Flood Update: Part 10

~Saturday (February 12)~

First thing in the morning, we receive a call from Mr. A. He talked with Dad about the work they are going to do at the house next week. We all head down for breakfast, and read our blogs afterward. Then we go back to the room to pack!

We load up Mom’s car first, because she has to take the kids to swim lessons. Then we watch a TV show about home renovations gone wrong. It made us thankful that our problems were relatively simple compared to some of the problems with the houses on the TV show!

Around 10:30 a.m., we leave the hotel and head for home! We all arrive together (the kids needed some swim towels at the house.) Unfortunately, we were met with an unexpected setback. The floors were rough, bubbly and patchy-looking. This is not the way they were before. Dad is going to have to call Mr. A and Miss D (the insurance agent) to discuss what happened. Hopefully, they’ll be fixed.



Can you see the tiny bubbles/bumps at the top of the picture? It felt very rough when you ran your hand over the wood.



Hmmm, I don’t think toilets belong in the living room.



Wait a minute; WHERE IS THE LIVING ROOM???



What an image: a toilet and a fridge next to each other. That would be quite a bathroom, to have those two side by side! Or it could just be our family’s living room. J



I go with the boys to pick up the pets at the kennel. The cats are both bawling, but the dog is happy to see us! We take them home and put them in the basement. The dog cannot be on the wood floors because he has a tendency to play rough and run around, which would NOT be good for the flooring right now!

We realized too late that we left the animals’ food at the kennel! Dad ran back out to get it for us. Then we prepared some leftovers for lunch. All we can use right now is the microwave and the toaster oven. We’ll have to be creative with how we cook!



Our empty kitchen.



The “wash” room. We can wash clothes, dishes, and hands in this room now! Well, except for the fact that we can’t get in the room. That could pose problems for someone wanting to wash something.



Anyone who can get to the computer will be a certified gymnast!



The rest of the afternoon was spent loitering in the basement, unpacking some of our books, and watching “National Treasure.”

At 5:30 p.m., we left for dinner. We went out to a local Mexican restaurant. It was bustling on a Saturday night, but we were still seated fast. This is a favorite restaurant because the food is good and very authentic, and the atmosphere is very family-friendly. We enjoyed a lot of family fellowship and some delicious cuisine!



Our family enjoying some delicious Mexican food! (Rubia is hidden next to Roma on the right)



I have some fun-loving sisters!



We then came home and showered. The kids finished the rest of their movie and then came upstairs to help Dad strip wallpaper in our dining room. We’ve decided to let Mr. A’s restoration company do the painting. But Daddy had already bought a steamer and wanted to test it out. It works great! The vinyl part of the wall paper was just ripped off, and then he used the steamer to get the rest of the paper and glue off.



Roma, hard at work pulling wallpaper off in our dining room.



After that, we all went to bed!

~Sunday (February 13)~

I woke up around 8:00 a.m. For my first night back home, I had a rough night’s sleep. I was feeling sick, I couldn’t fall asleep because of my head feeling stuffed-up, and the cat bothered me all night. He kept jumping in my face, and then he fell asleep on the back of my knees, making them rather stiff in the middle of the night.

I came downstairs expecting my usual hard-boiled egg Sunday breakfast, but I forgot that we can’t use the stove! I had to improvise a bit.

We went to church around 9:30 a.m. After service, I gave this talk during my Sunday School class. We came home for lunch around 2:00 p.m., and then spent the afternoon reading and chatting in the basement (we can’t get into our living room, remember? J). Mr. A called to talk with Dad about some of the issues. He will be re-doing the floors, so…we will have to leave again on Tuesday and come back on Thursday. They will also be painting the entire basement since the insurance will pay for it. The old paint looks rather dingy next to our new walls. It will brighten things up down there for sure! We are also going to hire them ourselves to paint the dining room, since we just don’t have enough time to do it right now.

Around 4:00 p.m., I took a little walk outside as it was rather warm (in the 30s—Michigan’s definition of “warm” right now. J) At 5:00 p.m. I got on the computer to do some “blog work” and catch up on journaling.



Our bookshelves are slowing coming back together!



We ate our simple dinner of bagels and then I did more work on the computer. After our showers, Mom and I worked on our Discipling Study. We are reading “Raising Maidens of Virtue” by Stacy McDonald together every Sunday night. We are really enjoying it! We have done studies like this for many years, focusing on daughterhood and biblical romance (courtship.)

Then it was bedtime! Hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight than I did last night.

. . . To be continued. . .