Sparkle Spiders, TIMBER, and the Sheriff.

March 7, 2013

Sparkle Spiders

I woke up around 8 and had breakfast before Gary, the carpet guy came over to take measurements. He did his thing and gave us some estimates for carpet and installation. Gary was also kind enough to give us a lighter. The night before I had wanted to have a fire but didn’t have a lighting device so I was excited to use the fireplace for the first time. Once Gary left, we pulled up the carpet and padding (except for the rooms we are sleeping in). I also pulled up the carpet from the bathroom. Who puts carpet in the bathroom?! Seriously. Underneath the carpet in the bathroom was vinyl that also needed to come up. While I worked on pulling up unnecessary tack strip, ¼ round, and removing wall paper, my dad worked up taking the hall bathroom apart (taking out the counter top, mirror, medicine cabinet, light, and toilet). I stuck a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch and then we headed to town to run some errands. We went to the library for a bit to get internet, Sherwin Williams to get paint supplies, and Winn Dixie for bleach and vinegar for cleaning. Although we aren’t far into the remodeling process, I think I’ve decided what my least favorite job is: washing walls. Terrible I tell you. When we got back from town I worked on washing the walls where the wallpaper had been. I disliked it so much that I didn’t finish it. In fact, I still haven’t finished it. So if anyone wants to volunteer to come wash my walls it would be greatly appreciated. 

Taking out the carpet

Removing the 1/4 round

Goodbye wallpaper. I won't miss you.

Doing some electrical work.

Taking out the toilet

No more wallpaper

No more carpet

Again, no more carpet

The beginning stages of remodeling the hall bathroom

 At 4pm Mike, from the landscaping place came. As expected, most of his suggestions included clearing out brush. He not only offered landscaping advice but lighting advice as well. Before he began at the nursery, he had a lighting business. He said he had some light fixtures leftover in his attic that he would look at and if there is anything we could use, he would give us a bargain price. Nancy also came over at the same time that Mike was there. She got to thinking that we didn’t have any table and chairs and offered to borrow us some. We declined because we have the counter and stools which work well. I took off the outlet covers throughout the house before I went and swept out the back shed. You know what I found in the back shed? Spiders. Lots of them. They were big nasty black ones. Before it got dark I went around the yard with a basket and collected firewood. I then made a fire. It was awesome. We sat by the fire in our camp chairs, eating our turkey and cheese sandwiches for dinner. When the firewood I had collected earlier was running low, I put on a headlamp and went outside to restock. As I was walking around, I noticed things sparkling on the ground. I was curious. I leaned down to get a closer look. You want to know what I found? More spiders! There were a lot of them. Although I’m not particularly keen of spiders, it’s a good thing they don’t bother me too much. Being the creative person that I am, I’ve decided to call them sparkle spiders. Don’t worry, I haven’t found a spider inside the house yet. The rest of the evening was spent sitting by the fire. 

Collecting firewood

FIRE!

Eating my dinner by the fire.

12:55am

At 12:54am I was sleeping. At 12:55am my eyes flew open. I heard an unidentified noise. It was a thump, thump, thump noise. It kind of sounded like a washing machine on spin cycle. I put on my slippers and grabbed my phone to use as a light. I walked towards the kitchen trying to find out where the noise was coming from. My dad has awoken as well. I opened the front door and hear the sound of water. It must be raining but that didn’t solve the question of where the noise was coming from. We made our way out the back door. The noise was a little louder but still unidentifiable. We walked through the yard. Suddenly I realized that I was stepping in water. It was the sprinkler system. When the home inspection was done before I closed on the house, it was said that the sprinkler system didn’t work. When Mike was here, we plugged it in and he messed with it a little and now it apparently works. It may not function properly, but it works!

March 8

TIMBER!

After a morning run and breakfast, the work began. I started by taking off the kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors and hinges. I also bleached the bathroom vanity before making ramen noodles for lunch. After lunch, we took our work outside. The couple that had lived in the house previously had done a poor job in keeping up with their yard so there is a lot of brush and dead trees that needed to be cleared. It didn’t take long to fill up one trailer load of pine needles, leaves, and branches. We took the first load to the dump 6 miles away. Considering how many loads we will be taking to the dump, it’s a good thing there is no fee. There is a limit of one load a day though. While we were out clearing trees and brush, Nancy came over for a visit. When it came up in conversation that we had been going to the library for internet, she was kind enough to give us the password for her internet. Although the connection isn’t always the best, having internet at the house will be very helpful. When the day was done, we had only cleared a small portion of brush but it’s already looking better.  We cleaned ourselves up before heading over to a local church for their Friday fish fry. Not only was it good, but they also give us a decent portion of fish. Along with the meal came curly fries! Curly fries make me happy. To add to the greatness, there were sweet old men serving the food. After a hard day’s work, we relaxed by the fire.   

Taking off the kitchen cabinet doors.

The kitchen without the cabinet doors. Please excuse the mess on the counter.

The kitchen cabinet doors.

Removing the vinyl.

You can hardly see the house through all the brush.

I didn't get a before picture but you can actually see the palm tree now that we cleared some brush!

I spy with my little eye. Do you see what I see?

The man with the chainsaw.

Let the brush clearing begin!

March 9

My first encounter with the Dunnellon Sheriff

Want to guess who was outside my front door this morning? Neighborhood security and the Dunnellon Sheriff, that’s who! We didn’t think we had violated any regulations in the remodeling process so we were unsure why they would be outside. Upon inquiring about what brought them to my part of the woods, we found out that a backpack had been abandoned on the roadside across the street. The sheriff had latex gloves on and was examining the contents of the bag. Inside were a few cell phones that didn’t work, men’s body wash, young men’s boxers and undershirts, and last but not least: dog poop. I guess that’s one way to start the morning.

We took a load of brush to the dump before heading to Ocala to get supplies. Our first stop was the Habitat for Humanity Restore. We found a few good deals before heading to Chick-fil-a for lunch. When we first pulled into the parking lot, we were amazed by how busy it was. Apparently it is the 3^rd busiest Chick-fil-a (whether this is in the state or the country I don’t know). On the way out, there were 20 cars in the drive through line and it was 1:30pm. We then went to two rival home improvement stores: Home Depot and Lowe’s. We picked up carpet and tile samples from both to bring back to the house and evaluate. There are so many options to choose from! It’s almost overwhelming. By the time we were done, we were both tired of ‘shopping’ but we made one more stop at Wal-Mart to get a few food items. I made dinner, collected firewood, and sat by the fire before heading to bed. 

Considering all the tile options

A peek inside our fridge.

I found this in a brush pile. It has the initial of the couple that lived here. How sweet.