Digging In

Chris (background) and one of my Tai Chi students and friends, Flying Eagle, work on stripping out the carpet.

The past few days have been busy on 58th Street...

What's It Worth?

Chris and Justin talk over the house.

One of the first things my parents requested was an appraisal of the worth of the property before work really begins. Their reasoning was solid and understandable but it was an expense that we would have to pay that I really wish could have gone to the house instead. I spent hours and hours looking up and calling for quotes to find the cheapest rates I could. I meant to call the cheapest person first but for some reason that little voice in my head kept telling me to call a local company whose office was located in East Sacramento. I called and talked to Justin Fatzer of Fatzer Appraisal Group and gave him my bizarre explanation of how I knew he wasn't the least expensive quote out there and yet I felt the strongest instinct to call. We talked about "the 'hood" and it seemed like as soon as I mentioned how I used to hang out at Shakey's the ice was truly broken. Justin was willing to give us a great deal, well below the lowest quote I had found and he showed up at the house the very next morning to work us in before getting his day started. He gave us all kinds of advice and offered us referrals of trusted sources and his assurance that he would write up the appraisal and get it to us in less than a week. Justin is awesome to work with, he was very friendly and knows East Sac and surrounding areas so well he seemed to know more about our house than I did. We are not sure about the worth of the house yet but Justin sure turned out to be a gem! Thanks Justin!

...Would Smell As Sweet
Dealing with garbage is never number one on my list of things to do but with all the damage and things that needed to be removed I knew we needed a BIG garbage container. With advice from our friend Donny I hunted high and low and found another great locally owned company that was willing to work a great deal for us. I made my calls on Thursday and got the container delivered on Friday morning so we could get to work right away. They didn't start off as the cheapest but they (meaning Sabra) worked with our situation and needs and we ended up getting a great deal with awesome turn-around time and a very knowledgeable delivery person, Darrell. (Turns our Darrell went to the same schools I did -albeit a coupe of years before me- so we talked about the "hood for a while before he took his leave.) We wanted to say a big thank you to our friends Sabra and Darrell at Waste Removal & Recycling for their care, friendliness and professionalism.

Yard Sale of Doom




Despite my best efforts someone caught me on film.

So while Chris works with Flying Eagle and his friend Patrick to excavate the house and basement I am yet again set the task of trying to find homes for a lot of the stuff left behind while trying to raise funds for the rebuild. Let me be blunt, yard sales are great fun and I love them; as a customer. When I am the person running same it becomes akin to a slow, tortuous death. Add a grumpy-at-being-reigned-in-toddler to the mix plus two restless elementary-aged boys and it gets exhausting quickly. On the plus side, I love socializing with folks and got to meet so many nice folks. When they found out about our story we got several volunteers who promised to help with various things. At the suggestion of one person I just met, I started a sign-up sheet for helpers. It has been a great way to meet new friends and I decided that when we have our house-warming we are going to make it a big community event and invited everyone who helped (great or small) to the festivities (I wonder if there is a fire-dancer troupe willing to donate a performance for the house unveiling. Hah! Wouldn't that show up those "Move that bus!" folks!) Well, tomorrow is my last yard saling day. I hope lots of folks come out to say hi and maybe buy a thing or two.



Chris, Jax and the neighbor girls hanging out.

 Folsom or East Sac: Neighbors Still Mean AWESOME!
Losing my Folsom neighbors suck but our new friends next door have been awesome. Great to talk to, helpful, they buy stuff at our yard sale and even feed our toddler lunch (which he actually ate!) as well as lend us the toddler entertaining skills of their two lovely daughters. Thanks guys!

Well, it is late and I am running on four hours of sleep and we have another early day of yard saling tomorrow. I am going to see if my toddler will allow me a few winks so I can survive tomorrow!

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING AND SEE MORE PICTURES OF THE PROJECT AT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.GROVETRIBE.COM