Progress

Sometimes I can hardly imagine we have been living in Foley for almost a month. From an unpacking stand-point, hardly anything has changed. Every day or two we rearrange stacks of boxes to find something or move them out of the way for construction, but we've unpacked very little. However, the house itself has changed a great deal.



We finally saw the end of stump 1 and stump 2.



The large machine in the back of the above picture quickly ground the stumps into the beginning of my new compost pile and the Bobcat hauled it to the new garden site.



After triumphing over the stumps, the pool installers quickly built the pool.



I like the idea that beach sand sits under the pool, though sometimes I think it would be nice to have a beach too. I wanted to create a beach by the creek at the back of our property but everyone I know insists it will wash away when the creek floods during heavy rains or tropical weather. Sometimes I hate practical details.



Once the pool contained water, the kids decided to try it out. Had it not been so cold, I might have been tempted to join them since to this day we have still not added chemicals to it.



But I am a wimp and wouldn't even get in for poor little Michael who wanted to swim so much. He ended up being a good sport about the whole thing and watched from the deck when I assured him the water freshly pumped from our well would be too cold.



Our kids and our neighbors' kids convinced each other to brave the cold for a good 45 minutes. Dallas, our neighbor, watched his kids freeze in our pool, probably grateful his kids could swim well enough that he didn't have to get in himself.

We love the fact the stumps required so much earth to be removed because now the pool is in a perfect position relative to the deck. However, because so much dirt was moved from the foundation of the deck, we are having to fill in the area between the deck and the pool with some of the removed earth. This is no easy job and Kurt and I figured it was a great opportunity to develop the kids' work ethic.



Actually, we gave the job to Gregory and he recruited his siblings. He even put Michael to work. Michael loved helping and for awhile, worked harder than anyone.



Normally Kurt and I would help, but we have so many projects going right now. Fortunately, God has graciously supplied help for our many projects.



For example, until a few days ago, several people worked very hard to put as much dry-wall dust into the air as possible. And, the more dry-wall dust in the air, the more dry-wall dust on all of the surfaces and in all the cracks and crevices in the house. Multiple applications are best for full coverage.



We have some wonderful friends who've been helping us tear down and rebuild our home. Our neighbor Dallas is one of them. He got sucked into our house remodeling projects when Kurt needed some help removing a wall and applying final coats of mud.

(I won't go into the pleasures of sleeping on the dining room floor next to the area where walls are coming down and dust is being set free. You will have to imagine how fun it is to have such work take place next to you during normal human sleeping hours.)



I will admit I really like the open look of our kitchen now that the structural wall separating it from the living room has been removed. I especially liked it when the ceiling didn't come crashing to the ground. Especially since it was 2:00 a.m. and I was trying to sleep next to the area in question. I will confess I worried when Kurt and Dallas wanted to hurry and remove the wall before "Bob the Builder" saw what they were doing. (Bob has been pretty much in charge of projects and keeping us reasonable during the whole process here.) I recalled when we talked to Bob about the wall, he said something about structural walls and then sort of ignored it afterwards. However, even Bob liked the end result when he saw it.

When Bob arrived about a week ago for a 3 day remodel marathon, things started moving fast. He brought the most BEAUTIFUL counter tops and open cabinets for our larger kitchen. (He built the cabinets and the counter tops in his home workshop and is a custom cabinet maker [and homebuilder] by trade. If you are in the Pensacola area and ever need cabinets [or a custom home], you really NEED Bob's telephone number!)



For hours, all I could do was stare at them. They are so pretty and there was a time when I really feared I would have to live with the dilapidated pink counters that came with the house. Once the counters went down, Kurt helped install a brand new sink. I'm so excited about all of this I won't even let Gabrielle do the dishes. I don't think she minds.

Bob also sort of taught me how to install tile in the sun room. I helped with the Thinset anyway; he did all the hard parts.



Before we started the floors, Bob removed the wall the prior home-owners installed in the doorway between the master bedroom and the sun room. Eventually we'd like to add French doors to the opening.



Unfortunately I had to order the grout I wanted for the sun room tiles so the work in that room stopped. But we were able to move everything from the master bedroom into the sun room so work could start there. I started by painting the walls a nice pretty green and right before he left, Bob gave me a quick lesson in laying the snap together wood floor.



I got about 5 rows down when I noticed the floor had started unsnapping. So I pulled it apart and tried again. And again. And again. My neighbor Dallas saw my distress and he came to the rescue. But he made the mistake of trying to teach me. And once I started helping, the floor had to be pulled out and redone because all of my work started coming apart. (Dallas says it is not my fault, but I don't know how he arrived at that conclusion.)



In the end, on the seventh try, Dallas and my husband got the floor down, including the closet.



Kurt started reinstalling the molding yesterday. Today I noticed a couple rows of floor in the closet coming apart. I care, but I'm sorta wishing I hadn't noticed it maybe. . .

While we were still trying to install the floor, my friend Cathy from church and my neighbor Donna came over and helped paint some of the kitchen.



The kitchen still needs work, but I already love it a great deal. When things get crazy and they do, it is my happy place in the house.



Michael and the other kids are getting tired of living out of boxes. Gregory says it is like a camping trip that never ends. I agree.

The Big Move

After two weeks of crazy, surrounded by the best friends people can have, we moved into our new Foley home last weekend and started a whole new kind of crazy. Despite my firm belief we could make two runs with a rental truck and be moved, we took several runs with the van and a borrowed trailer, filled our friend's trucks, trailers and vehicles at least twice and took 4 runs with the rental truck to move our stuff. We lost all of our stuff just 5 years ago in the hurricane and it is incomprehensible to me that in 5 years we could accumulate so much. But looming piles of boxes tell me we did.

Apparently moving large chest freezers full of food sucks. They are heavy and cumbersome. Then there is the ever present problem with things thawing if you aren't quick enough.

In order to get our largest freezer onto the trailer and then off again, the men in charge piled up the contents on a box.



After putting the freezer in place, everyone then quickly returned the pile of poultry to the freezer. And then when the door wouldn't close, I got called in to rearrange things so they would fit.



Now I realize organizing the freezer was a breeze compared to the house.



And I can't get anything done. The family room (above) is filled up with stuff, much of which belongs elsewhere. Some of Gregory's bedroom furniture is here. But Gregory's room is full of his stuff and Michael's stuff. I can't move Michael's stuff until I paint Michael's room. So far, I've only painted the ceiling. And I did a lousy job at that. I've decided I don't like painting. Except when my friend Kathy is around. She loves to paint and she is good at it. Her good attitude infects me and then painting is okay. I'm having a hard time getting to the painting because there are so many people at the house doing stuff and I have a hard time isolating myself in a bedroom when there are strangers around my children.

Much of the master bedroom furniture likewise sits in the family room. But I can't really move anything (more) into the master bedroom because it doesn't have a proper floor and flooring work is imminent.



The master bedroom floor sits in the family room next to the floor for the master bathroom.



Because we ran out of space, we did put some stuff into the master bedroom. Most of the stuff is fragile or expensive. We also stored the furniture destined for the sun room in the master bedroom. We couldn't put anything into the sun room because the sun room floor was so bad it had to be completely removed.



In fact, our friend Bob, the best of builders, had to jack the sun room onto blocks in order to repair the bad foundation.



Fortunately, Bob performs miracles these days and he not only fixed the foundation and the sub floor, but he retro-fitted some sort of flashing that should prevent future rotting issues. He is my hero this week.

But I still can't move the furniture into the sun room because the tile for the floor is in boxes.



I have to install the tile. But to do that, I need to learn to install tile. Hopefully it isn't harder than knitting or sewing.

Since we can't sleep in the master bedroom, we have set up temporary sleeping quarters in the dining room.



The dining room is probably too small for our dining room furniture anyway. But for now, we've set up a temporary dining room in the living room.



The living room also holds a bunch of boxes. One pile leans precariously over Gabrielle's chair.



I'd like to unpack some of the boxes, but most of them hold kitchen things. And of course, the flooring for the kitchen is in the family room.



And the kitchen isn't habitable.



The cabinets and counter-tops are in pieces. Any time I try to unpack something into the kitchen, it gets moved for work being done. I've given up trying to unpack the kitchen for now.

There is some "light at the end of the tunnel" however. I entered all the receipts for everything to date and we're basically out of money. Thus, construction will be done very soon. I can't believe how fast it spends. It feels like we've had a black hole attached to our bank account.

Of course we had a bit of a drain before we moved. Everything started breaking. Kurt replaced the pool pump and then the dishwasher quit and had to be replaced.



All day today, we've had an air conditioning repair person fixing the broken units. Apparently the quoted price is just a starting place.



Every time I turn around, there is a new expense. This air conditioning thing could turn the bank account inside-out by the end of the day.

On the day we closed, we hit an end of the season sale and bought an above-ground swimming pool for the new house. We had one at the house in Brewton and our family just loved it. And I was glad to have paid for it in full, in advance.



Well, that was until the installers were stumped.

Meet stump one.



And stump two.



When pool installers discover large, live oak stumps, pool installation cannot proceed and big, expensive equipment must be rented. Guess who pays for the extra expenses. . .

And what would be a pool installation without cutting an underground power line?



At present, the workshop has no power and the poultry freezer is plugged into an extension cord running into the house.



But God is good and at the moment the power problems surfaced, our friend John was in our attic fixing some other power issues.

Final score at the end of the day? We're poor, but Jesus is still mighty in our lives.

Michael's Fourth Birthday

For some time now, the computer drive that allows me to upload photos from my camera hasn't worked. Today it worked. Thank God because I truly need a break from the chaos of life today.

Almost a month ago, we celebrated Michael's fourth birthday.



He remembered opening presents from last year and couldn't wait.



He got a little confused when we didn't put up the Christmas tree. He insists we had a tree last year. Despite the confusion, I thought his memory quite good for a four year old.



Michael got a cool truck with tools and a set of his own Legos from us.



Grandma sent a train and this year's noisy toy.



With so much of their own stuff already packed, all the kids were glad to see some new toys in the house.



Michael desperately wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday.



He loves ice cream, but cake is not his favorite.



So I made him one. It was very good.



Michael loved the whole idea of blowing out candles.



Though he really had to work for the last one.

Michael had a great time on his birthday with his presents and cake and homemade pizza. For us, it marked a transition to our new life. On Michael's fourth birthday, we finally got the call telling us it was time to close on our house in Brewton. In fact, we closed two days later and the chaos began!