All Washed Up

From Janelle:

Thursday was our last night of take out.  We have been ordering from three different pizza joints so that we don’t look like complete oinkers and while our rapport has been tight with each one the relationships we’ve forged with deliverers had to end sometime.  The payment and delivery transaction is peppered with comments; “Things are really coming along”, “Wow, love that window” and my favorite, “The fireplace is beautiful, really different.  What are the materials?”

Our kitchen is semi-functioning, patiently waiting orders to kick into gear.  The sinks have been installed for some time, water is finally flowing, garbage disposals wrrr when air buttons are pressed, and the ovens and stove are crying for attention.  The microwave and oven functioned effortlessly on their debut performance yesterday when we partied here with friends after our 30 mile bicycle ride.  (Thanks Tracy for the Thanksgiving in a Bite!)  The dishwasher drawer in the bar has been loaded and is ready for a maiden voyage today and the kitchen dishwasher and refrigerator will be installed after the wood floors are laid if I can manage a decision, but that is a topic for another day.

Once upon a time I lived without a dishwasher and I was happy.  Frequent dinner parties meant piles of dishes done over a few days (there’s only so much room in the dish drainer and I see no reason to towel dry when air dry will do) and when Lewis moved in he cut a hole in my 1930’s kitchen cabinet and installed a machine.  Oh blissful days.

If it had been up to Lewis we would have eaten off paper plates and forks for a year with no utensils, glasses or dinnerware but I just can’t live that way and we’ve been washing dishes in the laundry sink.  I am so excited to run a load in the new dishwasher drawer I can hardly stand it.   Who knew such an ordinary task would bring such joy?

We start the South Beach Diet tomorrow to shed the ten pounds we have gained over the last year and the items we need to prepare meals with will be fetched from the attic today.  I wrote every item we packed on the outside of each box and finding the basics shouldn’t be that hard.  

We could easily move the mini fridge downstairs so that cooking will be easy but Lewis is fighting me on that.  I am tired of battling over every practical decision like this one and since he will be doing most of the cooking, he can trek back and forth upstairs or to the garage to the refrigerators.

From Lewis:

My thought is not to move things in until it will be a permanent location. We have lived with the bare minimum and doing just fine that a few more weeks will not kill us.  I understand the anxiousness to move into the new white kitchen but the fact is we are not done.  The existing concrete slab that the house is built on is uneven so lots of grinding and more dust is on the way.  It will be another few weeks until it and the radiant heat flooring is in and of course Janelle has to make a decision on flooring. On a side note the floor contractor is dealing with prostate cancer, resulting in more delays.

From Janelle:

It is waaay more practical than leaving the mini fridge upstairs. We used everything that I didn’t pack away a year ago and there won’t be moving anything back upstairs.  We have taken to call the bathroom counter “the kitchen counter” and I am DONE DONE DONE preparing food in the bathroom.  Stick a fork in me, I am DONE!  (Ok, that last sentence was lame but I can’t help myself.)  Did I mention that I am done?

 

Do You Say Thank You?

Caitlin Kelly’s post on her blog “Broadside”  titled “Saying Thank you” made me realize that I have been very lazy about that lately.  I sent a note to my friend Margaret after she housed me for a night at her home in San Francisco but it was quickly written and sloppy and while I had intended to send a personally written card to everyone that has hosted us for dinner over the past kitchenless year I am ashamed to admit that I justified merely sending an email thanks with “everyone does it this way now” or “people will understand how busy I am”.  Not.

I lost a friend once because I didn’t send a thank you note.  Ok, so she wasn’t that great of a friend and I was close to a nervous breakdown due to my one hundred hour per week work schedule but still, I could have sent a card.

My eighteen year old niece asked me a couple months ago if I wanted a thank you note after I sent her an Amazon gift card.  “Of course!”  I never believed in gift cards or giving cash, that was forbidden in my house as a gift must be thoughtful and purposeful, but that practice has gone by the wayside as the nieces and nephews now prefer them.  In return I receive handwritten and misspelled cards that melt my heart.

Karen J. Charlton mused on “People who don’t send birthday cards” on one of my favorite blogs The Rhythm Method  whether it was acceptable to send birthday cards not even at all but late.  I am guilty on that count as well.

A few years ago shortly after my birthday someone commented that they couldn’t believe how many cards I had received, proudly displayed on my living room coffee table.  “Well, that’s because I send them” was my reply.  Duh.  Although if I ever sent one to the recipient on time they’d most likely fall over in shock at their mail box.

I don’t receive as many birthday cards as I used to but I haven’t sent as many either.  Thanks to The Rhythm Method and Broadside that’s going to change.  And if you invite us to dinner, I promise to send a card.

How do you justify bad behavior?

Can There REALLY be more door drama?

From Janelle:

After all the Front Door drama it is hard to believe that there can be more. Standard ordinary “panel” doors are just not in the master plan and we’d always figured that we’d install glass panel doors with either the full length of the door glass or panes similar to the front door.

That was before Contractor Don gave me a catalog from Trustile and pointed out Vogue Collection Model AD3030. I fell in love but when we got a quote from Door Guy Kevin (different from the Door Girls who provided the windows) my enthusiasm quickly deflated. They were crazy expensive. Kevin saw a sale slipping through his fingers, contacted his sources and was able to arrange for a local manufacturer to fabricate SIMILAR doors for us. He was careful to stress the similar so I hope they are everything that we’ve hoped and dreamed they will be. Keep your fingers crossed.

From Lewis:

Not worried at all. Everyone has a knock off of something. The only thing missing is the manufacturer name on the tag. There are a lot of skilled craftsmen out there who can look at something and duplicate it. It is only a door right?

From Janelle:

Ha! It’s never “it’s only” anything. Everything sounds so easy…..

Have you had a project that just didn’t quite live up to your vision?

 

Who Would Buy Andy Warhol Tile?

From Janelle:

Well, me. It was an impulse buy.  Not normally something you think about in a remodeling format but I went to the tile store to pick up some additional glass trim pieces for the bathroom and poked around to see what was new. I was so excited when I saw it that I could hardly contain myself and even the normally unenthusiastic tile salespeople were grooving on the find. I took a photo, ordered a piece and anxiously waited two days for it to come in. I excitedly showed Lewis my discovery for the New Bar Tile since we were having trouble locating the orange bubble tile (See January 27, 2013 post “Buyer’s Remorse Part Deux”) but he firmly instituted his Veto Power and said NO.

Undismayed I pressed until he agreed that he could live with it in the guest room “vanity”. I knew that I would be painting the room orange and the Andy Warhol was a perfect accent. The pattern is busy, one inch square portraits mish mashed together like a psychedelic quilt filled with Campbell’s soup cans and mini Marilyns so the small space is perfect.

Now for that lime green couch….

From Lewis:

Sometimes I don’t know where she gets these inspirations. But if you want to see the Warhol display look for it in the electric orange room. WHAT LIME GREEN COUCH???

What floats your boat that your partner could live without?

Words

From Janelle:

Why are written words so much more powerful than spoken words? Is it because they’re visual, they are printed on paper or in an electronic format, stored perhaps forever? Or is it the way our brain processes them, because they do exist and one can see them, are they therefore more commanding and important? Written words are meant to be read and reread, each person reading the words see the exact same words as the person before him although each experiences them differently.

I see words in my head, they float around me, wanting context, proof of existence. Words pour out of me, desiring to be written down, crowding faster and faster in my mind so that I can barely get them down before they escape my memory and evaporate forever as I grasp for them much as a child attempts to capture bubbles from his wand as they float just out of reach.

Spoken words are unimportant, irrelevant, forgotten before they’re uttered. Our words were lost this week. Words are meant to be heard, words are for direction, instruction, information. We have been lost in a sea of words, crashing against each other like waves in a storm or we’re on different currents, swirling around each other but not making contact with words. Each sees things a different way and we can’t seem to verbally paint a picture so that the other understands.

Do we try again or acknowledge the fact that it is so and not create additional frustration and conflict? That we see differently as well. We did manage to decide on flooring and faucet/air vent/garbage disposal button/soap dispensers today. Progress.

From Lewis:

I agree. Words are important, but when words are used to invoke thought towards a discussion the only words that actually stick are the FINAL WORD. Until then most of the words are absorbed and given consideration to towards the Final Word and some just disappear once their usefulness is gone. So find that final word embrace it, make sure it makes sense. Then write it down just in case you didn’t make it clear that it was the FINAL WORD!!! Or of course write it on a Dixi cup and tape it to your sink.

 

Are We DONE Yet?

From Janelle:

Preamble:

Thanks for the incredible feedback on our last post.  Lewis’ last line was the topper and several people remarked that they burst out loud laughing.    We both have a dry sense of humor but twenty-plus years of fire department locker room hilarity have honed his wit in a demented way that only hard worn years could have.  I trade barbs with blue collar guys in the male dominated workforce that I exist in and while I do come up with amazing comebacks, eventually, Lewis is quick and truly hilarious.

In addition to the many positive comments I’ve also received as many complaints that I haven’t done much updating or picture posting and after two weeks (and a million hours at the office) here it is.  This is for you Mary Ann, you always ask for more words!

Are We Done Yet?

It seems like we have been remodeling forever. We tried to keep things moving and stay ahead by ordering supplies in time but there was a miscommunication between all parties regarding replacing ALL stucco in the entry way. “The guys” figured that we wouldn’t touch the garage wall but I want the entry to be “finished” so that when you open the gate there is only FABULOULNESS, not a twenty foot long hideously troweled plaster eyesore. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that we needed to order two more windows so that the new stucco won’t require patching later.

A high wire trapeze act is set to commence at any moment. Aluminum posts covered with years of paint and cement criss cross the entry like bayonets in a military ceremony and platforms stand ready for workers to perform their balancing acts. Regrettably a six to eight week lead time on the windows has delayed any activity until after delivery on May 6.

The cabinets have been painted and the finished doors will be installed next week. One positive outcome of the delay is that spring has arrived and we are not freezing while windows are open to allow paint fumes to float away with the breeze.

The kitchen backsplash, guest bedroom “vanity” backsplash and guest bathroom tile has all be installed and the “orange bubble” tile for the bar is traveling across the sea from Spain. The U.S. distributor went belly up but Lewis managed to track some down after speaking with wholesalers in Spain, Italy and finally someone in Florida who was loading up a shipment. Lewis’ nickname “The Bloodhound” has been reconfirmed.

After the interior walls have been painted (I have my fingers crossed for this week!) we can install the sinks, faucets, garbage disposals, oven, and stove but the bar appliances and refrigerator must wait until after the floors are installed. I know we’re getting close but it is hard to believe that we may actually be able to cook somewhere besides the bathroom soon, very soon. The impending completion date has made it increasingly more difficult to wait. For the first time I am anxious, very anxious about finishing in an I-can-hardly-stand-it-anymore-I’ve-been-very-patient-with-this-lack-of-kitchen-situation-and-I-can-now-actually-SEE-us-cooking-in-the-new-kitchen-and-I-just-can’t-wait-any-more-kind-of-way.

The custom stair railing has been ordered and when that has been installed, the radiant heat will be laid down and last, the hardwood floors. The floors, surprisingly, have been the most difficult decision. We found wood that we like and love the color and the size of the wide planks but a plentitude of knots give it too much of a “farmhouse” feel for my taste. The search continues.

From Lewis:

Yes another 6-8 more weeks for the scaffolding but only because we did not make a decision on the unanswered question that could not be answered because….we knew we would be working in phases that would eventually all tie in together but there has to be a point, a spot, imaginary line where you stop the phase you are in and that decision was made a couple times each adding a delay of some sort due to other choices for that extension of the project. This time it was because we extended the new stucco to the sidewalk and we of course needed to order custom made windows so let’s hope for a May 17 completion date unless????

From Janelle:

There is no good place to stop…..It would have been easier to tear the hose down and start over. Live and learn….

What are you waiting for that feels like it is taking a life time to finish?

What IS it about remodeling?

From Janelle:

We want our life back. “They” say that remodels test a marriage. “They” were right. We knew it would be so and we’ll get through it but it is time to finish up and move on. Ten months is a long time to be living in a construction zone.

If we were home together every day it would be ok; we would discuss things and talk about them and problem solve. As it is now, the construction guys show up and the agenda isn’t known until they get here or I get an email in the morning with something that needs to be resolved; NOW. It is a well known fact that I am not a morning person and every day is a Herculean event for me to get up and get to work. It’s not that I’m not up; it’s just all the last minute details that need to be taken care of before I leave. At work I have done away with my penchant for procrastinating but at home, it is a well honed daily morning activity.

As I run out the door I rattle off 5 or so things that need to be taken care of that day. Lewis listens but doesn’t write anything down and since I’ve change my mind 3 times while mid-sentence he’s still stuck on item #1 so he’s frustrated that he doesn’t know what I want and I’m frustrated that I’m not getting it.

Sound familiar?

From Lewis:

Its 6:30 A.M and the Monster has woken. Don’t talk to it or ask questions or it will eat you for breakfast.