Brokedown Palace

This week started off and has continued to be one of constant work to get this house looking like the one that we want to live in. But, let me start in the beginning - Sunday, November 30, 2008. This was the last day that Roger was actively employed by the U.S. Department of State. It was fitting that he spent the evening in our garage surrounded by the items representing his many years (40) in the Foreign Service. Here he is working away at unpacking all of the remaining boxes in the garage - you can't see it very well, but he is surrounded by lots of African art, South American furniture, etc. Every piece has its own story to tell, and it's fascinating.
It was certainly a fitting end to a long career overseas. Very nostalgic. We can only hope that the next 40 years are as exciting and fruitful. So, since I'm writing this 5 days later...hats off to my now retired spouse. The boys, dogs, and I plan to keep him so busy in retirement, he'll never have time to mourn his "career" days - he may find himself longing for them instead!

Dane arrived on Monday morning. He is our first house guest, and our illustrious handy man to boot! Dane had use-or-lose leave, so we decided to help him use up some of it by making him a LONG list of things that needed to be done here at our "Brokedown Palace." Actually, I should give the house some credit -- it's not inhabitable, but after several years of being rented followed by a year of vacancy, there are definitely some "fix-up" issues. Anyway, Dane is quite handy, and we are MORE than happy to have him. He's saving us a bundle of money AND time!

Monday was a bit of a bust because Dane arrived mid-morning, then by the time we got back to the house and had lunch, it was just about time to go get the boys from school. Jed had asked me if Dane could come with us to pick them up, so Dane had to go. The boys were very excited to see him, though Kit cowered away from him. We didn't realize why until we were getting in the car and Dane took off his sunglasses - Kit finally recognized him and said to him, "Dane! Where did you get that moustache??!" It was so cute! We've seen Dane more without the moustache than with it, which I suppose is why Kit didn't know who he was...

However, even though it was a shorter day for us at the house, Dane completed quite a few of his tasks on the list. He even figured out that the reason why our refrigerator outlet wasn't working was because the circuit breaker was fried - not the outlet itself. Hmm...you really have to wonder what those tenants do in your house, right? Just our luck these days anyway...

Roger wanted to paint the ceiling in the kitchen before they do our renovation, so while Dane installed 3 ceiling fans yesterday (the boys' rooms and our bedroom), Roger put out his plastic drop cloths (reminding me of a Dexter preparation), put on his old Navy uniform, and got to it.
Meanwhile, here's Dane installing Kit's ceiling fan...
The BIG day was today - Thursday. Dane has been chugging away on his list (and I have to tell you that he was actually concerned that we wouldn't have enough for him to do this week!). But, today, they had to rent a 14-foot ladder so that Dane could put up the ceiling fan in the living room. So, early this morning, Roger and Dane took Jed and Kit and off they went. I had to stay because of a scheduling issue (the closet people were coming with the last few bits to finish our closet). Anyway, they all set off to get the ladder then drop the boys at school - I figured the boys would be excited about strapping a long ladder on top of Valfrid anyway! Apparently, they weren't too fazed...

So, just after the closet folks left, Roger and Dane arrived back with this huge, honking ladder.
We had to move the furniture again so Dane could work on the ceiling fan.
As you can tell, Roger and I were invaluable assistants...
Okay, we did help him every now and then...there is NO way I would EVER get on something that high and WOBBLY!!
And, after Dane finished with the very large ceiling fan (making it look so easy), we convinced him to do windows while he was up there!
Well, then, we remembered that the underside of the overhang on the roof was buckled and "out," so we convinced him to fix that too...
We also convinced him to clean the long mirror above the fireplace and clean and change the lightbulbs in the spot lights up there! Dane worked like a slave today, and around 1:30 after we had all eaten lunch, Roger and I headed out to return the ladder and make our daily run to Home Depot (our new home away from home) before picking up the boys. Dane decided to use this "quiet time" to tackle his horror project - installing my Italian chandelier in the eat-in kitchen. He's been trying to put it off for 2 days now. We bought this chandelier at a flea market in Berlin - it's from Naples circa 1930s. Roger and I both fell in love with it and had to have it.

Unfortunately for Dane, it wasn't going to be so easy to install. First, it looked as if it was going to hang VERY low, and then, it just wasn't going to be so easily installed...Dane basically had to hang it, then put it back together backwards (basically, build it from the top down to the bottom). We decided to remove the top bowl mount and chain to reduce the length, but that really didn't make Dane's job any easier.
We were hopeful when we left him this afternoon, and he didn't disappoint. It is absolutely gorgeous, and once the rest of our kitchen is finished, I think it will be even lovelier.
For my part today, I did assist with moving furniture, etc., but my biggest contribution was making a cheesecake for Dane - we are very grateful to have him here to help.

Tomorrow, we are taking a bit of a field trip to a furniture sale in New Port Richey (not terribly close). I think a break is in store for all, and now that we're unpacked, we realize we have no end tables! Besides, now that Dane finished with the Italian chandelier, the rest of the projects will be a piece of cake!

But, I must send a big THANK YOU to Debbie (Dane's wife) for allowing us to borrow Dane for the week. We really DO appreciate his help and it's great to see him again too - I know we will all miss him when he leaves.