Gentilly Girl- a part of the 99%

February 16, 2008

I’m Getting a B’Day Present

Filed under: Federal Flood,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 4:51 pm

WHOO HOO! *does cartwheels*

We are moving back into our home at the end of this month. It will have been 30 months since Betts and I slept in our house. Things won’t be finished there when this happens, but we’ll have enough ready for us to be able to use the place. One bathroom will be finished, same goes for the kitchen, our offices and the bedroom.

I can’t wait to see how our construction crew deals with us being around 24/7, much less having to deal with the katz bouncing off the walls. (Thank goodness that they are painting this week: I don’t want the walls “textured” with cat fur.) And we also have to remember not to walk around in bras and panties. *giggles* Hell, we need curtains! I don’t wish to be seen in the office windows as a Hollywood Hustler second story display ad.

The first thing I’m cooking in the new kitchen will be two huge vats of seafood gumbo, followed by a vat of clam chowder. Betts will want some escargot, I just know it. Being back in that kitchen will be a salve to the last 30 months of Hell.

When the gameroom is finally finished I order the billiards table. This is becoming so much fun: getting to decorate the house our way, not the way the boys did before we bought the place. It’s a bright and airy space. And this time, it is all us and no one else’s. We get to make the changes that we wanted to do in the 8 short months we owned the place before the Flood hit. (Sadly, the yards are going to take a long time to fix up… they look like Godzilla and King Kong held a wrestling match there.)

Finally, we are going home.

January 9, 2008

Owls’ Tuesday

Filed under: Gentilly,Green Living,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 4:10 pm

Yesterday brought some much needed tension release for the Owls (our community’s name for Betty and myself).

I woke up to hear that the framing inspector approved the work on the house with flying colors. He stated that the work was perfect, and that we have done overkill on the strengthening and stabilitization of the entire structure. (We haven’t had the railroad iron added to the corners yet.) It’s safe to say that the man was impressed. Our garage doors were also installed to our delight.
Later in the evening we sat down and talked out the insulation and attic poop with our contractor. Seems we can’t close the attic completely because the house might suffer due to moisture concerns. I had done some research on this matter in my studies about Greening the place, but ours is not adaptable to this concept. Oh well, the new approach being taken costs less, and at this point we need to scale back on the money being laid out.

Tomorrow the guys can put the Tyvek over the sheathing, and then in goes the insulation. Next week the walls are to be closed in. Flooring should start right afterwards and then it’s paint time. Our cabinets are to be installed and the appliances moved in. After that I’ll be putting in the Game Room’s sconces and Bath vanity lighting whilst Brent builds our office desks (48 running foot of them, and one of mine must be able to handle 50 gallon aquariums.)

Then I guess we just move in as soon as the last City Inspection is done. The outside will be unfinished, but the inside will be cozy and livable.

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Later in the night we went to the Pool tourney at the Phoenix. All three of us lost early, so we retired to the Starlight for more pool and drinks. Thank the Goddess that the tourists are gone… there’s parking on Rampart! YAY!

Anyway, that’s how Tuesday went and I am so much de-stressed. This flooded house nightmare is finally coming to a close and we can get out of this dump we’ve spent almost two years in. (And I keep telling outsiders that we are the lucky ones in that we can move forward on getting back into our home. My heart is heavy for those who can’t even start on rebuilding yet.)

Pics as soon as I get my tush up there in the daylight.

November 7, 2007

New Kitchen Cabinets

Filed under: Food and Drink,New Orleans,NOLA Bloggers,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 4:18 pm

As promised, here is the East wall diagram and the West wall.

Betts decided to add an island to the West wall so we gain a snack counter and break up the room (which contains both the A/V room and the kitchen. The size is about 38 x 16′.) One of the corner cabinets will be the trash/recycling area (if we ever get recycling in the City again).

The Pantry is 7 x 16′ and will hold the hot water tank, a second fridge, a floor freezer, almost 16′ of 7′ high commercial stainless steel shelving and a general utility shelving unit for bulk buys and sodas (and my beer). Outside of the Kitchen fridge, almost all of our food and paper supplies will be stored here. We desired a commercial lay-out and I think this will fit the bill.

The Homecoming party should happen in early January since the guys are promising that we can return prior to Yule, but maybe a Geek Dinner with the NOLA Bloggers should happen before that. Maybe they could be combined, but we Geeks are a different type of creature, and I’m afraid that mixing all of the slices of Life that I know in NOLA could result in a super nova or Succession.

What do y’all think darlin’s?

Our House Repairs Are Speeding Up

Filed under: New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 2:46 pm

This week sees the plumbers, electricians, carpenters and the masons working all at the same time on our home. These guys are like a force majeure right now. Here’s some more pics.

I’m waiting on the cabinet place to fax me the cabinetry sketches for the kitchen. It is my hope that we get “Best Kitchen in New Orleans” awards. The herb and spice unit stands 7′ tall and has all of these fold out racks, so many so that I should lose my mind when I’m searching for some obscure spice when I’m cooking something. All of the units are solid birch with a moderate cherry stain. Green granite will top them and the island table off and all of the appliances are stainless steel. Betts just ordered the hanging pot rack to hang over the prep table.

The new windows should arrive in 10 days. (Got a very good price on them as they were close-outs. *grins*) They are double paned and have very good energy specs. We’ll buy the hurricane shutters next Summer since we feel safe for the next several months.

All that is left is a huge appliance order, get the rest of the bathrooms’ stuffs, pick up light fixtures and order a small amount of carpet. Furniture comes last because we can’t find something we like at a reasonable price. If we had the time I think a trip to northern Miss. in a search for used, but nice stuff would be the way to go, but time is sadly lacking.

The main reason we can pull this off is that our contractors wish to use our place as a showcase of their best work. We supply the monies and they get their showcase. The payback for it all is having to act as tour guides when they bring new prospects by, but that’s more than worth it considering what all this is costing us. (And yes, I’m sworn to secrecy about the real costs to us.)

All we need now is our mitigation grant and then put new siding on the house.

November 4, 2007

ChatUsHome Alert!: By Nov. 6– chance to get reform of FEMA elevation allowances for Lousiana homeowners

Filed under: Federal Flood,FEMA,Katrina,Levees,Louisiana,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:23 pm

For those who have been following the news concerning rebuilding along the Gulf Coast post-hurricanes/Federal Flood, you might know that Mitigation Grants were being awarded that would aid folks in rebuilding safer and with less cost to the Nation in the event of another disaster.

We were awarded an ICC Grant for mitigation of our dangers by us raising the house to above the Base Flood Elevation and in accordance with the newest flood depth maps provided by the ACOE two months ago, but FEMA had to consider a way to allow those of us who have already done the necessary work to be re-imbursed for work  done prior to their October announcement.

FEMA is now in the process of amending it’s procedures and policy since the situation down here has taken too long and many of us decided that we didn’t wish to hang out and wait for the funds to be disbursed. We decided to work on our homes and do the right thing. We are rebuilding NOW.

CHAT has just alerted us to FEMA’s upcoming procedural changes, but as usual, FEMA didn’t give much of a lead time on these changes, and that’s were we need you to help. Please visit CHAT and send their message to the Feds by Nov. 6th.

This is vital to folks’ rebuilding efforts. Many people here in New Orleans, with the promise of these Grants have moved forward on getting back into our homes and businesses, but unless some of the rules are changed, we will never see those monies. If the latter proves to be the case, those of us who showed initiative in rebuilding will be shorted many dollars that were promised to us all because of forgotten procedural rules on the part of the Federal Government’s part.

October 25, 2007

More House Repairs…

Filed under: Gentilly,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 7:17 pm

Now that the gang is working on the structural aspect of the house I’ve started taking photos of the repair work.

Many floor joists had to be replaced because of rotting from the top edge (leaky plumbing for years). We couldn’t see it from below once the house was raised, but when the botch-job flooring from the previous owners was ripped up, almost half of the joists had to be replaced. It’s fine by me since I don’t relish falling through the floor when I’m on the potty, and I damn sure don’t want the pool table crashing onto the garage floor (“Oh the Humanity!”).

The rafters are being replaced and properly tied into the old portion of the house. How the place survived with this incompletion I do not know, but it’s getting fixed now.

Next week the slab will be poured and the string-walls built. Rebar ties all of this together with the pillars and creates a great foundation for the place. The front staircase also goes in at this time, and all of the lower area will be able to handle up to a 300 mph wind blast. (Plumbing and electrical starts during the week too.)

These guys are amazing in how fast and accurately they are working. Their attention to detail is fantastic considering how many changes are happening inside the house and their thoughtfulness when it comes to our living in what will be a very easily managed home is laudable (Just have to keep them reined in concerning costs. *rolls eyes*). We are also replacing the windows and cutting down on the total number of them in order to be able to add storm shutters for more protection.
The Pool House is almost finished, and the other cottage will be functional near the end of the year. The back deck (imagine a courtyard with a 12′ wide mezzanine surrounding it) is going to be so tres kewl! It’s reminding me of some places in the Quarter in look and feel. I just need to get back into the house so I can rebuild the courtyard at my leisure in order to restore the old ambiance of the place, and that can’t happen until the boys are done.

The front yard is going to hold four driveways (two for us and two for our tenants), so we’ve decided on doing the remainder as a rock garden. The drainage to the street will also be improved by putting in a pipe and filling in the ditch so the yard stops eroding into the storm drains.

It’ll probably be late Spring before I can start rebuilding the side yard, but that’s the breaks. I won’t be able to put in the new trees until next Fall now, so we get to ponder more on what we want this part of the compound to be like.

September 24, 2007

Hurricane Rita Escape Anniversary

Filed under: Federal Flood,Louisiana,Memories,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 3:57 pm

Just remembered that Rita smacked into SW LA and TX two years ago today.

Where were we then? San Antonio in a nice little suite with a tiny kitchenette. The A/C died in the car and it was in the shop. We had a stowaway in that Opal the Cat wasn’t supposed to be in the room, but I wasn’t leaving her in the car with all of that heat.

We stayed there for a few days before making the trek to our friend’s home in  San Dimas, SoCal land. It was going to be a long ride, so we rested up. And ate some really good BBQ! A LOT OF IT!

What didn’t help was the news coming in about the destruction Rita brought to our friends on the Coast and in Houston. We were actually supposed to sign a lease on a place in Houston that day. I was looking forward to living in the Montrose for our exile from New Orleans. We just couldn’t take the thought of another big storm while our house was sitting in the Federal Flood disaster.
BTW- It really, really bugs me that we still, at almost 25 months, are still not in our house. Poop

House Raising Mitigation Grants Coming?

Filed under: Drainage,FEMA,Louisiana,New Orleans,Our House,Rebuilding — Tags: , , , , , — Morwen Madrigal @ 1:41 pm

News from the T-P. It looks as if the Hazard Mitigation Grants will be here later this Fall.
Sounds like good news for folks desiring to raise their homes, but there seems to be a catch:

“Deckert said he applied to the state-run Road Home program for federal aid to rebuild and raise his home in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood. But since the mitigation grant he expected to get got tied up in the squabble between the state and feds, he used his rebuilding money to raise his house. He doesn’t think he should be penalized for trying to get on with his life.

“It’s frustrating,” said Deckert, who lives in a government trailer in front of an unfinished house now raised 9 feet off the ground. “If you took care of it because you couldn’t wait any longer, because you can’t fix your house until the foundation is fixed, you’re screwed.”

It looks like Betts and I are screwed too. We were awarded the $30K grant, but then the squabble between the State and FEMA held off the delivery of the money until the Fall. We couldn’t wait that long to get back into the house… it took 10 months to get the thing raised anyway from the day we made the down payment.

My fucking depression is not getting better over this news.

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