There Will Be No Fine Dining at This Establishment

October 19

Y’all had to know it was coming. The guys are ripping the floors up in the kitchen and dining room. The entire foundation has to be replaced. This means the scope of our plans have to change. We are probably not going to get to do a lot of the things we talked about. I’m determined to save this house, so if God means it to happen it will and if He doesn’t, then we will do another project at some point down the road and finish it. 

There’s that dang big hole again

The dining room fireplace. 

Exposing the floor joists in the dining room

Another look at the fireplace

The front porch is collecting more and more salvaged boards.

A little video of the kitchen & dining room, at this point in the demo (this is an experiment to see how well the videos do.)

I thought about what story I would tell, in this post since the pics are so ugly and the outlook is so dreary. I think I’ll tell a Abbie story. Those never get old, no matter how many times you hear them. This one ties to the Reno and its not quite as outrageous as most of the Abbie stories.

Mom and I used to have to take Abbie to Hamrick’s at least 2 or 3 times a year.

    Once on one of our many Hamrick’s trips, I wore a pair of shoes that were hurting my feet. Keep in mind, these would be ALL DAY trips. There was no go in and pick up a few things, check out and leave. These trips were a production, from start to finish. We would leave the house at 7am, get breakfast and shop until lunchtime or after, just in Hamrick’s. On one particulate trip, my feet started hurting. So, I bought a pair of more comfortable slip on tennis shoes that were nothing spectacular. They just got me through the rest of the day. While we were eating lunch, Abbie spotted those shoes. She liked them and said she wished she had gotten her a pair. She continued on and on about those shoes. We had to turn around and go back to Hamrick’s so I could go inside and buy her a pair of those shoes. From the time I handed her those shoes until her last breath, I never saw her wear them!

I suppose you are wondering how this story ties to the Reno. When we were cleaning out the house, mom remembered those shoes and casually said, “I wonder if you will find those shoes from Hamrick’s that Abbie made you go back to get and she never wore.” 

I did! I found one shoe almost immediately, in the hallway, which she used for her closet. The second shoe was nowhere to be found, so I held onto the one I did find. We were dealing with dementia, so I still had hope I would find the other one. There were 2 cedar chests, one in each bedroom. I had gone through and moved the one in the spare, because of the termite damage. I immediately moved everything out of that room, as soon as possible. Remember, everything in that room was sloped downhill. The antique wardrobe was being held up only by the door framing. Anyway, weeks later, as mom and I were going through the cedar chest in the master, that shoe was still nowhere to be found. I was starting to get disappointed and we decided to rearrange the furniture to make it easier to manage. When we moved the cedar chest, I found the shoe. It was meant to be! For the purpose of taking this pic, is the only time I’ve ever had them on my feet.