New & Improved Taj! Now with 30% More Dust and Debris!

Monday morning in Mayberry and I am taking advantage of a few quiet moments before the boys get up.  We'll head back to Gilligan's Island later today, so it's going to be a busy day, trying to wrap up all the projects we can before leaving.

Shawn, along with his dad and his brother, tore out the bonus room ceiling on Friday morning.  It didn't take them long...sledge hammers seemed to do the trick pretty well.  Once all the drywall, foam insulation and fiberglass insulation were down, the rest of the family (Shawn's stepmom, sister in law and your truly) joined in for the huge cleanup.  About 45 big bags of debris are waiting for pickup at the curb now.  Our neighbors love us.  Not.

 

Because sweating our hineys off in the un-air conditioned bonus room was not enough fun, Shawn and his brother decided to take down the enormous limb that reached from the pecan tree in our front yard, across the driveway and halfway across the yard of the house next door.  It really needed to come down, but I could have cried when they announced their plan.  Seriously.  How much sweat can one body generate in a day?

But, it's done and we won't have to worry about it any more.  So, yay!

We also bought a sump pump and had drained the pool almost completely (we'd had it within a foot or two, but then it rained a good bit last week).  Late yesterday afternoon, it was beginning to dry out, but then of course we got a massive thunderstorm last night, so I guess we'll be pumping water again today before we leave. 

There were other little projects, like finally figuring out where the weird den closet meets the master bedroom closet...that might enable us to bust through and make a big (albeit awkwardly shaped) master closet.  Storage is sexy.

And we're still struggling with a better layout for the master bath.  General Handydude suggested an exterior-mounted tankless water heater, but we didn't really like that idea, especially since we will not be here full-time and we worry about freezing in the winter.  Freezing.  Ha!  At 9:00 last night, I looked at the Jeep thermometer and it read 96.  Hard to believe that in a few months, I will be complaining about the cold!

Anyway, that's the scoop for now.  Since I missed out on pictures of the last big Tree Debris Pile, I made sure to snap a few of this trip's Tree Debris, plus the forty-odd bags of ceiling debris.  I bet we get a Christmas card from the City of Mayberry guys who have to pick this stuff up.

Goodbye, Ceiling!

Shawn's brother surveys the scene.

We ran out of bags!

Taj Pile-O-Trash

One limb.  Repeat:  ONE limb.

Fortunately, you can't see the blue toilet in back of the bags.

Not a very good photo, but you can sort of see the limb stretchign across the driveway to the house on the right.

And another shot, this time with no limb!

Well, that's all the fabulousness I have for you today.  Off to get some work done and then head back to the coast.