Kathleen's Journal

A New House (Almost)

What has John been doing since his birthday? January 2, 2004? That's the day the Master Plumber came and told us our plumbing situation was critical. Suggesting that we repair at least 50% of our pipes, he left us to "think about it." Then, as many of you know, two days later, John woke me up to tell me it was raining on his head. Yes, we were in bed, so not a good situation. Our bedroom was not a part of the area the master plumber considered critical. We called him the next day and gave him the job of replacing 100% of our pipe. Which he did for $14,000! When they left, we had beautifully exposed copper pipes ALL THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE. We could stand in our living room downstairs and look up through the ceiling and second-floor subfloor and we saw Matthew and Rachel standing in the upstairs bathroom. (Don't ask!) John began the task of replacing all the drywall - did a fantastic job - and we hired a guy to come do the mud / texture work throughout the house (add $1100) - and John was ready to paint and wallpaper. He has literally painted every room in this house and has rewallpapered our master bath/toilet room/ and border in our bedroom. Two weeks ago, we had new tile put in our master vanity/toilet area and the tile replaced in the upstairs bathroom. It is beautiful. Last week, we had laminate installed in the dining room, living (piano/computer) room, and den. It is really beautiful and gives such a different feeling to the house. It is much classier and it is also very warm. John has ordered a rug (8'x11') for the seating area in the den which we picked out at an outlet store when we were in Colorado visiting Ellie, our granddaughter in April. The only thing we have left to do is have the carpet installed. We've picked it out; we've just run out of money. But, with a little creativity, the carpet will be laid this summer.