Thursday, January 23, 2014

I guess we're a Superfund Site now...



We live in a condominium. We have the largest unit in the building. We have 3 cats and an iguana. It suits us and our lifestyle, but most importantly, it is home. About 10 days ago (roughly), one of the members of our Home Owners Association board approached my husband about a leak in the garage that appeared to be coming from, if not our condo, then one of the units above us. A quick inspection determined that it was not our unit, but the one directly above ours. Not long after that, I noticed that every time I walked into our bedroom, the floor felt "spongy". Also, water seeped up through the joint in the floor near the door. You see, we have hardwood floors. Not real wood, but a very beautiful and expensive laminate. And this was bad news; very bad news indeed. All the while plumbers and insurance professionals and HOA board members were trying to find the extent of the damage, I kept noticing floorboards lifting up. The kicker was the the puckering paint in the master bathroom wall. A little voice in my head kept chanting "this is bad...this is very bad..."and it was.

On Thursday (January 16), a crew of men invaded my home, took all kinds of measurements and moisture sensors and then the environmental guy came in to take samples for analysis and what it all boiled down to is this: the damaged floor has to be replaced, the damaged walls have to be replaced and yes, asbestos, mold and lead were found in ceilings, walls and floors. That explains the first photo in this post. But first, we had to move us, the cats, and things we thought we would need immediately to a hotel for as yet an undetermined period of time.

Fast forward 7 days...Here we are checked into The Westin in Long Beach. We endured the cats freaking out for 24 hours until the acclimated to the hotel room. They are cool now. But I learned today that we are going to be here for at leadt a couple more weeks...more to follow...

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! (No more reading challenge.)

At the beginning of 2013, I accepted a challenge to read a lot of books. The challenge was to try to read 75 or 100 or 150 books in one year. I opted for the one in the middle, 100 books. And I almost made it. I started number 97 on December 30th knowing full well it would take a miracle (or me being unable to do anything else but read for two days straight) for me to get even one book closer to my chosen goal. But, I am still very pleased with my end result. 96 books is still quite a few!

You may think that this year, I would try to top that number...but no. I'm not. I'm going to continue to read as much as I want, when I want, but no more counting every book. This year, I may try to use this blog to send some meaningful ideas and thoughts into the cosmos...or not. Who knows?

Happy New Year.

Hugs,

Mags