This is the call K made to "Tornado" (pronounced nanado) yesterday. We're approaching 3 months and she still talks about it on nearly a daily basis. She decided yesterday to call "Tornado" to ask it some questions. We were all in her bedroom, hanging some flower lights on the wall, when she picked up her pink pretend barbie phone and made the call. Apparently "Tornado" wasn't home. He was out. ;) She continues to be very excited to see our roof each night when we get home and now is in love with the new windows. The new windows in our bedroom in particular. "They're beautiful!!!" I agree. Certainly an upgrade from the boarded look.
Seven years ago on June 29th, we purchased our house in Raleigh, NC. For those that don't remember it was quite a whirlwind time. Stephen and I had been married about 8 months and decided we didn't want to travel 40+ weeks ago year, four to five days a week. You know it's time to stop when you wake up and roll over to look at the phone in your hotel room to figure out what city and state your in. Or, at least, that was my queue. The decision to stop the travel gig required us to sell our house and relocate to Raleigh. We did so in less than 30 days, all the while, still traveling. I smile as I type that and think... Now THATs some serious project management skills! =) I wonder if Stephen used that as hours for his PMP? =P
June 29th was a momentous day 7 years ago and it was again in 2011. I came home mid-afternoon on the 29th to be there while the gents installed the remaining windows and replaced the damaged screens. I was sharing with one of the subcontractors, Brian, that it was the anniversary of the day we closed on the house. His response, "We need to get the big stuff done today!!!" True to his word, he did. As of June 29th the biggest exterior repairs were completed: Roof replaced; siding replaced; windows replaced; gutters replaced. We're so grateful to Carolina Restoration and their subcontractors for all they've done to help us restore our home. Travis, Brian and Paco have been wonderful. Truly good, and honest people, to work with. We're not finished yet, but there is not a single tarp anywhere on our house. Now THATs progress. :)
The next series of projects include light replacement on the garage, replacing the garage door (which seems to be getting worse and gets stuck at the most inopportune times), repainting the front door and all of the trim, front screen door replacement, screened-in porch repaired, screen door on the porch replaced and then we have some interior things we're doing. Floor repair/replacement, painting and some other home improvement projects that we're going to tackle now since we're tearing things apart. I think my fortune about a month ago was right... By the end of this year I WILL be living in a new house. While the address will be the same, there will be a lot of new parts. :)
In previous blogs I've asked you to pray for the folks in Tuscaloosa and Joplin. Today I ask that you add one of our neighbors to your list. Very early this morning their house caught fire. Their home is behind ours on a diagonal. (Note: we were not affected by the fire.) This is a home, that I believe, was spared significant damage during the tornado only to have their house seemingly destroyed by fire. I'm not a fire marshal or proclaim to know much about it, but to look at the videos and reports (we weren't home when it happened) it seems pretty bad. The second floor collapsed into the first. Fortunately the entire family made it out of the house safely.
This makes me grateful again that our middle of the night scare of the fire alarms going off was a false alarm. The pounding of my heart and my terror running to get a sleeping K from her bed has stayed with me. For those that have known me a long time you know my fear of fire is significant. GINORMOUS. I know. And I was a fire police officer?! I'll remind you my "team" called me "speed bump" and usually the FP officers are far away from the actual fire... Well, all except that time that I drove straight up to the house that was engulfed in flames and then hightailed my Ge0 Metr0, in reverse, back out to the main road. But that's a story for another day... Check your smoke detectors. Remember, after 7-10 years they "go bad". Replace them.
I hope all of our family & friends had a wonderful holiday weekend. xo
Love,
Dar, Stephen & KK
