Progress on Floor Repairs

Although there are workers in the house all day long doing repairs, we can't help but stop by at times to check on the progress.   Stuart told me that our contractor had called him with an update that the kitchen tile was complete and needed to set up overnight so we couldn't walk on it if we came to the house.  Well, I couldn't wait another minute and we headed over there as soon as we thought the workers would be done for the day.  

When we moved into the house, the kitchen was pink.  I mean all pink.  Pink wall paper, pink countertops, and even the vinyl flooring has some pink tones in it.  Ugh!  We quickly painted the walls and Stuart replaced the countertops himself but we never did get around to tackling the kitchen floor.  This year we had actually made the plan for Stuart to take a whole week off of work and the two of us would work together on replacing that vinyl flooring with tile ourselves.  But that task was a little daunting since we have never worked with tile and there are so many nooks and crannies that would have to be covered including the bathroom, 2 closets, and the laundry room.  So when I walked into the house and saw that we had a new beautiful porcelain tile everywhere that used to have pink vinyl flooring, I was truly overwhelmed.  

Our contractor is such a blessing to us.  Insurance paid to replace the vinyl flooring with new vinyl flooring but Richard was able to find us a great deal on this tile and he helped us decided on some other items that we would repair on our own in order to put that money into the tile upgrade.

I just can't help but do the Happy Dance as I look back at these pictures!  I'm so excited!

Some of the laminate flooring is in as well.  Here is our school room.  They will replace the base boards next.

The playroom that the kids are standing in used to have old builder grade carpet in it but now it has the same new hard surface as the rest of the downstairs.  It will be so much easier to clean.  I pray that getting rid of the dust-collecting carpet will help Nicholas and me with our allergies and asthma.

As we see our new kitchen coming together it is really hard to look at that builder grade stove that is 23 years old and doesn't work well.  Insurance has paid us to replace some of our personal items that were damaged in the flood but we've decided to not replace those and put that money into getting a new stove.

We have been doing really well about eating breakfast and lunch in the hotel room to try to save money.  We have a little fridge in the room so we keep milk and sandwich meat and a few frozen items there and it has gotten us through great.  But we decided to go out for lunch today and I let the kids pick where they wanted to go.  I was craving a big salad so that was the only requirement that I gave for the restaurant.  I think that gave Nicholas the idea for picking Souper Salad. They have a full salad bar as well as pizza, pasta, baked potatoes, soups, tacos, etc.  And it is all-you-can-eat so the kids loving going back to the bar as often as they want.

After our lunch, we went to many places to shop for stoves and even to look at kitchen cabinets because that may be another blessing our contractor is working on.  Insurance has paid to replace the insides of the lower kitchen cabinets because they absorbed water from the flood but our contractor said that the cost to do that will probably not be much different than just replacing the whole cabinet.  He is working with the numbers to see if he can find a way for us to replace the upper cabinets as well and still stay within our budget.  The kids did a great job and behaving well after hours of shopping.  So I didn't feel too bad when we left our last store, Home Depot, and we all got a little treat.

Environmental Classes in Irving

I have always worked with the kids on planting a few fruits or vegetables in pots in our backyard.  We've grown strawberries and peanuts but they never really did well.  We usually have good success with tomatoes and various types of peppers...well, at least until it gets really hot in July and August and we don't go outside as much for fear of melting under the sun's burning rays.  We also have problems with bugs eating away at our veggies.

This year we were hoping to take the leap to a real garden.  We like the idea of square foot gardening.  We have seeds sprouting indoors waiting to go into the ground. We have the wooden frame of what will someday become a nice square foot garden.  However, with the flood and us now living in a hotel, the garden is at a standsill and the seedlings indoors are not looking very healthy.

However, we are still trying to learn a lot more about how to grow our own food and making sure our kids learn along with us.  I was excited to find these classes that are coming up.  Irving’s Think Green, Be Green Department is offering several classes to help residents learn to be better stewards of the planet.  Click HERE to register online. 

·   Beneficial Insects: 6 to 7:30 p.m., May 20, West Irving Library, 4444 W. Rochelle Road. Most insects are friends of the gardener. Dallas County Master Gardener Carolyn Rozier will help students identify insects that are helpful to the gardener and offer tips on how to effectively decrease dependence on pesticides.

·   Rainwater Harvesting: 9 to 11 a.m., May 31, location provided upon registration. Learn about water conservation through the harvesting of rainwater. Students also will learn how to build a rainwater harvesting collection barrel. At the end of the clinic, students will receive a rain barrel ready for use. Registration required. $30.

Backyard Composting:  6 to 8 p.,. June 3. Learn how to compost using the hot and cold methods.  Students also will discuss types of materials to use in building a compost pile as well as troubleshooting composting problems. Students also will learn about the benefits of compost and applications in gardening.

 

Free DVD for Your Homeschool: Stossel in the Classroom

Each year I get a free DVD from John Stossel's series, Stossel in the Classroom.  It is for teachers to use as supplement material in their lessons.  The 2014 edition is 47 minutes long.  It includes 8 segments from Stossel's television programs that have been specifically edited to use in a class setting for children.

Here are the video segments on this year's free DVD:
- College Tuition and Campus Luxuries
- Product Liability Lawsuits: Who Gets Burned?
- High Speed Rail: Boondocks & Boondoggles
- The Fracking Debate
- Food Nannies: Who Decides What You Eat?
- Entrepreneurs: Doing Good by Doing Well
- The Psychology Behind Political Campaigns
- Taxi Licensing: Are We Being Taken for a Ride?

This DVD is competely FREE.  They even cover the shipping for you!  To order your free DVD or to get more information, including segment descriptions, click here: http://stosselintheclassroom.org/freedvd/?source=ftc
I was just on the website to get the link to order the DVD and I realized that they now offer all of the video segments as streaming videos right on their website. Check it out HERE.  That means you don't even have to order the DVD anymore.  It's just all on the website and you can even see the segments from previous years as well.  You will surely find something here that can help you in your homeschool plans for the year.

Demolition Day

Today is Demolition Day at our house.  All of the flooring in the downstairs of our home is coming up.  Stuart left the hotel this morning and got to the house for about 9:00 to let the workers in and give them a key.  They started by putting up plastic sheeting everywhere to help control the amount of dust that would have to be cleaned up.  Then they went to work pulling up the vinyl floor in the kitchen and the wood floor elsewhere.

By the time the workers left for a lunch break, most of the flooring was up and this is what the living room looked like when I was standing at the front door.

 

Here is the entry way with the stairs in front of me.  This part of the floor is higher than the rest and was not affected by the flood.  However, our insurance is replacing all of the other wood flooring so they agreed to replace this small piece as well just so it all matches.  The black tile "landing" that you see below is just inside the front door and it is also coming out.  It wasn't part of the insurance claim but we want all of the flooring to be the same and our contractor is working with us to try to get this included in the work and still stay within our budget. 

Still in the entry way, looking to the left into the school room/formal dining room area.

This picture below is of the living room and playroom from the back door area.  I never noticed how "peachy" those walls looked.  I'm going to repaint them all with the same neutral color we've started using in other rooms that we repaint as needed.  Eventually all of the house will be probably be that same color.  It is a very pale tan color and will lighten and brighten this area more.  I'd love to do the painting before they put in the new floors so I don't have to worry about drips but that would mean working through the night when the workers aren't here and I don't know if I have the energy for an all-nighter these days.

Insurance is covering replacement value of the flooring that we had as well as some other repairs.  We decided to do some of the work ourselves to save some money to put into upgrading some repairs.  We also wanted to be sure to find flooring that was extra durable and wouldn't scratch easily because our kids are still young enough to be destructive.  We decided to not use same wood floor that we originally had but chose something more durable and a little less expensive.  It is a commercial grade laminate that looks like wood.  Click THIS LINK to see it.  It is called Old World Florence and it doesn't scratch or dent easily.  It is a floating floor so it isn't glued down which means that individual boards can easily be replaced if they do get damaged.  Our contractor said that we can actually replace the carpet in the playroom (which isn't part of the flood claim) with this laminate flooring without effecting our budget since it is cheaper than the flooring that insurance paid us for.  I love this.  Not only would all of the flooring have the same consistent look but I would like to get rid of all of the carpeting in our home so this would be a small step towards that goal.  Carpet is impossible to get completely clean and I worry that it is contributing to the asthma and allergy problems that Nicholas and I have.

We are trying to do some of the repair work on our own in order to upgrade the vinyl flooring in the kitchen to tile.  Our contractor laid out a few choices in the kitchen for us to decide on.

We have been a bit overwhelmed with choices.   We want it to meet our needs by being pleasing to us but also durable for our kids.  However, we may sell the house in the next two years so we want to be sure that we make choices that will be selling points for houses in our area.  So we contacted a friend of ours who is a realtor to come by and talk with us and the flooring guy.  It was actually fun going through options with them. 

 

She helped us make the decision between the wood flooring and the laminate wood.  She said that buyers will love the look and durability and the fact that we can get it at a cost within our budget to allow us to cover the entire floor with the same thing is great (i.e. removing playroom carpet and black tile at entry way). 

The laminate we chose is on the top of the porcelain tile that we've chosen for the kitchen.  The tile will also go into the half bath, laundry room and little hallway that goes to the school room.

The tile is definitely an upgrade over the vinyl flooring that we had so that will be over the budget that insurance is paying for.  There are several other things that need to be done that aren't included in the insurance payment.  There needs to be some leveling done before the new floor goes in and some of the baseboards need to be replaced that insurance didn't say were affected by the flood. Also insurance is covering partial replacement of cabinets in the kitchen but we might need to put more money into those to make it look consistent.  But our contractor is doing a wonderful job to try to work with us and help identify projects that we might can do on our own or that don't really need to be done right now so that we can put that money into these other areas.  I'm sure we will still owe money in the end but what a blessing it will be to have new flooring all over the downstairs of our house.

Aunt Elaine

It has been a rough week with having everything we own in the first floor of our house packed up and moved into storage and our family moving into a hotel for an unknown length of time.  As we were heading to the hotel on Wednesday for our first night there, I got a call from my Dad.  He told me that my Aunt Elaine had passed away earlier in the day.  I was shocked and saddened.   

And I felt guilty as those regrets of "Why didn't we go visit them more often" popped into my head.  It is times like these that we realize just how important family is and how we are only blessed to share their lives for a short time on this Earth before they are called back to be with their Heavenly Father.

I have a special place in my heart for Aunt Elaine and Uncle Broox for helping me find Christ in my life.  I have vague memories of going to Broadmoor Baptist Church when I was little but at some point we stopped going.  I didn't really grow up with any sort of a spiritual relationship.  We probably saw Aunt Elaine and Uncle Broox about once a year and every time we visited with them they would talk to me about Jesus and encourage me to read my Bible and go to church.  They gave me a little white Bible which I did read and I still have that little Bible today.  

After I grew up and moved out of my parents' house, Stuart and I would still get to visit with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Broox occasionally and they still continued to talk to us about Jesus.  Stuart was already a Christian but I never heard him pray or talk about going to church and I never saw him read the Bible.  I wanted to believe but just reading the Bible wasn't enough for me.  I felt like I had my life together and I was doing just fine.  I didn't really think I needed "the crutch" of a higher power in my life. 

But my aunt and uncle never gave up on me.  Every time I saw them they let me know that He was there for me when I was ready.  Over the years I found myself talking to them more when they would bring up the subject and really listening to what they had to say instead of just nodding and hoping to change the subject.  

Then one day as I was rocking my newborn baby boy in my arms, I felt so humbled and so blessed that I prayed.  For the first time in forever, I prayed.  I prayed a prayer of gratefulness and I prayed a prayer for guidance in raising the little angel in my arms and for building our little family to be followers of Christ.  I felt totally in awe of His power and grace and I could so clearly see how He had been there in my life over the years even when I didn't acknowledge Him at all.  I realized that I didn't have my life together at all.  I just struggled a lot and stubbornly fought battles that He had already won for me because of my own prideful ignorance.  It was an amazing moment that I will never forget.  After that we started going to church and reading the Bible again.  I accept Jesus as my Savior and was baptized in 2009.  We are a Christ-following family and we are raising our children to know the Lord and walk in His path.  I am forever grateful that my aunt and uncle kept planting the seeds so that when I was actually ready I would be able to hear His still small voice.

Rachel had a dress rehearsal for her dance recital on the day of my aunt's funeral.  With the stress of the flood and living in a hotel, I hated to add stress to her by making her perform in the recital after missing the dress rehearsal.  I was going to drive the few hours to the funeral myself but we prayed about it and we talked with each other as well as with Rachel's dance teacher and decided that we needed to go to the funeral as a family.

So we packed up the van and headed to Louisiana.  Along the way, the kids made up the most amazing song!  It really touched my heart to hear them worshiping in their own fun way.  I just had to catch this video of them (if you are reading this in email you will have to click through to the actual blog post to be able to view the video):  

We made it over just fine and enjoyed some time visiting with my family and their friends and loved ones.  There was food and fellowship and lots of love for my Aunt Elaine.

We changed into our fancy clothes and headed to the funeral.  I had not packed anything fancy for the kids when we packed up our suitcases to move to the hotel.  However, we were blessed that a friend of mine had just offered two dresses that she was passing down and I still had them in the van with us.  Rachel was excited about them both and picked the most frilly one to wear to the funeral.  She also wore her sunglasses and Great Wolf Lodge wolf ears on the way but we did make her leave those in the car once we arrived at the funeral home.

The service at the funeral home was sweet.  Although Rachel had only met Aunt Elaine once before she started crying during the service.  I tried to comfort her but she just sobbed more so fortunately the family section was close to a quiet room so we scooted out of the pew quietly and I just held her in my arms for a while until she calmed down.  She is such a sensitive little girl.  She didn't want to talk much but just kept saying that she felt so sad and that her body was just making her cry.  It was really touching.

After the funeral we headed over to their church for more good food and fellowship.

Both of the kids really liked spending time with my cousin Elizabeth.  It really meant a lot to me to see them spending time with family members that they don't get to see very often.

Of course, I had to have lots of pictures of everyone and I think my Dad was all done at this point.  He was worried that we were making the round trip there and back home all in one day and he just kept saying that it was getting late and we needed to get back on the road before it got dark.  Once a daddy, always a daddy even when the kid is grown and on their own.

I will miss my Aunt Elaine greatly but her memory and love will remain with me forever.

Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and they staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head wiht oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.