The Remodel Begins

We met with our general contractor in September and started organizing the various projects at our new home.  Instead of doing it room by room, they helped us organize it into projects so that we won't have to pay for the different sets of guys to come out multiple times.  It will make for a mess in pretty much every room in the house but at least it will all work in progression and hopefully be done at the same time.

First project?  Tearing out walls!  I have never seen the inside of a wall...I learned what lat boards are, how electrical works inside a wall and what all has to happen for water to come out of a faucet :).  It's quite fascinating although it's a mess!  The guys tearing out the walls upstairs were having quite a good time with their demolition.  We have a green bin set up under an upstairs window so they can throw all the mess out the window, down a piece of plywood and into the bin.  They made a huge mess but I was impressed with how well they cleaned it up!

The laundry room didn't need too much love - just some wallpaper scraping and paint.  Amazing how a little facelift made it more pleasant to do laundry!  Dark grey with orange accent - love it! Then came the half bath which ended up deep purple with grey cabinets & pewter knobs.  When we find the K-State bathroom box we'll get it decorated.

Driving out to the house to check and participate in each day's progress was fun.  Work started on the kitchen cabinets we are having built to go around the new fridge and the smell of fresh-cut lumber filled the garage.  A wall went up to split the garage into two big areas - one for parking and one for a workout center - yea!

Packing the Fresno home

On September 4 I flew to Fresno to meet the movers and get everything organized for loading our home.  It was more than a little sad to arrive after dark and enter our very quiet home.  Even though we had left Cabela there under the care of our neighbor Janiece, she was nowhere to be found when I arrived so it was truly quiet!  It was nice, however, to sleep in our bed.

The next morning as I was enjoying being back in my workout center, in walked Cabela.  I thought she would be a little more welcoming, but she let me know she was not real happy with being left alone all that time.  It was more than a few hours before she warmed up to me J.  The next few days was filled with mover details, seeing my friends Karen, Sherri and Connie - and even a workout for my former Wednesday class of Janiece, Kristina and Allison!  It was great to see them.  John flew in after a couple of days to help with final loading details, and we squeezed in a dinner with the Forester’s and the Long’s, and time with other friends as well.  The only glitch in the loading process was when the driver happened to leave Grandma Niemann’s antique sideboard that had been refinished a few years ago on the ramp into the truck while he ran back in to get something.  He thought it was secure but apparently it was not…it fell over and crashed. The mirror broke and the wood split in a few places.  John was absolutely crushed, and of course the driver felt terrible.  Hopefully we can find a place to have it rebuilt but of course, you can’t put a price on that L.

During the loading week we were also working on negotiations on the farmhouse and trying to figure out if we would need to go to storage or if we could unload there.  Additionally, we were working with our realtor in Fresno on the sale of our home…so many things to try and keep organized!

We had a great cookout with our friends the Scozzari's, Polterock's and McDowell's on Saturday night and about halfway through the evening I decided to call United Airlines to make sure we were prepared for traveling with Cabela. Good thing because things have changed since 2002 when I last flew with a cat!  Back then you just checked them in a hard-side carrier like luggage for no cost. Now?  It was something like $129 to carry her on (yes, in your lap or under the seat) and over $200 to check her as luggage!  Seriously.  And we had to have a soft carrier.  So at 7:30am on Sunday morning John went to Wal-Mart to buy a carrier :). 

After going to church on Sunday and having a great time of prayer with Fred & Esther, we spent a little time with the Kirk's before we headed home to load up Cabela. After a bit she got used to her new carrier, although she wasn't too thrilled about not being out and about where she could hunt and catch birds or geckos.  We got to the airport and John created quite the excitement when he went through security with her.  He had to take her out of the carrier (which is always fun when it's Cabela) and managed to get through it all without her clawing him or taking off through the airport.  Fortunately the vet had given him some good tips for "handling" her.

We arrived back in Kansas on Sunday night, and after another day or two a few things fell into place…we ended up being able to unload at the house, albeit into the barns and garage, but at least we didn’t have to go to storage.  Jeannie got moved out and we started the remodeling projects.