House Repair

This is supposed to be the blog where I tell you how my house has been repaired and everything is done and look how wonderful everything looks! (Car hit my house, blog here.)

But it's not. My house is getting there, but there have been delays. I expected delays (I've heard that contractors are notorious for that sort of thing) but it's still aggravating.

I would show you pictures of the complete wreckage that I have been living in, but I've misplaced my external hard drive (J has it set up so that my pictures only go on the external hard drive, otherwise I fill up my computer memory...I have a picture overload problem). The fact that I can't find it is an indication of the state of my house. It's in the office somewhere...under the piles and piles of stuff....

I'm not a neat freak but I am tidy, and when I am trying to get ready for work and can't find my shoes, it's really a problem. When the flooring in the entire house is replaced, they move EVERYTHING.

EVERYTHING.

And just because I didn't have enough going on, my heater broke two days ago.

But that's alright, because it's that time of year. Christmas is a few weeks away, there are carols on the radio, and Christmas lights are going up everywhere (to include my house, nothing was moved in the garage so we were able to hang our lights).

'Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la, la la la la. Life will be normal soon good golly, fa la la la la, la la la laaaaa.

Joseph Punched Holes in my Walls

Awhile back (it's probably been at least two years) Joseph stomped around in the attic and ran wires through the walls so that he would have an internet wire in the den by the TV and in the guest bedroom (now Jacob's bedroom) where we also had a TV. He wanted to be able to wire internet for his video game systems; apparently it's faster than wireless.

The things my nerd boy will do for gaming systems.

Well, he didn't put either of the wires in a box - he just punched a hole in the wall and the wire stuck out. It didn't really bug me until two things happened.
1) The car hit our house and when the guys came and painted and tore out the flooring, the TV stand was moved and I could see the hole.
2) Jacob re-arranged his room and moved the dresser the TV had been sitting on and revealed the hole in his room. Also, an electrical outlet we had missed when we replaced them all in the house (post found here).

Since it wasn't out of sight and out of mind, it started to bug me.

I told Joseph he was in charge of fixing it. But when nothing happened I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I watched a tutorial on planitdiy.com and realized I wouldn't have to repair any drywall, they sell "old work" electrical boxes. So I made a trip to Lowe's and got to work.

Here's the hole in the den. I still don't have any flooring.

Here's the hole in Jacob's room.

My only suggestion to anyone trying to do this is to screw into that "wing" part (it's what holds the box up against the drywall) because the plastic isn't threaded and it helps loosen it up. You just have to be careful not to screw into it too far because then you can't lay it down, which you have to do to get the box into the wall.

I put in the boxes but J was in charge of splitting the wiring.

Here's the replaced outlet.

It wasn't a completely smooth project. While the boxes went in easily, it was actually the outlet that gave me problems. Here's what I posted on Facebook:

The good news is that I got some electrical work done in Jacob's room that has been on my to-do list. The bad news is that when I killed the power, Joseph's computer started beeping. I thought it would just turn off but he informed me it was updating something, and if it died in the middle of updating something it would crash his computer and he would have to re-install something and he was on the verge of being mad at me. The good news is that Jacob suggested running a power cord to a section of the house that still had power and that was a successful work-around. The bad news is that while I was running in and out turning off and on the electricity, Micah got loose. The good news is that someone found him and our little dog is back safe at home.

Aaaaaaand that was pretty successful for a house project in my book.

How to Remove Tile...Hint: Just Pay Someone

So...since we're getting new flooring (wooot!!) because the car hit our house (post here), I jumped on my chance to get new kitchen flooring.

Back when we remodeled the kitchen (post here), I brought up replacing the floor. Joseph shut that down hard and fast. Joseph doesn't usually shut me down, so the few times he does, I usually don't fight it. I figured I could live with it and/or we would do it eventually.

The time has come. We went back and forth about potential problems with laminate wood in the kitchen. I dumped water on the samples and let is sit overnight and they all looked fine. I'm going for it.

We got a quote and it seemed a little high. We asked him to break it down and it's not that he was charging more per square foot (I can see exactly what he's charging for the rest of the home because of the insurance paperwork), he just had a ton of stuff to tack on - quarter round, a t-something that may or may not be used (because my house goes in a circle, so it depends on how the floor meets), add on tax and profit and it really added up.

So I decided to save myself $500 and remove the tile myself.

Only problem with my plan is that J is having a busy streak. Because of the nature of his work, he has ebbs and flows, and the work is definitely flowing. Which is good, but also a bit stressful for my Love. And stressful for me, since I got to tear up the tile myself.

Don't judge my wreck of a house. They tore up the flooring everywhere else. Which is why I was trying to hurry and bust the tile out. I didn't want to hold anything up.

Do you see all of the thinset that was left after the tile was removed? I thought removing the tile was hard...nothing compared to scraping that.

But I figured out a rhythm and was able to remove the tile pretty quickly.

First you have to angle the chisel so that it is almost parallel to the floor and smash out the grout.

Once the grout is smashed out, tilt the chisel up to about a 45 degree angle to the floor and pound until you can tell that it is under the tile - you can tell by the vibrations.

Once it's under the tile, angle it back parallel to the ground and get it all the way under the tile. Don't just try this first; you won't get it under the tile and the tile will chip up and pieces will hit you in the face (did I mention it's important to wear safety goggles?).

Then take the rotary hammer with the nice chisel attachment and tear up the thinset.

This is what took forever. It was not a fun week. I would come home from work and work on the kitchen, and then go to bed (usually pretty late). Of course, I got it done last week and I still have no floor....so I guess I could have taken a little more time.

The rotary hammer took up most of the flooring. There were a few ridiculously stubborn spots that were just not coming up. My friend Shawn Ryan let me borrow his jackhammer type tool; we had to borrow his air compressor. That worked like a charm. If you angled it the wrong way you would actually chip up the cement slab it was so powerful.

But it's nice that it's done.

And it's nice to not have a layer of thinset dust in my hair anymore...although it was getting some great volume. But that stuff wasn't just in my hair...we did a major house wipe down and clean up. Even though I still have no floor and stuff is just kind of thrown everywhere, we tried to clean up as best as we could. I cannot wait until my floor is in and I can go through and put things back where they belong.

Crocheted Elephant and Giraffe Toys

Deni is having a little baby girl. 

Deni LOVES elephants. So I looked high and low for an elephant pattern. I found one I liked here.

So I made Deni a blanket, and with the leftover yarn made her a purple elephant...because she also loves purple.

Then I went a little crazy and made her a few other things...

It's a December baby, so what better than a little candy cane elf hat?

I made a version of this for my sister Megan - I made her a bunny (found here). I asked Deni if she prefers bunnies or bears and she told me bears.

I also made her baby booties and a little elephant blanket my Mom helped me sew.

She loved it. There was an appropriate amount of enthusiasm and appreciation expressed. All I ask is to see the little baby dressed up in the items, so I am looking forward to the little one arriving. I know she will be adorable. And if she's not...well...Deni and I can't be friends anymore.

Joseph's brother Robert's wife Cami (did you follow that?) is pregnant as well. She was actually due on Wednesday, which was four days ago. They're not finding out if it's a boy or girl - which is driving me crazy - so that was a little tricky for the baby shower. Cami is mad about giraffes that way Deni is mad about elephants, so I decided to try to modify the pattern and see what I could do.

When I was first making the giraffe, I started with the head and neck (picture it without the ears, horns, or the rest of its body)....Joseph told me it looked like a penis. Highly inappropriate for a children's toy.

Luckily, when it was finished, I don't think it resembled that anymore...hopefully...

I also made her a blanket and then just gave her cash. It's not as fun shopping for a no gender yet baby. I also brought an extra gift to the shower - one from my Mom. Who has never met Cami but just wanted to buy her some things to help with the baby. And she made an adorable giraffe blanket. I'm rather mad at myself for not thinking to take a photo before I gave it to her....Hopefully Cami will send me one after the baby is here.

If any crocheter is interested in the giraffe pattern, just let me know, I'd be happy to share. I wrote it down but I probably need to make sure it makes sense to another normal person.

When Katelyn and Brian came over to hang out, we put Lily to bed. She asked to sleep with Deni's elephant. She asked me if I made it. When I said yes, she informed me that I needed to make her one, but it needed to be a horse with a horn.

So next on my to do list is to make a unicorn for one of my favorite little girls. I'll probably keep it until Christmas.

Crocheted Costumes

I love to sit in front of the TV and crochet.

I've been talking about going to a gym, but who has time when I have projects?

Some past projects:

Baby shower gifts for Nicki

Baby Bunny Photo Prop

Rug out of Sheets

Baby Blankets

My friend Asmahan had a baby recently and she asked if I could make a candy corn costume she saw on pinterest. It was just a cocoon and a hat, not hard at all.

She has the cutest little baby.

The candy corn was a pretty easy project, and I'm glad Asmahan liked it (the sweetie pie got me a gift card to a restaurant, I really appreciated that). 

My second project was just for me. I was so excited to find a free pattern for a mermaid tail. I am crazy about mermaids. They must be gaining popularity because I have found three different free patterns now. I was really excited when I found the third pattern, because it used a special stitch that made it look like scales.

The pattern can be found here. I started the project and sat down to watch some TV. I usually re-watch Friends or the BBC Pride and Prejudice (it's eight hours long) because I am looking at my project the majority of the time and miss parts. I am currently watching Xena. It's incredible cheesy but we used to watch it with my Dad when we were kids, and it's good crochet TV because I don't mind missing parts. It's a lot of fighting scenes where she is flying through the air and kicking butt.

So I sat through three Xena episodes which meant I had spent two hours on this project when I realized....the maker of the pattern was using UK abbreviations. Which are dumb. A DC in UK means single crochet, but in the US it means double crochet. A TR in UK means double crochet, but but in the US it means triple crochet. (Which one makes more sense to you?) So I was making it too big but I didn't figure it out until I had done the entire top band and gotten to the scales.

So I pulled it apart, pouted a bit, and started again.

Then I got to the bottom fins.

Yeah, that's not right at all. The stinker switched to US abbreviations. I thought her DC meant to single crochet, but it really means DC which means it was TOO SMALL. I briefly considered just leaving it, but it looks like a seal. I had to take a little break from the project at this point.

But once it was finished it was GLORIOUS. I love it. I don't even have a baby to put in it but I love it.

I do, however, have friends with babies.

This is Nicki's little Harper. She is the perfect mermaid. Nicki said she was kicking her legs and flapping the fin and it was adorable.

I handed my phone to J and he swiped to look at the other pictures and was surprised to find this picture:

His reaction was very comical. I had to explain that when I texted Nicki to ask if she wouldn't mind putting her little girl in my mermaid tail, Nicki texted me back with this picture. He looks great too.

And I want one of those tails. I wonder if you can swim in it.

What is the probability of that happening?

On Friday morning, my work phone rang. It was Joseph. "You need to call me on your cell." Calls can be recorded on my work phone so I knew it was something private and his tone was scaring me, so I asked, "Is it bad news?" Joseph said, "Oh, it's epically bad news."

Of course I immediately freaked out a bit. I walked away from my desk and called him.

Joseph: There's a car in our house.
Deidre: What? Did Jacob drive into the garage?
Joseph: No, there is a car in our house. Some guy drove into our house.
Deidre: (laughs) Oh, that's not too bad. Wait, was anyone hurt? Are my animals ok?
Joseph: No, everyone is fine. Deidre, there is a CAR in the HOUSE.
Deidre: Well, insurance will pay for it. As long as no one is hurt, that's all that matters.
Joseph: The police and firemen are here, I have to go.

I got this picture from J later

I went back to my desk and my coworker asked me if I was ok so I told her there is a car in my house. A few other coworkers wandered over and said, "WHAT?" My friend Deni IM'd me and asked what the commotion was about so I wandered over there and told her. Our other friend Casey Hall was sitting at her desk so he heard too.

Deni: Are you going to go home?
Deidre: No, what am I going to do, stand around looking at the hole in my house? Joseph is home. I'm not taking PTO for that.
Casey Hall: You have to go home. You have to take pictures.
Deidre: No, I don't want to.
Casey Hall: We'll go with you. We'll just drive by really quick and then leave.
Deidre: Fine. I don't know if I should appreciate you being good friends or be upset because you're busybodies.

We drove to my house, said hi to Joseph, took some pictures. The guy who drove his car into our house was standing around on the phone; he looked like he was ok. A reporter from Fox 10 walked up and offered to put us on the news. I wasn't there when it happened so I didn't have anything to say to a newsperson ("Uh, yeah, I was at work...and you can see the big hole in the house, so....uh...yeah..."), so after taking pictures we left and went back to work (stopping to pick up some donuts). When we got back to work, Casey Hall sent out a department email:

In honor of Deidre’s house getting hit with a car this morning I brought in some donuts….enjoy!!!
P.S. Don’t worry Nicki and HP (the chicken versions) are unharmed!!!

He included pictures.

Remember that I named my chickens after coworkers? I hope management found that amusing and not creepy, because emails went out like crazy and just about everyone was alerted (including different regions). Someone found the news story about Joseph and that was passed around as well. I got all sorts on IMs and emails and people walking by. My phone was blowing up with text messages from family (and later friends who saw it on FB). It even got around to the EMG (executive managers - the head honchos) and they emailed to ask if I was alright. I made a joke about the news reporter getting Joseph's dimple side and oh how handsome is he. Everyone kept telling me I was handling it very well.

Here's the news story:
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23610328/2013/10/04/car-lands-on-porch-of-phoenix-home

I don't think anyone cut the driver off - it's a residential street. He actually crossed to the wrong side of the road to get to our house. But the most compelling piece of evidence is the lack of skid marks. I think he was either passed out (medical condition?) or was texting because he didn't stop at all. My house stopped him. He just barely squeezed between my garage and large tree.

I feel bad for the driver. He lives a few houses down. That has to be pretty embarrassing. I wonder what will happen to him if his liability limits aren't high enough. Because my homeowner's insurance company will pay for the repairs, but then they will get the money from his auto insurance (it's called subrogation). If it's not enough they can try to go after him, which would not be good for him. So let that be a lesson to you all to carry adequate liability limits. Yes, I am an insurance nerd, but you just never know when you're going to hit someone's house.

At the end of the day I came home from work and I checked out the damage (we hadn't been allowed inside earlier in the day). The insurance company had worked quickly and had a crew out there that demo'd part of the wall and boarded it up. My end table and lamp are busted. We walked around outside and there's damage to the porch ceiling. We went over to the flower bed where the guy ran over, and I notice something on the ground. My two decorative mushrooms that Mom bought me that I love so much are completely busted to pieces. I started to tear up and Joseph gave me a hug, and said, "Aw, I knew you'd be upset about that." We laughed that a hole in the house didn't faze me but I'm very upset about the mushrooms.

There might be good news in this, we're going to have to see. I was going to use part of my bonus in February to paint the house because it needs it, so they may end up painting my house for me - I don't think they can match the paint. Also, if they can't match the current flooring (which is all scratched up), I would get new flooring throughout my house. That would be wonderful. And I think they're going to have to paint my living room, including the ceiling, so the section where there is brown paint on the white ceiling that has always bugged me a little will be redone professionally. So it will probably look better than before. I really, really hope I get new floors throughout my house.

They're coming tomorrow to start the repairs. I think an engineer is coming to check for structural damage. I wonder how long my house will be in shambles.

I am so glad the weather is nice out. We spent a good chunk of the weekend with our doors open, trying to catch a breeze, since there is a hole in the wall anyway.

Seven Year Wedding Anniversary

When did I get so old?

I love going out with this man. He still makes me laugh. It was fun to get dressed up and go to a fancy restaurant. Our anniversary always falls on Arizona Restaurant Week, when the restaurants are offering great deals, so we always try somewhere new. This year St. Francis and the food was amazing.

I'm still waiting for my marriage to go to crap, just like everyone has ever so kindly been warning me. So far he still appreciates me and I still like him, so I guess they're just going to have to wait a bit longer.