Monday, April 14, 2014

Still Dancing....

I have decided to not post in the moment. Rather, I think it necessary to let a couple days pass so that I can blog with a clear mind, having moved past the initial impressions of any given situation or day's events. Having said that, let me tell you about last week.( I am just going to insert random photos taken this weekend so that you don't get bored.)

We started out in what has become our new normal which I am dubbing 'in-house camping'. Tuesday we met with our friends for our usual Tuesday Tapestry of Grace homeschool day with one little added bonus of having the plumber working in the kitchen as we worked at the table in the dining room. It was funny to later hear that he was trying to be quiet for us! Nothing much bothers us, we just press on. He did get a lot done and I was encouraged.
Vent pipes for kitchen and bathroom. I know, hold your
applause!
Plumbing for kitchen sink and
problem dishwasher.
Plumbing for washing machine!



Wednesday our electrician came! I was excited....until he pointed out the knob and tube which I have already told you about.

Friday he came back to clean it out. One step forward. Mr. FixIt said to let him cut a trench through the front room and he would plaster it later. I got busy moving my camping kitchen out of the front room but I am running out of places to put it. Most of it ended up on my dining table but that is okay as Mr. could mud the 2inch trench when he got home, sand and we could paint sometime in the future. I could move everything back and it would be back to controlled chaos over the weekend.

Well, things don't always go as planned. The electrician asked me to look at something for him and I could hear the checkbook gasp! Turns out that the helper he had with him was told to cut through the plaster and slats in the ceiling to access space to run the new wiring but his depth perception must have been a bit off as he ended up cutting through the floor joists to the second floor! No worries, a carpenter was on the way and they would pay for the repair.....um, yeah. So, what had been an almost cute little 2 inch run across the ceiling was now a 2 foot x 4 foot gaping hole.  I could not take photos. I think I was in shock. And, again....two steps back. Oh yeah, and my plumber pointed out that I could not use the beautiful new dishwasher I had purchased. Why doesn't matter other than only one in ten are made with the problem this one poses for our job. I told him my husband would not be surprised to know that I had managed to find it then. The electrician chimed in that I should just do what I am good at. I have to find a new one. (Dishwasher, that is, not electrician or plumber.) Two more steps back.

The electrician came back to finish up Saturday morning. Mr. and I went to Home Depot to get some drywall. That was a trip in itself! Mr. had asked me to measure my vehicle across the wheel well  to make sure drywall could fit in. I measured and had inches to spare. Easy peasy, I told him. Once we purchased the drywall and brought it out to my Highlander it was a whole different story. Yes, it would sit over the wheel wells but the opening to get it to that place was not wide enough! My bad! We strapped 6 sheets of drywall to the luggage rack and drove home, each of us with an arm out the window holding it down so that the wind would not take it. I know, I need a truck if I am going to be doing this stuff!
New electrical lines!

Looking into the kitchen from the front room.

Notice the lighting! Yeah!

As of now, I do not have lights in either the front room or dining room. My dining table is covered with kitchen stuff. The microwave is in the dining room along with the toaster, the coffee pot and the fridge. There is a plastered patch in the front room that needs another coat of mud on it. I did find a new dishwasher. One step forward. Presently, there are about 8 men in my basement removing some pipes with asbestos and replacing a 10 foot section of cast iron heating pipe for my steam radiator system. There is no way I can meet tomorrow for our homeschool group with all this in the state it is in. One good thought is that the electrical and plumbing inspections will happen tomorrow. One step forward.

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