The Flood

It was a little after 10:00 pm when we walked in our front door and stepped into a large puddle. We went out of town Mother's Day weekend and came back to sopping wet carpets, ruined hardwood floors, and a slight mildew stench. After Jeff and I put the kids in their beds, we ripped up the carpets and padding and hauled them outside. Then we proceeded to dry up as much water as we possibly could. My father-in-law and my brother-in-law, Glen, came the following day to help with the clean-up. Thank you both soooo much!!!

A flood is not a very fun thing to come home to, but it could have been worse. The bedrooms and bathrooms were untouched by the water and the furniture was fine as well. Plus, our homeowners insurance is covering the damages. *whew* It's been a long few weeks since then...

We hired my really, really awesome handy-man-of-a-brother-in-law, Terry, to come a week and a half ago and install the new flooring for us. We down-graded to laminate flooring throughout, which is what I thought the hardwood floors were in the first place. Jeff helped in the evenings after work, of course, but let me tell you, Terry is one hard-working man! As soon as he arrived, he went right to work and pulled 12 to 14 hour work days, except on the Sabbath, of course. He was meticulous at preparing the floors and making sure the flooring was installed just right. In addition to the huge job of installing the flooring, Terry the Handyman also:

• Replaced some drywall that had water damage
• Put in new baseboards (which look amazing!)
• Re-textured, primed, and painted the entry
• Turned a practically useless teeny-tiny closet into a larger useful and beautiful closet
• Put a nice, new door on that closet, complete with molding around the door
• Put molding around six of the windows (beautiful!)
• Removed the railed shelf above the kitchen cabinets
• Put crown molding at the top of the kitchen cabinets
• Helped Jeff remove very many unwanted eucalyptus trees on the property
• Made some really, really delicious cookies

Since Terry's been here, I've felt sooooo spoiled to have all the extra home improvement projects done that would have taken Jeff and me several months (plus frustration) to do. He's leaving today and I'm so sad, but he has a life back in Provo to go home to. Thank you, Terry! You are super awesome!!! BTW, does anyone know any single girls that would like to have a handy man? Terry is also very tidy, knows how to cook, and loves to fly airplanes, real ones and remote ones.