The Restoration Has Begun, phase 1...

This actually makes me feel bad, seeing Sandy laying on a blanket on the ground, I have to keep telling myself it's not a real horse!! We are taking off the old saddle and preparing to take her to the sandblaster. Ill post more pictures after she is sanded. So exciting!

"Sandy" has arrived, (a work in progress)...

Since I was a little girl I have always dreamed of owning my very own coin operated horse. I have so many memories of being at the grocery store when I was little and riding the one in front of the store. My favorite memory is one time I was about 5 or 6 I think and my mom was in the store shopping. I was out front sitting on what I considered "my" horse, but had no coin to enable me to ride so I was just sitting there, lovingly patting the horse's head. (Times were different then, no one worried about a little girl of that age outside the store by herself!) Anyway, a man walked by, smiled at me and as he did he dropped a coin in the coin box and I galloped to my heart's content! At the time I was sure he had to be the nicest man in the whole world!!

Back to "Sandy", we found her on ebay at a great price, unrestored, and Ed got her for me for my birthday. I am so thrilled and can't wait to begin the task of restoring her to her glory days and allowing my grandchildren to gallop to THEIR heart's content. Nothing will bring me greater joy than watching them have that very same experience. Abby actually had her Dad text me this morning to ask if "Sandy" was home yet, I think these little ones will love her too.

"Sandy" is actually called a coin operated "Sandy horse", this particular one was made in 1947 and takes a dime to ride.

Here is phase one of "Sandy", her arrival at her new home. As we work on her we will post her progress. I am so excited!!!






Erin asked what she will look like when done, here is a picture of a fully restored one that matches her original look. We will be restoring our "Sandy" to this...



Isn't she beautiful???

Seriously??

This morning Ed had to put two new batteries in his truck, he has had to jump it to get it started the last few days. I was doing dishes a little while ago, turned on the garbage disposal, it ran, stopped and a horrid burning smell came up from the drain. Oops, think I need a new garbage disposal! Then, I walked past the downstairs bathroom, happened to look in when I walked by and noticed the floor was covered by an inch or more of water!!! (don't know if you can see the water in the picture).

Okay, time for this unwanted visitor to go visit someone else!!

TA DA!!!

May I introduce you to my new closet ceiling??? YES!! Now all I have left is to sort through and put all the clothes, shoes, etc. back in the closet. So excited to be nearly back to as normal as we ever get!

Phase 3..

Ah, on my way back to normalcy! Paint and drywall guy came out today, gave me a price, I said go ahead and he did! Will have finished tomorrow!!!! So "glad" Cal Air recommended him to me!! Thank you , thank you, thank you!

And Then..

A few minutes ago I heard a loud crash from upstairs. I ran up to see what else had happened, and found more of the ceiling had come down, taking out the light bulbs in the closet on it's way. Now I not only have insulation and drywall all over the place, but broken glass as well! If I want to play the "glad game" I can say, at least i didn't have those fluorescent bulbs with mercury in them in my closet, or I would also be calling out the Haz Mat team to deal with mercury contamination!!!

Phase 2

Last spring we had an insulation contractor spray foam insulation into our attic. Apparently unbeknownst to us, the installer stepped on the condenser unit drain pipe for the air conditioner which is up there, and broke the pipe. We turned our air conditioner on for the first time a couple weeks ago, and it has been cycling on and off ever since, with the pipe draining into the attic instead of outside. Once the insulation and drywall became saturated with water, yesterday's scenario developed (see yesterday's post). I called our air conditioner company and they came out this morning and confirmed my suspicion about what was going on, and repaired the drain pipe. We have been fighting with the insulation company all day today, they claim there is no way we can prove they caused this, and said they would come out and take a look, IN A WEEK!! I refused, insisting they come immediately because I have an attic full of wet insulation, drywall, wood, and my ceiling is about to come down. They refused to come any sooner. So, I made a quick call to the State Contractor's Board investigator this afternoon, he told me what to tell them and what to do, and Ed called the contractor back and explained that we had spoken to the Board investigator and we would be having the repairs done immediately at his cost and if he did not pay the bills in a timely fashion we would see him in court. He suddenly became very agreeable and asked that we get receipts and take pictures and he will pay. Aah, such a change of heart so quickly! Thank you State Contractor's Board! Anyway, I have a drywall contractor coming out tomorrow, so Ed decided to take down all the support boards he put up. Let's just say, oops!