Timeline of a flood.

Wednesday at 6:00 PM

After my mother-in-law (who was in town visiting) showered up, I was just about to jump in when I hear "Sarah, I think we have a problem!!!". This is what I found -

Wednesday at 6:05 PM

Once I realized that our master bathroom was flooding through to the kitchen, we quickly threw down every 'dog towel' (those kept for muddy paws and baths) I had in the house followed by about 18 cups and bowls to catch the dripping water. This is what the kitchen now looked like -

Thursday at 2:00 PM

After the flooding stopped, and while I was impatiently patiently waiting for a call back from the home warranty plumber, I snapped this picture of the damage -

Friday at 9:10AM, 11:54AM and 12:28 PM

The plumbers arrived and the first cut was made which ended up not being enough. So two, larger cuts followed until we had a gaping hole in our ceiling AND wall in order to "assess the situation". (And yes, there is over a two-hour window in which the plumbers were 'out getting supplies') Two hours? Really? Here are the holes -  

Friday at 12:55 PM

The toilet was moved and the house was 'snaked' all the way down to underneath the basement -

Friday at 1:36

This baby was finally cut out and removed. Note the HUGE hole in this cast iron pipe. They assumed it was original with our 1930's house and assured us it was just normal wear and tear throughout the years - 

Friday at 2:12 PM

Finally, the new piping was up and the plumbing fixed. And this is exactly how the kitchen looks as I sit here typing this -

Next up - Getting quotes for replacing the ceiling and walls which THANKFULLY the warranty mostly covers!

Fun times in the world of home ownership.

Gladstone Hotel

Because of so many flights back to KC along with vacations to Colorado, DC, Pittsburgh, Florida and Dallas all this year, Derek and I decided to stay in the states for our 5-year anniversary.

Well, kinda.

We are so close to Canada that we're going to drive up through Buffalo and celebrate our anniversary in Toronto. Can't WAIT to see what this city is like and all it has to offer! More to come later, but I just had to share my excitement for the awesome hotel we'll be staying in! I searched high and low and the Gladstone Hotel is one of the few TOP hotels to stay in.
Check it out - http://www.gladstonehotel.com/hotel/rooms. Every single room is different and inspired by a separate artist! You even get to pick which one you want... out of what's left, obviously.

Have fun browsing the rooms. I know I spent a while checking them all out!

Let me know if you have any suggestions for things to do and places to eat! (Yes, we're already doing the Maiden of the Mist!)

Indians vs Royals

I surprised Derek with some tickets to see his beloved Kansas City Royals play the Cleveland Indians up here last week! Because both teams are horrible, it was a 'super saver' game and tickets were pretty cheap. Needless to say, we were about 15 rows up behind home plate and had a great view! Progressive Field is very nice and the view of downtown in the backdrop makes for a great evening! ..... even if there WERE only a handful of other Royals fans!

(click to make a bit larger)

Baby Jackson!

Congrats to my cousin, Steven, and his wife Krystal for the birth of their first born!!

Little Jackson was born at 2:44 p.m. on Wednesday, May 19th weighing in at 8 lbs 15 ozs and was 21 in long with a 15 inch head. He has just a light covering of hair on his head and has already opened his eyes quite a lot!

Can't WAIT to meet the little guy in July!!!

CONGRATS AGAIN GUYS!!!!

Book Review - The Choice

So I'm on my Nicholas Sparks kick right now and although I'm still waiting for Dear John to make its way to Redbox, I decided to keep going with this author and read his 13th book. (Yes, I'm wayyyy out of order). Sparks' books are easy reads and generally all have heartwarming, fuzzy stories..... just the way I like them!

The Choice was very different from Dear John in that about 2/3rds the way through the book, the plot does a 180 and your caught in the middle of an entirely new storyline! This book tests the boundaries of love with the question: "How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive"? It follows two completely different individuals who fall in love and the choices a husband has to make during their lives.

If you are a Sparks fan, you'll LOVE this book! A+ from me!

Roxie's Story

Ever heard the term "raised in a zoo"? Well I was. Kinda.

Growing up, we had every animal ranging from birds, to lizards, to a bunny, to turtles, hamsters and even gerbils. But mostly, we always had a dog (or two). From an early age, I learned about adoption and volunteering for the local shelters to help the animals in need. To this day, I have only adopted my dogs and try to convince others to do the same. I had also volunteered for the Kansas City Humane Society for 4-5 years after volunteering at our local college animal shelter during my time there. In summary - we LOVE our animals in my family.

Derek's and my last rescue, Bailey, was adopted from the Kansas City Humane Society. I'd like to use the term 'rescue' gently as this perfect little chocolate lab mix would have been adopted by almost anyone looking for an animal. So yes, she was adopted, just probably not 'rescued'. Someday though, I would like to genuinely rescue a dog in need, or perhaps an injured or 'special' dog. It would be my way of giving back to this tail-wagging, face-licking, unconditional loving community.

Now we get to Roxie's story. And for that, we need to jump back about three years ago to when my parents were thinking of adopting another pooch. My mother had been told by a co-worker that her neighbors had moved and literally left one of their dogs in the house. This neighbor had been going over there to feed it, but this poor lab/chow mix was in an empty house with no forever family and nowhere to go. She had been miss-treated by the family and generally spent her time in the basement leading her to be less social and constantly tense. The neighbor would only be able to keep Roxie alive for so long and would ultimately have to call animal control to come and get her. Eventually my mother's heart tore from hearing these stories and decided to go take a peek at this dog, knowing in the back of her mind she most likely wouldn't be able to help much.

After quite a few nights of coaxing this 6-year old, scared dog with petrified eyes, my mom and dad decided to bring her home and help her back to whatever level of 'normal' that they could. She was extremely timid to begin with and you could feel the aggression hidden behind those walls after all those years of miss-treatment.

That was three years ago. Today, Roxie is a happy, old girl who receives non-stop praise and attention from my parents. Her personality has developed quite a bit over the years and I think she knows that she has found a real 'forever family' who will not abandon her. Ever. She has given so much happiness to my parents and I'm so grateful for people like them in this world who give real meaning to the term 'animal rescue'.

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to my two Mothers (real Mom and Mother-in-Law!) We are so lucky to have you both in our lives and would not be where we are today without you!

Love you both!

 

Guest Bedroom Update

Have I mentioned before how eclectic the previous owners were?

Let's just say that Derek and I had a 'vision' and knew we could really update the house. One guest room in particular had this textured, swirley, metallic-looking silver walls with this black and silver ceiling fan. They had also painted the beautiful 'nook shelves' with a thick, black paint that did not look attractive. After some tedious painting, new blinds and a celing fan installed by Lowe's, the room looks much more "pottery barn-ish"! Now we just need a few more decorations!

New Fixtures!

We have now had 6 fixtures replaced and are so excited to have a more updated look to the house!

Have I mentioned before about the 'eclectic/modern' taste of the previous owners? Well you can see below by the weird fixtures they chose! I'm not sure why the lighting looks 'yellow' for those particular pieces, but it's more of a soft white rather than bright yellow!

These are from our first floor -

And these are on our 2nd floor (we removed a random old hallway fan to put in more light) -