The Reconstruction

Umm, I gotta run

2008-03-26T16:38:00.002-05:00

So...I've not been an active poster lately. And with things being as crazy as they are in life, I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. So, I'm going on hiatus, or maybe closing this thing down. Thanks to all who read. It never quite changed into what I was hoping it to be, but for those who want to keep up - my Flickr account is updated more frequently, and hey - pick up a phone, sometime, huh?

It's a little crazy

2008-02-19T12:02:00.001-05:00

It's getting a little nuts in the hobbit hole. Lots of activity...but mostly mental. The good news is that Steve-o is headed to school. He's still waiting to hear from another school or two, but it looks like a move is in his/our future. The bad news is that this is a pretty freakin' big life upheaval. Or maybe that's not such bad news after all. Anyway - that explains to some extent, my absence from here. For interested folks - I update on Flickr sometimes, even when I'm missing from here.

In crafty news - I sewed myself some pillow covers! I appliquéd some fabric circles together and then onto canvas pillow covers I made with my sewing machine. I was quite proud of myself.
And...oh yes - there is more. In the spirit of clearing clutter and completing stuff that calls to you from the bag at the bottom of your yarn bin, I finished two nagging knitting projects - My clapotis scarf, and my striped sweater. Miss SealDaze pointed out that the first time she came to knitting (years ago), I was working on that sweater. But it's done now! Ha! Take that nagging knitting projects!

Status bars

2008-01-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

Okay, so Ravelry has me addicted to status bars. It falls right in line with my love of to-do lists. I admit it - if I do something that wasn't on the to-do list, I add it - just so I can have the joy of crossing it off. So, I added status bars to the blog to track my progress on house stuff. The bars show how far along I am in various rooms of the house. Although I am no longer living in a house without floors or drywall, I still have a bunch of stuff to do in every room. For the most part, it's not necessary stuff, but stuff that should be fixed or fixed up or improved upon somehow. I'm not counting pure decor stuff like how I need a real coffee table or how I want a tailored bed skirt (the nesting instinct is back), because I could be at that forever! But stuff like new cabinets and countertop in the kitchen, a new medicine cabinet in the bathroom, built-in shelves in the hallway, attempting to take over the semi-public entryway as an extra mini-mudroom for me. If I decide I don't need these things - well, extra status bar movement for me!

And, by the way, if your to-do lists are forever being put on stickies, junk mail envelopes, or scraps, and lost in the bottom of your workbag (am I projecting?....nah) and you want to rely even more on the internet for your daily existence (I'm not saying it's a bad thing), try this website. It keeps your lists and you can get to them anytime you can get web access. Plus, it has a progress bar of sorts, too. The bullet in front of the list name shrinks as you complete tasks from the list, and it saves your old lists so you can look back and feel all accomplished. Can't do that with the paper scraps you end up tossing, now can you?

That new year stuff

2008-01-10T16:40:00.001-05:00

I don't usually get into all that new year's stuff. Pledging to exercise more, or waste less time on the web, or wake up early - eech! It just makes me feel pressured and uptight, and I take failure badly, so why set myself up for that? But this year, following a milestone-of-sorts birthday and the whole new years fiesta, I did get to thinking about what I want and rather than feeling pressured by the new year ahead, I actually feel rather excited. (This might not last, so I'll take it while I can get it).

The highlights: I'm ready for a change of venue. This might be a move from DC, or maybe it's just a change in neighborhood, or a change in apartments. I am excited about the dreamy day when I move into a house where I can have more of the things I talked about here.

I signed up for a photography class, which has been on my to do list for way too long. I always admire people's photography skills, but I've never taken a class, in part because I may just find out that I suck irreparably at photography. And maybe I will take the most wretched photos ever, or maybe I'll be the greatest photography talent the world has ever seen. What? It could happen. For now, though, I'll just take the class and see.

I'm still job hunting, and trying to look at it differently, but it's a little raw, so I'll keep that to myself for now. And the house - well, it's a journey, not a destination. That's what they say about life, right? Well, my house has a life of its own, so it's appropriate.

Joining the crowd

2007-12-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

I'm going to join the crowd and throw out a bulleted list of updates, too!

I've been a busy knitting bee. I finished a hat for my sis, I'm most of the way through a catbed for Smidgen, and I've started making the cutest little knitted trees - the house needed more christmas decorations that the cat wouldn't eat or destroy - garland and glass ornaments are not a good idea. Plus, I started my new sweater....of course, I will lengthen the sleeves because we all know I'm always cold. And can I say that I am digging Ravelry! Thanks to Miss Tooleri for letting me borrow her account to learn all the ins and outs.
I have been brainstorming more yarn business names. Not that I've gotten anywhere, but at least I'm trying! Jumping through loops? Sweet tooth dyeworks? Maybe I'll just be "Nameless."
I had a birthday. We won't be discussing my elderly-ness, but it was a fun day, and now I get to prepare for my party. House cleaning - here we come. I'm going to be having a terribly yummy cake and champagne and my favorite friends over and it will be fabulous! I was going to make an icebox cake, but decided that for my own birthday party, the less work for me, the better.
I am not doing so well on my Christmas shopping. I just can't seem to find what I want at decent prices. Come on, stores! People are foreclosing on their mortgages - a little sale action, please! Plus, it is tough without a car. I can't just jump in my hyundai and pop off to the mall. Sometimes, I miss my car. :)
The bathroom renovation has stalled. With everything else going on, I haven't been in the mood to make a big spackly mess. I think painting will have to wait til after the holidays. I've got a bit of tile work to do. Plus, I want to replace my medicine cabinet and bathroom lighting, and that's probably going to require some drywall action. So, it won't be a quicky job.
I've been working on my kitchen remodel. I was originally going to leave the appliance as is, but now I'm thinking about migrating the fridge, flipping the dishwasher to the other side of the sink and extending the kitchen by about a foot or a foot and a half. This would make more sense with a visual aid, but that will come in a future post.

Okay - gotta run - so much partying to do, so little time!

Bigtime progress

2007-11-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

Oh yes, things are moving along. The past few weekends have not been relaxing, but they have been productive. I now have a pocket door, a painted ceiling, bathroom shelving, a painted closet with a new light fixture and a set of shelves, and a regrouted and re-caulked bathtub. Plus, I cleaned out my garden plot for good measure.
Look at the transformation!

Bathroom door (courtesy of the handyman)
Before:

During:

After:

Bathroom shelves (courtesy of the handyman)
Before:
After:
Picture coming soon

Closet (Courtesy of Steve-o and I)
Before:

After:
Okay, you'd think there wouldn't be much joy in getting a newly painted ceiling, but let me tell you - it is awesome. I've been looking up and seeing crappy spackle marks for a year. And the guys my handyman brought in - they spackled so well and so smoothly that there was no need to sand. Trust me, this is amazing.

I was doing some work while the professionals were hard at work in the house. I painted the windowsills in the bedroom, cause they were looking a little beat. Then, to keep the cat out of her favorite place, I had to tape up the opening to keep her from jumping on wet paint. I left it on overnight for good measure, but when we woke up and there was still tape over the window, she protested by weaseling her way in.....somehow. We saw her get out, but we're not sure she went in the same way. Darn flexible cat!

Unfortunately, the handyman fella faltered a bit on the last day and sort of skimped on the finishing details. So, there are nail holes to be filled in, and a bit of damaged tile to be replaced. He did some extra stuff we hadn't asked for - like fixing an outlet, etc., but we would have preferred that he just did the agreed-to stuff completely. Still, he's the best contractor I've seen in DC....probably because he recently moved here from the Midwest.

So, now we get to spackle, sand, and paint the bathroom and seal some grout. I wonder how much spackle dust I've inhaled in the last 2 years.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T21:50:00.001-05:00

It's never been one of favorite holidays, despite my love of sugar. But I do think toasted pumpkin seeds are super tasty. So, I carved these two little guys:

That's a bird and a tree, in case you needed help with my artistic renderings. :)

The once and future homes

2007-10-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

I'm scheduling a handyman to come by and do a bunch of jobs that have been lingering for a while. At this point, even though I'm not rolling in the dough, and with any luck, I'll be finding a new (likely lower-paying) job in the near future (please, please, please!) - right now, I can spare more money than time. So, he'll be fixing the patches in my ceiling and painting it, re-doing the grout and caulk in my tub, building me some -in-wall shelves and doing my pocket door. Hooray! I can't get him until mid-November, but I feel better just knowing it is going to get done! Since he is working near the sprinkler heads, I think I will be taking time off to supervise. Now, I just have to figure out the kitchen, and I'll be in much better shape for moving on.

According to my grad school real estate guru's suggested life plan, I should be buying my next house in 2008. Hey, the guy was buying houses with cash, so he must be doing something right. Between this and my planned home repairs, I've been thinking about what I want in my next house. After all, although the current one hasn't turned out to be the delight I'd imagined, if I can't learn something from it, what was the point?

So, what I would like (in no particular order):
1. An outdoor space for growing plant life, in pots or in the ground. I need greenery to keep me sane, and Smidgen eats greenery if I keep it indoors.

2. More storage space. I've purged, but I still need to hide away so many things - vacuum cleaner, pet carrier, winter coats, umbrellas, yarn, yarn and more yarn!

3. A covered porch or stoop. I like to sit outside under cover during summer storms. Right now, I have an anti-stoop. It goes in the wrong direction.

4. South-facing exposure and lots of windows in general. I lived in an apartment once where my bedroom ran the full length of the south side of the house (okay, it was only like 15 feet). I loved waking up in the winter and being able to sprawl out like a cat in the sun. So cozy.

5. Speaking of cats - An area I can fence in for Smidgen to go outside and play. Whether it's a porch, or a back patio or whatever. The poor thing meows at the door, and really likes going outside.

6. Normally-angled walls. Right now, I have walls with wacky angles and they look cute when nothing else is in the room, but they are a struggle when you try to deal with furniture.

7. No more hobbit holes. Above-ground living from now on, please.

8. Space for a crafty nook, or dare I dream - a crafty room. Somewhere to do quilting and sewing and embroidery and knitting and dyeing. A sink would be dreamy. Sigh.

9. Built-in bookshelves. I love books, their tidy shape, their portability, and of course, their insides! I wish I could have more, but no space!

10. At least two bathrooms.

11. A pantry - a little nook to store spices and pasta and cereal and all that beige food I seem to gravitate towards

12. A foyer, or a mudroom or whatever they call those pseudo-rooms where you can put your dirty shoes and wet umbrellas.

Okay, so maybe I can't get all this in my next house, but a girl can dream, right?

The weekend went too fast

2007-10-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

So, I've been a blogging slacker. I'm trying to reform my evil ways. This past weekend, I had plenty of fun. I knitted a plethora of baby hats and visited a pumpkin patch and some farm animals.

I made a trio of cabled baby hats. Two for Steve-o's coworkers and one for my coworker. Pink, sage green and blue.

I usually dislike the way cables end up looking when you decrease, but I thought this pattern made a nice flower petal-looking top.

Without Mika's pumpkin party, we are going to have to roast our own seeds this year. The horror! But we did get to see some farm animals, and eat caramel apples, but we skipped the hayride....you know - allergies. The second goat looks like he's taking a nap in a really funny position, but he was just going after the good hay on top.

Steve-o and I in the field:
Eeeek, Pumpkin head guy!

I've also been doing a little scientific experimentation in dye world. To make reproducible results, I decided I need to be a bit more exact in my mixology. After all - a little of this, and then some of this, and now a bit of this other one, isn't really terribly accurate. So, I dyed some samples and created a chart of the basic stock colors. Now, I just have to get started on mixtures.

And also on the topic of dyeing yarn, I'm looking for someone to do some graphic work for me. To help design a logo for my handpainted yarn business/side job thingy. I have a concept, but I need someone to put it into whimsical form. If you, or someone you know might be interested, get in touch. $, or other services (no, not that!) to be provided by me.

Good wedding. Bad tire.

2007-10-01T11:53:00.000-05:00

The wedding was lovely. My sis made a fabulously beautiful bride. I almost cried. Just kidding. It was a happy time! I don't cry when I'm happy. I even managed to keep my older sis from getting all weepy. No pinching required...just a few stern looks. The hummer limo was a crime against nature. The wetlands were weeping. Just ask my sisters about it.

All was well until we tried to leave PA for home. Steve and I were driving down I-83 in Pennsylvania, and the car started to do a little weird wiggle thing. We pulled over and sure enough - flat tire! So, we call up our handy dandy road side assistance folks, who say it will be an hour til a tow truck comes to take us to pepboys to get a new tire.

As we're standing there on the side of the highway, waiting for our tow truck, hoping it will be early, my phone rings. It's Ryan, who asks - Why are you standing on the side of the road? I don't know where he was coming from, or how he even managed to spot us, but we tell him the tow-truck is coming and so he drives onward.

It was about 4:30 on a Sunday, and we find out that the pepboys closes at 6, so waiting for the tow truck is going to be pretty useless. He won't be able to get us there on time. We don't have enough shoulder room to safely get the donut on the car on the side of the highway, but.... We have some "fix-a-flat in the trunk, so we decide to give that a try and the tire inflates more or less, and we drive slowly down the highway three miles to our exit....except the map says to use exit 21B.....but there is no B, and we drive right past exit 21, thinking that surely 21B must be coming. Oh, google maps, how you let me down!

We take the next exit - Exit 19, so now we've been driving 5 miles on a fix-a-flat tire that is losing air. Okay, we'll just get back on the highway and go back to exit 21. Nope. It's one of those damn PA exits where there is no way to get back on. People have always bemoaned these to me, but I'd never had a problem. I feel your pain.

As we're driving in the general direction we think we have to go, Carlos our tow truck driver calls, cause he's where our car originally was stranded. And even though he came out, only to find us gone, he kindly gives us directions. Thanks Carlos! Unfortunately, we did too much missing exits and getting lost, so about 0.8 miles from the pepboys tire store, the tire gives up and goes completely flat.....in scenic York, PA.

So....we decide to try the donut tire. As I'm blocking traffic for Steve and he's kicking the tire to get it loose, a friendly PA fellow comes out of his house to check it all out. We Pennsylvanians love a good show. He starts kicking the tire too, and when that fails, he goes back inside. I figure we're stuck now, but he comes back with a friendly 250 pound guy who kicks that tire right off the car and hooray, we can put the donut on.

We give the guys some cash for their troubles, and we go to put air in the donut and get some grub. We spot a five guys two doors down from the gas station, and after tasty burgers and fries, we're off....speeding down the highway at 50mph all the way back to DC. By the way, after driving 50 on 95 and the beltway, I will stop waiting to pass slow people until I'm nearly at their car. It is nerve-wracking.

We get home about 9:30 or 10, after leaving PA at about 1:30. A four hour drive became an 8 hour adventure. Oh well. Smidgen was well taken care of, but apparently, wasn't much fun cause she was lonely. Thanks for the effort, though, catsitters! Steve is buying new tires today, so we should be back in top form shortly.

Stress and stress fractures

2007-09-27T16:32:00.000-05:00

Phew. Things are a bit crazy right now. Got back from work travel, threw a dyeing party complete with crack dip, went back to work and sorted through a week's worth of e-mail, and I paid a little visit to the doctor. Turns out I have stress fractures in my second and third metatarsals. Bleh. Stupid foot bones. But I thought I blew out tendons. At least my bones will heal without having to cut me open. No more soda - more milk!

This weekend my sis gets married, and after that life might slow down a bit....unless a job lead comes through, and then it will get crazy again - but in a good way. I'm hoping to get pictures from Mexico up (Yes, I know that trip was a month ago!) and maybe some wedding pics too, once I get back. Plus, there will be massive yarn dyeing. Well, maybe not massive, but semi-significant. Dyeing with the gals got me thinking about colors.

Busy Busy Bee

2007-09-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

Getting set to head off to San Diego for work. San Diego will be lovely, but I will be spending most of my daylight hours inside a hotel meeting room. Boo! Steve-o was going to come along, but he needs to save his vacation days for med school interviews (fingers and toes crossed). I actually went to San Diego a few years ago with my friends Lisa and Jen. The strangest part was that the sun set over the ocean. Being an east coast gal, I had to keep remembering that when looking at the water, north was actually on my right, not my left. It was strange to have to flip the way I was used to orienting myself. But I liked it, because I always had trouble getting up early to see sunrises over the ocean on the east coast, but enjoying a fosty beverage while watching the sun set over on the west coast was much more my speed!

After I get back, I'm hosting a dye party for some knitters, where I will try and pass on my limited dye knowledge to 8 ladies without getting dye all over myself...and them. And then it's onto my sister's wedding. My younger sis is getting hitched! Whoo-hoo! Open bar. Gosh, I sound like a lush today. Actually, it will be nice to see the fam, particularly my nephews who grow at an amazing rate.

Sooner or later, I'll get the pictures from Mexico up and accessible. Until then, I am keeping my fingers crossed on a job opportunity and trying to think up my username for Ravelry....and a business name, in case I ever start selling all this yarn I dye.

Back from paradise

2007-09-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

Ah, 8 days in the Yucatan. Divine. Extensive pictures and play by play will be composed and sent to interested folks, and some photos will end up here, but here's the short version.

Vacation is good. Okay, that was the really really short version. But seriously, I love the ocean. Very soothing. The hurricane damage was nearly non-existent. We couldn't get on the beach at the Tulum ruins because they had it blocked off due to shifting sands form the hurricane, but that was the only weather-related snafu. As one taxi driver commented - hurricanes could be bad, but that was the price you paid to live in paradise. He was actually form the pacific coast of Mexico, but moved to the eastern side 12 years ago and hasn't left. One night I got quite sick (which didn't happen at all on my last trip) because I ate spinach on my pizza...at least that's what I'm tracing it to. Luckily, it was short-lived and besides being short on sleep the next day, I was non the worse.

The people in Mexico were lovely as always. As shop owners are want to do, they often try to get you into their shops with clever witty little statements.
Examples include:
"Come on in, my stuff is practically free"
"At least give me the chance to rip you off," and
"Hey honeymooners!" If you reply that you aren't honeymooners, they respond with the ever-classic "Just practicing?"

On our last trip, we were offered "a blanket for your mother in law." When I responded that I did not yet have a mother-in-law, they must have heard something quite different, since they replied with "How about a machete, then." Oh dear! This time Steve-o was offered a whip by a man selling cowboy hats, with the comment - "Buddy, a whip?...for tonight maybe?" Hey, at least they keep you laughing!

The weather was a bit too hot, and next time we'd go later in the year, or even in their high season if we had the cash. But the water was warm, the margaritas were cheap, and the chance to take a siesta mid-day was a great change. They seem to frown upon me taking naps at my desk at work. Humph.

We drove a golf cart, went to a turtle farm, swam in a cenote, saw some ruins and a ton of iguanas, shopped for liquor and hung out by the ocean, of course. It was sad to have to leave it all, but I missed my own bed, and my own kitty. Though Mexico had plenty of strays that I kept in salmon treats. Now that I'm back, I'm ready for another vacation!

Take that Hurricane Dean!

2007-08-21T16:07:00.001-05:00

You're a loser! You try and ruin my vacation, but no! Steve-o and I are taking our little trip a few days later than planned. Big deal! More importantly - the folks there seem to be doing just fine. Though the media was being a little fatalistic. Apparently, FoxNews actually reported that the place I'm headed was "destroyed." Umm, no. They did this with the last major hurricane there, too. When they're not busy saying it is fortunate that the all-mighty U.S. will be spared by having storms smash into other countries first, they're busy claiming there is mass destruction when there isn't. I guess the news feels the need to create chaos where there isn't any.
Our little corner of heaven in Mexico got some rain and some wind, but not enough to keep folks down. Gotta love Mexico. They get up and running ASAP. The government actually does smart things like take down traffic lights and highway signs before the storm so they don't become projectiles. Electricity automatically gets cut off if winds go over 75mph. And they only put light poles on the Western side of the main roads...so that if they blow over in a hurricane, they don't block the road. FEMA and the Corps could learn a little something, huh?

There will be plenty of margaritas and ceviche and sand and warm water. There might not be a ton of fish to see when we snorkel and the turtle farm may be a little busted, but the best part - no work, no laundry, no med school applications, no job hunting (who cares that they're not calling me?!), no requirements or demands or have-to's. Isn't that the best part about vacations?

Thanks for all your support and commiserating for the past fews days. It really did all work out. We switched our flight, but we still need to switch out hotel dates. Fingers crossed that they have rooms for the new days we need. And an extra-special thanks to my flexible cat-sitters...from both Smidgen and I. And to avoid getting stuck in Dallas-Fort Worth on the way back like last time....We're going through Miami. :)

Expect a plethora of pictures when we get back!

So much going on

2007-08-08T11:04:00.000-05:00

I'm a busy gal, lately. Getting ready for my vacation, dyeing yarn, floundering in job interviews, eating lots of ice cream to compensate, getting the house ready to host knitting, tending to the garden, and nesting (see previous post).

And what do I have to show for it? Well, heaps of cherry tomatoes, a decently clean living room, a new shower curtain, and some newly dyed chunks of yarn. So, here's some eye candy!

This stuff is a cotton/wool blend. The cotton didn't take up the dye like the wool did, so it sort of has a heathered look to it. Pretty, huh?

I did the same blues/greens in 100% wool, and you can see they turned out a bit different. I also did some wool in pretty shades of rose. Mexico cat-sitters get first dibs on these if you want them as your payment.

These were fun, but Steve-o did not enjoy the smell of wet sheep in the house on a humid day. Sorry!

Nesting

2007-07-31T11:49:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm not making babies, but I am feeling an intense "nesting instinct." Steve-o is totally making fun of me. I can't blame him. It is actually rather amusing since I've never been much into things like coordinated dishtowels and household "extras." I usually think - The white towels I've had for three years are fine, why buy new ones? I'm rather practical about most house stuff. But now - it's nuts. I've decided I want a bed skirt, curtains over the blinds, new colored towels, an actual shower curtain to cover up the plain vinyl one I've got, and I want to move furniture. I go shopping, and I'm drawn to skirts and dresses and high-heeled shoes. This girly-ness must stop. I think my estogen is out of whack!

Perhaps it is my brain trying to make a last ditch effort to get my house in order and not in a constant state of flux. Steve-o and I had pondered moving, but the $ side of things just didn't make sense. So, maybe my brain is trying to make me feel better about staying in the hobbit hole. That doesn't explain the dresses, but hey - it's something.

By the way, re-moving in never really got off the ground. I think it was too daunting. The new plan is re-moving in to one room at a time. More manageable chunks=greater potential for success, right?

On a side note, Steve-o and I need a vacation. Badly! One of those do nothing, relax, drink frosty beverages, and forget what day it is - kind of vacations. Hola Mexico!

Bambi strikes again

2007-07-16T13:17:00.001-05:00

So, there I am, in my garden plot yesterday when I see the tell-tale sign of a deer trespassing in my plot - hoof prints. Then, I see that my bean plants have been eaten, and the tops of all my pepper plants, and the rascally thing ate 1.3 tomatoes, too. And then, I saw the worst part of all - after it snacked in my plot, it pooped in my plot. Yep, Deer poop. Thanks for the present, Bambi. Now, get out and stay out!

I've never had this much trouble, before. Supposedly, tomato plants are their favorite, but my deer seems to like beans and peppers. The beans are probably a total loss, and I'd only gotten 2 handfuls so far. They're fast growers, so if I re-plant now, I might still get some more. The pepper plants - he/she/it left the bigger peppers that were forming, but ate off all the new tiny pepper buds and the flowers, so what I've got now may be all I get. Boo-hoo. Plus, it munched on cucumber leaves. They're kinda spiky, so I don't know why it kept eating them. 15-20 leaves were missing, not just one or two.

So tonight, back to the garden I go - armed with more fencing!

Oh, and for those of you curious about the re-moving in.....well....Steve-o is probably submitting his essay tonight, so he will be "free" to go back to the re-moving in effort. As long as I can drag him away from his new laptop long enough to sort through some boxes and move furniture. Okay, so we're about a week late, but off we go!

You guys need a picture post. Here's a blast form the past - remember this? No? It's a picture taken the day of "the incident." That's my living room and kitchen....stacked 6 feet high with all the stuff from the apartment...in the only dry floorspace we could find. So...even if re-moving got a little side-tracked, I've come a long way.

Re-moving in update

2007-07-12T10:13:00.001-05:00

So...we've hit some bumps in the re-moving in road. For starters, I've had migraines for the past two days. Yuck. And....If you didn't know, Steve-o is back on the applying wagon for med school. His personal essay is now the only thing keeping him from sending in his first round of stuff. So, he has to focus on that.

As a result, re-moving in is going slowly. Assuming he makes essay progress by the weekend, hopefully, we can still keep this re-moving in idea moving. hahaha. Ah-hem.

We're also toying with the idea of moving for real. More on this later. It's a long story. Just across town, but why unpack, just to re-pack? Actually, most of our unpacking is really just sorting and throwing stuff out, so it's a good idea anyway. Sorry there hasn't been much movement. I took tomorrow off, so I've got high hopes.

Re-moving in day 1 - we are bad

2007-07-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Umm, we didn't have a very successful first day of re-moving in. I told Steve-o that I had posted about it on the blog, and he groaned. I think he was hoping there would be no accountability in this effort. :) He fiddled with his computer, and I watered the lawn and did some yarn dyeing. Note that none of this would have occurred if we had actually been moving in. I realize that most people start strong and fade at the end. Maybe we're going in reverse? Today will be better - it has to be, right?

I took pictures of the two worst rooms so that we could feel that sense of accomplishment when we look back at them in a week or so. And oddly enough, it looks worse in the picture than it does in person. I guess you just get used to seeing the stuff, and when you photograph it, you see it in a different way. I don't think I'm prepared to show them to the whole internet world, though.

Okay, the day wasn't a complete bust. I did post some stuff on craigslist, got rid of one box of "stuff," and tried to put all of my tools in their proper place. And I successfully dealt with yesterday's mail. It's baby steps, people....baby steps.

It's like we just moved in

2007-07-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

And that's the problem. Steve-o and I are still living in our house as if we just moved in. Last week, we went to a shindig at a friend's house. They had moved in only about a week earlier, and the place was in order. Labeled CD boxes, fruit in a bowl on the counter, things in their proper places! This happened last year, too. A party at a friend's house shortly after they moved, and that place was just the same. At the time, I thought they were just terribly efficient about unpacking. But now, it seems like this is a more widespread phenomenon. How long does it take you to unpack after a move? Is a year too much? hmmm.

Steve-o and I have a few problems which contribute to our inability to live like normal people. First, we are both sort of pack rats....okay, we are pack rats. (admitting you have a problem is the first step, right?). We (I'll stick to "we" to preserve some of our dignity) keep notebooks from college. We keep receipts from 6 months ago. We keep books we didn't enjoy and will never read again. We keep magazines because there might be something in there we'll want. We keep do-dads, thingies and other miscellaneous stuff just in case we need it. Of course, when you need it, you can never find it.

Second, we do not know how to put things "in their home." You know how things have a place in the house? Nail clippers go in the medicine cabinet. Scissors go in the kitchen drawer. Phone chargers go....well, somewhere other than the kitchen counter. But not for us. Things come out of their homes, but they don't seem to make it back.

Third, we do not deal well with mail. One of us gets the mail. We put it down in a different place every day. It is mostly junk. The other one can't find today's mail pile and weeks later, we find a mess of bills and junk under something else....or under several layers of something else.

Fourth, we have too much stuff. We have so much bathroom stuff that there is a bookcase outside the bathroom door that has been coined "the health and beauty aisle" because it seriously looks like the health and beauty aisle in the supermarket - soap, deodorant, shampoo, NyQuil, q-tips, toothpaste, razors, etc. All this stuff exists in the bathroom for our daily use; this is just more of it. I'm all for shopping at Costco, but I think we're out of control. How many months/years does it take to go through 6 bottles of shampoo?

Fourth, we are both procrastinators. We have good intentions. Then, we do something else. For example, "we" have been known to not unpack a suitcase for several weeks following a trip. We avoid decisions.

But....we have made one decision. This week....starting today, we are pretending like we just moved in. It's a do-over, if you will. We want to see if we can be like the rest of you and get our house in order. Yes, I know we have a head-start, since we won't have to do too much heavy lifting or figure out how to get the couch through the door. We already did that and the answer was to take the door off the hinges. But we will be moving the couch across the room and dealing with all the stuff we've been avoiding. Hurray for us. Check in on our progress, and offer encouragement. We procrastinators need it.

How many *bucks do you have?

2007-06-28T11:46:00.002-05:00

It has finally happened, a *bucks is moving into my n'hood. It is "coming soon" right near the metro. I think my neighbors are about to get some serious caffination. A Mayorga Coffee (which apparently roasts locally) opened a few weeks ago, too. I haven't been yet...mostly cause I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I might need to go in and show some support. The *bucks will do just fine without me.

In my investigation of when my *bucks would be open, I discovered the Delocator. It finds independent coffee shops, bookstores and movie theaters near whatever zip code you type in. For my zip code, it found 76 independent places within 5 miles. (Might be good for finding a new knitting home for you Sunday-goers). Some of these seem to be restaurants that serve coffee more than regular old coffee shops, though. It also gives you a comparable list of the starbucks within 5 miles....56. But the *bucks site says I've got 86 starbucks within 5 miles of me, so I think the delocator probably missed some. Oddly enough, I only have 84 within 5 miles of my downtown work location. Maybe the Potomac cuts out some valuable real estate.

Did I just say/write "only 84?" So, a five mile radius covers an area of about 78.5 square miles. Area=pi times r-squared, right? So, there are 86 starbucks in the 78.5 square miles surrouding my house. So, just over 1 starbucks per square mile. Not quite one on every street corner, but still....if they were perfectly spaced, you've never have to go more than 1/2 mile to get your triple grande skinny extra hot latte. Yikes!

How about you? I tried a manhattan zip code for fun and got 199. How many *bucks are you surrounded by?

In bloom

2007-06-28T08:59:00.000-05:00

I haven't made it to the garden yet this week to check on my veggies and herbs, but despite the 90-something degree weather, the front yard is holding up pretty well....except the grass.

Right now, I've got coreopsis, lilies, and an old favorite of my childhood - snapdragons. Fess up - how many of you would make then 'talk' for you? Some of the hostas are flowering, and there are marigolds, salvia and celosia, too. Plus, I love the lamb's ear...so soft!

I even put dear old Smidgen out in the garden with me last night. She ate grass and pounced on ants. So cute.

T-ball, sugared dough, and showering with strangers

2007-06-27T19:01:00.000-05:00

My little sis is getting married - Aaawwww. Okay, she's only younger by 17 months, and she's always been just about my height, but still... I went home this weekend to do my sisterly duties at my younger sis's bridal shower. I was in charge of running the games! Man, can we ladies be competitive when mysterious 3 dollar gifts wrapped in tissue paper are involved! And wow - can those old ladies talk and talk and talk and not shut up when you're obviously trying to tell people something and then they all say - what??!! - and you kinda wanna kill them. I mean - it was lovely.

It was a busy weekend. It started off with delivery by the mailman to my nephews' house. They like cats (and chinchillas for what it's worth) but they have a rather rambunctious dog, so owning a kitty is out of the question. So, I knit them cats based roughly on the Kate pattern from Knitty. But their cats had to have tails because - well, if I'd made them cats with pants and no tails, they'd tell me I was silly cause cats don't wear pants. Duh. Luckily, there was no fighting about who got which one, and they pet them, and slept with them that night. Ah, now that's what appreciation means for a knitter!

Following the mailman, there was a good ol' fashioned game of t-ball for my nephew. I forgot how amusing t-ball is. 2 innings, everyone bats, no one gets out, and neither team wins. Ahh...to be 5 again. My younger nephew is too young to play, so to amuse him, I let him walk around with my camera and take pictures. My nephews are actually very adept at handling cell phones (they know they can press just about everything except the green button) and cameras. Plus, my younger nephew had a death grip on the camera that probably made it safer with him than with klutzy old and busted, here. Anyway, he took some seriously artistic shots. See?

The rest of the weekend was spent making centerpieces and shower favors, assembling cookie trays, and eating church picnic food. Tasty tasty pizza frita (kinda like a big round poof of churro) and potato pancakes. I think they only do this is PA. I've never seen it anywhere else. Fried food is my weakness....along with ice cream...and cheese...and.....pizza and....well, you get the idea. I like eating.

The shower was fun (even though I had to endure Steve-o repeatedly asking me why I was showering with strangers - engineers [think they] are so funny), but I had to leave straight from there and do the 4 hour drive back home. Then, I got to be the first knitter guest to a friend's new house. Now I'm recovering from the past few days. I missed spending time in my garden, so I have to get back to that. I have green tomatoes and little baby beans waiting for me.

In my spare time, I'll be finishing my list of house duties, dyeing some yarn, planning a vacation, and finding a new job (fingers crossed). Busy, busy. busy.

Summertime....

2007-06-12T10:16:00.000-05:00

Whatever happened to spring?! Summer is here. I switched out my clothes, put away the down comforter, and put on the air conditioning. And I am constantly brushing the cat and lint-roller-ing every piece of furniture in the house, as Smidgen loses her winter coat....all over the place.

The house is really starting to shape up, and with the sewing of a few pillows, and a few more visits to the thrift store, I should be ready to host knitting, conduct dyeing lessons and throw a party. Hooray! I'm aiming for July. Sure, I won't have a new kitchen, and the couch is too big for the living room, but all you need for a good party is crack dip and a few cocktails!

I've got one mini-trip planned for this summer, and hoping to line up a few more. Plus, I have my younger sister's wedding shower later this month. And vegetables to look forward to. I have a few strawberries right now, and most of the garden seems to be bouncing back from the deer episode. The beans are having a rough time, but I think they'll be okay.

This handy link from my fellow gardener has some great tomato info. Unfortunately, my plants were growing so fast, I think I missed my opportunity to prune my tomato plants. Can you prune the suckers if they're really big? If the deer ate the main stem with the flowers on it, will the plant make more? I think I need to do some more research.

Dirt under my fingernails

2007-06-01T19:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I had made a plan that was to keep me busy every weekend from early April to about July with house stuff. Painting, nailing, picking out cabinets, etc. Well, I'm only through about 2.5 of the 8 jobs I had planned. Oh well, life happens, right? Life....and gardening.

I forgot to take pictures of my garden plot in the before phase, but here's another plot that looks like mine did several weeks ago.

I shoveled, poked, pulled, cursed and yanked at a variety of weeds. The worst of which is that damn wire grass. These weeds need to die! In the community garden setting, it's basically impossible to get rid of all this stuff. It wanders in from the plot next to you, especially when the plot next to you looks like this. BloggingBeta did a admirable job, though. She sifted through her plot, picking out even those tiny stringy root remnants that I like to bury and ignore. That's more dedication to weed management than I can muster. But in August, when I'm pulling weeds, she'll be eating tomatoes in the shade.

But I think I've got things in shape. Steve-o and I put down weed barrier, built a wooden raised bed, and a brick raised bed with bricks the previous owner had left in my plot.

The reason for the raised beds? Well, I got the book, square foot gardening, from the library and I was hooked. See - last year my plot went kaput. The tomatoes and cucumbers got some kind of disease and the beans and peppers didn't fare much better. So....my hunch was that it was the soil. I requested a new plot, and this raised bed idea uses all new soil. The downside is that I had to go out and buy compost, peat moss, and vermiculite, and that costs money....plus building the raised beds, which also costs money.....but I will be so happy if things go well this year.

I put the herbs in the part of the plot where I left the soil au natural (with the exception of a bit of peat moss and compost). Thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil....and some strawberries, too. I'm hoping they're not subject to the same troubles as tomatoes are.

Now, you may have noticed something weird about the above photos. Dents in my dirt. at first glance, i thought they were those holes squirrels love to dig because their poor brains are so tiny they forgot where they put their nuts. But no! Bambi got into my plot! And Bambi was hungry. Tomatoes should look like this:

Not this:

And my beans - oh, my poor beans

and my peppers.

The front lawn is under attack, too. Some squirrels (maybe?) ate the tops off of every one of my salvia plants. And my marigolds are off to a bumpy start...which is weird cause I think of them as being really hardy. But the coreopsis I planted last year as a perrenial is taking off, and so is the clematis I got three years ago at the national arboretum sale. I'm training it along the fence. I'm waiting for the blooms to figure out which kind it is, though, because the tag has long been lost.

Oh well - if this gardening stuff doesn't work out, there's always a ceiling to be spackled, a bathroom to be regrounted and plenty of other indoor fun tasks!

Busy bee

2007-05-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

I had a very long memorial day weekend - 4 days, due to my Friday off. I got to see the lovely Miss Rebecca - even without electricity, her hospitality was fabulous. Plus, I got a bunch of home stuff done. I painted my front door (4 freakin' coats!), mulched my flower beds, met my new next door neighbors (poor unknowing people - they have no idea what kind of shape their building is in), fought over a package and won (rescued my potatoes from the GA Ave. post office), did innumerable loads of laundry, and knit a special gift for someone.

I did hit a bit of a snafu on Sunday when I got stuck in rolling thunder traffic. But you gotta love it. Memorial day weekend - all the DC-ites leave town, and all the bikers come into town. Quite a switch!

Show unit

2007-05-16T11:25:00.000-05:00

I am so going to get porn junk mail comments with a title like that. But seriously - I haven't told you guys about this little situation just yet. I must be somewhat purposefully vague, but.... Someone in my building is selling their apartment. Said person is a little high strung about it. The building needs some work done. Outside work. Work that would involve people, tools, metal contraptions, etc. in front of the building. Well, said seller requested that this work not be done while their unit (apt! get your mind out of the gutter) was on the market.

Now, a few years ago, this wouldn't have mattered, the place would have sold in 2 days, and all would be well. But this is no 2004, people! This is 2007 in Washington, DC, in a transitional neighborhood, in a somewhat slumpy housing market. This place could sit on the market for months! Some folks in the building raised this issue, and were willing to try and get the work done before the place went on the market. The seller, knowing that the people in my building are slug-like, and don't get anything done, responded with this - I do not want construction going on while my place is for sale. My sale will affect everyone else in the building because I have the "show unit." Well, la-de-da! I'll tell ya what you can do with your show unit! I think someone fed right into their realtor's publicity talk.

Well, Mr./Ms. Show Unit has been spazzy ever since. They complain in an exasperated voice - I am trying to sell a house, here! They leave nasty notes complaining about stuff viewable by potential buyers. They must have mistaken me for someone who cares. (Remember - Here's a quarter. Call someone who cares!"? Ahhh, the 80's.)

Perhaps the show unit needs some Slayer being played during open houses. Who doesn't love Slayer? Truly, if you want to sell the show unit, you should pair it with the show unit of thrasher bands, don't you think? Or, I can park a junk car on the front lawn. That would really enhance the atmosphere of the "show unit."

Okay - I'll try to behave, but this kind of arrogance really bugs me. Arg!

I'll just continue renovating my little hovel, and hope for good neighbors.

Earth Day Irony

2007-04-23T10:41:00.000-05:00

So, Earth Day in DC was beautiful. Sunny, warm...it just made me happy. I planted trees, spent some time with friends, and met some new people. ...plus cleaned the living room. Then, Steve-o and I took a little drive that night, and as we cruised around Dupont Circle, what did we see? Trash cans overflowing, with Starbucks cups, napkins, and general garbage all over the ground. One block away - trash cans with plenty of room for disposing of that Starbucks iced coffee cup. What's wrong people?! Can't hold onto that garbage for an extra block?! - instead, you feel compelled to place it gingerly atop the garbage pile and then shrug as it falls off onto the sidewalk?! Happy Earth Day people!

Sometimes, it just doesn't make sense

2007-04-18T07:19:00.000-05:00

I've held off for two days, but I feel compelled to talk about what has happened at Virginia Tech. I went there for grad school a few years ago, and although I though it was a great atmosphere, I guess I always felt a little disconnected since I was a grad student, and not an undergrad, I lived off campus and I was in a pretty co-dependent department.

I am now struck with how hard Monday's events are hitting me. I walked by that building, had class next door....and I recognize all that Hokie stone. (We from VT are an odd bunch - the only people on the planet who understand Hokie stone, fighting gobblers, and why a cannon goes off during good football games).

In a way, I feel guilty feeling so upset about it. I'm about 10 years older than many of the kids (and that's what they are, essentially) who are dealing with this....or trying to. I'm several years out of school, and haven't been back there. Still - you know how everyone says college is your big life-identifying years....where you find yourself, etc. I didn't feel it then, but looking back, I can see it. And having this be a defining factor - Yikes. One powerful thing about VT, though - it's a tightly bound place....at least on some level. Something about being in the near middle-of-nowhere in the mountains with a turkey for a mascot, and cows at the front entrance to the school, does somehting to you. I once heard that VT had the highest number of alumni license plates in the U.S., not that it's the largest school or has the most graduates by any means. I guess what I'm saying is that VT people, on the whole, feel an obligation to that place...maybe not so much an obligation as a dedication. And people will fight back, and get through and come out ahead because of that.

Not that that's stopping me from checking cnn, the ny times and a myriad of other news sites countless times a day. It's that thing I think many of us experienced on 9-11, where you know the news isn't going to be good, and you know that you're only getting snippets, and maybe unconfirmed snippets at that, but you just need to know. You can't seem to stop. Sooner or later, I will. After all, I need to get some work done eventually. But don't stop entirely. Next week, when all this is eclipsed by some dumb thing Bush has done, remember what it was like to be 19 and worried about your chem lab homework....and be grateful.

I see baseboard

2007-04-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

So, spring is normally a pretty short season in DC, but usually because it launches right into the heat of summer. But this year, it went in reverse, and we got winter back....complete with a bit of snow on Saturday. I was glad I hadn't done much planting so far.

The snow beat up my poor daffodils and put a kink in my plans for cutting baseboard on Saturday. In the end, that turned out fine, cause I spent some time on Saturday measuring walls, angles, etc. (Okay, okay, I had the engineer of the house do the angles). And then spent Saturday night having a fun time with Miss Rebecca, Mr Shawn, and some of Rebecca's pals from peace corps. Lots of eating tasty food and telling amusing stories. Grizzlies, lost skis, buff moms...the usual.

On Sunday, Steve-o and I spent the afternoon measuring, remeasuring (measure twice, cut once), sawing, double-checking, painting and re-coating about 100 linear feet of baseboard. Hey - that doesn't sound like much, except when I tell you that those 100 feet involved over 50 individual cuts....not to mention our mess-ups and re-cuts. We had quite the fiesta of high-fives. Now, we just have to borrow our friend R and his air nailer to install the baseboard, and then I have to crawl around on my hands and knees caulking all the tops and the seams. Wheeeee.

But seriously, it's all worth it (Remind me of this when my knees are numb). Even just leaning the baseboard against the wall in its proper place makes the room look so much neater and more finished.
Who-da thunk it? I guess that's why some guy invented baseboard. Plus, we gained back about 25 square feet of space where we had stacked baseboard on the floor in the living room. So, once the baseboard is up, we can push furniture back toward the wall and open up the space a bit. Hey - in my place, I can use all the spare 25 square feet I can find!

Unfortunately, on Sunday, just as we were packing up, three hooligans (I realize I sound like my grandfather) ran around the house next door. Then - the sound of broken glass. Then - the aforementioned three hooligans come running out, and one of them kicks over my planter of strawberry plants. Don't mess with a girl's strawberry plants!

They had busted the window of the neighbor's house. So, I call the cops and they show up eventually and tell us DC's laws suck for juveniles. Big surprise there! The kids came back later to check out their handiwork, but the police folk were nowhere to be found.

What did you do this weekend?

Kitchen v. Plants

2007-04-03T11:43:00.000-05:00

Whoa - it's a busy time here in good ol' DC. Street cleaning days are back, cherry blossoms are blooming, and the tourists have arrived in full force.

And me? Well, the kitchen has been put on hold due to design complications. And due to the fact that, well - I've been assessing my time, and I'd just rather play outside than think about cabinet box construction. I think that's okay, as long as it's a conscious choice, and not a method of escapism. After all, my plants need me to amend their soil and build raised beds, and keep Smidgen from using them as her next snack.

Uncertainty is the name of the game these days. Steve-o's med school tour 2007 has had an unexpected tour date added. As it turns out, the reviews of prior tour dates are not turning out as anticipated. So, his uncertainty is my uncertainty, which means uncertainty about the house (how much to fix, to sell or not to sell), when (not if) to switch jobs, etc. So, considering all that's going on, I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job of dealing....I mean, I haven't gone postal yet. Perhaps indulging in a little too much Ebay and yarn shopping, but a little retail therapy is better than a lot of psychotherapy. :)

Update

2007-03-22T12:30:00.000-05:00

Spent last weekend running around DC and murr-lynd looking at kitchen design places, and getting folks to price stuff out. Spent this past week in sticker shock. My damn soffits are creating the need for custom cabinets....very expensive custom cabinets. One person I called said 50K for my tiny little kitchen. Are they on crack? Must be. For that much money, I'd have to be selling the stuff.

So, I tweaked kitchen lady's design a bit, getting rid of the spice cabinet (very $, but not something I really feel compelled to have), and the appliance garage doors (as she called them), deciding they were a little bit country. Even so, the rough estimates are coming in higher than what I'd hoped for. And my ball of savings was just starting to look pretty decent.

Plus, there are so many choices, even though I already know what style I want. Oddly, enough that's part of the problem. Every company makes the door style I like. So, there are a zillion places to get my cabinets from. And then - should they come from a place that handles everything, or should I buy the cabinets, countertop, sink, etc. from different dealers, and perhaps save myself some mula?

Unfortunately, I think the kitchen has to be done whether I stay in the area or not. The wall cabinets are starting to take a dive....like, right off the wall. Damn kamikaze cabinets! On that topic, I've also been busy on Steve-o's school tour 2007. Fortunately/unfortunately, I think we're done with those. Interview season is quickly drawing to a close. It's bitter sweet, cause it's nice to stop worrying about who will invite you for an interview, but it's not so nice when you don't get one from a place you wanted to go. Hmm, I'm talking about this like it's my process. Guess I'm a little vested in it, huh? Kinda snuck up on me. :) Now, we just wait for our...I mean...his acceptances. (I did that one on purpose.)

For those interested in something other than house stuff - I spent this past weekend at a yarn dying class, shunning kitchen stuff entirely. No photos from the class itself, but I came home inspired, and took stock of what I've got. Several pounds of dyeable fiber, and three lonely skeins that may find their way to someone, someday.I also dyed a skein for a pal's birthday, but she might check this, so no photos just yet.

I can see you

2007-03-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Got a drill bit, and now I've got a peephole. Not a reverse peephole, though. So, I won't be able to tell if ninjas are waiting for me inside. But, I will be able to tell if holy rollers (did we only call them that in PA?), UPS men/women (though I've never seen a female UPS delivery person), Ryans, or wayward knitters are lurking outside my door. Of course, I could just use the intercom, but it's more fun to try out new house toys. Hurray!

I tried to go meet with a kitchen designer at the not-so-great indoors, but when I called, they failed to tell me the designers go home at 6, even though the store is open til 9. Losers!

Oh, and my pocket door kit has arrived. Wall destruction, here I come.

One door going up!

2007-03-03T22:51:00.000-05:00

Hooray! My front door arrived. I zip-car-ed my way to the big box store to pick up my new front door. The old one's glass met with a rock it didn't like, and so, a new door was in order. So...it has a smaller glass area, which I wasn't completely thrilled with, but in the spirit of cost-savings, and the likelihood of rocks, or other stray objects making their way toward the door....I went with it. One small problem. The peephole I bought doesn't fit in the peephole-hole they drilled in the door. Grrrr. Peepholes are not universal sizes. Who knew!? So, now I need a new drill bit.

The other setback is that I want to paint the door, but it's still too cold to do that outside (supposed to stay above 60 for like a week or something), and I'm sick of paint fumes inside. So, I'll be painting it later this spring.

Note - I said later this spring. With the weather this past week, I am officially calling it spring. Even, if it's only supposed to be 35 on Wednesday. Hey - if there can be a 60 degree day in June, there can be a 35 degree day in Spring. Besides, spring is my favorite season, so I'm a little anxious for it. Planting, freshly sprouted buds, the smell of turned over dirt....I love it!

We also borrowed a super all oak bookcase from Ryan. I actually wanted to build custom shelves for this nook in the living room, but since I don't know how long we'll be in this place....well, you know. The shelves fit pretty well, though, and now my books can escape from the cardboard boxes they've been calling home for the last year and a half.

So...a pretty shnazzy weekend if I do say so myself!

The kitchen lady came-th

2007-02-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

Right to my house. She even pet my cat. Turns out she has one too. She got points for being a cat-lover. She got even more points for doing an awesome job talking to me about possibilities in my kitchen. I learned all about cabinet types, cabinet makers, cabinet installers. Okay people - this is exciting stuff for me....and stuff that as a renter I never had to think about. Did the door open, and was there food inside? That was about the extent of it.

So, she and I drew up a plan, and talked about a few different possibilities. But I liked what she suggested. I have a complicated place - a crazy soffit, low ceiling, and a small kitchen. So, basically, if I walk into a cabinet store and they balk at that, or ignore those facts, I should run screaming the other way. I'm guessing the Home Despot and Low-Low home improvement will fall into that category. So much babysitting involved! And amazingly enough - not the cheapest option.

So...natural maple cabinets, a pantry, glass fronts, silestone countertops, undermount stainless steel sink...and a low bank account. Most of my cabinets should be easy to find in the style I want....but there will be one or two custom or semi-custom cabinets. Luckily I've been saving up. I'm thinking either a slab or a craftsman-type style. Something with nice lines. I'm not a big fan of the curvy country, or something with lots of bevels - it just means more grooves to clean.

Plus - even though she wasn't there for any other room, we talked about the living room and how we can better arrange it, which confirmed what I'd been thinking all along - built-in bookshelves! And...she's on my side in the Projector v. Couch face-off. Loved her! She also convinced me that I can totally tile my shower....it will just take a while....and I only have one bathroom, so I may end up contracting that, but they're going to be watched like a hawk. You can bet on it. She was so positive, which was great, and got me all excited about my kitchen....which is a little weird.

I also ordered the pocket door kit for the bathroom, so more demolition coming your way!

I'm away some of this weekend, so I'll be setting up appts. with cabinet places when I get back. The good news - now I know what I want to do, at least theoretically. The bad news - I may not be living there long enough to enjoy it once it's done.

Brrrrr

2007-02-07T12:36:00.000-05:00

It's chilly here. So chilly in fact that a friend of mine who is renovating his house, and doesn't have his heating system fully installed, woke up yesterday to find that some water sitting out in his kitchen had ice floating in it. Indoors! Makes my only-maginally busted house seem like a dream.

In less than a week, the kitchen lady (and yes,that's what I've deemed her official title) is coming by to dispense advice about kitchen storage, cabinets, countertops, appliances, design, etc. I'm very excited. But I have to tidy up the house first.

I have a small problem with flat surfaces. I tend to cover them. I don't even know I'm doing it. I am so happy when a room is all tidy...but sooner or later (and honestly, it's usually sooner), I cover the flat surfaces with stuff - knitting, mail, magazines, books, socks to be darned, tools, post-its, cat toys, etc. I thought more surfaces might be the answer. But no.

In contrast, someone at work is moving to Italy. They went there for a visit, and decided they'd rather be there permanently. During their brief U.S. stop to clear out their house, they said they had an urge to try and put everything in storage, but then they realized they'd been living out of a backpack for a month. They just didn't need all their "stuff."

Meanwhile, someome else at work, they actually hired one of their friends to come in and clear their desk for them....sort files, etc. I haven't gotten to that point....yet.

I have been donating to the thrifty like mad. I mean, if it was in storage for a year, and I didn't miss it, then i probably don't need it, right? And I try not to accumulate useless stuff. Candy dishes, free pens, cheap plastic toys, mugs, etc. but sometimes, you feel attached to "stuff." Or you feel compelled to keep it, cause you know as soon as you throw it away....

It's been a long time....

2007-01-22T11:54:00.000-05:00

...and a lot has happened. Where was I? Alternately moping around and trying to get myself out of a funk. I'm still working on it. But here's what you've missed...

I spackled and sanded, and sanded and spackled, and sanded and....well, you get the idea.
The bedroom got a nice coating...or three or four of cottonseed, a loverly buttery yellow/tan. It makes me happy.
Baseboard in the bedroom....I did plenty of sawing...with appropriate eye protection. I was told by some passing folks that it was "man's work." I declined their offer of assistance. Several days later, I operated a nail gun. Just call me Rosie the Riveter.
I caulked my baseboard...and did a pretty damn good job, if I do say so myself.
I am now thoroughly convinced that I can do a better job that 95% of the contractor's out there....because I actually care what it looks like when it's finished....and because I can do geometry....with a little help from Steve-o.
The green hornet went to the big donation parking lot in the sky....or rather, to some car auction, auctioned off for parts. Don't even ask me how little they got for it. I don't like to think about it. One too many repair bills meant the poor Hyundai was taken away on a rainy December morning, donated for a good cause.
I have the storage unit almost all cleaned out. Just a few large items, some of which will be donated...including a sewing table with sewing machine in it rom the 50's - worked last time I tried it, but needed oil.
At our work holiday party, I won the auction for a session of kitchen design consulting. So, I donated $, get a tax deduction, and will get help with my kitchen. I'm excited.

I've also come to a conclusion that many of you probably reached months ago - that if I don't do the damn house repairs pronto, I won't even get to enjoy them. If I end up leaving town in 6-8 months (compeletely up in the air), I may barely be done with the repairs, but does that mean I shouldn't do them? What's left, you ask? Well, some things have to be done...at least according to me - a new entry door, the hole that still exists in the kitchen wall, the holes in the ceiling that the electrician made. And then there's the other stuff - not repairs so much as improvements. A pocket door for the bathroom, built-in shelves for the bathroom, built-in shelves for the hallway, tiling the area under the washer/dryer, re-doing the bathroom tub wall area - more tiling, new interior doors, another recessed light in the kitchen. I could go on. No, really...I could. So...when do I stop, and call it done...or done enough?
Why does it feel like everything is swirling very fast right by me....kinda like poor Smidgen here? When all you really want to do is take a nap.

Smidgen is busted too

2006-10-22T10:53:00.000-05:00

Well, Smidgen must have been jealous of all the doctoring the Green Hornet was getting. She wanted a doctor visit too, so she developed a funny spot on her paw....for just such a purpose.

And a trip to the vet ensued. She went into her carrier just fine, and was doing quite well, until a big black lab mix tried to take a bite out of her in the vet's waiting room. Once we got into the exam room, she took a good look around, and after determining that the big black dog was nowhere to be seen, she explored every nook there was, and jumped up to look out the exam room door window. Very comical. Everyone at the vet loved her and her extra toes, and said she was soooo pretty and had such nice markings. Maybe they say that to all the cats, but Smidgen was flattered...or maybe that was me.

Anyway, she doesn't have any identifiable problem. So, she got sent home with some all-purpose ointment and instructions to come back if it got worse. Sounds like instructions from people doctors, huh? But they did trim her nails for her, and we found a dental treat that she likes, so it wasn't a total wash.

As a reward for good behavior, we let her run loose in the car on the way home. She stood at the windows and sat on the back dash, greeting people as we went. We even entertained a policeman in his car. Then, we got home, and she took a nap. All these adventures are very tiring.

Later that night, when we put the drops on her leg, she kept trying to lick it, and then she'd make a terrible face, and shake her head, and do a lot of sticking out her tongue because it tasted so bad. But then, 10 minutes later, she'd have forgotten that it tasted bad and she'd try it again (Pea brain!). Well, the medicine can't work that way, so we tied a little bandage on her leg, and I must say it was quite amusing. She didn't know what to make of it. She tried to shake it off, but that didn't work. So, she just walked around the house swinging that leg out as she walked. She looked like she had a cast. Poor gimpy kitty. Don't worry, we took it off before we went to bed, and she had forgotten all about it. The short attention span is good for some things!

Vroom Vroom Buzz

2006-10-09T17:07:00.000-05:00

The Green Hornet is back, but not without cost. At first, things looked bright. The oil problem - a mere 40 bucks in parts and labor! But then, they noticed that the Green Hornet had trouble getting going. It was, as my friend E would say, being a bit putzy on the start-up. The cause - the dreaded timing belt tensioner. Boo! so, the bill quickly went from 40 bucks to over 500! Big Boo!

My plan was to drive it until my registration expires later this year, and then sell the car in PA (where the emissions testing is nonexistent) for about 500 bucks. So, why spend just that much to get it back on the road? I don't know exactly. Must be the sentimental value.

I think the Green Hornet sensed the impending break-up. Seriously, once I started talking about replacing the car, things started going wrong with greater frequency. It's like it knows!

But enough about cars - what about the house? Well, with saw in hand (or more accurately, on the living room floor), I just need to find the time, and the good weather to go out on the lawn and cut some beautiful mitered corners, but someone told me this weekend was going to be rainy. Drat!

The green hornet...in the emergency room

2006-10-02T08:26:00.000-05:00

The beloved Green Hornet [of doom] (my car, for those of you who didn't know it had a name) is being a bit drooly....and smokey. It seems to be very ill. Oil should not being spewing out of it accompanied by smoke. It shouldn't leave a trail of oil on the street....that pollutes, for goodness sake! It was towed yesterday by a grumpy man named Dom who made sure to note that he took tips, and took corners at 40 mph, despite the Hyundai being barely strapped on the back of the truck. And now I'm waiting for the doctor's report. Keep your fingers crossed.

The coming weekend

2006-09-28T11:22:00.000-05:00

This weekend will be very exciting! Am I taking a trip? Winning an award? Going to a party? No! I am getting a miter saw! (Say it with me now) Hooray!

Steve-o's mom will be gracing us with her presence, and the miter saw she and her husband used to do all the crown molding in their apt. in NJ. Steve-o and I will be using it to do all of our baseboard. With only one room left to paint and baseboard to do, we're terribly excited! [We won't talk about the need for new cabinets, the bathroom pocket door, or that hole in the kitchen wall that we haven't dealt with yet]

Our visitors are going to take us out to dinner, which will be nice, since we've been scrimping and saving and haven't eaten anywhere fancier than Chipotle in quite a long time....not that Chipotle isn't lovely, but dude - it's a six-dollar burrito. We get to pick where we want to eat. Any suggestions? Last time they were in town, we went to the District Chop House...we're all meat eaters.

In my spare time, I'll be dyeing yarn for a gift for a friend who is moving here this winter. Shhh...she doesn't know. [Well, she knows she's moving, but doesn't know I'm knitting her something] Her birthday is next month, and I'm going to be a busy knitter this fall!

Speaking of knitting, I'm heading to R's house for Thursday knitting. Maybe I'll get some ideas for my own house. Seeing people's places is always so cool. What they put up on their walls, and where they place things - really gives you a sense of their priorities and what they're all about. [Prominantly display a picture of me! I mean - no pressure, R.] Of course, I had been to her old place in Mt. P, but this place is supposed to be new and improved!

But hmm....I think this means I value piles of stuff and emptiness....since I am surrounded by boxes and piles, and my walls are bare. But wait - I'm not settled yet. Just give me a few more months! I've got big plans!

One more down!

2006-09-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

So quietude-y. Yes, we finished painting the second bedroom. N.B. [I'm using my Latin - Mrs. D always said we would!] We didn't do the first bedroom yet....contrary to its title.

Isn't it purdy? It's just nice to have it done. It's a bit grey for the space, I think, but we'll brighten it up with some art, and be on our way to happy days! Hooray! Okay, I'm obviously going a bit nuts. Time for bed! But congratulate me! Cause I painted a room and because no one comments and I'm feeling un-loved. And you don't want that, do you?

Next up - Steve-o's mom is making a saw delivery in two weeks. We're going to re-do both bedroom closets, and...eventually get around to painting the first bedroom. Color is picked out....paint is bought....the procrastination is rampant.

Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of paint fumes

2006-09-14T16:19:00.000-05:00

What's this you see? Some abstract art? Perhaps I've got a poorly developed sense of interior decorating. Or, perhaps I've finally lost it, and went nuts throwing paint on the walls. No...none of the above. Rather - I'm finally back on the road of spackle and paint fumes!

You see....I had to prime parts of the wall where I spackled or re-did drywall. And the white primer I had laying around smelled really strongly and didn't cover well, so I used the orange primer from the kitchen. The other colors are all the paints I tried or the original wall color. I know, this is terribly exciting!

The painting will continue after knitting this evening. Stay tuned!

The avoidance continues

2006-09-05T18:16:00.000-05:00

My extended vacation from housework continues. Too busy partying with the knit ters, wondering what happened to the sun, and test-driving cars.....as if I need more decisions! Hey - it took me 10 months to even get back in my house (what a waste!)....I won't be surprised if it takes me 10 months to get it back together! But what a party there will be!

Congrats to Miss R on her new rental homestead in the commonwealth....and the impending 80's party!

Excuses, excuses

2006-08-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I gave myself a bye lately on doing house stuff since Steve-o was preparing for the most hellish test to date, and I didn't want to make the house any more of a disaster than it already was. Poor guy - the test took 10 hours instead of the anticipated 8, due to some inept exam proctors. But it's over. Hooray! Now - onto those applications for him....and back to house work for me. Boo!

Originally, I had envisioned this blog lasting only a month or two....just long enough to put the house back together and get on with my life. But, as it turns out, this home repair business is lasting for far longer than I'd thought, and progressing far slower. Partly - I had no idea what I was in for, or how quickly a seemingly simple task could get out of control. And partly, once I got a kitchen and a couch, it somehow became alright to live in a house without baseboard, without matching walls, and with plastic bags taped over the holes in the ceiling. Other stuff took priority - like trying to enjoy the summer. I just hated feeling like every spare moment was spent researching home repair, buying stuff for home repair, doing home repair, or thinking about home repair. Ever have that happen? - with a crappy job, or school applications, or what-not?

I've realized that living somewhere that is 1/2 done is sort-of bringing me down and making me a much grumpier person than I should be. I mean - it's the place you go home to - the place that is supposed to be your 'out' from the craziness of your life - not the craziness itself. And I want it all done! But I can't realistically think I'm going to tie up all the loose ends in the next two weeks, either. So, I have to find a way to strike a happy middle ground.

And as I've been reminded by many a home owner - it's never really done. There is always something you want to do, or think you should do, or something that breaks that you need to fix. But I like definite tasks and definite ends to those definite tasks So, here goes nothing - paint both bedrooms, install baseboard, put in shelving in kitchen, and get new kitchen cabinets and sink (yikes - this is a big one!).....and be done! Pocket door in the bathroom and bathroom storage - you're just gonna have to wait. One task at a time. To the bedrooms!

Watery Quietude

2006-08-10T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well, we took our vitamin c pills and got better...just in time for some fabulous DC weather. Weather where the humidity is 40% instead of 99%. Where when it is 84 degrees, it actually feels like 84...not 110. Hooray!

Other good news - we picked our bedroom paint colors. Bedroom one will be a lovely ocean blue-green color called Watery....actually at about 75% (Hooray for Mike at the paint store!) The second bedroom was almost a sage green, but we're going to try a color with a bit more blue in it. a deeper greenish blue called Quietude. It actually looks deeper on the wall. It's the one in the upper left. But Quietude sounds lovely, huh? Hopefully, it will be nice and therapeutic. Good for sleeping, and studying and knitting!

Of course, I just bought the paint. There won't actually be painting until a few weeks from now when Steve-o finishes this. We can't go killing off his brain cells with paint fumes until he's done. He needs them.

Summer is a sleepy time for blogging....much better for playing outside and gardening, but......I bought some trim for the kitchen in-wall shelving thing. Bring out the circular saw! Here goes nothing! Plus, I sold my giant living room chair on here, and I have a few more items that will be posted this week. Who needs a used inkjet printer, or this? I have to clear out the storage unit this month! Especially with all of the parking tickets I keep getting! Wait - remind me why I can't move to the commonwealth like Miss Rebecca, again.

Oh, and on the evil contractor front. An update to the last installment. My insurance company won't step in and settle it. So, now I'm back to having the sleazy contractors say I owe them money, and me saying I don't. We're sort of at an impasse. Okay, so they (whoever they are) say that possession is 9/10ths of the law. But what about when you have money they want, but they have the lawyers? Who wins in that scenario? Hmm.

I'll leave you with one final view of the continuing attempt to purge the apartment of unnecessary boxes, papers, etc. When you don't have time to deal with your bills, give them to the cat to pay.

Sick again!

2006-07-28T12:04:00.000-05:00

We've been sick yet again in the busted house. Being sick in the summer sucks. You want to climb under all your covers, but it's too damn hot for that nonsense. And while lying in bed, I'm forced to look at my still unpainted walls.

Well, actually, the bedroom walls are painted...in 2x3 blocks of varying shades of blue....none of which are satisfying me. Harbor mist didn't work - too light and cold, and neither did the 5 other color combinations I tried. Maybe blue is the wrong way to go. But I love blue...and I look ever so fabulous in blue that I feel compelled to have at least one room painted that color. Anyone have a blue they're particularly fond of?

I did go on a cleaning spree yesterday and tidied up the bedroom. I was guilty of heaping all my clean clothes on top of my dresser because there was other stuff impeding access to the drawers...like more stuff. It sort-of looked like a mountain...only one composed of socks, and shorts and tank tops and sweaters that still needed to be boxed up for the summer. Once the cat took to scaling the mountain and knocking everything off on her way down, I decided that a clean-up was in order. So, now the tops of the dressers all have penicillin on them. We'll see how long the clutter germs stay away.

Cat-arium for one, please

2006-07-17T18:07:00.000-05:00

We're very excited at the busted house. Everyone is really into the re-organization....even the cat. Smidgen is being ever so helpful by placing herself into every box in the house....even this clear one, which prompted us to consider creating a cat-arium (like terrarium, but with a cat, get it?), where we could view her all day long without the allergies. But logistics got the better of us, and we filled the box with clothes instead.

We took a weekend trip here, which I hate to admit, but sometimes, you just gotta do it. We got some stuff we needed, and some stuff we didn't. That place sucks you in like that!

My storage unit still has some stuff in it from the FEMA flood zone incident. I really need to get that stuff out cause it costs bucks to keep it in there. There just isn't any room in the house yet! We must purge some more.

I had a lovely distraction this weekend with Miss Rebecca. I didn't take any interestingly angled shots of her like a certain someone we know, but we did take a bike ride downtown and make a stop at two different galleries. We had some late lunch, and wandered around looking at 100 dollar tank tops and some kitschy stuff here...where we learned how to be a stripper and how to be popular (do not wiggle your shoulders while dancing). Then, the bike ride back uphill....which amazingly enough was alot more work than the cruising bike ride to the galleries. Darn hills! We were doing this for entertainment, not exercise!

Back from the hinterland

2006-07-11T17:42:00.000-05:00

Phew!
Talk about a whirlwind weekend....well, extended weekend. Steve-o's friend from high school was getting married in Vermont, so off we went. Started out on Wednesday night about 9:30. We planned on stopping at Steve-o's mom's house in NJ and sleeping there for the night. Well, torrential downpours and Steve-o's light and tiny car made a 4-hour trip into an 8-hour trip. Yep. We arrived in NJ at 5:30 in the morning. Poor Steve-o had to drive the whole way cause I don't know how to drive stick yet, though I've had my first lesson - and didn't stall the car!

So, we slept in late to recover from that ordeal and didn't leave NJ for the trip to VT until 3:30 on Thursday. We stopped at some outlets, where Steve-o was actually the only one who bought anything, and made it to his condo sometime before midnight.

Up bright and early and off the the
VT DMV to get Steve-o his
Vermont license. He's so proud.
Then, off to a state park for some boat races (in canoes) and then some boat races
(a.k.a. drinking games). Steve-o drank his team to victory. I'm so proud.

Off to rehearse all the wedding stuff and then the rehearsal dinner at a cute Inn where we had some fabulous food, and a bit more alcohol.

Then, sometime around 11:30, we made our way back to Steve-o's condo - an hour away....or two hours when you get lost driving country roads with no lights, plenty of deer and enough twists in the road to make you nauseous.

Then - the big wedding day. Hooray! Everything went smoothly. And the General Lee even blassed the wedding! Steve-o's ex pointed out that she almost wore the same dress as I did. Can you imagine that one! Girl fight! The ceremony was short and sweet....as they should be. And the reception was accompanied by tasty Vermont cheese and a whopping 6 hours of open bar! It was an outdoor reception, but the bugs were pretty tame. Per the groom's request, they nuked the garden the day before to the point where it was "toxic to all living things." Ah, better living through chemistry, right?

I was unwilling to drive the backroads at 2 a.m. again, so we stayed at the Inn where they had the reception and had a tasty breakfast, too. It also happened to be the place where they filmed the sitcom, 'Newhart' for those of you old enough to remember 'Larry, his brother Daryl, and his other brother Daryl.'

We did the drive back over 2 days as well, and it was relatively uneventful...but very pretty. See? We did have some tasty ice cream, got passed on the highway by two Amish guys in a pick-up truck and made it back just in time for Steve-0 to get to class. I now officially need a vacation from that vacation.

And now, some gratuitous cat photos of Smidgen with the mouse I made her (complete with beady little red eyes), and Smidgen napping, which she seems to prefer doing at 1p.m. rather than 1 a.m.....when she's busy dragging her toys into the bedroom to amuse herself, and wake me up. Do you see this cat's super paws? Crazy, huh?

And you want to know what's going on with the house? Absolutely nothing yet. Well, that's not entirely true. Before we left, I sent off my official correspondance to my sleazy contractors...the ones who wanted to keep overhead and profit for work they didn't do. I returned to a letter from them telling me that they didn't agree with my "philosphy on overhead and profit," that I cannot profit from an insurance claim (which I'm not, since I had to pay someone else to do the work they didn't do), and that my actions could be considered fraud. My actions are fraud?!? Hello - keeping money for work you didn't do - now that sounds like fraud! Ooooh, they make me so mad. Must channel anger, though. Have too much to do.

R* kindly installed our new bathroom faucet and showerhead while we were gone, so it's nice that that's done. Now, I must go on a painting and organizing spree. I think my brain has finally recovered from the funes, so it's time to paint once again! Harbor Mist - here I come!

Half-done and half-crazy

2006-07-05T14:05:00.000-05:00

You'd think that with my hiatus from blogging, I'd have gotten some stuff done. Well, you'd be wrong. :) Lots of shopping at the home despot, but everything is still in a half-done state. I built most of the box that will go in the kitchen in the space I made between the wall studs. But it's not quite done. I'm still organizing and unpacking, but it's not quite done. And I'm still emptying stuff out of the storage unit, but it's not quite done either. I've also been thwarted by the rattling, stalling, and subsequent towing of my dear old car. Goodbye paycheck, it was nice knowing you!

But I did buy some blue paint for the bedroom. Honestly, I was so confounded by the choices that I just forced myself to pick something. I can always re-paint, right? So, I'm giving Harbor Mist a try. I had a urge to try Bluetonium, but I have to admit, I might have just been attracted to the name.

We have managed to get rid of a ton of boxes. But this seems to result in us making big heaps of stuff, because we get a lot of satisfaction out of emptying a box and tossing it out, but not so much satisfaction in going through everything in the box, sorting it, and putting it away in an appropriate location. Hmm, what was that I said about liking organizing?

Well, we're going away this weekend (10 hours of driving - 20 for the roundtrip - hooray!), and R* will be our house/cat sitter. We've stocked the house with ice cream as payment for his duties. He's actually cat-sitting for two cats this weekend, so we had to lure him to our house with something!

Organization is my friend

2006-06-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

Hooray - Getting the house in order is fun! Or not - but it is pretty satisfying. Putting things in their place and throwing stuff out. It's really rather therapeutic. I have a newfound drive to be a minimalist....or at least a maximum-ist who keeps her stuff neat and tidy. I am organizing the closet. I got shelves and clear plastic boxes to store out-of-season clothes and other stuff. It looks so much nicer than printer paper boxes I bring home from work. Plus, it means I might actually avoid keeping endless piles of paper around, since I'd have to see them through the box and not just stuff them away in a cardboard box and tell myself they're not there.

In an effort to focus my home renovations and get the damn place finished - a plan is in order, don't 'cha think?! I need a break from paint fumes, so....this weekend's goals - finishing the closet, listing stuff on here, and installing the in-the-wall box in the kitchen. Baseboard if there is time. Wish me luck.

In cat news - which is, of course, more exciting than baseboard - we built the little critter a scratching post. Lovingly constructed out of sisal rope, and scrap wood from R*, she completed ignored the thing for days on end. Actually, ignored is the wrong word - feared is more accurate. But she has now started to actually use it on occasion. Not to say she doesn't still use the shelves, or the couch, or the baseboard laying on the floor (sorry, I'll stop talking about the damn baseboard). You should hear us when we see her using the scratching post - "Good kitty!" "You're such a good girl," and other innane sounding things. I refuse to speak to babies in "baby talk," so why am I speaking to the cat like that? I'll rationalize it by saying that she has a pea brain (let's be honest), and needs all the happy-sounding vocal patterns she can get!

She's pretty funny - one second she's all interested in her ball toy. But then, she hears a noise and starts looking around. Then, she forgets all about the ball toy and the noise, and jumps up to the window. She has the attention span of.....well....a cat. It's all about the pea brain. So tiny!

Oh, and SHE has a new name. Smidgen. Better than "Daisy," which as MikaJ pointed out, sounded kind of like a cow name. So - Smidgen it is! - cause she's small, and because it's actually the name of a candy made by a candy company back in good ol' Pennsylvania. And I do so love candy....almost as much as ice cream. Her nickname is "Cat and a half" because with 26 toes, she has enough to make 1.5 regular cats. Penny and the German word for 'foot' were also in the running, but ultimately, I figured Smidgen was more fun.

Couch with kitty

2006-06-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

I've been incognito lately because every waking moment has been spent spackling, painting, rubbing, wiping, cutting, scrubbing, lifting, or otherwise preparing the house.....well, at least half of it.

So, now there is a kitchen, a kitchen table, and a living room....at least mostly. I still need to do the baseboard in the house, but I need to go in on a miter saw with R*, so that I do not need to cut many, many pieces of baseboard by hand. But it is so nice to have a table with chairs, and a couch for lounging, knitting, and watching TV. I am usually not terribly interested in TV, but having gone without for the last 5 months or so, I think I will get sucked in for a little while.

The apartment has another new accessory - a kitty cat. I've been mulling over getting a cat for a while. I'm still not 100% convinced this was a good idea. I am concerned that I will get grumpy with it for scratching my furniture, or that it will eat something it shouldn't, or that it will claw through the screens in the windows and run off somewhere. Okay, I need to calm down - I know. I'm trying. :)

So - the kitty low-down -
she's a "she"
she has 7 toes on each of her front feet - she's polydactyl
she came from a rescue organization
she is pretty small, but very long
she wants to climb into, onto and over everything she sees
her name is/was Daisy, but we're waiting for another name to 'come to us'

We've had her for only about 48 hours, so we're still figuring her out. But she's cute, yes?

Interactively Creamy

2006-06-06T10:59:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah - making progress on the living room! With a little help from R* and Steve-o, the living room spackling is done. And there is a lovely coat of primer on the walls, tinted to match my chosen paint color - interative cream.

So, stirring orange(kitchen), flows into interactive cream(living room), which abuts cloud white(hallway), which will then split off into perhaps baize green(bedroom #2) and a loverly light aqua(bedroom #1) yet to be chosen. So far, the bathroom is just white.....and will probably stay that way for now, since I'll be knocking out a wall to intall the pocket door. No sense painting when it will all have to be re-done anyway.

And Steve-o and I went shopping this weekend for another bit of decoration for the house - a kitty. Stay tuned!

Stink

2006-05-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

Today, there is good news and bad stink. Let's start with the good news, y'all. My living room wall is back together...at least roughly. It needs a better spackling job, but there is no longer a hole from the living room into the kitchen. Hurrray!

Now - for the bad stink. Something, or multiple somethings, are dead in the wall/ceiling and rotting. Steve-o notes that a foul-smelling molecule called cadaverine may be responsible for the stink. For you science nerds, cadaverine is a diamine with the formula NH2(CH2)5NH2. For you non-science types, it smells just like what it sounds like - a dead body of an animal. Wikipedia also tells me that it is partially responsible for the smell of semen. Hey - don't say you never learned anything from my blog! Not that I said it would be stuff you wanted to learn.

Anyway, I've heard that the stink will take anywhere from 1 week to 6 weeks to go away. Some people seem to have trouble for months, which I am hoping will not be the case for me. But I'll be painting in the next few days, so if the paint VOCs and my least favorite diamine don't blend together to knock me on my a**, then maybe the paint smell can mask the dead animal smell. (Kinda odd that paint fumes are now the preferred smell in my house.)

Back from the homeland

2006-05-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

I took a little break this weekend and went back to the homeland (a.k.a. my parents' house) to see my sis graduate from grad school, hang out with the fam, and to play with my nephews - Who thought it was absolutely hysterical to run at me full speed and then jump on me.

Yeah - it's a hoot...and I've got the bruises to prove it. Okay, secretly, I think they're downright adorable, even when inflicting pain on me. And my dad and uncle managed to fix the flooring transition pieces that my flooring contractor messed up. He's not going to get paid what he thinks he is, by the way.

Anyway - the weekend was a lovely distraction from the home repair nonsense I've been drowning in. But poor Steve-o, he spent the weekend being awoken by the pitter-patter of little feet....and I don't mean little kids - nope - I mean rodents. We've been hearing them on and off for a little while, but apparently, over the weekend, they got extra fiesty. "Being in the middle of the mouse beltway" was how it was described.

So...that's bad news. But, the kitchen now has all of its cabinets. And I bought the wood to construct my "in the wall" shelves for the kitchen. So, we're making progress on that front. I'm going to try and paint the living room this weekend, so that maybe I can get a couch in there....and watch TV and sit on something besides the floor. I will be so happy! What color will it be? Well, I've narrowed down the contenders, and have quite a few sample pots of 1/2-used BM tans if anyone wants to try them out on your own walls. If not, I'll probably use them in some art project....once I can carve out a corner of the house to be artsy in.

Also, I have to plant this weekend, because the house is being taken over by foliage....and honestly, I need the space to organize stuff. So - Mel and S-dog, come and get your darn tomato plants!

I miss chairs

2006-05-15T16:57:00.000-05:00

Despite many hours working on the the ol' house, I seem to have stalled on my progress. I still don't have the rest of my cabinets in because I discovered the ice maker line to my fridge was drip drip dripping. And since the people at the home despot are useless, I had to order the stuff I needed online. So, I am waiting for the horribly useless ups people to bring it to me. And if I put the cabinets back, it will only make fixing the fridge more difficult.

I also have a series of beiges, browns and tans up on my wall. And I am having trouble deciding. Is it too green, too pink, too dark, too yellow? The pressure is killing me! Maybe I need a whole new frame of mind - like - haha, it's fun to try out 9 different paint colors!

I'll give it a try, but it's tough when....as Steve-o said the other night, "I miss sitting on chairs." We eat dinner on the floor, cause all of the furniture is still in storage. We plugged in the TV the other night and I sat there on the floor, completely mesmerized by law and order. I realized I hadn't watched TV in months! And it wasn't really the watching-tv part that hooked me. I'm not much of a TV addict.....well, maybe for law and order. But it was just the opportunity to forget about the house, and all the work I need to do, for a little while. A little escape, if you will. Then, after they found out that the church was burned by the son of the guy who slept with his stepmom, once the son found out that his brother was really his dad, I got up off the floor and slapped another paint color on the wall. Sigh.

Do You See What I See?

2006-05-08T15:03:00.000-05:00

A kitchen! Yes, a 'stirring orange' kitchen with most of my old white cabinets back in their places. Steve-o says it reminds him of a creamsicle ice cream thingy. I think that's a compliment. After all, I love ice cream. And a certain blogger pointed me to another orange kitchen that looks quite cheery, don't you think? I'm not sure the color is acurrate on the screen, so don't judge it just yet.

It is so nice to wash dishes in the kitchen sink and not in the tiny bathroom pedestal sink....or better yet, use the dishwasher. And now, I can cut food on the counter instead of on top of a box in the living room. Seriously folks - go look at your counters and say a few nice words to them. Don't worry about what others might think about the fact that you're talking to your laminate. You need to show your countertop the appreciation it deserves! Unfortunately, the orange kitchen has come at a price - a disaster of a living room. I won't even show you the bedroom. It's too hideous.

But speaking of other rooms, I've been pondering Bugheart's comments on my proposed living room color - tan. It's true - white-ish pinkish people do look bad in tan. I wouldn't be caught dead in a tan shirt. (Note to self - remember to put "no tan shirt" into my will.) So, why should I have a tan wall? Maybe I shouldn't. But I ask you - what in the world will go with a reddish-brown floor, an adjoining orange kitchen, and a navy blue couch? Plus - don't forget this is a basement, so I can't go too dark or it will be dungeon-y. To 'tan' or not to 'tan'? And if not tan, then what?

Oh yes - Orange!

2006-04-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

So, I've been spending far too much time in home improvement stores lately. I had a 15 minute chat with Chuck in the Falls Church Home Despot the other day. Turns out that in suburbia, they actually answer your questions rather than run away to another aisle. See - now that I have floor, it's onto fun stuff like built-in shelves, floor trim and other exciting things that require the use of power tools. And paint! The kitchen got some spackle this week. Obviously, spackling is not my forte. But after sanding - it will be much improved. Then, primer and my daring kitchen color - Stirring Orange....which is the top one here. But on the wall, it looks more orange and less sunburned barbie flesh....more like the bottom one. But then again - this will look different on different computers, so just stop on by this weekend, and check it out for yourself!It's an energetic cheerful orange. Orange=friendly and welcoming. It might be a little overpowering, but I figure the kitchen is small and has a lot of other stuff on the walls, so it shouldn't blind people. Only one wall isn't broken up by something, so if it looks crazy there, I can always tone it down with some glaze or just hang something on the wall. I figure it's worth a try. The living room will be a tan of some sort, so that should keep the house from feeling too -high-energy. The old electric yellow paint just makes it feel a little too intense all the time. Hard to relax.

So, I actually took off work for half of today and all of Friday to paint and get my kitchen back together. Steve-o's best friend from San Fran is coming to visit this weekend, so the place needs to have at least the appearance of normalcy. Wish me luck!

On a happy note - even with all the chaos, my plants are still grow, grow, growing. See - Okay, we cheated a bit with Steve-0's herbs, but the other stuff is growing from seed.

Helloooo in there!

2006-04-18T10:58:00.000-05:00

Now that there is floor, I thought - I'll punch a few holes in the wall of my own. I realize this logic isn't...well....logical. But I never promised that this home repair would make any sense.

See, my little condo is short on storage. I thought there was tons when I first moved in and somehow, it all got filled up quickly. So, this time around, I'm going to create some more. I decided that I'd make use of all that space in the wall between the studs. Waste not, want not, and all that good stuff.

So, I started cutting....with a little help from my friends. Here, you can see the fellas through the hole in the wall we just cut. Helloooo guys! The missing drywall on the side facing the camera was actually from a ill-fated attempt at demolishing that part of the wall....til I found out that it needs to be there to hold up a big beam. I decided it wasn't a good idea to remove it. :)

So, there I was merrily cutting along between the studs (16 inches on center...so about 15 inches apart...I learned something) and when I got to the third opening....I discovered - pipes! Boo! Pipes are bad. This means I'd have to relocate them or not use that space. I'm opting for the latter. Especially because the main power cord for the condo is tucked in there too. No need to play with a few hundred amps of power. So, I'm going to cut out the stud between the hole on the right and the middle one, make a new header, and built a shelving thing to put inside the wall. It will only be 6 inches deep, but that's deep enough to store glasses, or cans, or cupcakes. :)

That should free up a bit of space in the cabinets. Hooray! I plan on doing the same thing in the bathroom, because I need a place to tuck extra toiletries and rolls of tp.

Hey - did you know that 2 by 4s aren't actually 2 inches by 4 inches. They used to be, but then people got picky and wanted smooth surfaces. So, they sanded down the 2 by 4s by 1/4 inch on each side and got the current size - 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches. There's your historical lumber lesson of the day.

I also sanded about 2/3 of the kitchen over the weekend. I had my dust mask on...it was sexy. When I was done, I had crazy yellow eyebrows from where the paint dust had settled. It was like having highlights...only dirtier.

Let there be floor!

2006-04-14T08:04:00.000-05:00

Yes...the day has finally come. There is floor again. See.....

I was going to include a picture of me hugging the floor, but I thought that might be a little overboard. They still need to come back and put in the transition pieces in the doorways, ands bring me one more thermostat for the in-floor heating. But....there is something to walk on. Hurray!

Now - the re-arranging can begin. Well, sort-of. I still have to put on the baseboard and paint. Hmmm...back to paint. It should be easier to pick out now that there is floor, but there is still a dizzying array of colors!

Bad Thursday!

2006-04-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

Whoever said Mondays are a bad day hasn't had a Thursday like mine.

First, I found out my bank checkcard had been used to go purchase 100 bucks worth of stuff....and not even good stuff....by someone other than me. So, I got to have a fun time canceling my card and being put on hold by numerous companies. By the way - have you ever encountered a phone system that actually kicks you off if they make you wait longer than 10 minutes? "Due to high call volume, your call will be terminated once your wait time reaches 10 minutes." They make you wait - then, after you've wasted 10 minutes, they make you start all over. Very lame! Luckily, the mystery charge was only 100 bucks and everything should get reversed and turn out fine. My new card is on its way, and I actually had a dream that it arrived. So, that sounds like a good omen, right?

But, I went home and discovered the electrician amusing himself by putting holes in my ceiling. He had to be amusing himself, cause I certainly didn't tell him to do that. He was supposed to go from the breaker box, up the wall, and then run the wire in the ceiling below the beams....going through the laundry closet and utility closet. Then, take the wire across the hall by going between the ceiling beams and then down to the utility box in the wall. Cutting required? - One hole, maybe two....and those would be in the closets. I can fix that. See - I wanted him to follow the blue path...but he decided to do it his way. Super! So, he cut 8 holes in the ceiling....the ceiling that just got painted 1.5 months ago. The very same ceiling that runs into the living room....so, that's a lot of repainting. In fact, it would have been better if he just cut a big piece of drywall out. Cause it would make less seams when I go to repair it. So, that's probably what I'll do. Then, I'll borrow Mr. R and his nail gun and I''m hoping it won't look like crap if I just paint the new parts. It can be hard to match new paint to old paint, but it was just painted, so hopefully, it will be okay.

But Miss R. gave me a pep talk. Bottom line - I need to be bitchier. I can get really annoyed, but then when I actually need to yell at the people, I wimp out. Mental note - Must practice bitchy-ness. Hey - are you looking at me?

SIGH

2006-04-03T07:20:00.000-05:00

So...this is pretty depressing. Here it is, the beginning of April....springtime...the time of happiness and renewal and all things wonderful....except floor. Yep - still floor-less. Even worse, I'm on about the 7th time of being promised floor on Wednesday or Friday or Tuesday or whatever. The most recent incident - they bought the wrong thermostat for the under-floor heating system. And worse yet, they cannot do math! The way they were going to set it up, I was going to be blowing fuses left and right! Need to turn off the lights if you want to run the heat! Gotta use the toaster oven in the bedroom if the fridge is on, because it'll overload the circuits otherwise. Arg!

I'm just about at the end of my ability to absorb more mishaps like this. It's been over 10 months since I had a regular old functioning house. And all I want is to have floor and a place to sit and a countertop and not have to put my shoes on to go to walk down the hall! Is this too much to ask? it really shouldn't be. But first I have to do math for the contractors so they don't blow up my house. Remind me again why they're the ones getting paid.

Oh - and in a related story of contractor hell - the first people who were supposed to fix my house have finally gotten around to doing the paperwork to refund me the insurance money that they got....for the work they didn't end up doing. But - they want to keep the 15% profit and 10% overhead that they charged in their original estimate. So....they didn't do the work, but they want to keep the profit on it. They tell me that this is their 'company policy,' but when I asked if it was in writing, I was told it is "just the way we've always done it." Great - well, I don't think that's gonna work this time. So now, I get to delicately, yet forcefully, try to get the insurance money back....all of it....so I can pay contractor #2...or is it #3?....the guys who can't do math.

SIGH! It's a good thing I'm not a violent person or someone might be in trouble....or maybe multiple someones. Anyone have anything to cheer me up?

Coughing my way to the weekend

2006-03-21T12:35:00.000-05:00

Still not entirely better, but working on it. And moving furniture around in my free time. The floor will be leveled on Wednesday, so I have to take everything out of the living room/dining nook/kitchen. No small task. I think some stuff is going out in the hallway outside my apartment. The rest will be stacked to the ceiling in one of the rooms with carpet. Theoretically, I will have flooring put down this weekend. But....there is always a 'but,' so I'll believe it when I see it. Then, I will lay down on it and cry tears of joy...but I'll wipe them up quickly to avoid floor damage. And then - I'll unpack, take stuff out of storage, re-arrange, give away unwanted furniture, purchase needed furniture, install a pocket door, fix the washer/dryer closet, build in-the-wall shelves, paint walls aplenty, and sigh a great big sigh. So close, but yet...

I had originally planned to have everything 'done' in the place by the end of this month. I'm guessing I'm not going to make it. Things always take longer than I think they will. But - spring is coming - a great time to paint with the windows open, hunt yard sales for cool furniture, and take a break outside when home repair gets overwhelming. I think things are going to get better. Back me up on this. And get ready for paint and drywall parties. :)

Cough cough

2006-03-13T23:33:00.000-05:00

Umm.....still no floor. But - some stories to tell anyway. The flooring has been ordered...and I'm praying that it arrives soon and that J, the flooring man, can come put it in pronto. It will be fabulous...and it doesn't sound as neat now that it's getting warmer, but the floor will be heated from underneath. So - although I live in a hobbit hole, it will not be a hobbit hole where you have cold feet. Hooray! So, back to the new floor - it is one of the ones you see in the picture here. But I'm not telling you which one. You'll have to wait for the grand unveiling. And please - no voting. I couldn't take the rejection right now. :)

For starters, I've been sick...sicker than sick. Nothing like running a 101 degree fever and feeling nauseous to ruin a perfectly good (i.e. warm) weekend. That really bummed me out. The only time I left the house was to go to R's to get some food...in between the waves of nausea. Here's the array of drugs I was taking. Now - normally, I try to get by on my colds with some OJ and a box of tissues. I don't really believe in gorging myself on pills and potions. But I couldn't move....eat...or talk without the assistance of all that stuff. Really, really sick.

I did manage one trip to a certain un-named big box home improvement retailer. I was there 'improving my home improvement.' See, the trouble is that I had to rip my old cabinets out from the wall a few months ago and now I'm wondering if they can manage another move to the bedrooms for the floor to be installed and then be put back together again. These cabinets weren't really made for this. So, off I went to investigate the cost of just starting over. Dan the old guy cabinet man was there and talked to me and Steve-o about cabinets. We must have looked like a sorry pair because he was telling us about how he bought his first house and just bought one or two cabinets at first and then bought a new one with every paycheck. He suggested we could do that too. He also spent a good deal of time trying to convince us that we could have a fancy looking kitchen by adding little do-dads here and there...but not spending much money. And pointing out that we could take brochures and samples...because they were free and would be very helpful in designing our new kitchen by ourselves. That way, we didn't need to pay the store the 70 bucks to do it for us. Very sweet guy. I just wish I didn't appear to be as frugal as I really am. Does the average person not ask how much stuff costs? Maybe in the DC suburbs, they don't. Anyway, Dan the old guy cabinet man was very nice. But I was feeling lightheaded again, so we had to go.

That was pretty much my weekend. I spent my awake time drugging myself up...and my asleep time having weird hazy dreams about flooring and cabinets and construction guys taking over my life. I was so out of it, I didn't even find time to worry about paint colors. :)

No news is...bad news!

2006-03-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

I haven't been posting - because - sadly enough - there is nothing to post about....at least not in house news. And no news is bad news in this situation. Still no floor. Still a chilly house. Still living on food I can microwave. Still waiting.

Floor guy - where oh where are you? You were so nice and attentive in the beginning, I wanted to send you a fruit basket. But now you shun me. Oh, floor man - why do you torment me so?! Arg.

So long to communal living

2006-03-02T13:17:00.000-05:00

So, I've had about enough of roommates. One or two might not be too bad. But three....or 4...well, that's overkill. The low rent that comes with high density group living can be a very handy benefit (i.e. cheap cheap). But when you're living somewhere because your regular housing is MIA, then it's a whole different story.

I need to vent some frustrations, so I can move on. So...today...a list of the things I am grateful for, now that my stint as a group house crasher is over:

1. No more labeling all food items for fear that a cheap roommate will 'accidentally' drink my 30 dollar bottle of wine when they always buy the 2-buck-chuck. "Oh, that was yours?" Perhaps his vision was blurry from all the alcohol he'd already consumed that day.

2. No more cleaning up after other people's messes....milk left out over night, wrappers on the counter, dirty dishes sitting around for days, overflowing garbage cans, etc. That tofurkey wrapper...not yours? yeah - it must belong to one of the carnivores in the house. Sure...

3. No more heading downstairs to do laundry and encountering a little 'action' going on in the basement bedroom....with the door open. No one needs to see that....or hear it.

4. No more people who think they are so earthy that they don't need to deal with their intense body odor. I would argue that they do....for the sake of earth's creatures...like other people.

5. No more cold showers in the morning, when everyone else has beaten me to the bathroom. Sleeping in shouldn't be punished like this! :)

6. No more people who just step over (or onto) the mail that came through the door slot instead of picking it up and putting it on a flat surface...like a table or some similar object. What a concept! I know, it's hard to grasp. Putting effort into picking things up...nah!

7. No more hoping other people aren't home, just so you can reheat you leftover chinese in peace.

8. No more arguments about depriving people of their rights to an equal and appropriate fridge territory...or some similar dramatic claim.

9. No more annoying my poor friends with my constant stories of the latest thing so-and-so did, or said. Thanks - you've been super tolerant of me!

10. No more need for lists like this! Hooray!

Aaahhh, I feel better already. Now, I'll just puncture a few tires, and I'll be downright jolly!

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere

2006-02-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

Let there be carpet! and some paint! Hello 'white sand.' Hello 'white cloud' with 'simply white' trim. Okay, it's not as exciting as electric yellow, but it's progress! Trust me, I can smell the difference. With new carpet and new paint, the place is a VOC ('volatile organic compound' for you non-scientists) heaven....or hell. Mmmm, I can feel the headache coming on already.

But, now you can see all the boxes that I've been moving in for last 2 weekends. Well, not single-handedly. I'm buff, but not that buff. :) The funny (or disturbing or uh-oh) part is that this is mostly just the man's stuff. Most of my things are still in storage. Hmm, i think I need a bigger place. We look a little like alcoholics if you pay attention to what all the boxes are from. We had to do a ton of drinking to get all these boxes empty and ready for moving. It was hard work.

So, I woke up this morning to a balmy 55 degree house. Thanks to Ms. Tiny Fit for her space heater, which kept the bedroom livable. Yes, I am now officially sleeping at reconstruction central. Though, last night I slept with a light on. It was scary there. No really. And it kinda has a funky smell cause no one has lived there for 9 months. Actually - now that I think about it. I slept there last night for the first time in....9 months and 4 days. Yikes. It's sort of disturbing to actually count that out.

The rest of the house won't get flooring til the second week in March at the earliest. So, I won't have a kitchen...or a living room til then. But I'm hoping to do some cooking over at R's house....and some laundry, too. Feel free to invite me over to watch TV, knit, or otherwise get me out of this place. It's livable, but definitely not cozy. (Desperate plea for companionship alert) :)

As an added bonus for you - here's a shot of my super-clorox clean bathroom...the weekend's manual labor. On my way to clean the bathroom, the poor hyundai was pelted with an egg from some wanna-be gangster children. Ahh - back in the neighborhood.

Aaaarrrrgggghhh

2006-02-21T18:12:00.000-05:00

Not much time for posting...or sleeping...or breathing. At least not lately. Spent the weekend moving many, many things from Steve-o's place to mine. Had some doughnuts, had some help, and had a major backache after it all. He's got a ton of stuff. And I thought I was a pack-rat! What happens when you put two pack-rats together? I guess we'll see.

Still awaiting the carpet by the way. Supposed to get in on Wednesday. Lies, lies - all of it - lies!

Ah-hem. After the carpet, everything will go into the bedrooms so I can get flooring in the rest of the house. Then, I can put the kitchen back together, and do more painting...and then throw a big party! Okay, I skipped a couple thousand steps. But can you blame me for thinking ahead? A party sounds mighty good right now!

Some Visual Aids

2006-02-16T17:16:00.000-05:00

All this talk about paint, carpets, decor, etc. would be a lot more interesting with some photos. So, let's start the tour.

First off, my apartment is an english basement...a nice way of saying it is 2/3 underground. Steve-o once called it a hobbit hole and the name stuck. He claims hobbit holes are cozy, comfy and full of tasty things to eat. Right now, mine is just full of busted stuff, dirt and a bunch of boxes.

First - the kitchen. Note the displaced cabinets, electric yellow paint and the pile of electric meters in the middle of the room. Guess who did that?

Then, the dining nook. Not exactly a room, just a nook. But you can't really see it now anyway cause there is a pile of stuff in the way - everything, in fact, including the kitchen sink! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Onto the living room. Funny angles everywhere and again the fabulous electric yellow. But you can tell from the paint blobs up on the walls that I'm planning to remedy that.

Down the hall, past the disconnected washer/dryer and into the bedrooms. The bars on the window make it look kinda prison-like. Charming, huh? I wonder if that's what Martha tried to tell herself during her confinement.

Bedroom number 2 is the final stop on the tour. It's pretty much the mirror image of the first bedroom. (I'll spare you shots of the bathroom).

So, that's the place...or what's left of it. But with any luck, there will be carpet on Monday, new drywall and some paint on Tuesday and maybe a complete floor by the week after that. Plus, all the painting I'll get to do because I don't have the dough to actually pay someone else to do it. I might pay someone to do the kitchen though, cause all those cabinets are going to be a pain to tape off.

I welcome any colors you love, as suggestions. Well, anything but electric yellow.

Star*ucks really is a bad bad place!

2006-02-15T11:54:00.000-05:00

I don't go into Star*ucks much. I am sort of opposed to their "every other street corner" takeover of America. But it was on my way to work, and I had a craving for hot chocolate. But when I walked in, I saw my sworn enemy, the developer that 'renovated' my building 4 years ago. The man who is the source of so many of my problems. I thought about throwing my hot beverage on him. But I think that qualifies as assault. And I don't have time for going to jail right now.

Then, I figured I'd just pour the hot cocoa into his briefcase. That's probably only destruction of property or something. Maybe just a fine...or probation. But by the time I got my beverage, he was packed up. So, I missed my chance. Truly a bummer. It totally would have been worth the 2.60 plus tax.

The irony of it is that I had just come from my house, where I was meeting the painter that was going to paint the parts covered by the insurance people...from the imploding sprinkler incident.....which was a result of the upstairs busted pipe incident. Gosh - there have been a lot of incidents! With any luck, they'll be painting early next week...right after the carpet gets in the bedrooms. Hopefully, without any incidents. I told them twice to avoid the sprinkler heads. I still won't have flooring in the rest of the house, or a kitchen, but at least progress is being made - sort-of. I'll be living in the bedrooms with a microwave. The bathroom is all in one piece, so that's good, at least. No bathroom would kinda be a problem. I'd be showering at the gym at work. Yuck.

I took pictures while I was there, and will post those once I get the memory card home. Hold onto your keyboards!

Sleazy contractors and puppy paws

2006-02-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

I hate contractors. No, really...hate them! I figured the one that busted my sprinkler was just a bad one. But I think they're all bad. The woman in the cubicle next to me - she has a half-finished bathroom, because her contractor is in jail. And mine should be - if you could get jail time for failing to actually call people back in anything resembling a timely fashion. Ka-sleazio. That's their code name. Though, I don't know why I should bother to protect the guilty. :)

So, Ka-sleazio is unable to return phone calls, or to paint, put in carpet, or re-do drywall in a reasonable time frame. But you're at their mercy. Cause if you switch contractors, you need to take the time to find one, then get them on the same page as you. And then wait, wait, wait for them to schedule the work. I don't have time for waiting. 14 days and counting til we get booted out of our current place. Cross your fingers for flooring.

I recommend getting a few back issues of 'this old house' and doing stuff yourself. How bad can it be? A little electrocution never hurt anyone...well, maybe a little.

On another front, I'm trying (somewhat in vain) to pick paint colors. When I rented, I always complained about the beige walls, and the fact that I couldn't paint them. Right now, not having a choice looks kinda good. 'Honey maple" or "Mandarin" or maybe "Orange Ice." Then again - how about "cracker bitz" "lasso" or "pony tail" Keeping with the animal theme - maybe "puppy paws." Or, I could have a knit-centric house - with "llama brown" "alpaca" or "wool tweed." Don't even get me started on the blue-s!

Then, of course, there are those who say - 'just stick to white, it's easier to re-sell...people don't like color.' But I never painted over the last owners' colors (electric yellow), so I feel compelled to personalize it, re-sell value be damned!

Stay tuned - photos coming soon.

Welcome to The Reconstruction

2006-02-10T16:27:00.000-05:00

Why this blog? Why now? The short answer is that many months ago, my poor little condo had a bit of an accident. Or, more accurately, some contractors screwed up. It's been quite terrible, to be honest, to be suddenly booted out of one's house with no certainty about when one (i.e. me) could go back. But I think I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel (or hallway, as the case may be) now.

So...for all those folks who ask me - "How are things going with your house?" and for my own mental health (Look how far things have come!), I'm documenting the last stages of The Reconstruction. The putting back together of everything that was ripped apart many months ago. And then slapping a new coat of paint on it for good measure!

I have plenty of other things I could blog (aaahh, my first use of 'blog' as a verb!) about - but this is pretty much consuming my life right now, so here goes....