Bionicles vs. My Little Pony
complete with a vortex and hidden traps.
October 23, 2009
God's Gracious Hand
God's hand has been so evident throughout this whole housing process.
A few weeks ago I went down to Santa Ana and found doors for way less that what Lowe's and the other home improvement companies charge. I even found our front door for
$400 vs. the $2,500 that we were having to prepare ourselves to spend. While down in Santa Ana I drove past a Habitat for Humanity store and decided to stop. I found 3 cases of this concrete adhesive that we were going to have to purchase selling for $10 a tube (retail is $30). I decided to ask if they would give me a discount if I bought all 3 cases. They gave it to me for $5 a tube! $250 for the whole batch. So many have said 'Oh that is so lucky'. Random doesn't just happen...
On Tuesday My Gentleman was supposed to meet with our engineer at Building and Safety, but Aldo's secretary called to cancel. We figured that it would be another week delay in getting in. On Wednesday Aldo called and said that he could meet the same day at 3:30. He ran home, got the plans, and headed down to the meeting. The last two pages of the plans and Title 24 were done in a few minutes. When Aldo worked up the permit tax sheet he decided that the amount was way to high ($12,590). He took it back to his desk and reworked the sheet. He handed it to My Gentleman. The new amount was $3,290. Aldo had removed all of the school tax from the total. When Tom took it to the counter to pay the lady was surprised to see the amount. "Ooh, you are so lucky" was her comment. This was so NOT luck.
A few weeks ago I went down to Santa Ana and found doors for way less that what Lowe's and the other home improvement companies charge. I even found our front door for
$400 vs. the $2,500 that we were having to prepare ourselves to spend. While down in Santa Ana I drove past a Habitat for Humanity store and decided to stop. I found 3 cases of this concrete adhesive that we were going to have to purchase selling for $10 a tube (retail is $30). I decided to ask if they would give me a discount if I bought all 3 cases. They gave it to me for $5 a tube! $250 for the whole batch. So many have said 'Oh that is so lucky'. Random doesn't just happen...On Tuesday My Gentleman was supposed to meet with our engineer at Building and Safety, but Aldo's secretary called to cancel. We figured that it would be another week delay in getting in. On Wednesday Aldo called and said that he could meet the same day at 3:30. He ran home, got the plans, and headed down to the meeting. The last two pages of the plans and Title 24 were done in a few minutes. When Aldo worked up the permit tax sheet he decided that the amount was way to high ($12,590). He took it back to his desk and reworked the sheet. He handed it to My Gentleman. The new amount was $3,290. Aldo had removed all of the school tax from the total. When Tom took it to the counter to pay the lady was surprised to see the amount. "Ooh, you are so lucky" was her comment. This was so NOT luck.
God bless Aldo Udua!
Our plans are now approved and the building can begin!
October 21, 2009
First Swim Meet
After a fun and enjoyable summer in swim lessons and water polo we decided that this school year the kids would be in a swim program through County Parks and Rec. As a part of the swim schedule they each get to participate in swim meets throughout the semester. The first meet was held in down town LA. They both were in the 50m freestyle and 50m breaststroke. Mr. Cool got 3rd in his freestyle heat and the Lovely Daughter placed 1st in her breaststroke heat. Unfortunately, Lovely Daughter and the rest of the heat were disqualified because their kick was wrong. The coach has since been working on the strokes with the kids.
Outing with Friends
Before school started up again Lovely Daughter came to us and requested that we go on more field trips. "School was soooo boring last year. Nothing happened." (no, nothing exciting at all save our house burning) So, since school started we have made it a priority to be involved in more of the field trips when they fit into either our calendar, what we are learning, or both.
LA County Fair
LA County Fair
Children's Hunger Fund
(we packed pretzels into smaller bags)
(we packed pretzels into smaller bags)
Hiking and Nature Center in Burbank
Leaving Beverly and going back to the Hills
The life of 'ease' is over. The insurance company believes we should be done with the house by now and have decided to stop paying for the apartment. Part of me is actually thankful to be leaving the posh place. The temporary living arangements with furniture and items that are not your own make for stressful times. If something spills - oh no! If something breaks - oh no! If something....was always at the forefront of any action that was made within our home. Granted, we didn't not take care of the things we owned but there is something to be said about not worrying when something did happen whether you would get your deposit back or have to pay extra for damage.
The two things that will be missed...the heated pool and the amazing view of the valley.
I do pray that we remain content with where the Lord has us and don't mimic the Israelites and wish to be back in Egypt.
It comes a tumbling down
One Saturday morning we had a wonderful crew of friends come help tear down, tear up, and pull off parts of the house. God's hand was evident throughout the whole day.
At 8 am the Backhoe was ready to begin working on tearing up the driveway and concrete slab that needed to be removed so the trucks can take it all to the dump.
8:30 ~ Backhoe gets two flat tires
9:00 ~ Call is made to postpone the trucks till noon.
9:30 ~ Truckers drive by for a visit and suggest that the job will take longer and to just give them a call when the whole project is pulled up and that way we aren't charged for them to just sit around and wait.
9:45 ~ Repair truck arrives and fixes both tires and only charges $100 vs the rental company charging us $250 per tire.
10:00 till the cows come home~ Fabulous friends help get the remaining demo work done.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
