Dictionaries are Great!

The “Yes on Proposition 8” signs are still disappearing. There are some signs that remain up and not vandalized. There are other signs that have been spray painted with a “No” over the “Yes”. It seems that if you oppose Prop 8 then you are in favor of stealing and defacing property. I see very few “No on 8” signs. I guess all of their money has gone into commercials. Regardless of which side of the issue a person is on, we all have a right to our opinion without tearing down another person’s opinion.

Prop 8 is about a definition. It takes away no ones rights. It defines the word marriage. The Merriam-Webster's definition is: "a. the state of being married. b: the mutual relation of husband and wife. WEDLOCK c: the institution whereby men and women are joined in a special kind of social and legal dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family." For those that oppose Prop 8, they need to talk to Mr. Webster. He can be found turning over in his grave.

The New Kitchen Has Arrived!

Long view of kitchen.


This wall was a bank of pantry cabinets before. Now there are two pantry cabinets with counter to the left.

New Lights...

The new floor is in the hall. The baseboards are coming soon.


This is the new light in the kitchen where the fan used to be, and there is a new light over the sink too.


This is the old light socket in the hall. It has not worked in a very long time.


This is the new light in the hall. We now have two lights that work in the hall. They are called can lights, and they are recessed into the ceiling. The two lights are on a three way switch. I can't remember the last time it worked. This is great.

Out with the Old

This is the new kitchen window from the outside.


The new kitchen is under construction. I was watching TV and it seems that white cabinets and contrasting countertops are in. We happen to have black appliances, and the white cabinets were in stock. It is nice to know that we are in style.


The sink, counters, and cabinets are gone. The old sink cabinet fell apart, and the smell of mold was very strong. We are happy to see it go.


The new cabinets arrived one day before the installer. Marc and Jordan brought them into the house. The dining area was packed tight.


This is the old counter and cabinets near the window. I have not been happy with the lost cabinet space in the corner. We are planning something new.


These are the old kitchen cabinets. They were too big. We lost things in them, and we overloaded them until the shelves caved in. When we unloaded them to take them out, we found things we hadn't seen in years.

The Destination is Worth the Journey

We keep running into new home improvement projects because of the one we are currently doing. When the cement guys began to repair the flaw in the foundation we discovered the bathtub had a leak, and so the bathtub had to be replaced. The flooring guys just took out the old flooring and discovered that the floor in the kitchen was wet and moldy under the old laminate. This was most likely from the leak in the bathtub drain because the two rooms share a wall. So now we will replace the kitchen cabinets because the mold extends to the base of the cabinets. We are hoping the fun will soon be over, but the end result will be a home free from toxic mold. I am convinced that this home improvement journey will be worth the destination.

Repairs Continue

This is Joe. He is the drywall guy. He repaired
cracks and scraped the popcorn off the ceiling.

The wood that was damaged by water and termites
is now being replaced. The front window will soon
be improved!

More Cement

We have more parking area. We continue to empty the house into the garage and the POD. We are trying to make the house accessible to the drywall guys and the painter.

New Shower...New Tub!

Bottom of new shower.

New Shower (The old shower had cracks.)

New Tub

New Tub

The drain was leaking and this 32 year old tub needed to go.

This is the Caisson hole that Moses dug. It was about seven feet deep when he finished. It took a couple of days to dig.












Rebar was put in the hole to reinforce it, and to form the mold for the cement.












This is the other caisson that was dug. There are two at the back of the house.

This is the middle bedroom at the beginning of the demolition.












This is the bathtub drain after the tub was removed.













This is the bathroom wall where the tub was leaking.












Front bathroom minus tub.

This is a hole that was dug for a cement caisson to be installed at the back of the house.

This is what we found when we removed a large mirror from the wall. You are looking at a garden of mold. The front bathroom is on the other side of this wall. This is when we discovered that the tub had a leak in it. We are now getting a new tub.

Jackhammer

We are moving forward. Today the men came to fix the interior slab. They used jackhammers to dig out the cement. They are going to saw-cut 18” on each side of the flaw. Then they are going to fill in the area with cement. The pictures show the before and during. Hopefully, by next week the after pictures can be taken.

Yucca No More!

Today the two large yucca trees in the yard were removed. The one near the front room had six trunks growing out of the roots. The tree expert had to grind the stump down to sawdust. The yucca by the garage was also removed along with a huge group of aloe plants. They were not the good kind of Aloe Vera. They were just a giant overgrown mass. The fence to the backyard by the garage has been set aside. The swing set and the tetherball pole were removed last week. Slowly but surely we are moving forward.