Chaotic to Calm to Chaotic

 Starting the New Year

Before

 Some of you may remember how I started the New Year with chaos. My roof leaked into my studio/dining room and the ceiling had to be completely replaced. I never posted how it looked when I finally got it put back together and painted.

After

I hired someone for the de-molding and de-mildewing and the spackling, then I painted it myself and had my son put up the fan and help me move the furniture back. But a lot of life has happened in this house this year so far and this room has looked great . . . then a mess . . . then great again . . . then a mess. It's headed back toward great again right now. Whew!

About a week after this, I had to get several paintings ready for a show; and again chaos reigned! This was a good thing and showing my art is something I love to do. Perhaps I'll write more about that another time.

Then, I planned and had a shower for my beautiful daughter, Emma, so I HAD to get everything spick and span again. More about that later, too!

But the point of this, for me, is that LIFE happens in this house. It's never static and certainly never boring. I'm grateful for the life I have -- wonderful friends who support me in so many ways, two caring sisters with warm and caring families, really good kids who have always kept me entertained, and many opportunities to create and show my art. I love my life. :)

New Roof Adventure

Whew!! This year I hit the ground running. So busy. So much happening. I'll start with my roof adventure. Back in October, I noticed a small spot that indicated a leak on my ceiling. So I began getting estimates on my roof. One of those estimates was for the roof AND solar panels. The estimate seemed reasonable and included a way that I could pay for it, so I went for it! We scheduled it for Thanksgiving week.

During the week of Thanksgiving, I made arrangements for someone to stay at my house while the roof was being done so that I could go to visit with my mother in SC. Phone reception at my mother's house was spotty at best, and though I texted my friend at my house, I never received a reply.

A week later, arriving home, I found that my roof had not even been started. :( Meanwhile, several Florida-style downpours later, my roof leak is getting bigger. Several phone calls (and weeks) later I finally get the roofers schedule to start the week before Christmas; however, wouldn't you know it? We had to postpone it due to bad weather.

The roofer offered to start it the week of Christmas on Monday and I agreed. Yay! Finally started! On Monday, the roof was stripped of shingles and covered in canvas. Tuesday morning, the roofer drove up before the sun came up and started toward the roof. Suddenly, the bottom fell out of the sky. Most of the house was okay, but where repair work was being done in the back, rain began pouring through the roof.

You can use your imagination to fill in the details, but we frantically moved furniture while the roofers frantically covered the roof. I wound up paying quite a bit to handle the repairs -- the roofer made life difficult, and several weeks went by while attempting to get money from the roofers and get the ceiling replace . . . Then getting the room back to its normal state. So that's how I ended the old year and started the new one!