Some recent pictures of Evan

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A New Chapter!

The mold is gone!  The house is cleaned up from the destruction and mold removal!  As I write this, G is having breakfast with Paul, who has removed the mold from our house.  G will give Paul the final payment for his services.  Paul has removed all damaged and contaminated surfaces, cleaned the air ducts for the first of two times, and tested all the air and surfaces to assure that there is no remaining mold.

How I hope you never need services like this, but if you do, be sure to call us for a reference. Paul's company is thorough, honest and reliable.  I may have told some of you this, but Paul has an agreement with a large church in Akron.....if the pastor knows of someone whose house has been compromised or ruined (like ours), but the person can't afford to have it fixed, Paul provides his services for free.  He has an agreement with his supplier of chemicals that kill the mold to provide the chemicals for free too.

Back to our situation....G says the house looks and smells wonderful and is squeaky clean - if somewhat "vacant" with missing cabinets, walls, etc.  I will see it this afternoon.  

G and I have an appointment at 2 p.m. to meet with a contractor to receive a bid for his work. He is an architect as well, and has drawn plans for making our bedroom larger (our bed wouldn't fit in the room!)  and making some doors accessible (most of the doors and/or walls had to come out anyway because of the damage).

So, as soon as we can make a decision about who will do the work, we're ready to move forward! We continue with choices, kitchen planning decisions.....we'll have to choose a new shower as the shower was mold infested and had to be taken out.  

It's a busy and somewhat stressful time, but at least we are moving forward, rather than backward or standing still.  It's a blessing.  Speaking of blessings, YOU are a blessing for your support during this time!  And once again, for your love and support we thank you!

wednesday #3

This is just one of many walls or partial walls that have had to be removed because of damage from the water. Notice that the flooring is gone. All of the flooring on the main floor was ruined by standing water.

Wednesday, part II

G tells me that because of additional damage that was found, the demolition work won't be finished until next week. All of this, of course, moves the other work further out, thus the moving date as well. I'm trying to take the advice of a new friend, who says "trust the process!". OK - I'm trying!

Demolition to be completed soon

We expected demolition and mold remediation to be complete yesterday... that didn't happen, because more damage was found. However, we think that stage of the process will be finished soon. The mold removal, by the way, is guaranteed for a minimum of 20 years - that works for us! Planning for reconstruction has us really busy at this point! It's not unlike building a home. We've interviewed several contractors, and have an interview with another person tomorrow morning (he came highly recommended by a friend). We are trying to finish kitchen decisions. What a huge challenge the kitchen is! My goodness - so many details. We still have to choose floor tile, cabinet finish and hardware, countertop colors and a sink. We also still have to finish the design of the upper and lower cabinets. The shower in the master bath was ruined by the water, so we'll now have to go shower shopping. I'm hoping to include some pictures of the house while in the demolition process. I haven't seen it for about 10 days - but even when I last saw it, I was astonished by the scope of things that had been removed (flooring, portions of walls, kitchen cabinets, etc.). We think we'll feel a great relief once the kitchen decisions are finished and the cabinets are ordered.

Continuing the **fun?????**

I suppose that my daughter is feeling particularly creative on her birthday.  Particularly mischievous, to be sure!  In case you didn't read her comment to the previous post, she added 7 MORE quirks of mine.  Since it's her birthday, I'll be kind and post them here.

8. I organize my life with ziploc bags.  I love all sizes and shapes.

9. I don't like the cat noise "reerr" to be said to my when I'm crabby (at all, if you must know!)

10.  I don't like the back of my neck touched, ever.

11. Post-it notes are wonderful.  I put them everywhere.

12. Sharpie markers were created by God just for me.

13. Don't mess with me until I've had my coffee.  How about if you top off my cup, then go away?

 

And finally, she added:

14. I don't like to be teased about my little quirks.  They're not funny.  "Don't make fun of me".

Happy, birthday, Melanie!

 

The days of this blog being totally boring and housing oriented are OVER, thanks to my cyber-friend, Peggy, who lives in Australia.  I hope I get the chance to meet Peg in person some day!  Now, unfortunately, I'm new to blogging.  My friend Peggy literally used up all the bloggers I know....so I'm not following ruler #4.

Here are seven random/weird things about me:

1. I sleep with a pillowcase or sock over my eyes to make the room darker.

2. I don't like to wash clothing with towels (some, including the one I live with, think it's no big deal).

3. I don't like to watch a movie unless I can see the beginning of it.

4. Soft drinks and beer must be poured down the side of the glass so the fizz doesn't get lost.

5. I take a Kleenex to bed with me (and in coming days forget I've done that), so there are many Kleenex in and around and under the bed.

6. I have a super sensitive sense of smell.

7. I can't stand a dirty toilet - even a somewhat dirty one.

And now for the tagging: one deserving recipient!!:

http://themerritfamily.blogspot.com

Have fun, Melanie!

Time for an update!

I'm overdue updating my blog.  I've been busy!  Our contractor worked for one week tearing out damaged materials.  Then he went on vacation for a week.  He's back at work this week - tearing out more damaged walls, cabinets, etc., then he will treat and remove the mold.  In the meantime, we've been busy!  G has spent some time taking photos for evidence if needed.  We've been choosing colors to get our old house painted outside.  We've also spent tons of time planning how we want the new house's kitchen put back together - with a few changes from what it was like.  Next, we need to figure out how to finance this project until the insurance (hopefully) comes through.  We also need to choose a contractor to rebuild.  It's a busy time!  Thanks for checking in!