Archive for "Home Ownership"
Our New Roof
Posted on September 24, 2013 by Brian under Home Ownership.
Back in May of this year we had a really big storm that rolled through and damaged a lot of property around the city.
I had considered myself lucky because I didn’t have any visible damage, unlike some of our friends who’s homes looked like they have been perforated by a series of shotgun blasts. As the months progressed I had started to notice the gravel that covers the shingles had started to deposit in the driveway. It looked like I wasn’t so lucky after all.
My wife had been taking a Spanish class at the Rec center that she teaches Zumba at. During her classes she had made friends with a guy that worked for Dolphin Roofing, a locally owned and operated Roofing contractor. She recommended I ask him to come take a look at the roof. Me being a person that researches companies before I let them do any work for me decided to do a little research on Dolphin. They turned out to be a really good company. They are BBB Accredited and have an excellent history in the city.
From the start Dolphin was on top of things. They started by coming over and looking at the roof, they respected that I wanted to be there for it because I like to learn about this stuff. I think that learning about these things can help me be a better homeowner in the future. Plus, if I move and have to use a different contractor, they may not be as good and the knowledge I gain from the previous contractor can help me to see that.
Dolphin advised that there was indeed damage to the roof and that I should call the Insurance company and file a claim. Then Dolphin did something that I had never seen a company do before. They sat on the call with me while I talked to the Insurance company. Providing advice and insight as we filled out all of the insurance requirements. When we were done he laid out what was going to happen next with the Adjustor.
A few days later the Adjustor came by. Me being me, I was there for that as well. Again, Dolphin Surprised me. The owner of the company showed up to make sure that the adjuster was not only through but fair with his adjustment, this was something I had never seen from a company. Again, Dolphin explained everything and made me feel confident that not only was my roof going to get fixed, but it was going to be fixed right and that they would be there until the end and wouldn’t consider the job done until I was happy.
A few weeks later we were off and running with the roof replacement. The guys at Dolphin came out, and did an excellent job with the roof. I had lots of questions and they didn’t hesitate to answer them. It made me feel good that we had such qualified people working on our home.
Here are a few picture of the roof from my perspective.
Once the job was done they did an excellent job of making sure that there was no trash or nails left behind. With the exception of the new roof, you would never know they had been there.
I have to give it up to the guys that were up on the roof too. I went up there with one of the guys from Dolphin to look at the damage and just about didn’t get down. However, the guys at Dolphin are really nice. Instead of making fun of me fore being scared of heights, he showed me the safest and easiest way to get on and off the roof without hurting myself.
Here are a few pictures that the Dolphin guys took for me.
I really wanted to get some pictures of the work from up close and the Dolphin Guys knew I was scared of heights so they took some pictures for me and sent them to me later. I tell you these guys are not like any other company. They really take care of you.
This week the gutters are getting put in and their gutter guy called me and advised me that he had a color that matched my trim work better. I wasn’t sure so he left me a sample of the gutter along with a color pallet to look at so I could compare my current gutter color with the others he suggested. Most companies wouldn’t have taken the time to ask, they would have just thrown up the color you told them to and moved on.
I am so grateful that we found Dolphin Roofing. They have been professional, courteous, informative and an all around great company to work with. If you ever need anything on your house done call them first, they do more than just roofing.
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New Saturday Routine
Posted on August 13, 2013 by Ching under Food and Drink, Home Ownership, Zumba.
I want every Saturday to be like last Saturday. I’m actually looking forward to this new Saturday routine. I basically get to do two hours of Zumba — my own class at Evergreen at 9:30 AM and then Pam’s class at Orchard at 11:30 AM. I wish that there was less time in between classes so I didn’t have to sit around and wait so long to do the next round. Maybe I could move my class back to 10:00 AM. The 9:30 AM schedule has been really nice, though. If I could start my day even earlier, I would. No one wants to Zumba with me at 8:00 AM, though.
Here’s a picture of Brian bonding with Juan. They watch Saturday morning cartoons together while I teach my Zumba class. LOL.
Here’s a photo of me and Pam before her class started. I look like a mess already, but I had a head start and no outfit change between Zumba sessions.
The best part about Orchard Recreation Center (besides Pam’s Zumba classes, of course) is that it’s located just around the corner from my favorite Thai takeout joint, Thai House. So guess what we had for lunch that day. I know. Sorry, John.
I just couldn’t help myself. My love for food is probably the main reason why I will never, ever get skinny. I want to seriously lose weight, but I don’t want to miss out on all my favorite foods either. Ay, caramba!
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Angry Birds
Posted on July 4, 2013 by Brian under Home Ownership, Life.
(Picture courtesy of billhubick.com photography.)
Ching and I decided to feed the ducks in our pond. While tossing the bread into the water, a red winged black bird was making a ruckus in one of the nearby trees. After a few moments, he buzzed my head. Ching asked, “What was that?!” I told her that the bird buzzed my head.
It would make noise at one tree then buzz my head and move the the other then repeat the cycle. At one point, the bird came so close to my head that I could hear the wings beat and feel the breeze from them flapping. I couldn’t turn my back on him because, every time I did, he would swoop in on me. I think he is mad because his mate kept making a nest under my deck and I kept tearing it down. Now I think whenever I go outside, he will swoop. I think I will need to do something to make him happy. Just don’t know what.
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Our Covered Deck Just Got Shadier
Posted on June 1, 2013 by Ching under Home Ownership.
We love our new house and everything, but the one thing that we’ve always complained about Casa de Felitaciones is that the deck/backyard faces West so it gets way more sun than we like in the afternoons. There was a house behind us that we really wanted a couple of years ago (it’s a really beautiful house but we liked it mostly for the East-facing yard), but we were afraid to make an offer on it. Anyway, we found our house a year later and got a really good deal on it so we were willing to compromise on the yard orientation. We figured we could always get some sun shades for the deck, which we have finally done.
I’d been wanting to get sun shades since we moved last year but hadn’t found the right one until now. I found these Coolaroo sun shades
It blends in so well that you don’t even notice it when it’s retracted.
The other thing that I love about them is that they block the sun but not the light so you still get plenty of natural light. That was one of my concerns with putting some shades on the deck. I didn’t want it to get dark. I can’t begin to describe in words how well these shades fit my needs. They’re exactly what I wanted.
The only down side is that we underestimated the height of our ceiling. I thought the six-foot length would be sufficient. When we unroll the shades, they don’t quite reach the deck railing. Brian and I came up with an ingenious solution, though.
It’s not the prettiest solution but it works. Basically, we extended the tie downs by using nylon cord attached to a plastic clip. The mate of the clip is attached to our deck railing. That keeps the shade from flopping around in the wind. It’s a concern for us because it’s pretty windy in these parts. Anyway, when we are done, we just unfasten the plastic clips and roll the shade up. One part goes up with the sun shade and the other part is permanently affixed to the railing so we don’t have to mess with tying knots every time. All we have to do is fasten and unfasten the plastic clips. Mighty clever, right? I thought so.
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Brian’s Early Birthday Present
Posted on May 26, 2013 by Ching under Home Ownership.
Brian has whined about how much he hated our mattress ever since we got it last year, so I decided to take him to Mattress Firm (it’s where we’ve bought all of our mattresses over the last five years — well, all of them except for the one he hates) yesterday to pick his own mattress. I figured this would stop the incessant whining once and for all.
Naturally, he falls in love with one of the more expensive models. Ugh.
How can you say no to this face though? You can’t. Lucky for us, they were having a Memorial Day sale. James, the sales rep who sold us our queen mattress for the guest bedroom a few months ago when the Orbases came to visit, was the same sales rep who was there yesterday. He actually remembered us. Not only that, he cut us a really good deal on our new mattress and was able to arrange for it to be delivered today.
We stripped the bed this morning before we left for church to prepare for the delivery of our new mattress. We learned our lesson the first time when Brian and I hauled the queen mattress (that we had purchased earlier this year at the same store but tried to save money by not paying for delivery) to one of the guest bedrooms in the basement. We were able to do it ourselves, but it took quite a bit of effort. I told him then that I didn’t care how much they charged for delivery, I wasn’t hauling a mattress myself ever again and neither was he.
Delivery was totally worth it. The guys moved our old king mattress to the basement for us so Brian and I didn’t have to mess with it. They made it look so easy too.
Now we have a king mattress for Tracy and Jeff when they come to visit us later this year. It’s a Sealy Posturepedic plush mattress that we had gotten from Slumberland when we purchased our bedroom furniture last year so it’s not actually a bad mattress.
I didn’t mind it actually. It was better than any of the other mattresses we’d ever owned except for the one in our guest bedroom on the main level, which we had bought from Mattress Firm three years ago. We had to give it up when we moved last year because it was a queen size and we upgraded to king when we moved.
Brian has never let me live that down, though. He was always quick to remind me that our guests sleep on a better mattress than we do. Well, he can’t say that anymore.
Our new mattress may not be organic, but it’s definitely the best mattress in our house. Oh, and by the way, what we originally thought was going to be a problem wasn’t a problem at all. Yep, we already broke the new mattress in. LOL.
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