Thursday, November 19, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

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I just can't help myself!

Nor'Easter Update

It's Friday morning and everything is closed and canceled in Virginia Beach. They are begging people to stay off the roads.

We got through the evening with split second flashes of lost power, but none of them held. We are not one of the 35,000 households without power. A big limb came off the sweet gum tree in the front yard, but landed harmlessly between the tree and the house. It didn't even harm my new shrubs in front of the house. The evergreen tree, that our behind the fence neighbor gave us in return for removing our large fence line tree that kept getting leaves in his pool, toppled completely over and is resting on the side fence. There is a line of leaves about 6 feet up on the front lawn showing the high water mark. The water completely covered the street and came up to the van's wheels on the driveway. Wind gusts reached 70mph in VB last night. Rain was 9 - 13".

Today the water is down to looking like overfilled gutters in front of our house, but the street is still flooded to the left of us (towards the puppy people's house). It is still windy.

We got a lot of painting and organizing done yesterday, but no drywall or baseboards. So, we still can't move the table and buffet back into the kitchen. :(

Our fingers are crossed about our countertop installation date.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

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Is this the cutest thing you have ever seen???!!! I love the tall Kevin!! I'm ready for Christmas now!

Weather Update




It is 1pm and still raining and windy. So many businesses are closed today, I hope it doesn't affect our countertop installation date. The water is building up on the street and we are giving up on garbage collection. The trash cans have all toppled over on the street as the water rose underneath them. Even though they are heavy, the wind and rising water took over.

It is interesting watching water go along your street in waves. David moved the van up into the driveway early this morning.

Our rain gauge in the backyard is now useless as it is full to the top, about 6 inches.

Katie

Last week the kitchen renovation and just about everything came to a halt. A young mother in our ward, Katie Young, was killed in a car accident the day before Halloween. It was all so very tragic. Her son is 8 years old and her daughter is 5. She was a sweet and lovely woman. The ward rallied around the family and the acts of service were constant and amazing. I was heavily involved and was inundated with calls from people in several wards in the area wanting to help.

The funeral was Friday, the 6th, and it was lovely. There were about 250 people there and 150 came back to the church for the reception following. There seemed to be at least that many people helping. At times I felt like I was making up things for people to do! The kitchen got a little crowded at times.

To see a life end so early, and a family whose temporary separation will last longer than most, was saddening. My gratitude for temple marriage and our eternal family is boundless. I am so grateful for my sweet kiddos and their righteous lives. I know we will be together FOREVER.

Please, please, please, remember to wear your seatbelts ALWAYS; even if you are just going around the block.

Kitchen Renovations 10

Painting

The two floors are grouted and sealed. As of Monday night the washer and dryer are hooked up again! David is now the proud owner of a hand truck. By Tuesday night I had done 10 loads of wash; 6 of ours and 4 of church tablecloths. Last night was supposed to be drywall repair in the area behind the fridge, but there were some mishaps, so that will be tonight. Then the baseboard and quarter round gets reattached and painted. THEN... we can move the buffet and table back in.

The tile is so pretty!

David is doing a great job of priming all the areas we will need to paint/repaint. It's looking really good! And we have the matching paint for just about everything!

Priming the wall and cabinet sides around the sink. Check out the new hand truck and its fabulous cargo!

Countertop

The countertop measurement was an interesting process. The fellow used a special jointed "arm" attached to his laptop to make the measurements with some CAD program. He was very nice and explained a lot of things. We ended up with some adjustments we had to make: some extra support to be added behind the sink cabinet, trim trimming, temporary pipe removal etc.

Thomas across the street is making a dump run this week (weather permitting) and called to offer to take anything we had. So nice! Soon we will no longer have a countertop and old sink on our front porch.

They are coming to install the new countertop on Monday, the 16th! On Friday they will call with the time window. I am so excited!

The countertop comes with a new stainless steel sink undermounted. We haven't had a kitchen sink in sooo long! Jason comes Monday night to hook up the sink and the DISHWASHER!!!!
Current dishwashing facilities.

November Nor'Easter

Today everything in this area is closed because of weather. We are having a nor'easter combined with the remnants of Hurricane Ida, and it is miserable. The governor has declared a state of emergency. It has been raining continually since Tuesday night. Flood warnings are in effect; winds are 45 mph; and rain is predicted to reach 6 - 8" by tomorrow. I will be surprised if a single leaf remains on any tree after all this. Not a nice day.

We plan on getting lots of stuff done in the house!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Kitchen Renovations 9

Update

Monday the tile in the kitchen was grounted and the old tile in the laundry room was removed later that night. The tile doesn't look much different in pictures, so ... no picture. Today the laundry room was almost completely tiled, but again no picture since the beautiful kitchen floor is now covered with laundry room appliances.

On Wednesday between 9am and noon they will come to make the template for the countertop! Dad has anchored the cabinets to the floor and each other. He also did a wonderful job of finishing off the sides with paneling just like the family room half wall. We will have a lot of painting and repairing to do, baseboards, etc., when this is all over.

The laundry room will be grouted tomorrow and the water heater will be hooked back up. We have been on cold water since this afternoon.

By Wednesday night it will be 48 hours and we can seal the grout and maybe move the appliances and table back in; things we can do before we finish off the baseboards and quarter round. We still won't have a sink or connected dishwasher for a couple of weeks.

Thursday this week is electricity day!