Thursday, December 31, 2009

House Update: December 30, 2009

It is Wednesday night and we are back at the house to finish up the kitchen floor. When Myron pulled the stove out, we found what we believe is the original floor pattern and cabinet color. All the colors made sense once we saw it all together like this.


Myron went straight to scraping. This little bit was much tougher to get up than the previous night's work. All the spots are where the wood either peeled up or Myron gouged up the floor with the scraper. He was trying to be careful but he had to use a bit of force to get underneath a flooring that has been down for 50 years. But we got it done.

Now, on to the carpet in the rest of the house. We should be able to get that done over the long weekend ... oh, after we go to the house in NC and clean the fish tank out. We have reason to believe the fish died during the 2009 snow storm that went through the weekend before Christmas. We found out our house was without power for at least 4 days. Myron does not believe the fish could have survived such cold temperatures without heat. It will be very sad if they did not make it.

House Update: December 29, 2009

On Monday night, we went to Lowe's to try to find a tool that would cut through the final layer of flooring faster than a hammer and crowbar. Myron went straight to the power tools (Aaaarrrhhh). I asked someone for help and he showed me the floor scraper. So we left with the least expensive tool and thought "well, we will try it. If it doesn't work, we will go back for the power tool."
It is Tuesday night and we went over to the house to do a little work. We took the wii with us so the girls would be entertained. Who would have thought it could entertain them for 2 hours. Myron started in with the floor scraper. The pictures below show what we were able to accomplish in about 2 hours verses the very small section we had finished prior to Christmas with the hammer and crowbar. The scraper was much, much faster. Although, it did scar up the floor more.

Just a little bit more to do.

This is what the floor looks like where the clothes washer sat. It was a different flooring and was glued down instead of tarred.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Whirlwind Christmas Tour

Myron and I left Wednesday after lunch and headed to Opelika, AL. We showed up much earlier than we had planned and was able to have dinner with my family before the girls went to bed.

We left early Thursday morning to Myron's family. We arrived there a little after lunch. We were able to unload our car and visit with Grandma for a few minutes before we headed over to Grandpa Lonnie and Becky's house for lunch. Becky cooked up a delicious pot of lasagna.

We then headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas Eve dinner with the other side of the family.

Santa came that night. The girls were lucky he was able to find them all the way in Elberta, AL.
Santa brought Sarah a telescope and Bethany a sewing machine. He also brought them the Wii and Polly Pocket Roller Coaster.

House Update Tuesday, Dec. 22nd

Tuesday evening, we finished pulling ALL the plywood up and exposing the 2nd layer of linoleum.

Once, the plywood was up the swinging door actually would swing through instead of being stuck open in the dining room.

House Update for Monday, Dec. 21st

I know, I know ... a whole week late. On Monday, we were still not feeling very well so we tried to keep our renovation to a minimum. But I just HAD to know what the hardwood looked like under all that wetness. Unfortunately, the bottom layer is not coming up as easily as the plywood. It just chips away. It is going to take FOREVER to chip all that flooring away. This was as far as we could get in a little over an hour.

Here is the hardwood floor. You can see it did get wet but it isn't soft.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Proud Homeowners

It is official. We are the proud owners of this 1949/50 house.


Front Porch
Fireplace in Living Room.
Living Room

Looking into the Dining Room from the Living Room.
Swinging door that leads from the Dining Room to the Kitchen.
Unfortunately, it doesn't swing because of the layers of flooring in the kitchen.

Looking down the hallway from the Living Room.

Telephone "booth"

The Red Room. The appraiser said that even though this room has a closet, it is too small to be a bedroom. If we can get a bed in here, it will be Sarah's room.

The Red Room closet and storage area

The Blue Room. This is the room Bethany wants ... why you ask? ... because it is BLUE! Little does she know that the whole house is going to be painted one color.

The Blue Room closet and storage area

The Master Bedroom. The bathroom is off to the left.

The Master closet and storage area.

The Master Bathroom. Does it say 1950 to you?

This is where the clothes dryer goes.

Shower in the Master Bathroom.

Hallway Bathroom. There are NO outlets in this bathroom. Wonder why that is?

Hallway Bathroom

Looking into the kitchen from the Dining Room. The cabinets are yellow. Even the hinges are painted. The back splash is green laminate ... u-g-ly.

Kitchen sink. The clothes washer goes to the right of the sink. Remember, I mentioned that in a previous post.

As you can tell, there are LOTS of cabinets in this small kitchen. But did you see a dishwasher? I think I missed that.
My parents came up this past weekend to see the girls perform in a Christmas Violin and Piano Recital. My Mom joked on Facebook about taking the girls back with her when she left. Little did she know that we would agree. Myron and I took advantage of the time and spent a few hours on Sunday cleaning up and pulling up carpet. Here are some things we found. We knew there was hardwood floors underneath the carpet; we just didn't know the condition of them.

Our first view of the floor in the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

A view of the Dining Room after the wallpaper was peeled off and the carpet removed. We then moved onto the kitchen. Here is what we found:

That black spot is ... HARDWOOD FLOORS!!! Yippee!!! We were very excited to find that. But we weren't excited to find this....

The CULPRIT ... a leaky refrigerator water valve.
Oh the joys of home renovations. Although it is a little exciting ripping out and tearing up, it is NO fun finding little problems like these.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Sigh of Relief

We hired a painter two weeks ago tomorrow. He started on the house that Friday, the 4th. He worked pretty much every day that wasn't raining. Only I don't think he put in a full day. Hiring a painter for a house you don't live in has proved to be very difficult. The Sellers were calling my realtor, Felicia, complaining that he wasn't working fast enough and worried things were not going to work out. Then she would call me and get me ALL worked up. I finally went by the house to check on progress on the following Friday. What I found was that he only had two more windows to do on the house and then he could move to the garage. I didn't see the problem. Oh then I found out the problem ... Old Man (Seller) wanted the final inspection (by the appraiser) done before the packers came in on Wednesday, the 16th which meant he had to come on Tuesday. So I called Felicia and asked her to schedule the inspection as late as she could on Tuesday afternoon. When she spoke with him, he said the one thing he would be looking for was the paint chips. He said if he found any paint chips on the ground, he would deny it. The pressure was on. I informed the painter of this on Monday. He said he would stop what he was doing and get them up then. I knew I was going to have to go by there on Tuesday to make sure they were all picked up.

Three of my friends came down from Asheville on Tuesday to spend a few hours with me. I was so grateful for the distraction. I so enjoy their company. We had one friend that wasn't able to come because she is going through chemo and her body is very weak right now. She was missed very much.

After they left, I headed over to the house to check on the paint situation. Sure enough, the painter had gotten most of them up but there were still a bunch visible. I set out to pick them up. The ground is very wet and I wasn't prepared to be digging in the dirt. I spent an hour frantically picking up as much of the chips as I could. I made two trips around the house. I finally just stopped and said "I can't do anymore. I have done all I can." Then I said, "God it is in your hands. Your will be done." I got up and walked away.

I was late picking the girls up that day. I grabbed them at school, went to Bi-Lo for a snack, then to violin lessons. They had their Christmas program at school that night so I ordered dinner from Papa John's. There was NO way I was going to have time to cook.

On our way back home from picking up the pizza, my cell phone rang. It was Felicia. I answered the phone, "Please give me good news. I need to hear good news right now." Sure enough, the appraiser had called and approved the house. We were a "GO" for closing on Friday. What a relief! I felt SO good. I couldn't wait to tell Myron. I felt like finally something was going our way for once. My understanding is that we went so late in the day that it was starting to get dark and he didn't have a flashlight ... DARN!!!

Friday at 2 p.m. we will be the proud owners of a 1949/50 house. By the way, I need to make a correction of a previous post. I was describing the house and mentioned that the dryer was in the kitchen and the washer was in the master bathroom. I stand corrected ... by the Hubby. The washer is in the kitchen and the dryer is in the bathroom. I just had the machines switched.

I have gone on long enough. I am so pooped right now. I really want to go to bed. My parents are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I have a few things I need to get done before the girls get out of school and the parents arrive. But I do want to leave on a thankful note: What am I thankful for tonight? Good friends (old and new) and most importantly, a DEVOTED God. Although I may not feel is presence every moment of every day and I have to remind myself that He is there, HE IS THERE!!!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Aggravation

I feel like all I ever do is get on here to complain. In fact, I think I have posted that same exact line before.

This house buying business is going to send me to the loony bin, and I believe I will happily go. We got the inspection and appraisal done last week. Everything came out okay but with a few areas of concern. Nothing that should keep us from moving forward. UNTIL..... the bank got a hold of the appraisal. One of the problems the house has is the paint is peeling on the exterior of the house and garage. Because it was built before 1978, there is a possibility of lead paint ... which isn't a problem unless you eat it. I think we are smart enough to not do that. BUT the bank wants it fixed before we can close because of the potential hazard. This is something we were going to fix ourselves once the house was officially ours ... you know, save on the labor. Now it has to be done immediately. Trying to get quotes on having the work done has not been too easy with it raining so hard today. The ones I have gotten are all over the place ... ranging from $550 to $4000.

I am trying to find peace in the midst of all this madness but am finding it very difficult. On top of the house situation, Bethany has to participate in a Science Fair at school. We missed one of the deadlines today due to procrastination on my party really. I don't want to do it ... I mean, honestly, I do NOT want to help her but I know she can't do it by herself. Then there is still Christmas to be bought. Plus, homework and studying for tests with the girls. I am feeling very overwhelmed. I know God says He will not give us more than we can bear. I think He is testing my limits.

The girls are doing very well in school with A's and B's. But it is very discouraging when Bethany brings home a 72 on a math test ... which is a D NOT a C. She still has an A in math but it is barely hanging on. So she has lost computer and TV AND has to do extra work in the afternoon. She also had a comprehension test last week that she made a 56 on AND the story was on the first page. There is no reason she couldn't have flipped back to the story to check her answers. So she is having to do extra work in comprehension also.

Well, Myron is finally home tonight. I am going to bed.