Flood Update: Part 12

~Wednesday (February 16)~

Around 8:30 a.m., we leave for breakfast in the lobby. We check our blogs and then head back to our room. Mom gives us about 15 minutes to finish up our devotions and then we leave to run some errands.

First we head toward the house. Near the entrance to our neighborhood, we see what looks like a German Short Haired Pointer running down the main road. It looks lost. L We try to call it to the car, but it takes off in the other direction. We follow for a ways until it turns down a country road. We’re hoping that someone will find it and call an owner (it was wearing a collar.) I don’t understand why it won’t come to us. Maybe it’s afraid of cars.

Back at the house, we check the floors. They feel MUCH BETTER. That’s a relief! We leave a few bags and the boys grab a board game and we take off. Then it’s on to the bank, the library to drop off some books, the post office, and finally the church, to change the sign out front.

Back at the hotel, we eat lunch, and then do some light school work.



Josiah learned how to read at the hotel! He finished putting together his phonics notebook and started reading “Dick and Jane.” He is doing very well and practicing a lot!



At 3:00 p.m., we suit up and go for a swim in the hotel pool. I would have loved to get some exercise in the big pool, but I was just feeling too poorly to enjoy myself. I think because my sinuses and ears are bothering me, swimming just isn’t pleasant. So I just stayed in the hot tub the whole time.J

After swimming, we came back to the room and took early showers. I worked on some more school work and helped Mom prepare dinner for our Vegetable Night. Afterward we left for Bright Lights. (“Bright Lights” is a ministry started by the Mally family. It stands for “Being Radiant In Godliness, Holiness, and Testimony.” It is a discipleship group for young ladies. To learn more, you can check out their website.)



Rubia and I washing dishes in the kitchen at the hotel.



We arrive back at the hotel at 9:30 p.m. and go to bed for the last time here! Tomorrow we get to go home to stay!

~Thursday (February 17)~

Around 8:30 a.m., we leave for our last “Breakfast and Blogs” routine downstairs. L I’m actually going to miss some things about our stay here. I’ve gotten to know quite a lot of people here that I will miss!

By 10:00 a.m., Mom and the twins leave on the first trip home with a carload of suitcases and bags. I watch the boys play chess after packing up our remaining bags onto the luggage cart.

Mom and the twins finally arrive back at the hotel around 10:45 a.m. Apparently, Mr. A and Mr. L arrived at the same time they did, and they needed some information about the work they will be doing today. We also find out that they need to redo a small section of the floor. Surprise! Some areas looked like they had dull footprints on them. But thankfully, it is a small section that can be blocked off so we can still go home.

We left the hotel after loading the car again and finally arrived home! Mr. A was gone, but Mr. L was prepping the dining room to begin painting ,and taping off the sections of floor that needed redoing.



Our dining room being prepped for painting.



Mr. A arrives shortly after we do. He starts off by putting more polyurethane on the floor. He then works on putting molding around the base of our kitchen cabinets. Meanwhile, Mr. L strips caulking in the dining room, puts primer on the walls, and paints the ceiling.



Mr. A puts polyurethane on the floor.



I tried to do some school work, but it was a little too hard to concentrate. I’m easily distracted by other people. J And I’ve had a rather light week due to feeling sick. I’ll get “back in the groove” next week.



I was able to concentrate a little bit by secluding myself amidst the furniture. My sister walked by and laughed and took a picture of me buried beneath our furniture. J



Around 4:00 p.m. Mr. A goes downstairs to work on putting in the new ceiling tiles. Mr. L starts painting the dining room. I wasn’t paying attention, and a couple of minutes later I hear Mom say, “Uh-oh. There’s been a mistake.” There was some miscommunication and the green paint was being painted on the top of the wall instead of the bottom! Thankfully, we caught it before he got very far and he was able to wipe it off.



Mr. L painting the bottom of the dining room green. J



At 5:00 p.m. Mr. L finally takes his lunch break. Mr. A and Mr. L work without ceasing! He asked me if “it would bother anyone if [he] went downstairs to eat.” I said, “The kids are watching a movie, but if that doesn’t bother you, that’s fine.” Later I found out that he went down and asked the twins, “What are you watching?” They said, “A Princess movie.” He said, “Oh. Can I watch?” J You can tell that he is raising little girls if he’s willing to sit through princess movies! I worked on organizing the unfinished part of our basement while they watched the movie. We were just getting everything up off of the floor and organized in that room before the flood happened. Then it quickly filled up again with other things from the rest of the basement that needed “temporary housing.” It’s finally getting back to the way that it was.

Around 7:00 p.m. Mr. A and Mr. L move the oven, island, and kitchen table back into the kitchen. We replace all of the felt pads on the bottom of the table, chairs, and stools before we put them back. They use a really neat air lifter system to move the island. The island “floats” above the floor! It certainly makes the job easier. Mr. A says that’s what you have to do when you get older. You have to rely on all these special gadgets! I asked him what he used to move the dining room table. He said, “I used J!” (Another worker.) Mr. A has a good sense of humor!



Mr. A and Mr. L moving our island.



We sit down to eat dinner at a real table! We haven’t been able to do that in quite awhile! The dining room is looking awesome! I love the “Mesa Verde” green on the bottom and the “Navajo White” (a cream color) on the top half! It looks so fresh in there! I can’t wait until we can put the chair rail up and be finished!



Our new dining room walls!



Mr. L and Mr. A hard at work in the dining room.



At 8:45 p.m., I go up to shower expecting Mr. A and Mr. L to be gone by the time I come back. I was rather mistaken. J I forgot that they had to move all of the furniture back! They put the hutch/china cabinet back and Mr. A was trying to figure out how we had everything arranged on it. I asked, “Do you need help with that?” He said, “What? You don’t like the way I’m arranging it? It was time for a change!” J Thankfully, I had taken some pictures before we moved everything, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have remembered either!

There was much debate about where to put the dining room furniture since we still have to put the chair rail up. We also debated about how the rug fit in there. The only way it fits is if we cover the heat vent (which we did.) Finally, they put most of the furniture back in the general area it goes, but left space so that we could get to the walls. We may try to put the chair rail up this weekend.

While they were moving furniture we took the opportunity to vacuum the rug in the dining room and under the furniture in the living room. These areas don’t get vacuumed often, and since we’ve been gone so much this month, they REALLY needed it!



Yes! We knew our living room was in there somewhere! (Sorry for the dust spots in the photograph. As I said, it’s hard to clean when you can’t physically get to any furniture!)



At 10:00 p.m. they finally get to go home! I have never seen two people work so hard—and long—in one day. At least Mr. L gets a day off tomorrow. I almost feel guilty having them work so long knowing their families have to be without them so often. I know it’s not very fun to have Daddy away! But at least they have time off!

At 11:00 p.m., I finally go to bed. Sleeping in my own bed has never felt so good!

. . . To be continued. . .