<Monday>

Dear Bob,

Juan and his 3 cousins showed up today to paint the family room and office.  They are making great progress.  Juan noticed all those cracks in the ceiling trim that appeared after the house settled.  He said he can fix those and repaint all our trim.  I told him that was a great idea.  While we were talking, I mentioned that I eventually wanted to paint all the bedrooms.  He offered me a great deal so I gave him the “go ahead” to do the extra painting.  At lunch time today I offered to have pizza delivered.  You could have knocked them all over with a feather.  I guess they are not used to having lunch offered by the homeowner.  Anyway, we ate four pizzas between the five of us.  Painting is hard work.

Love Kelly

<Tuesday>

Dear Bob,

Juan showed up today with 4 cousins because we have the additional painting and patching to accomplish.  They are making great time.  Juan noticed that there is a corner in the dining room that is damp.  Apparently the gutter over the garage isn’t installed properly and water is dripping into the bricks on the front of the house, which is making a damp spot in the corner of the dining room.  Juan can repair the dining room, but he doesn’t do gutters. Fortunately he has a cousin with this skill.  Alejandro is coming over this afternoon to look at the gutters.  Meanwhile, I told Juan and his cousins I wasn’t in the mood for pizza again so we had Chinese delivered.

<Wednesday Morning>

Dear Bob,

Juan and his five cousins are making fine time painting the house.   Alejandro came over late yesterday afternoon and he explained the problem with our gutters.  He can definitely fix this issue, but he is concerned because the water around the gutters and the leaves lying up there may have weakened the roof tiles on the garage.  He thinks this needs to be inspected.  He doesn’t do roofs, but fortunately he has a cousin that specializes in roofs.  Roberto is coming over this afternoon to check it out.  The guys are suggesting we do submarine sandwiches today.

P.S.  I need to have some electrical work done.  Juan’s brother-in-law, Henrico is an electrician so he is coming over tomorrow morning to discuss the project.

<Wednesday Afternoon>

Dear Bob,

I really didn’t appreciate the tone of your last email.  Of course I am not going to have the garage roof replaced without discussing it with you first!  Juan, Roberto and Alexandro are making sure that we do everything to avoid any roof tile replacement.  In fact, Juan and his six cousins have cut a hole into the ceiling of the garage to inspect the roof tile from the inside to see if the water is still leaking through.  Also, the painting is coming along very well, the house looks fabulous.

<Thursday Morning>

Dear Bob,

I have good news and even more good news.  After running the hose through the gutter that Alexandro repaired, no additional water came streaming through the ceiling or the bricks so it appears we solved this problem.  So it appears that we don’t need a new garage roof after all.  Juan, Henrico, Alejandro, Carlos, Roberto, Antonio, Jesus, Eduardo and Enrico are just about finished with the house.  We’re thinking about sushi for lunch as a celebration.

Love Kelly,

P.S.   Remember when you said having a chandelier in the bathroom was tacky?  Well, it actually looks pretty awesome.  Especially with the new candy apple red paint with white trim.

<Thursday Afternoon>

Dear Bob,

I got your last email.  Just for the record, I am not supporting an entire El Salvadorian village.  The guys are doing a great job and they know to be very quiet when I’m on the phone for work.  They also said my Spanish is coming along extremely well.  They are looking forward to meeting you this weekend.  Apparently, they also do landscaping (along with a few of their cousins) so they are coming over on Saturday so you can walk them through what we want to have done in the back yard.

Love Kelly

P.S.  When you get home we need to talk about finishing the basement.

Categories: Observations, The Unexpected