And the work goes on...

Freesia flowers! I suppose I should get a better vase.

First of all, a big thank you to my sister-in-law Chris for identifying my mystery flowers from the back yard as freesias.  I told Rick that they were not weeds, although I am not sure that they were intentionally planted either since they seem to randomly pop up in various places in the back yard.  I promised Chris that I would leave in her Florida house all of the non-perishable ingredients to make a fabulous key lime pie. 

Yesterday, because all of the insulation is gone from the attic right now, Rick was able to remove the water-damaged portion of the south kitchen wall and to remove the moldy (quite literally!) kitchen ceiling.  He chopped that plaster all down and then cut a new piece of drywall to fit in its place.  We can see by looking at the two-toned paint job in the ceiling where a huge area had already been repaired due to leaks in the roof, but the wall damage and moldy ceiling that Rick worked on yesterday were hidden under upper cupboards that we removed earlier. 

He also removed wires and patched in two previous electrical boxes -- one for what must have been a 1960's clock located above the cupboards, and the other for the thermostat that controlled the ceiling heat that originally kept this house cozy.  We have those same capped boxes in both bedrooms, the living room, and the Florida room in the house.  Contractors tell us that the wires are embedded in the plaster that makes up the ceilings in this house.

According to neighbors, this house originally had a traditional Florida tile roof.  While they are beautiful and quite durable, when they do start to leak, they apparently leak badly.  The roof on this house must have leaked for quite a while before someone stepped in and told the former owner, Jackie Scott, that she had to repair the roof.  We know from the inspector that roof boards were replaced at the time that the new shingled roof was put on approximately 8 years ago.  The neighbor, Monty, said that removing the tile roof cost Jackie over $20,000, so at least that was one expense we were spared.  Monty also said that as Jackie declined mentally she became paranoid and did not want to let anyone come into the house.  That may be another reason that the house was in such bad shape when we purchased it.

Last night we used some of our gift money from birthdays and Mothers/ Fathers Day to purchase a bed frame and box spring from Sam's Club.  While not terribly expensive, it certainly was appreciated when I was able to get out of bed this morning without having to literally crawl off the mattress before I could boost myself up.  My right knee certainly appreciates being able to just sit up and immediately stand as I left the bed. Osteoarthritis is a part of my heredity, and although it seems to be slightly better in the warmer weather, the knees, fingers, and hands are still pretty stiff when I first get up in the morning.  (Egad!  I'm not THAT old, am I?  Thanks Dad and Grandma Falk!)

Early this morning Rick again ascended the ladder into the crawl space that we call an attic.  He slithered over to above the master bathroom (headroom is less that 16") and literally pounded the old heater out of the ceiling into my waiting hands.  And Lindsay, no, daddy did NOT wear his hard hat, and he bumped into at least three nails up there with his hard head!!  While he was up there, he figured out more of our scary wiring and realized that we will have to add lumber between the studs to support the top of the wall we want to move. All of the attic work must be completed by tomorrow since we are getting 15 inches of insulation blown into the attic by Friday.  That means that we also must rebuild a drop-in door above the access space where the old whole-house fan once resided.  So much to do, and so little time!

Our one disenchantment with this whole remodeling adventure has been with the contractors we find in Florida.  Everyone is very friendly, and they all talk a good story, but we have found very few who are really reliable.  Perhaps this is just a cultural difference from people in "the North."  I have issues with the lawn person who apparently "sent us the wrong contract" that promised to cut the lawn weekly in the summer (it needs it) and bi-weekly in the winter.  Tim, who owns the lawn service, claims that we have the same agreement as Steve and Chris where he just comes bi-weekly.  After all, he said, their lawn only needs cutting every other week, and since we are related, our lawn must be the same. Rick and he get along just fine, but I do not care for the man at all.  I guess I will just have to get used to grass up to my #$$ in the backyard since Tim is only coming once every other week.  At least that gives the freesias time to grow.  

We currently are  waiting for the heating/ air conditioning grates that were supposed to be delivered on Tuesday and for the pest control man who was supposed to meet with us sometime yesterday.  We finally called the HVAC contractor who had lost all of our records and thus had to reschedule for Thursday.  As for the pest control man? He still has not shown up.

On a happy note, one thing -- my kitchen sink -- actually is going to arrive early.  The Internet tracking system says that the sink will not be delivered until July 6, but we got a call this morning that the sink will be delivered between 9 - 2 tomorrow.  Since we ripped out everything in the kitchen, including the kitchen sink, having a new one to install soon brings a big smile to my face.