A Brief Breather

Well, peeps.

Today, we’re officially two weeks out from our winter storm/burst pipe disaster, and, oye.

Last night, the hubby and I sat down together for the first time since the chaos began, and defiantly ignored everything else on our plate and just watched a movie.

My eyes were so glazed over, I had to blink-blink-blink to clear them and stay awake more often than I’d like to admit, but...we finished the dang movie. Minor life victory. 

And another minor (major?) life victory: we have entered a brief holding pattern of sorts with the house hoopla.

The water mitigation and flooring removal is officially complete, and our chosen renovation company is assembling their massive bid for all of the work that needs to be done to put this house back together.

Insulation 

Drywall

Painting

Cabinetry

Countertops

Masonry 

Flooring

Baseboards

Crown Moulding

Electrical

Plumbing

Subcontractors for all of the above—plus a few more, related to window replacement and pool resurfacing (another day, I’ll get to that)—were funneling in and out of the house last week to gather intel, take measurements, and plan their attack.

And hopefully, by tomorrow or the next day, we’ll have the official bid to then route to our insurance adjuster for review and approval.

So basically, we get a tiny reprieve from noise and nuttiness (well, we still have plumbers, electricians, and pool contractors out in the next two days, ha), but that seems like a piece of cake compared to the INSANITY of the last two weeks.

We’re trying to soak up the fake normalcy and the ability to cook unencumbered by crews destroying the house. Anything we can do to just power on and keep things steady-ish around here.

The kiddos are still solid and unencumbered by any of this mess, bless them. So we’ll just try to keep it that way. And next week is actually Spring Break which is both a little unfathomable (so not in that headspace right now) and awesomesauce.

So...signing off for now with one final tidbit of destruction that happened this weekend. It was a real heartbreaker, but...whatdya do? Just add it to the pile of rubble.

Despite the best efforts to salvage it, our fireplace had to bite the dust.

The mitigation team began by removing just the bottom section in an attempt to save it. And for three days, it lived like this, mostly in a cocoon of taped-off space that was filled with dehumidifier/fans.

Alas...after three days, they just couldn’t get the moisture readings down, and had to level the whole thing. :(





It was brutal work for the mitigation crew, and definitely not how we wanted to end things, but...yeah. 

I know in my brain that all of this will be restored and all will be well at some point in the coming months, but, man, does it sometimes hurt the heart a bit.

At some point soon, when I have a chance to process everything a bit more, I know I’ll be reflecting on all of the trials we’ve faced within these four walls since purchasing this home. We’ve definitely had more than our share, in my humble opinion.

But.

Trying to focus on the positive. And stay in that headspace as much as possible.

Happy Tuesday, peeps.

Over and out.