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Search under the name, "Marcia Gunnett Woodard".

Sunday, December 31, 2006

The saga, Chapter Umpteen....(with illustrations)

To quote the 80's song, "It's raining again!" With the rain comes...more leaks! The company who did the temporary repair has said there's nothing more they can do. Every time they try to control the leaking it spreads. Nothing left to do but wait for the roof to be redone as planned. Here are pictures:

The leaky roof (you can see the wet spots)


The "bucket brigade"—each one catching at least one drip!


BUT...THE GOOD NEWS IS... WE'RE MAKING THE BEST OF THE SITUATION!

We've installed an indoor pool!


Another view of the new pool!

Life just continues to be exciting!!!

Saturday, December 30, 2006

The saga.... (illustrated version)

Since Jaena said to take pictures, and since I got a digital camera for Christmas, here are pictures!


"The way we were...." (West wall of my office—little damage—gives you an idea how pretty the room was. Waaah!)


Office ceiling—the wood you see is the roof decking!! (In the upper right, you can barely see the light fixture that poured water.)


East wall of my office.


Southeast corner of my office/guestroom. (Most heavily damaged.)


The office floor (with various "rain-catchment devices")










MBR walk-in closet, where the water went to when it came from my office!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

The saga goes on the road....

For those of us who know our plans and were concerned, we were able to visit relatives as planned--in spite of the housing issues! Nate is keeping an eye on the house. (Which is needed, since my office roof started leaking in a new spot last Friday.) Christmas was good--family, food, and gifts. (NO SNOW! Amazing for lower Michigan!) We have a little snow today--just enough to sing "I'm Dreaming of a White Boxing Day". (My Canadian friends are the only ones who know that song.)

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and is having a good Boxing Day!

Thanks for your continung prayers for the whole "house/insurance thing".

Monday, December 18, 2006

The saga continues....

Well, the rooms are relatively dry, the carpet and vinyl are ripped out, the ceiling tiles are down, and they're tearing out the walls! Yaaaaaay for tearing out the walls! Walls in the two rooms were very, very wet, but there was a difference of opinion about what to do about them. One camp (adjustor) said, "They'll dry." The other (Stanley Steemer) said, "Gonna have to rip them out!" The adjustor has decided to accept the Steemer assessment of the situation—the walls come out (but insurance wants pictures). Once again, yaaaaaaay!

I know some of you have been praying—thank you!

P.S. Thanks Jaena, for the idea—believe it or not, we probably wouldn't have thought to take pictures!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Water, water, everywhere!

So, it all started a week and a half ago, when we had a windstorm....

I was sitting upstairs in my office, when I heard a loud "thud"! You know, the kind that makes you jump up and leave the room because you think the ceiling is gonna fall in? I checked around the house—nothin'. I went outside an looked at the roof, searching for tree branches, UFO's, falling cows—nothin'. I called myself an idiot for running out of my office and went back to work.

I was sitting in my office, when I heard what sounded like a large person (wearing boots) stomping around on the roof. I checked around the house—nothin'. I went outside an looked at the roof, searching for...well...a large person wearing boots—nothin'. I called Lloyd as I went back to work.

We were already contracted to have a new rubber roof put on soon, so Lloyd said to call the roofer. I called and described my experiences. It was too windy for him to go up that day, but he said from what he had seen on his recent visit there, we had nothing to worry about. I called myself a worrywart and went back to work.

Fast forward to this week, Tuesday morning....

Lloyd and I are in the kitchen, starting our morning, when Anna walks in the room. She looks like she's been walking in the rain, and she's holding a dripping laptop—MY dripping laptop! Her first words are, "Mom's office is leaking like a sieve!"

Long story short—the "thud" and the "stomping boots" I heard were the wind ripping loose a four foot wide section of the flat roof and folding it back! The unprotected roof is now letting the heavy downpour outside come roaring straight into my office! Onto the desk, the laptop, the recliner, the leather desk chair, the books, the carpet.... Then it begins to work its way through the office floor and head for the walk-in closet directly below!

I am now on a first-name basis with my homeowner's insurance agent (Nancy), a claims adjustor (Don), and a guy from Stanley Steemer who does flood recovery (Mitch)! Next, I'm sure I'll get to know a drywaller, a carpet installer, and who knows who else!

For now, I have many things in my house "stored" in strange places. My stove is in the middle of my kitchen. (They needed a 220 outlet and it was give up the stove or the clothes dryer.) I have stacks of bedsheets in the entry, hanger clothes on my bed, and bins and stacks and piles of "stuff" to sort and put away "someday" when this adventure is over. I have no privacy. The hoses and electrical cords from the dehumidifiers, fans, and air purifiers keep pretty much all the doors in the house from closing all the way. Except, ironically, for the doors on the two water-damaged rooms! Those two doors we can close and latch!

Lloyd and I look at each other, and all we can say is, "Well...it's no fire!"

Stay tuned as the saga continues....

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Neuro Update

Sorry about the delay in updating about my neurology appt. I already let a lot of people know in other ways, and just didn't think to post it here. Sorry! Here's the news....

Well....

Last Monday was not the best for me. I was feeling my symptoms more that usual. However, in spite of having an "off" day, in spite of having "sleep issues" the night before, in spite of the stress and "rush-rush" of getting to Indy on time....

My Neuro said that day (my "off" day!) my symptoms showed a marked improvement over what they were like last July when she last saw me! Yaaaaay. God! Yaaaaay, Mirapex! She also suggested a new med (Azilect) that I may want to consider pairing with the Mirapex--in part for its apparent ability to slow progression.

The way i summed up the difference I'm experiencing, "I feel younger than I did in July."

Thanks, everyone for your prayers and for the other ways you help!

P.S. Tomorrow I hope to post about something exciting that happened to me recently!