Why we normally cage Justin when I'm gone...

(see below pictures): So I'm at my class last night and I call Justin during the first break to see what he's doing. Here's how the conversation went:

Stacey: "Hey honey, whatcha' up to?"
Justin: "Tearing up the kitchen floor!"
*note that he said that this with the enthusiasm of a ten year old building his first tree house
Stacey: "Err....that's great honey."
Justin: "Yeah, it's really slimy and there's four layers of flooring and lots of water. I think the water heater is leaking"
*this was said with so much enthusiasm that I imagined him jumping up and down like a ten year old at Christmas.
Stacey: "Okay then. Well I'll be home in a few hours - First Aid Kit's in the bathroom, Home Depot closes at 10."

Which brings me to the new thing I've learned about Justin - he likes projects. And when he decides to do them, he does them immediately. I wouldn't even be shocked to wake up at 2 am to find him painting the living room if the mood hit him. Hence the installing of a ceiling fan on a 90 degree day which made our attic roughly, the temperature of the Sahara.

Add our new neighbor Cabo Steve to the mix (equally project oriented) and I could have this house razed to the ground and re-built by Xmas.

But back to the floor...coincidentally our home inspector is also in my realtor class so he swung by to take a look under the house. Thankfully there is no rot but we're going to replace the entire floor just to be safe. So now I get to learn all about my homeowner's policy and contractors and fun stuff. This is when it's nice working in a realty office...I don't have to search far for people to call.

Anyways, hope all is well with everyone! Check back soon-maybe the boys will have built the new addition by then.

Stacey

Our lil onion kitchen...

The top layer removed (linoleum and plywood) to find layer two of linoleum (2 ply) and plywood


And under the 2nd layer we find.... more rotten wood.


Some subtle handywork from years before. Now we know why they put that second layer of linoleum down.


And voila.. the subfloor. Great.


After moving the stove back, this is what we have at the moment. See? I even cleaned up the mess for when Stacey got home.

Seeing purple spots before our eyes...

Justin: So while we were fixing breakfast today we noticed some purple spots on the kitchen floor. And they weren't stains from the TOP.
That SO can't be good.
After the initial investigation it looks like the water heater or some piping has been leaking under the linoleum. No telling how long it has been this way. Looks like we have a semi-major project lined up for August.
We cut away a small patch of the flooring to find soggy, rotted wood. It isn't all the way through yet, but at least a 1/4 inch is pliable in the test area. I can press my finger into it. Great.
SO. It looks like the flooring will come up in the next week so we can see just how much damage is done and what needs to be replaced/repaired.
Where is our landlord to fix this?? Oh yeah... Drat.

See the purple spots where the water has come up through the adhesive?


Another shot of the purple spots we thought at first to be simply stains.


After pulling up a bit of tile we found the wood underneath soaked...

So little time...

Stacey: You'd think I'd find time to post as I sit at the computer for half the day...oh well. These past two months have been such a blur that I really didn't realize we were halfway thru July until this morning. Oops!
I won't add much after Justin's play by play but just wanted to say a few things.
THANK YOU GREG & GROVER - I'd never met you before but I like that you moved heavy things for me so come over anytime. Or just have fun shooting at my boyfriend when he's online.
I've come to discover that parents take great joy in foregoing their own entertainment to help with such fun tasks as refrigerator cleaning, ceiling fan installations and the unpacking of my kitchen-thanks to all of our parents for so much help.
Our parents all got to meet a couple of weekends ago and all went well thankfully. Not that we were really worried. My biggest concern was trying to explain my mum's strange IHOP obsession to the Keelings but they seemed to be okay with that quirk and even joined us for breakfast so that was great.
Big thanks to Justin himself for making his first project the setting up of an office for me in the house-he's still using the floor so I can have the desk. Now if that isn't love, I don't know what is. :-)
To all of my friends who have forgotten what I look/sound like, I'll be in touch soon-I miss you guys (and you know who you are).
For anyone still wondering what Stacey is doing with her life, I start real estate school next Saturday and will give up the following seven weekends for the cause. Woo-hoo!
It's been a crazy summer and I continue to learn more and more about Justin and relationships. For instance, Justin gets a little frustrated when he can't find plumbing parts he believes should exist (this I discovered after an hour in the same aisle at Lowes). One should not reason with him or placate him at this point-just let it pass. I'm figuring out what's really important to get ticked off about and it's not who's stuff should go in which closet.
So now we're just trying to unpack, organize, perhaps decorate. We're looking at new front doors, getting a baker's rack for our shelfless kitchen. rugs so poor Oscar dog can remember the joy of walking without sliding and saving up for the ceiling fan we want for the bedroom. Still haven't tackled the great painting decisions and hoping to fit in some hiking sometime soon.
Any ideas for the paint colors? Right now I'm thinking some sort of red for the living room, Pompeii Orange for the kitchen (Thanks Lori!), and either brown or blue for the bedroom.
Okay, going to work now. I hope all is well with everyone. I'm going to try to make a MO visit in the next couple of months and I can't wait to see everyone!!

Hayden in a waterfall

Stacey's mom and dad in my parent's kitchen

A picture of my sister and her fiancee

All Right, Where Were We?

Justin: So first off, thank you so much to everyone who has helped us in the past several weeks. Especially our parents. Without you all things would still be in quite the disarray.

So, where to start:

June 23rd a couple of guys I work with, Grover and Greg, helped me get most of Stacey's apt. packed and moved after work. At least that was out of the way. Stacey did really well not telling us how to handle her belongings and then she bought us pizza! Sweet! She rocks!
The 24th my father came into town with his truck and Stacey helped us finish packing up the Palm Ave. house. I think it was 11 or so by the time we got it all boxed up.

Grover showed up with his van and trailer about 7AM or so and we got the party rolling. Unfortunately, again, I was too busy and focused on getting things moved to take pictures of the guys... Sorry Grover and Greg. I know you're heartbroken. But we got most of the big items in both vehicles and the first haul. My Bostonian bud Phil (Phil! They said it wasn't Phil, but I said it was Phil!) showed up about 9 or so and we started on the boxes.
Geez. You know, I don't have a lot of stuff. Oh sure. I have more things now then I used to, but its still not a lot and MAN, I wanted to just sell it all right there in the yard. Someone could have walked by with $200 bucks and they'd have gotten the deal of a lifetime.
Anyway, by the end of the afternoon we had it almost all moved. Well, we did actually - only the small stuff and single items were left. Stacey was working on a couple of projects with the realty compnay she works for so she missed quite a bit of the excitement, but I made sure to leave her plenty of not so brightly wrapped boxes for her to open and then put away.
And I already told you about Sunday - my dad's birthday. Poor guy. But he knew what he was getting into.
Let's see... the rest of the week was uneventful house wise. It was all work related stress as Stacey was covered up and I was absolutely slammed. I was able to get some things doen, though. Mosty small things like door stops, a message center and key hooks by the door, a couple boxes put away, and some temp shelving in the bathrrom to get Stacey's portable CVS store off the floor before her parents showed up on Friday.
Ed and Sue rolled into town later Friday night and we had a bite to eat, talked a little then hit the sack. Saturday we got up and started on the house a little but didn't get much done as we left for Knoxville in the early afternoon. We ate at Applebee's down from the hotel after sneaking Oscar into the room and then went to Wal-Mart.
HA.
You know, that Wal-Mart started out as a very small store some 10 years ago. Since then it has gone thru 2 major renovations, both of which where the store decided to remain open throught the construction. Now its a Super Center Monster. And of course, true to Wal-Mart code, only 2 registers were open on the Saturday of Fourth of July weekend.
So Stacey and I dropped her parents off at the hotel and she and I scooted over to Paul and D's for a couple hours. We had a nice visit but had to go as it wsa going on midnight.
Sunday morning came awfully early and my parent's house all the racket. My sister was in with her fiancee and my nephew and not much later Paul and D and my god-nieces Hannah and Mckenzie showed up to visit. About 12 or so Stacey and her parents showed up aso the house was very full. It was a good time. Ed and Sue got along well with my parents and the girls got to play with Hayden, whom Hannah has dubbed her little brother. After Paul and the girls left to go to his mom's house for fireworks, my mom and I made dinner. Grilled salmon and kabobs (beef & chicken), served with grilled asparagus, sweet potatoes and corn. No one got sick so it must not have been too bad. Ed and Sue had never had baked sweet potatoes. Kara and Josh left a bit later with a sleepy Hayden in tow.
What else...
Monday we all met (sans Kara) at IHOP for breakfast. Boy, I couldn't tell you the last time I ate at one of those... But it was good and we had nice conversations. Not the "I'm being nice" type, but actual good conversations. About 2 we left for Charlotte. Ed and I got to work running wire and conduit for the outside electric box and security lights on Tuesday and I lopped out quite a bit of the holly tree in the back. Then it was off to ZAPATA'S in University for great maxican cuisine. Wednesday I had to work and Stacey took them around on small site seeing excursions. Thursday Ed installed the ceiling fan in the office for me since the weather was bad and they couldn't get out.
Sweet.
That night we went out to the BEST VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT IN CHARLOTTE, Lang Van's (blatant promoting), and we drove thru downtown for a quick tour and then home for ice cream. Friday morning they split for MO.
Friday night I ran speaker wire and some other stuff then fixed leftover broiled salmon with corn and Saturday I spent most of the day setting up the office a bit more - redoing my PC and setting up Stacey's new one. Still need a desk.. Hmm...
Today is SUNDAY - which means sleeping in then Stacey gets a paper while I fix brunch.
Stacey is out running work related errands at the moment but she will be in to post her side of the last several weeks and to point out all the things I've forgotten, I'm sure.

Thanks again to everyone for everything. Our parents were embarrassingly generous with gifts and labor and our friends didn't even blink at the thought of giving us a hand. We are in your debt.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some lowes.com window shopping to do...

Justin

Office at the moment. My stuff is on the floor so Stace can work at the desk. Notice the lovely ceiling fan Ed installed for us.


original living room, still with carpet...


Living room currently, minus carpet, minus kitchen door, add pug


Dad working on his birthday


Rear holly tree with new do... You can see the security lights there on the edge of the house.


Stacey wanted me to post one of her actually working...


Bathroom with temp shelving, new shower head and curtain


Breaking in the couch in the new place...

An Update This Way Comes...

Justin: No really, once I get the PC unpacked and some other things set away, we are going to have a big update with lots of pictures and recent news. Oh sure, most of you that read this little blurb will have been a part of all that has gone on lately, but that's hardly the point. Right now we are in TN as Stacey's parents are meeting my parents... Give me a couple days to get back to Charlotte and set it all up.

And before I forget, Scott Kurtz was right: NC = humid. (www.pvponline.com)