We started taping plastic all over everything as soon as we could finish sanding some of the rough spots in the drywall. We quickly reached a point, however, where we were no longer sure what we needed to cover or how to cover it. So we called Dean Smith and told him we would need some help with the covering before he came to spray. He sent Deanna as promised and we worked all morning long hanging plastic and covering everything we could see with contractor's paper.. And then, and THEN - Dean Smith actually showed up as promised and finished spraying the walls in a little over an hour. It was fantastic!! The first project to really go off without a hitch... And a truly fair price. Those are RARE in this post-Katrina world.
I think all of that played a role in how we felt when it was finished.
That and the feeling that whatever work is left to do is stuff that we might actually be able to do ourselves. Maybe. Whether or not we actually do it ourselves is yet to be seen, of course... But it's at least possible. So maybe we just were feeling a little less loss.
I think the mood lasted longer for Dave than myself. I have been prone to extreme mood shifts for the last few weeks now -- it could be the stress. Or maybe I'm just losing my mind.... In any event, I was so thoroughly disappointed when Dave called the next morning to tell me that the Carpet & Tile store said they would not schedule a time to put in our floor this week -- but maybe they would get a chance to do it next week. Sigh. Don't you love it when you've paid a lot of money to a place and you're waiting for them to actually do the work you paid for... and they assure you that they MAY be able to SCHEDULE a time to do the work at some other time? Blah.
I fought all day long to not be depressed about it. I struggled for the optimism. I sang Christmas carols. And I started priming the walls for painting in my spare time. I got a lot done too - so that when it was time to start making dinner I was feeling pretty good again.
I put the oven on preheat and set about cleaning up my painting mess and feeding all the critters and such. When I returned to the kitchen - the oven was still preheating. Or at least that's what it said it was doing. I could not help but notice that it was not hot at all. Not even warm. It was downright cold, okay? I spun around and glared at the newly installed dishwasher. "You did this, didn't you?" I snarled.
It took me longer to get started today -- a few extra Christmas songs and an extra bucket of primer -- but I have managed to restore the sense of optimism.
The babies' room now has the first full coat of primer.
I posted a message this morning at the Kitchenaid website and told the story of the dishwasher. Someone from Kitchenaid contacted me immediately and promised that they would at least see to it that we get our rebate (even though we were never given the proper paperwork for the rebate promotion) and also that they will gladly schedule a service call for the oven if we need it. I thought that such a prompt and friendly response deserved a mention here. Thanks, Kitchenaid.
Now if we can just get the vacuum cleaner repaired. Should I start an entirely new "Kirby Vacuum Mini-series" topic, I wonder? If you're familiar with Kirby -- they have a lifetime guarantee. Ours flooded of course -- so we contacted Kirby via email to see if there was any hope for the thing. They said they would rebuild it for us if we sent it in with the proper form. They mailed the proper form - but the proper form said that we had to have the original paperwork proving ownership of the Kirby. All of that flooded as well - so we called and explained our problem. We were told to go ahead and ship the vacuum anyway with the information that we had. And so we did. Then we received a letter stating that they would not be able to rebuild our vacuum cleaner until we submitted a proof-of-loss statement signed by both us and our insurance company before a notary. We called again and explained that our insurance company doesn't know or care about our Kirby vacuum cleaner because we did not have flood insurance. In addition, the proof-of-loss statement requirement was waived by FEMA for anyone in the declared disaster areas. They then told us to write down everything that we told them on the phone and have that notarized and send it to them. Gurgle.
Have I mentioned that this is not a free rebuild or anything? We have to do this simply to be able to PAY THEM to repair the vacuum cleaner. We keep finding ourselves in a pickle on these things because we don't have an operational typewriter or printer at the house -- and once we are able to actually get something printed to send to a place like this... Then we have to actually find a notary. Remember - Dave works from sunup til sundown during the week and I have no car... Notaries don't do housecalls either. Sooooo.. Dave will have to take time off of work again so that we can drive around looking for a notary to witness us sign a statement saying, "Yes, our vacuum cleaner flooded -- just in case the corrosion, crusted salt water, and fishy smell coming from the box we sent you a couple weeks ago wasn't a dead give away."
katrina
home+repair
mississippi
kirby
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