Jeff and I need a LOT of help with this house and who better to help us than Jeff's parents, Momeaux and Pop! This past weekend, the in-laws showed up with a saw, tool belt, and multiple measure tapes! Oh, yeah and one of these for Jeff and me:
|
Louisiana King Cake! |
Not to mention, a couple of these for the Milt dog:
|
Real live deer femurs! |
The great project of the weekend, continuing into late last night, was a major laundry room renovation. When we bought our house, a lovely up and down washer/dryer combination, was included in the deal. I hated that unit from the very beginning. It was much too tiny to fit hardly more than one set of sheets, jeans, and an assortment of underwear in one washing. Just before the holidays, I jammed an extra large load into the washer, and when the cycle was done, everything came out sopping wet. I just assumed that the machine had been too stuffed to spin properly, so I dried the majority of the clothes multiple times in the dryer, and I hung the rest out. Two days later, Jeff and I flew up to New York for Christmas, and I didn't think twice about it. When Jeff returned to Texas earlier than me, his first attempt to wash was a major fail. The washing machine just clicked away and nothing happened. Obviously, Jeff broke the washing machine, or so I tried to place the blame...!
Thus ensued a solid month of laundry mat visits. Despite there being a laundry mat, only a half mile away, it was still a major three-hour inconvenience. You need to factor in packing your laundry up in a large bag, hauling your multiple bags with detergent to the car, unloading the car, loading the washing machines, getting quarters from the change machine, and so on and so forth. At least, between the washing and the drying, I usually ran to the grocery store.
|
Laundry mat woes |
We decided our best option, rather than attempting to fix the too small unit, was to bring our old set in from the garage. The dilemma was the set was too wide by about .5 inches to fit into our petite laundry room. Hence, the construction project! Pop, got to work after church on Sunday, and his apprentices, Jeff and Milt, lent a hand. There was much measuring, cutting, and eventual trimming of the dry wall. A new hole had to be cut from the outside to fit our dryer vent. Pop even rearranged the entire electrical panel! Lowe's and Home Depot were frequented more than once, and I kept waiting
for a large-scale blow-out between the men but nothing happened. The most annoying aspect is all this work was done to alleviate a mere .5 inches!
|
Pop began by removing the door frame. |
|
A watchful onlooker |
|
Milt stayed underfoot constantly enticing people to play ball with him. |
At 10:15P.M. last night, after probably about a solid 20 hours of work, the little team, carried in both the washer and the dryer from the garage. We all held our breathe while Pop wedged the new machines into the tight space. Thankfully, they fit, and after a quick test run, we ascertained that the dryer dries and the washer washes! Pop came out victorious, like we knew he would!
|
Washer |
|
Dryer |
We now have an indoor wash/dry facility again. To the Milt, it was all
good fun and games with a constant show to watch. He does not realize
that once again we can adequately wash his numerous towels instead of
them piling up in a corner somewhere. Milt is pretty darn
lucky, and so are we, to have a handy dandy guy like our Pop!