Repairs in the New House

We bought a beautiful new home. Well, it will be beautiful when we're done making repairs on it. You see, it was a foreclosed home and the previous owner must have been extremely bitter, sad, and angry about losing his house. At least that's the only explanation I can come up with for his behavior.

He snipped off chandeliers and took the ceiling fans, light fixtures, shower heads, medicine cabinets, the garage door openers and entry pads, the utility sink, fireplace, kitchen cabinet pulls, and even the kitchen sink. He took a pair of scissors and cut a strip out of the center of the carpet. He drained the pool and took the pool equipment. He took more than a dozen doors, literally tore out six more (including their frames and molding) and ripped all the shelves and poles from the closets, including the pantry. And for an extra special surprise he loosened a main screw in the electrical breaker box outside, just enough to disconnect the electricity for half of the downstairs. We tried for a couple of weeks to figure that one out before we called an electrician, who discovered the prank.

Thankfully the bank replaced the carpet, kitchen sink, and fireplace (sort of , but that's another story), as well as the pool equipment. But we're on our own for the rest. Needless to say we've been a little busy.

Here's a man I like to call SuperJoe.

Joe is Mitch's brother, and he came down for a couple of days to help Mitch build shelving in the closets, and replace the ripped-out doors. We owe him big!


Mitch's mom and dad were fantastic help, cleaning, repairing, and helping with the kids, and a few of our great friends were here to help too. Thank you everyone!


For awhile there I felt like we were in the some kind of time warp, or in another dimension where all you do is sit among cardboard boxes and paint closet shelves all day.

Once we felt we were getting a handle on things, we discovered a slab leak in a hot water pipe under our dishwasher.

Would you believe that thing had been leaking close to a gallon a minute?!

We're to the point now where the house is livable, but we still have so much to do. Want to know what Mitch is doing at this very moment? Painting doors!
Er...I'd better go and lend a hand.