in a corner (it'ss the dining room, but we'll be using it as our computer room) with my laptop on my lap typing this. I have been here since 0800 waiting for the phone and internet folks AND the satellite guy. Obviously, the phone and internet is working (or I wouldn't be blogging this), and the satellite guy is working on getting everything set up. I am amidst all the construction, but they are making headway. They have already installed more of the kitchen cupboards and have been busy painting, etc. We hope the house will be ready at the end of the week (I'm kind of worried, but I am hopeful). This little house has got some interesting quirks, but I already like it. I think it will be a good interim home while we figure out what it is we want to do with our lives.

At present, we have no desire or intention of returning to our home. The county has raised the benchmark for building in the subdivision (there are still two buildable lots---would you like to guess who owns them?!?!?!) and they have announced that future flooding is not their problem or concern (ouch). One of my neighbors has drafted a letter that we are all signing that requests the county commissioners, the emergency management agency, etc. to meet with us regarding the future of the subdivision---just to discuss the issues and come up with some reasonable solutions. Not sure it'll do much good---but when they let houses be built after the floods in 1984 and 1986 folks are wondering why they authorized continued building and are angry. I understand how they feel.

We are so blessed. We know that, but this has been a devastating loss and experience for us. I think if one person asks me if we'll be getting into our home again in a couple of weeks, I just may strangle them. My heart goes out to the folks in Texas. And, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, NC, SC and ALL places (Cuba, Haiti) that have been affected by these horrible storms. No one should have to experience this.

I'm waiting for the day I can just wake up and think about something else...

BORING sounds really good about now!! May you all enjoy the glory of being bored!

Thanks yet again for your love, support, prayers, and kind words