Back Home Again

"Ain't it good to be back home again ...."  The lyrics from the old John Denver hit keeps playing through my head. Last week, we were out of our home from Monday through Friday. Repairs were made to our hardwood floors and other areas from our "refrigerator flood" from last month.

 The floors were sanded, stained and a protective coating applied for three days. We could not walked on the floors during that time. Furniture was moved to different rooms.

Plastic sheets were positioned to attempt to keep the sawdust out of the upstairs and rooms on the first floor.

We choose to replace the carpet in our family room with hardwood flooring. After two boys, two dogs and years of living, the carpet was no longer "builder" white.

We choose a darker stain than originally on our floors. We went with the stain on the top. Our floors now look like our  dark oak kitchen table.

The laminate in the finished section of the basement was replaced, too.

 Instead of vinyl laminate, our neighbor installed ceramic tile in the laundry area for us.

Gratefully, the work is now done. I keep discovering sawdust on areas I thought were clean. Guess it will be weeks before I discover all the places the grit is hiding.


We were so blessed to have not one, but two places to live during our time away from home. DH's sister and brother-in-law welcomed us into their home. Not only were DH and I displaced, but so was our dear Rusty. Because he was rescued from a puppy mill, we don't like to board him in a kennel. Rusty was welcomed at Janice and Bob's home. When we are away from home, we normally have a neighbor or one of our boys on dog duty, but this time Rusty couldn't stay in our house either.

Midweek, we traveled to Lake Hartwell (on the Georgia/South Carolina border) to spend a couple of days at our friend's lake home.

It was wonderful being near the water. I loved watching the sun rise in the mornings. We did very little while at the lake. We drove around exploring the countryside, bought vegetables and apples at a farmer's market. We even drove about an hour up the road to visit Anderson and Clemson, South Carolina. When one lives with an SEC fanatic, the thing to do when in Clemson is to visit the football stadium.

Yes, it's good to be home:)

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It all began rather innocently and simply with a carton of ice cream. Thursday evening, DH commented that the ice cream was a bit soft in the chest freezer in the garage. All summer long, it has been bothering me that the freezer needed to be defrosted. It just was TOO HOT, to get the job done. Friday, DH had the day off from work (He does flex time and has every other Friday off from work) So I said, "Let's defrost the freezer tomorrow morning. It should be cool." So that is what we did.

I absolutely refused to take "REAL" photos of the mess in our freezer, but you get the Picture:) Lots of things were past the "safe to eat" date so we filled our garbage can. We were on a roll, so we also cleaned the refrigerator in the garage and the refrigerator in the house. (very Cajun; always lots of food in the pantry, refrigerators and freezer) It definitely takes retirement to tackle that kind of job:) Everything was ok until Saturday at noon.


You already know that I visited Intown Quilters Saturday morning. On my way home, I had a call from DH to get home fast, there was water all over the kitchen floor. I went straight home.  He was mopping water off the hardwood floor on the first floor. I grabbed the shop vac and began in the basement :) Yes, the water and leaked through to the next floor.


A call was placed to our homeowners insurance company. They sent out the water rescue squad. From Monday until Tuesday morning, the fans and dehumidifiers have been blowing in the kitchen and basement.

My washer and dryer (I do laundry and latrines) were in the middle of the kitchen. 

The laminate in the laundry area was ripped up.

The fans kept circulating air and stirring up dust and other junk. AAACHOO!

The basement had equipment, too.

The air conditioning ducts were soaked and the flooring in the finished part of the basement was covered in water.

Gratefully, our insurance company and the water rescue company have been fabulous. I've spent most of the past two days meeting with adjusters, plumbers, etc. The water leak was from our refrigerator (our very clean refrigerator). See if I clean a refrigerator any time soon:)

Some of the  hardwood floors on the first floor need to be replaced. All the hardwoods have to be sanded and refinished. The basement flooring has to be replaced. The air ducts need new insulation. It's been an interesting couple of days:)

It looks like I will need to make some decisions about stain for the hardwoods and other ways to update our home. Anyone have any suggestions on what looks new? Any blogs I should read? Most everything is back to normal today. The washer and dryer are rocking and rolling, but we still need to do the repairs:) One step forward, two steps back......