Fixed Leak

We survived the week without the A/C on. It was kinda rough on 2 of the days that were hotter, but we made it. Brian came and fixed the pipe today. Turns out there wasn't a crack in the pipe, the connector part just wasn't glued on! It's surprising that it didn't leak before this! Thankfully, the ceiling in our bathroom dried well and left no water spots/stains.

Leak!

On Wednesday, I noticed that there are water spots in the ceiling above our shower. Eek! We looked upstairs and discovered that it's from a cracked pipe going to the A/C unit in the laundry room. There was a small puddle running from that to behind the dryer. We turned off the A/C to prevent further leaking then turned on the ceiling fans and opened the doors to let the air circulate. Thankfully, the weather is cooler now (about 82 degrees during the day) so we haven't been roasting. Craig called his construction friends and they are going to come by and replace the pipe.

Tropical Storm Fay

We had tons of rain this week due to Tropical Storm Fay. It rained a little each day earlier in the week and then nonstop from Friday to Sunday with some strong winds at times. We kept hearing branches and pinecones fall on the roof and balconies. A few times we heard really loud thudding sounds but didn't see what had fallen.

The city was giving out free sandbags to anyone who needed them this weekend. At least 12 deaths in the US were blamed on Tropical Storm Fay. I heard that one utility worker died when a tree fell on him while he was working on restoring power to some homes. How awful!

Here is the creek behind our house on Saturday just before 1 PM (you can see a huge puddle forming on the lowest part of our yard between the creek and where I took the picture from our balcony):

And here is the creek behind our house on Saturday just before 3 PM (it totally flooded--the creek joined with the huge puddle and became one big rushing creek--and took over about half of the yard directly behind our house):

The runoff for the water from the highway is along our property on the other side of the city fence that runs perpendicular to the creek so that water was joining the flood party here:

I prayed that no large branches or trees would fall on our house or cars and my prayers were answered. This large branch fell outside our fenced area:

And this large branch fell inside our fenced area (thankfully it didn't damage the fence):

The water was all the way up to the 3 trees on the right for a couple of hours (a nice little patch of sand was left behind so maybe Alisa can play in it):

Unfortunately, our only banana tree that was producing bananas so far fell over during the storm:


The bananas were not ripe enough to eat so we are sad that we don't get to try any this year after all:

Here is a video of our flooded creek:

New Paint Smell

Every time we come home after being out of town for a week or more our house smells new, like fresh paint. You'd expect a musty smell from being shut up so long, but for some reason, it always smells like new paint. Not real strong, but noticeable at first. I like it.

Bigger and Better Fish Tank

We now have a 6-foot-long, 125-gallon fish tank! We put it down in the new room, which is mostly used as a study and game room.

(You can click on any of the pictures for a closer view).

Here it is on the first day or so in late November (the water is murky because the sand hadn't settled completely yet):


Here it is now with some new additions (more rocks and shells):


These are the cichlids that used to be in our 20-gallon tank:





Craig got this 75 lb quartz rock from his friend Kevin, who got it out of a river in Vermont:


Craig got these slate rocks (about 20 lbs each) from a creek by his friend Jeremy's house in Arkansas:


Here is a video Craig got of the fish:

New Highway Fence

Many months ago, Craig contacted the city and told them the drainage ditch by our property had issues (haybales and rocks had washed away and the creek was filling with too much sand) and also that the fence separating our property from the highway was falling over in places. They asked if we could wait until after hurricane season and we said yes. Well, they put in a new fence this past week and Craig even convinced them to haul off a huge pile of tree limbs from our property that some other guys left by the fence when we had our trees trimmed (saved us like $400-$600). Go Craig!



This is the view of the highway from our balcony. During the summer you can't even see the highway or the drainage ditch or culvert because of the trees and tall grasses.



Putting the rocks in place:

Organizing

I love organizing things. Some of the process is not fun (like dusting before putting things back together neatly) but the end result makes it all worth it. Today I put out some Christmas decorations while Alisa took a nap and then decided to organize the stand alone cabinet that we had to buy last year because I have so many dishes. We also bought a large kitchen island last year, but that was for more counter space as well as storage space.

My kitchen has the following spaces for storage:

FOOD:
**the pantry by the fridge for food (canned goods, pasta, microwave popcorn) and things like trashbags and extra papertowel rolls and napkins
**large high cabinet by the fridge for cooking/baking stuff (spices, sugar, flour, various extracts, chocolate chips, powdered milk) and chips/pretzels
**small cabinet above the microwave for special flour (wheat, cake) and tea (Craig's mom sends us home-grown tea)
**small high cabinet by the dining room table for cereal and boxes of stuff like Bisquick, rice and mashed potatoes

DISHES and MISCELLANEOUS:
**large drawer next to fridge for silverware, plastic wrap, wax paper, foil, rubber bands, twisty ties, chip clips, measuring spoons
**large low cabinet by the fridge for dishes and miscellaneous (mixing bowls, measuring cups, waffle maker, kitchen scale)
**small cabinet above the fridge for vases and extra set of nice dishes
**drawer under stove for cookie sheets, muffin pans, bread pans
**large cabinet under the sink for dish washing supplies
**large cabinet above the dishwasher for everyday dishes (plates, bowls, glasses
**small cabinet next to the dishwasher for drying racks, pie plates, springform pan
**drawer next to dishwasher for matches, wet wipes to go, etc
**kitchen island drawer for coupons, scissors, tape, pen, paper
**3 kitchen island drawers for serving utensils, knives, ice cream scoopers, spatulas, potato masher and so many more little things
**really large cabinet in kitchen island for pots, pans, skillets, wok
**stand alone cabinet for dishes (glass baking dishes, small plates, mugs, plastic storage containers, plastic cups, serving bowls)

Okay, after seeing it all typed out like that it seems like a lot...but when you are in the kitchen it doesn't.

It's amazing how much more space the cabinet seems to have now that it is organized better! Here's the inside (which is rarely revealed to others):

House Troubles

We have electrical problems in our house. Of course we had our house inspected before we bought it, but problems have been popping up over the past year. They are the kinds of things you don't find out about until you have lived here awhile. Lightbulbs have been burning out so fast around here. We have 2 lightbulbs above the sink in the kitchen and 3 above the other counter that go out about every month or two now. I don't remember them going out this much during the first 6 months we lived here. Also, the lightbulb in the new office ceiling fan has gone out twice and it was just installed in May.

We had some electricians here awhile ago for some issue and they estimated that it would cost $1,000 or more to fix all the wiring problems in the house. We can't afford to do that now so we will just keep buying lightbulbs. I heard that the previous owner and his son did the electrical wiring when they had this place rebuilt in 2003. They were obviously amateurs (he's a lawyer, not an electrician) because they made all kinds of mistakes (some of which we have had corrected).

Craig ordered DirectTV Satellite service because they were having a special on NFL Ticket (where you can watch all the football games this season...not just those that are aired in your area). It was going to be cheaper than the cable we have now. They didn't come out to install it until today (10 days after he ordered it) and then they said it wouldn't work in our house because of the trees in our front yard. What a disappointment! We have clear spots in our yard away from the house but they said the signal was coming from the front side of our house so those clear spots wouldn't help. Our cable company recently (and without warning) dropped the NFL Network channel from our package so we have to pay extra if we want it now (that is what prompted Craig to look for a better deal). Ugh.

New Room

We had a new room added onto the bottom floor of our house (under the kitchen) and we had our tiny master bathroom enlarged. The renovation started in late February and was finished just before Alisa came home from the hospital in early April. We didn't have much privacy during that time because the guys worked 6-7 days a week and 8-10 hours a day (they set their own schedule). Craig got to know them pretty well and enjoyed hanging out with them when he wasn't doing school work.

2 guys (Kevin & Brian) did most of the work. They are some of the ones who renovated the house in 2003 (years before we bought the place) so they know our house well and do excellent work.

They ran into many obstacles that caused some things to take longer. They had to reroute many pipes, redo wiring and correct some wiring errors, and even remove a snake that slithered up through the old utility meter closet and into the bathroom ceiling (I posted pictures of the snake on 3-07-07).

Here are some pictures of the process and the finished product....

The wooden platform where we stored hoses and other stuff had to be cleaned off and removed:



This platform and the dirt under it had to be removed until the ground was level with the bottom of the house:



Kevin starting to dig:



The digging is complete...now there is room for the new addition (the ladder gives you an idea of how deep they had to dig):





The dirt that was removed from under the house was piled on both sides of the house and spread out in the yard later to level things out:









Electric meter and old pipes that were moved during the construction (including the tiny pipe going off the left side of the picture):



Lumber for the new addition:



Starting the floor:



Wood for floor is almost all in place:



Kevin working on the ceiling (which is the floor of the kitchen):



Framing the new room:



Walls going up:





Plastic covering the walls:







Vinyl siding is put in place:







Brian taking a break:



The plastic covered walls show where the new room is. The window on the bottom left was in the master bedroom but now it's in the master bathroom. The window on the bottom right is also in the master bathroom (there is part of a wall with shelves separating them).



Framing of the closet:



Ceiling insulation is exposed (the wall on the left was the existing one that was knocked out):



Stairway wall before removal:



Craig by wall that was knocked out:



For weeks, plastic separated the downstairs from the main floor to minimize dust. We had to part the plastic to go from our room to the upper floors and vice versa. This was not so fun to do when you had both hands full or in the middle of the night when I had to stumble up to the 3rd floor half alseep during the last couple weeks of my pregnancy to go to the only working bathroom at the time. Our room was soooo dusty. We covered our bed with plastic every day to keep it clean and only went to our room to sleep or get some clothes.



Here you can see the open doorway to the old, small master bathroom in the hallway (and wires that were in the wall that was removed):



Insulation in the new room:



Chip (Brian's cousin) standing outside the new room. He did the wall texture and a few other things.



Pole near stairs:



Sheetrock by pole:



Sheetrock on closet:



Lights in new room:



Sheetrock by outside door in new room:



Finishing the sheetrock installation:



Preparing the walls for paint, texture and outlets:



Nook before carpet is installed:



Carpet padding:



Nook after carpet is installed:



New room has an outside door with tile in the entryway:



Furnished:



Closet door in new room:



A desk is being built into the nook area (it's not finished yet):



We hung this on the wall of the new room:



New stairway railing before it's painted:



Stairway railings are almost finished...just need to add the rest of the pieces on the back railing so kids can't fall through. We were going to have an accordian-style door installed across the large opening here so we could close off the new room for some privacy when necessary (like if extra guests stay in this room) but we ran out of money at the time so that idea was put on hold.



Platforms for the outside stairs are in place:



Outside stairs are finished:



Outside utility closet (for electric meter) is created to the left of the room door:



This is in the laundry room on the main floor...the 2 pipes on the right used to go down through the 2 holes in the floor and were hidden in the wall of the master bathroom where they went down through the floor and under the house. They were rerouted to the larger pipe on the left so they could be removed from what became the walkway in the renovated master bathroom.



Here is a picture of the nook in the master bedroom with the carpet pulled back. The enlarged master bathroom took over this area. They removed the wall that was hiding these pipes and later moved the 2 pipes on the left so there would be a walkway in the bathroom from the sink area to the shower and toilet area.



Debris from the old master bathroom:



Mess from old shower:



Old tile from bathroom:



Looking at the new bathtub from the master bedroom:



Framing for the new master bathroom:



New master bathroom door is inside the master bedroom instead of outside of it in the hallway like it was before:



As the bathroom renovation was under way, it was discovered that the floor there was wet and rotting so they replaced that. Now, the part of the wall at the end of the stairs (where the trim forms a rectangle) is a removable panel that opens up to the shower pipes so we can periodically check to make sure there aren't any leaks rotting out the new floor. Pretty clever, I'd say, as it saves having to bust out part of the wall in the future. It was nice getting to help plan the renovation because we were able to request an outlet in the hallway where there was none before (it's handy when vacuuming). And the guys had some good suggestions too, like an extra outlet high on the wall in the bathroom for a nightlight.



Panel removed:



These are the 2 pipes that were removed from this walkway. The pole and overhead beam were enclosed in sheetrock and wall texture.



Wall texture and light switches are up:



Preparing the bathroom floor for tile:



Laying tile in the bathroom:



The guys angled the corner of the bathroom wall that it is our bedroom so it wouldn't hurt as much if we ran into it (how thoughtful!):



Master bathroom tub/shower (we love our new showerhead that has many different water flow settings):



Furnished bathroom pics....

Shelves were put up for extra storage space (bath & beach towels, toilet paper, etc.):





We haven't put the blinds back on this window yet:



This dividing wall hides the support pole and pipes coming down from upstairs...turns out to be a nice thing because it gives the toilet some privacy and was the perfect place to put shelves:



Shower and toilet area:





The overhead beam is enclosed:



Tile: