Treading water

Now that the floor updates are done - I need to take a break to talk about what's actually going on around here. Yes, I know you already know about the floor and watching paint dry and Christmas trees and Thanksgiving dinners. I mean what's really going on around here.

It's called depression. Remember that looming mental health crisis? It stopped looming and settled in for the long-haul.

I woke up before dawn this morning crying. No particular reason. That's what I kept saying anyway. "Nothing to be sad about.. so why do I feel sad?" I have so much to be grateful for.. and I am grateful... I'm trying to be grateful. Why do I not feel so grateful anymore? Everything is great -- only rather disorganized and dysfunctional. Right?

Okay - here it is: Everything is not great. I'm way, way past being extremely happy that we are all alive and that we have a roof over our heads. It has been 15 months. If anyone out there is skeptical -- try remaining optimistic for 15 months with nothing to go on but the fact that you have a pulse and somewhere to sleep at night.

We have a kitchen floor!

Almost. Now we'll need some grout.

But the last tile is in place.

And I'm quite happy with it.

"Jack" and "Pete" (still not their real names) promise to return in the morning (sevenish again)
to start laying in the grout. Grout makes me nervous. The floor looks good... and so my fear that the tile I picked wouldn't look right is all taken care of... But now I must suffer through the same fear when it comes to the grout I picked. *shudder* I probably won't sleep tonight.

Afternoon update

The tile is approaching the back door now.

Er.. I mean where the back door used to be.

It's a good sign when progress is made faster than I can update pictures: The new backdoor is mostly installed now.

O Christmas Tree

I haven't ONLY been obsessing about the kitchen. George and Yvonne helped put together the Christmas tree over the weekend.

We had to find a place to put the tree in the middle of a room so that we won't be blocking any walls. I don't know just how much will be done before Christmas... but I didn't want the tree keeping us from being able to finally put in baseboards or finish the touch-up painting.

It took a couple of days to get it entirely assembled... And then, one night, in the middle of the night.... I realized that the tree was in the middle of the room. Yes -- I know - we planned it that way... But - how does one plug in Christmas tree lights when one's tree is a good six feet from any electrical outlet?

We had floor outlets in the living room before Katrina... I remember the water bubbling up through them that morning.... And we had an outlet reinstalled in one of them sometime over the last 15 months. But - since we didn't have the right cover for the outlet to come up through the carpet it has remained hidden under the carpet ever since.

It's something that I 'normally' wouldn't do... but the tree just HAD to be lit. I hacked through the carpet with a utility knife to get access to the outlet. NOW we have to search in earnest for the right outlet cover - preferrably one big enough to cover the hole in the carpet. :)

"Jack" and "Pete" got here as promised and are working hard this morning to finish laying the floor tiles in the kitchen.

"Jack" and the other guy... let's name him... uh... "Pete"... stayed until around 5 pm to get as much done on the kitchen floor as possible. "Jack" promises the plan is to come back bright and early (sevenish) tomorrow morning to totally finish laying tile in the kitchen. WOO!

The painters returned this morning at 8 am. They managed to get the first coat of paint on one upper cabinet before they were taken for another job at 12 pm. I'm only an amateur painter -- but four hours for one upper cabinet seems a bit much. Maybe all the incredible slowness would be more bearable if what little paint is applied looked great... But it doesn't. We're assured that it will look fine after the second coat is applied (and at this rate I'm guessing the second coat will be applied sometime next September....). I would much prefer that the first coat and the second coat both look fine.

In the meantime -- "Jack" has returned yet again with an assistant to lay some more tile in the kitchen.

Tile as of the end of the workday on Friday.

"Jack" made it at just after 7 am this morning -- but I wasn't around to document anything about his arrival because well... I was still in bed. But here's how the floor was looking at 9 a.m.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We all had a great time at Mom's this year. Good food and lots of fun decorating the Christmas tree. Thank you, Mom for everything!

Dean stopped by this morning and reassured me a bit. Holiday weeks are never conducive to getting work done -- I know this... But Dean assures me that very soon they're going to get to serious work in our house.

"Jack" (not his real name) is supposed to be coming here on Friday to work on the tile some more... and our painters are hopefully to be here on Monday to put some paint on something.

Until then -- it's Thanksgiving time.

It is Tuesday, isn't it? I mean, maybe I am reading the calendar wrong this morning.

Nearly 11 am and no work going on - no people here - no phone calls.

Despite all of my impatience -- I promise I would be able to handle all of this much better with nothing more than a courtesy call now and then to let us know who isn't coming and when they aren't coming. 'Possibly' Tuesday was vague enough to avoid any real entanglements.... But when Tuesday comes and is no longer a possibility -- isn't it just polite to let your clients know this?

It's 6:56 am and I have been awake for a while now. I'm not a morning person.... I'm half-awake waiting - just in case - for someone to show up and work on our kitchen. I'm not too hopeful - and that's the part that's truly irritating. I don't THINK anyone is showing up this morning since we didn't get any phone calls yesterday... BUT I would kick myself for weeks if someone came by and ended up leaving because I never let them in. So here I am.

While we're waiting for work to resume on the kitchen -- I'd like to take a post to mention, once again, our faithful dog - Judge. He hasn't exactly had the most comfortable life for the past 15 months either.... (see Judge's Aftermath) Reconstruction means that very often good portions of the house are off-limits to our furry child for his own safety... and he spends long days patiently waiting outside when strangers are here working.

Time has gone by in such a blur that I didn't realize I never gave a blog update on Judge since the shaving incident...

Judge's post-Katrina hairstyle.

Judge last night - hanging out on the couch with Buzz Lightyear.

I have been able to finally purchase some decent grooming combs and brushes since the storm - and I think - for now at least - his fur is safe.

Never leave me unattended....

... with a can of paint.

The only reason the kitchen walls were left with big splotches of white primer for so long was that I thought we had run out of kitchen paint. However, in the process of moving everything around getting ready for floors -- I ran across some yesterday morning.

The other corner

There's still touch-up to do - or else I'd give the cabinet painters (who aren't here - but I am) a run for their money painting the cabinets. There's still a chance though -- Tuesday's a long way off.

The paint's still wet behind the hutch.

7:00 am: We are all alone. No people. Just us.
7:27 am: Phone rings. Dean wants to let us know he didn't pick up the tile yesterday.
Now has to wait for store to open...
8:27 am: I wonder when the tile store opens?
8:33 am: Called Dean to find out if we should go get tile. Said he's loading it right now. Remaining skeptical.
9:15 am: Maybe we ordered more tile than we thought... But then again he didn't technically say he was actually coming here after loading the tile - just that he was loading the tile.
9:27 am: There is activity. A van. A knock at the door. Mumbling outside in the garage.
9:30 am: Still no people inside and the mumbling has stopped.. but we have also noticed a truck with a trailer parked in front of a neighbor's house and we have reason to believe that it is somehow involved.
9:32 am: There is a stack of something that could be tile in the back of one of the trucks. I'm not sure if it's the tile I picked - or if I would even recognize the tile I picked at this point. If it's not -- I'll change the wall color and move on.
9:37 am: The first question is asked: How wide do I want the grout? I don't know. I just want grout. I fear this question. I can see it coming - if I answer incorrectly - then this tile man will tell us we didn't purchase enough grout mix. He will make a 'run' to the store and we will never see him again. I'm onto you, mister!
9:51 am: The word is that someone named something like "Clint" has 'run' to Lowe's for spacers and probably trowels and things that I used to believe professional floor installers should have with them when they come to do a job. When "Clint" (We'll call him "Clint" even if that isn't his real name...) returns they're gonna get started...
10:14 am: "Clint" has returned. We saw the truck. No one is here with us inside the house now. They are outside planning something... Oh! Now someone has come in.. Wait.. A cell phone is ringing - they're back out.
10:18 am: They have begun chipping away at the remaining old thinset with hammers and snazzy chisel-like things. I'm feeling deja vu. Didn't Dave and I discover that this method was horribly inefficient several months ago?

"Clint" chips.

10:41 am: "Clint" (I have discovered that his name is not actually "Clint" at all...) had disappeared for a while but reappeared with a nice and noisy power tool to assist in the removal of thinset.
10:57 am: My lips are dry and I have sneezed 30 times in the last five minutes.
11:07 am: The sounds of the power tool have stopped. There is talking. Must investigate.
11:29 am: They are concerned about cracks in the slab. I heard something about linoleum and glue. In the meantime, "Clint" and Dave have unloaded the tile into the garage.

The tile.

11:43 am: After a quick call to someone on the cell phone, "Clint" has made a 'run' to the store for linoleum and glue. He sadly informed us that he doesn't think they're gonna get done today. (!!!) The other guy (who remains nameless to me... perhaps I should name him? I'll call him "Jack") is still making lots of noise with the power-hammer-thing-a-ma-bob.
12:45 pm: Dean arrives. He says we shouldn't expect to see any more work done until 'possibly' Tuesday.
1:36 pm: The first tile is in place.

2:31 pm: More tile.

"Jack" tiles.

3:00 pm: "Jack" is alone now.
4:15 pm: "Jack" is gone now.

The floor so far.

So it's over. The weekend is here and nothing more will happen until Tuesday at the earliest. With Thanksgiving coming up next week - the chances are high that if Tuesday doesn't happen we won't be waiting around for workers til around November 27th.

And so it will be until at least Tuesday.

Grant doubles mortgage

Grant doubles mortgage: "'And you know what SBA had the nerve to tell us?' Breland said. 'That if we had not closed our grant so soon, they would have given the loan to us. But what would you do if you've got your grant papers, saying you can close your grant?

Once I got information about my grant, I went and closed. I thought I was doing the right thing. It caused the SBA to pull back what they offered me. So they're not paying off my primary mortgage. Now I have an SBA note, plus a higher mortgage note for the next six or seven years,' Breland said."

Yet another reason to be glad we passed on the SBA loan.

Phase I: Dragging on towards restoration....

Okay... There are two cans of paint in the garage this morning. That's two cans more than we had yesterday. We didn't hear from painters or contractor yesterday - and we can only assume that all the violent weather was the problem.

This morning though -- there was a knock at the door at 7:30 am! Unfortunately, I was just being informed that they were dropping paint off and picking up some sandpaper that they left and that they weren't sure if they were supposed to come back to our house today or not and were waiting to hear from the contractor. *flop*

A man from Creative Interiors in Mobile, AL did show up yesterday to get a final measurement for our new countertops. He was actually early! I'm nervous and I hope he actually took the right measurements... but we'll deal with all that later. He tells us that it usually takes about three weeks for the counters to come in. According to our contract with Lowe's - and installer must call us to make an appointment within 72 hours of the materials arriving. I think this means that I'll have an update on the countertops in about four weeks.

Our flooring was due to arrive at the Carpet & Tile store yesterday afternoon -- but no one has confirmed this so far. I am secretly hoping that a flooring crew shows up at the door today. My feelings are only mildly mixed on this since I haven't cleared out the pantry floor... and the refrigerator and kitchen table are still in the room.... But if somebody dangles the prospect of real progress in my face I think I can carry the refrigerator on my back -- at least to the living room.

Update: We heard from Dean. He lost his cell phone. But he has a new one now and called to find out if we knew if our tile was in. The word is that our tile is in. It will hopefully be picked up sometime today and maybe dropped off here. It doesn't look like anything will be done around here today - so we have time to move the refrigerator (get ready, Mom!) and table, etc.

I'm told to expect to see people here at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Louisiana Man Killed, Eight Injured In Mississippi As Severe Storms Cross The South

WLOX-TV - The News for South Mississippi: Louisiana Man Killed, Eight Injured In Mississippi As Severe Storms Cross The South: "Lines of powerful thunderstorms packing possible tornadoes and heavy rain raced across parts of the South early Wednesday, injuring at least eight people in Mississippi and killing one man in Louisiana. More injuries were reported in Arkansas, where the wind toppled at least five tractor-trailer rigs along Interstate 40 and damaged a hotel."

Phase I: Katrina Rennovation.... Not... quite

I was up super early again this morning - in time to see a great armageddon-type sunrise in the middle of a squall. The weather must have slowed down our painting friends because they still haven't arrived for the day.

Patience is hard to come by around here.

We finally have the money to get started. We have a contractor. We even have a contract. But this is day three and nothing has been done. I know - I know... all of the cabinet doors and hardware have been removed and the cabinets have gotten a light sanding and wipe-down and that's something -- but it's something that I could have easily done myself in a fraction of the time. (And that's with all of the kids and animals scurrying around.) If only we'd known, we would have prepped it ourselves... but we were under the impression that professionals would zip through it all a lot faster than we could.

So we were wrong and I'm trying to be patient. It will get done. Eventually.

Phase I: Uh... Still... beginning.....

It is now nearly 5pm. The painting crew has been gone for nearly three hours now and well... that's about all there is to report. No paint has actually been applied to the cabinets just yet -- but we're very confident that this will change over the course of the next 72 hours or so.

Most of today was spent sanding, caulking, and cleaning the cabinet frames. I'm told tomorrow there may be some actual painting going on. Our doors and drawer-facings have yet to be sprayed due to weather concerns... There it is - the weather again. It's the weather that got us into this mess -- it could at least cooperate while we're trying to get out of it.

I heard from Lowe's this afternoon. It was a courtesy call to thank us for choosing Lowe's for the purchase of our countertops and reminding us that once the counter materials are shipped to the store that an installation specialist will contact us within 72 hours to schedule installation. Woo! The real trick, of course, is guessing just how long it will take for those materials to get shipped to the store.

I also got a call from a place called Creative Interiors or something like that in Mobile, AL. Apparently, these folks are the 'installation specialists' that Lowe's was telling me about. They are scheduled to come make a template for cutting the countertops tomorrow at 3pm. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the template-making specialists will be able to do their job despite wet paint. I'm also crossing my fingers that there will actually BE wet paint to worry about.

The Sun Herald | 11/14/2006 | Rangel: 'I sincerely apologize' for Mississippi remark

The Sun Herald | 11/14/2006 | Rangel: 'I sincerely apologize' for Mississippi remark: "The New York Daily News reports that at a Monday breakfast hosted by the Association for a Better New York, Rangel said: 'For all of you from Mississippi, I'd like to extend my deepest apologies. I promise I'll visit as soon as I find a food taster.'"

Phase I - Katrina rennovation begins

It's early in the morning and I have been awake since even earlier. The coffee pot is gurgling and swishing from its perch on an old TV tray in the corner. Sunlight is softly pouring through the kitchen windows. I almost feel like I'm in an instant coffee commercial.... Except for the massive asthma-like attack that I'm having at the moment from all the stuff Dave and I stirred up and breathed last night.

Yesterday, Dean introduced me to the couple who will be sanding and painting our cabinets. They immediately got to work removing cabinet hardware and doors. They left late in the afternoon to order paint and promised to be here early to get started with the actual painting.

Of course this means we wanted to make sure that absolutely nothing would stand in their way this morning. Literally. So after a dinner of Wal-mart deli fried chicken served up on paper plates - Dave and I set out to remove our microwave, dishwasher, and oven. Well, okay - the microwave was easy since it's just a countertop model... but it's heavy and we moved it.

For the dishwasher I found an article at ThisOldHouse.com that is a pretty decent walk-through for removing a dishwasher -- and, aside from struggling with tight spaces and the wrong tools, things went relatively well. However, it is the dishwasher that's responsible for my asthma attack this morning for sure. You see -- dishwashers are wrapped in foam and fiber insulation. When we pulled our dishwasher out of its little space in the cabinets it was completed covered with sheetrock and mortar dust from all of our previous projects.

Dave vs. the dishwasher

The wall oven was a lot harder. It took forever to figure out how to remove the oven door... and then I struggled with the trim a bit... But we almost gave up when our clouded brains couldn't figure out where the circuit breaker was. It was already after 10pm when Dave and his flashlight went out to the breaker box on the side of the house. With the power disconnected - Dave had to work for a very long time to remove the miles and miles of electrical tape at the connections while I kept the oven from falling off the step stool where we had it perched. Then we had to actually lift the thing.

But we did it and the kitchen area is now completely clear for painting.


Sometime within the next couple of weeks we will have to conquer removing a sink and a cooktop... but not today... not today.

Oh - and for the curious: We have absolutely no intention of actually trying to reinstall these appliances. It's one thing to take all the pretty and colorful wires off and a whole new ballgame when it comes to hooking stuff up without frying things or killing yourself or starting a house fire. We will have to schedule a service call for a technician to come out and properly reinstall everything because we want to live.

hurricane katrina
home repair
pascagoula ms

Gaining Momentum

We woke up to some more wayward roof shingles - this time on the patio table....

Today was the day to get started ordering materials for Phase I of our repairs. We went to Lowe's to order countertops - but discovered that they have developed a new policy since the last time we ordered countertops from them (see posts regarding laundry room repairs) and would not take our order until we had exact measurements. (Previously, we were able to provide them with a rough estimate of counter space and they would send out an installer to get the precise measurement.)

So, that was a trip to Gautier almost wasted -- except that we got to see a Lowe's "Katrina Cottage" being constructed in the parking lot. Honestly, it looked like not much more than one of those play houses some people build for their kids in the backyard. I suppose it's much better than a FEMA travel trailer though. For more info about the Lowe's Katrina Cottages click here and here.

A Lowe's Katrina Cottage in the making... in the parking lot.

We also stopped by the Carpet & Tile store to order the kitchen floor tile... Unlike the countertops - we actually managed to complete the order and the tile should arrive Wednesday.

When we got home - Dave ran out to the Lowe's here in Pascagoula with our measurements to order the countertops. This time - the lady who usually did the counter orders was not in and he once again couldn't place the order.

In the meantime - we're packing up the stuff in the kitchen to get the cabinets ready for painting. I had almost forgotten that we didn't lose anything in the upper cabinets to the floodwater -- meaning... There's an awful lot of stuff to move. I'm sure we'll get it all out by Monday -- but it's really hard staying on task when you KNOW that in a very short time you're going to have to move the same stuff right back to the same place again. I know it's all worth it though. Besides... I can move dishes... What I can't do is repair our kitchen. I'll do my part.

hurricane katrina
katrina cottage
lowes

And we wonder why the Katrina response fell short?

After Years On the Outs, New York Comes Back In - New York Times: "“It’s not just committees — our influence within the House Democratic caucus will grow enormously,” Mr. Rangel said in an interview.

To that end, he sketched out an expansive federal agenda: Teaming up with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on gun control, passing new tax incentives for urban job programs, and redirecting federal money to New York in return for the outsize tax collections that the federal government makes here.

“Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?” Mr. Rangel said."

Funny. I could ask the same thing about New York. -- A.

I don't mind advertising for Dean Smith at all. Feel free to call him when he's done here. *grin*

For the first time in almost a year - we have a sign in our yard again. I had no idea how much I missed the things, but they have become rather scarce over the course of the last few months... And I realize now that the decline in their numbers is directly related to a lack of progress in our area.

Mr. Smith has already been to the house to review what we're affectionately calling 'Phase I' of our repair project and tells us his crew will be arriving next week to get started. Next week! It seems like centuries have passed since I last dared even dream of having one completed room in the house.... And he said 'next week'... Not 'sometime this year' or 'I'll call when the list gets smaller' - but next week. I now have to pause and relish the words a bit more.

Pause.

Okay I'm back.

Phase I is specifically our kitchen. We decided to start with what would probably be the most costly project... and also chose the kitchen because it is where we all spend the most time in the house. Of course -- all the time in the kitchen means that this is also where most of our junk accumulates and it will be our task over the rest of this week to move all of said junk out of the way and into some other unfinished room. It also means that we will be without a kitchen again for maybe a few weeks. We've done that before though -- and under more dire circumstances... So I think I'm actually looking forward to rinsing out utensils in the bathroom sink and eating lots of cold sandwiches.

What I'm not looking forward to is moving all the junk back into the kitchen to make room for Phase II when it's over. :)

In Homeowner Assistance Grant News

What started out as a basically friendly mission to inform the folks at MDA that our damage assessment was inaccurate has become more heated -- at least on our side. Following the letter we received regarding the New Grant Calculation Policy and the receipt of our check -- we also received a letter informing us that under the New Grant Calculation Policy there would be no adjustment to our grant. It also informed us that the New Grant Calculation Policy should settle the vast majority of appeals and, therefore, if we still felt that we had an appeal that we would have to restart the process.

Now - our appeal was based entirely on the 'percent damage assessment' which we were told at the time was supplied by Allied American. A damage assessment of 20% for our entire house should be obviously inaccurate -- and we contend that a more accurate adjustment would be at or above 30% (closer to one-third). The New Grant Calculation Policy makes absolutely no adjustments to the 'percent damage assessment' but instead uses dollar-figure damage amounts - at least one of which is clearly based on the erroneous 'percent damage assessment'.

As a result - our appeal still stands and we have forwarded a second letter of appeal to MDA addressing the issue.

We have learned our lesson about 'leaving well enough alone' and allowing inaccurate reports and assessments to linger. We knew that our insurance payment for the roof and other damage was too low -- but we didn't feel that we were in a position to wait for an arbitration process to go through. Months later we discover that various agencies used the inaccurate insurance reports to determine our total 'wind damage'. We should have contested it then.

The same thing has now happened with the SBA and their damage assessment of our house. When we requested our report from SBA we discovered that a good portion of some of the largest repairs were completely left off the assessment... However the most glaringly obvious mistake on the report was the pre-Katrina value assessment of our home as well as the total square footage estimate. SBA's report stated that we had a 4800 square foot home that was worth $100,000 excluding the lot pre-Katrina. Wouldn't you like to buy real estate in THAT market? Further - the lot was valued by SBA at $45,000 - so our total property value pre-Katrina was set at $145,000.

Since at the time we were denied a loan from SBA - we decided that the mistake wasn't important... And correcting the error would only increase the loan amount... If we were denied for a $50,000 loan -- what exactly would be the point of being denied for a $100,000 loan too?

Fast-forward October 2006 and we learn that the MDA has decided to use SBA's damage assessment figures to calculate grant amounts. SBA had assessed our damages - excluding personal property at less than $50,000.... Not a lot of help there regarding an MDA grant. Ironically, however, SBA's assessed 'percent damage' (there it is again!) was actually determined to be 33.03% of the structure and the low dollar-figure assessment was due to the inaccurate estimation of the total value of our house.

And that is why we are now going to fight the assessment of the damage to our home listed on those legal documents until the cows come home.... Whether it results in a greater grant amount or not.... We are absolutely sure that years from now that 20% is going to come back to haunt us if we don't fix it now.

Our second appeal letter is in the mail today. Let the games begin.

MercuryNews.com | 10/29/2006 | Mired in darkness after Katrina left

MercuryNews.com | 10/29/2006 | Mired in darkness after Katrina left: "This is the story of one journey -- my journey -- to the edge of the post-Katrina abyss, and back again. It is a story with a happy ending -- at least so far.

I had already stopped going to the grocery store weeks before the Shell station meltdown. I had made every excuse possible to avoid going to my office because I didn't want to see anyone, didn't want to engage in small talk.

My hands shook. I had to look down when I walked down the steps, holding the banister to keep steady. I was at risk every time I got behind the wheel of a car; I couldn't pay attention.

I lost 15 pounds, and it's safe to say I didn't have a lot to give. I stopped talking to Kelly, my wife. She loathed me, my silences, my distance, my inertia.

I stopped walking my dog, so she hated me, too. The grass and weeds in my yard just grew and grew.

I stopped talking to my family and my friends. I stopped answering phone calls and e-mails. I maintained limited communication with my editors to keep my job but I started missing deadlines anyway.

My editors, they were kind. They cut me slack. There's a lot of slack being cut in this town now. A lot of legroom, empathy and forgiveness."

Rest of the story at NOLA - click here.

Happy Halloween!

Making ghost cookies is one of our Halloween traditions.

This year's Halloween was a success. The trick-or-treaters descended upon the neighborhood in vast numbers -- probably not quite as many as some years past... but still enough to make it impossible to get a sip of coffee before the doorbell rang again. We went through $100 worth of candy (at $2 per bag we came up with a decent bucket o'candy) and a jug of fog juice. The kids were all polite... and for the first time in years they all were excited. Maybe the cancellation last year helped them start to appreciate it again.

I'm still recovering from Halloween exhaustion this morning... so I will write no more and just post some pictures:



We tried making some new cookies this year... The ghost cookies are easier.

The holiday cookie mess is a much longer tradition than even the ghost cookies....
William always really looks the part in his costumes. He wanted to be King David this year - so this is his King David/gladiator costume... He did have a slingshot - so it all worked out.
George scared the baby. Photo courtesy of Mom.

Yvonne. What more can I say? Photo courtesy of Mom.

Then I painted the boys' faces for absolutely no reason at all.