Weird and Wonderful 50th

 

We spent our second Saturday at mom's, rehabbing her basement from flooding.

 

Bob & Terry got to work on retiling the laundry room.

 

I worked on putting everything back in it's place. The office area looks good now.

 

The living area looks good...

 

But the furnace room is still a wreck. I found more water-logged items in here today.

 The restoration team apparently ignored this room.

 

While they were tiling, the pipes under the laundry tub broke,

which caused a whole new set of problems.

 

Took a break to visit with the newest member of the family, Kaylee Lynn.

 

There's four generations, Great Grandma, Grandpa Bob, Ryan, and baby.

 

Back to work... Ryan and Terry trying to remove 60 year old pipe.

 

Meanwhile, I was dragging out more water-logged valuables,

 that I found hiding in the furnace room.

 

Pipes fixed, tile layed, and molding mounted. Done.

 

Time for my birthday dinner, at The Outback, with Bob & Peg.

Dinner was ruined when Bob found a screw under his steak, yes, really, a screw.

 

 

First time me and Terry have been at a restaurant in I don't know how long...

Reminded us of why we eat at home...

 

 

Ahh... these are the things memories are made of.

What a weird, but wonderful birthday.

The Layers of Shower Flooring...

 

So... it seems... that building a shower might not be as easy as one would think.

 

First you need a layer of thinset, then a layer of some mud & sand stuff? then a membrane, and then another layer of cement bed.

 

There's the thinset...

 

Now Terry is mixing up the mud & sand stuff...

 

Laying it out, and leveling it to a quarter bubble???

 

More mud & sand stuff, I don't even know what all of tis means...

 

Apparently, you need a perfect pitch, downward, toward the drain.

 

He's tired now, and I'm more confused then ever.

 

Next, I guess, is the membrane, and then the cement bed.

 

When do I get to tile this thing???

 

Oh no, first we need greenboard, plumbing installation, and Ugh!

 

  

Slow but Steady

 

This basement bathroom has got to be the slowest project we've ever done.

But that's okay, because there's no hurry...

 

The shower walls are framed in, and terry is jack hammering, YES, JACKHAMMERING,

the floor around the drain, because it is too high to fit the drain head in.

 

Mission accomplished. Now we have to lay a mortar bed and find the "membrane" for the underlayment.  WHAT???

 

Thank God for YouTube "how-to" videos...

 

I've been painting a little bit.

 

Won't give away this Italian saying, but it's going in the kitchen...

 

Another door header. This one went over the bathroom door.

 

Not much else to document, except going to work on mom's flooded basement restoration again this weekend, the garden crop is dwindling (bad year), Sandy started back to school this week, Summer has lost it's shimmer (never actually had it this year), and we just keep trudging along.

 

Carry on.

Great Flood 2014 - Mom's Basement

 

The garbage went out, the "so-called" restoration team is gone ($3,700 of wasted money), and we are left to put mom's basement back together. Me & Terry, and brother Bob, and Peggy spent the day at mom's trying to put her basement back together. 

 

Terry and Bob scraping up tile...

 

The laundry room took the worst hit; dryer dead, and tile curling, and molding.  

 

The garbage trucks finally came today...

 

These poor guys are working hard.

 

So is this guy...

 

The toilet is shot... no it's not; recycled, refurbished, renewed.

 

New rubber molding to replace old rotten wood molding.

 

Terry working at getting the toilet out...

 

Bob lookin' like a supervisor.

 

Busy day, but satisfying to get to work on satisfying home projects with our favorite Bob & Peg.

 

We'll be back there next weekend to lay tile and finish up the job.

 

And then... I was promised a birthday dinner. 

2000 Cadillac Eldorado

God, I love cars. Old cars, new cars; I love buying them, and selling them. There are certain cars that I just die over; Camaros, Cadillacs, and I really want a Lincoln MKZ.

 

 Terry hates cars. He hates buying them, and selling them. He just wants an old beater to drive around. 

 

We have a lease car that works as the general family car, but when we needed a secondary car, somehow, I got my way and we adopted this 2000 Cadillac Eldorado.

 

I had one before, and adored it, so I just wanted it so bad. Funny thing is, that Terry ended up being the principal driver of it, and he does not like it.

 

Now, the car is needing all kinds of work and I am quite hesitant to spend a lot of money on it because it is so old (I sure wish my brother was still around to help out with car mechanics like he used to)...

 

Here we are at the junk yard, looking for a side mirror for the old Caddy.

     The old baby needs a side mirror that got ripped off, it needs a muffler, and it needs a new windshield. We just bought new tires for it, and it got a new alternator, but this old car is still screaming for attention...

 

   
    The side mirror has been missing for a year now. This is not an easy find... but we keep trying. People tend to hang onto their Eldorados because they stopped production in 2000. This fact also propels me to keep it in good condition, because it is one of the last of it's kind.

 

    There she is... still in love with her, even though she's causing a lot of trouble right now.

 

   

Great Flood of 2014

 

My Zinnia garden...

 

Driving through the neighborhoods of Warren, Madison Heights, and Royal Oak;

 after the flooding a couple of days ago.

 

I've never seen anything like it. So many basements flooded out, and so much curbside trash.

 

I want to scavenge so bad, but I know I can't. Sewage, yuck. 

On our way to mom's house to check out her ruined basement...

Fun Day

Building the shower walls...

He's still quite agile...

Cicada coming out of it's bug shell.

His face.

He's almost out...

Spreading his wings.

There he is...in all of his glorious creepiness.

Torrential rains...

Fun day.

Slow but Steady Progress

 

This is going to be a very slow porject.

 But, that's olay because there are still two functioning bathrooms

 in the house, so it's not like we have to use

 the Mobil station down the street or anything...

 

Terry is starting to put up walls, and at the same time,

still removing some old wood, and plumbing, and electrical stuff.

 

More demolition garbage !!!

 

While Terry bangs away downstairs, I am crocheting.

I haven't picked up the crochet hook in a long, long time,

but my little Sandy asked me to make her a blanket,

so here we go...

She picked out the pattern... I only need 70 squares. Ugh.

 

Ahh, family time.

Sister Sue came home for a visit, and we had some silly time.

 

Me & Terry had silly time too.

 

Back to the basement...

We (Terry) tore out the wall under the stairs.

(That's the sump pump back there)

 

Tonight, we layed out where the shower will be,

and made sure there was ample toilet space.

 

Tomorrow, Terry will work on framing in the walls, and the shower.