Things   move slowly when we are sitting in Philly and the house is in North Wildwood.  You just can't tackle a project when you come home from dinner.

But we have made some progress. 

Marianne and Fred visited one miserable afternoon and tackled the back yard.   We made a run to Lowe's and bought garden tools, one of each kind. 

That's Marianne in the navy blue jacket. 

Here's the result of that day's work - pretty nice, huh?

Then Fred gave Mike some HUGE assistance with the giant wrench!  The heater needed to be re-lit and Fred helped with that, too. 

 

 

And at the end of the day we had a new cook top installed.  (The house had a very strong natural gas odor when we bought it, and the culprit was the cook top.)

Tricia contributed Mom's wicker furniture and Fred and Marianne brought it down in their van.  Mike and Fred set it up on the 2nd floor, and Mar and I made it up - Mom included the sheets.

We think the white wicker makes the room look nice and seashore-y.  

One visit later, Mariel and Diana and I switched out all the white enamel (now yellow) knobs on the kitchen cabinets and replaced them with something silver to match the stainless trim.  They look pretty nice.

And in one of the drawers, we discovered a collection of lighthouse potholders.  So, no thank you, we don't need any more.

Till next time -

First Thing...

Honestly, I don't know how people can put a house on the market and not even sweep before showing the house.  Of course, I can't imagine how they can go to settlement without bringing out that same broom at least once. 

 

We settled on November 15 and on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we decided to have a 'sleep-over.'   

But first we had to clean the place.  Mike and I located the closest Wal-Mart and bought an inflatable air mattress for that evening. We dragged it home and inflated it and spent a very uncomfortable night on the floor. You don't realize how difficult it is to get off the mattress into a standing position until you actual try it. Lord! 

We thought one bathroom and one bedroom would be a great goal.  But it was a challenge, too.  Bathroom - new toilet seat first thing.  Bedroom - get on a ladder and knock down the 1/2" of dirt sitting on the blades of the fan first thing. 

Look closely!

 

 

Saturday was the day that our cleaning team (daughters, son in law, future son in law and grand children) arrived to help us knock down the rest of the dirt.

The team got to work right away and what follows is the photo montage of all their efforts. 

 

Tobin was such a big help - he rolled up his sleeves and got right to work.

 

 

This photo demonstrates that some folks really can multi-task.  Domenic can look the other way while wiping windows!

 

 

Not to be outshone, Tobin tackled the doors of the back bedroom.

 

 

Yes, this bathroom was so hopeless that even though I cleaned it on Friday, Lauren cleaned it again on Saturday.  It still looks the same.

 

 

We appreciated all the help so much. We spent an entire day wiping and mopping and the second floor hasn't even been touched yet.  And a day spent with the grandkids, although they took naps throughout when we are the ones who REALLY wanted to nap, is such a treat!

Cecilia is somewhere under all the covers.



After a good workout with his cleaning rag, Dom decided to take a snooze.

 

(Here is a photo of Lauren claiming 'her room.'    We shall see about that!) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer is a-comin'

March 16, 2013

I want to share with our family the progress we are making on our house down the shore.

We bought the house in November 2012, and since then, have pretty much been holding our heads, wondering what we'd purchased.

But now that the summer is fast approaching, we've sort of gotten "into gear" and are now making some progress.

First of all, we now have some furniture!  It was a good idea to ask the previous owner to take his stuff along with him because it was dingy, sticky, (who sells a house that has jam stuck to the surface of the bedroom dresser?) and in general, gross.  So, we started  with a clean slate. 

OK, we had to take a deep breath on the first weekend down there - because of the laundry list of things that need our urgent attention.

In no particular order, they are:

 

The flaking ceilings -  

 

maroon and pink first floor bathroom

 

 

The stall shower which is corroded -

 

 

 

making it the #1 suspect for the spots on the living room ceiling

 

 

devilishly located stairway to second floor

 

 

gutters to nowhere and/or no downspouts

 

 

front storm door that would not latch (i spent an entire wintry and windy morning repairing that darned thing before the wind stopped opening it for us...)

 

 

Drafty windows!

 

Drafty windows! 

 

and more drafty windows!

Mike and I tried to wrap up this window to keep the wind from flowing in, but finally had to wrap the front of the window with plastic.  It's such a classy look from the street.

 

and the very favorite thing that sold me on the house -

DRUMROLL PLEASE - 

the 1950's doo-wop kitchen!

 

 

 

 

We are determined to get the place in shape for summer, so I am sure there will be more stories to follow...

The Blog's title?

November 21, 2012

How did we arrive at the title of this blog?  The phrase "No Visible Deficiencies" was used in the Appraisal Report.  There is very little comfort in those words, isn't there?

Just because those deficiencies aren't visible doesn't mean they aren't lurking everywhere.  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day when Mike's family will gather at our house - and on Friday, we will pack up the car, deliver the cleaning supplies to the seashore house - and begin to discover just what we've gotten ourselves into! 

At the beginning...

November 15, 2012

So, we've chased down our dream of owning a seashore house.  We have been looking for the 32 years we've been married, but this summer, realized that if we didn't do it now ...

The house is ours, along with all the big and small headaches that go with owning a 63-year old house.  Although the house is only 3 blocks from the beach, it has withstood the most recent Superstorm, Sandy, and for that, we are grateful and relieved. 

We are excited to begin whipping it into shape, and this blog will keep my family up to date on the progress we are making.  So, let's begin...