Post-Pool Party

Saturday we were up very early to pick up Mark and Rommel and drive to Half Moon Bay. We went early to beat the hellacious traffic, and also because the Bay bridge was closed, causing even more traffic woes. We had breakfast at a diner where the owner drops coins into the jukebox then sings breaks out into song while he’s cooking orders – it’s like musical Tourette’s. The food was fantastic. I hadn’t been there since doing an arts fair with Erik and Jeff in ‘99. (When you talk in specific years, you’re getting old(er)). After breakfast, we bought orchids from a wholesaler and then spent several hours looking for a fountain for the bird sanctuary. I’ll do a picture later – I’m burning off vodka and lemonade.

Sunday and this morning, Scott and I finished cleaning the patio and the house. We tackled various projects that we haven’t touched since last October when we started boxing up our lives and putting them in the garage or the patio. There are a few things left to do with the house, but furniture-wise, we’re back. If you ever do a remodel, know that getting your life back in order will take twice as long as the actual construction – and then some.

Today, Mary and Maura, Debbie and Mary, and Mark and Rommel came over for a little swimming and eating. This was our first and probably last pool party of the season. As it was, we did two kinds of tri-tip marinade (tequila/lime/garlic mix and a store-bought kind) and everyone else brought a side dish. I mixed a gallon of lemonade/vodka (and Mary and I had a secret shot of tequila) which was refreshing. Midas and Buster (M&M’s beautiful dog) played all afternoon. I’m reading this and wondering who gives a fuck what we ate? I’m doubly miserable from eating so much and then typing about it.

Yard: Before and After

On the left is a picture of our yard, a year ago, before we started construction – the view is from the edge of the driveway on the right side of the house. Note: I didn’t resize the pics, and they are huge.

The middle picture is our prior courtyard area, filled mostly by now a now deceased aspen and azalias.

The last picture is from the far left of the yard. That sidewalk and the trees are long gone.

Then the yard was demolished due to the addition and all the heavy machinery and lumber that was piled around the yard.

In April, we started on the front yard. The painting wasn’t quite done yet, but that wasn’t going to stop us. We had the grass put in, but Scott did the sprinkler system. Lucky me, I got to dig the trenches and move dirt. We re-installed the solar-water panels for the pool, too (roof).

Almost done. We have more perrenials to plant, but the bird sanctuary (closest to house) is missing a fountain and one plant that’s not in yet (butterfly weed).

The trellises next to the windows have twining morning glory and moonflowers. The gardening is therapeutic. Now I need to channel some of that calm into writing.

Seedlings and New Growth

The cynic in me thought I didn’t have any “firsts” left to do in this lifetime. Maybe there’s something to that inner-Aries that prompts internal prompts for firsts. For those things I haven’t tried, looking back after the event, I find it amusing that I was filled with fear prior to doing something I hadn’t done. I guess my inner critic wants that first experience to be a good one.

I tried something a few weeks ago that I’d never tried before, but always wanted to: growing plants from seed. During the treks to the hardware stores (Ace sit-on-my-face, Homo Depot, etc), I’d get distracted in the garden centers by the seed racks with vegetables, annuals or perennials. Every once in a while I’d buy a pack and take it home and put it in a drawer. This year, I bought peat moss containers and potting soil and planted 24 morning glory seeds and 8 moonflower seeds. 7 of the moonflower and 19 of the morning glory have sprouted. Behold. The two containers in front are morning glory. The back four are the moonflowers.

The morning glory is going in the back along the back fence. They can grow up to twenty feet in a season. The moonflowers are going on the two trellis beside the new front bedroom window.

The really exciting thing? Our house is done. I had naively assumed that our house would be back in order the next day. We are putting things in place, one room at a time, and enjoying every moment of this new space. For now, here’s a pic when the paint guys were still doing trim work and we’d just planted the front tree. The black things on the roof are the solar/water panels for the pool (which is approaching 70 degrees! Woot! Swimming this weekend!) Interior pics, soon – they’re on Scott’s laptop or at his work.

Ninety-Nine Percent Done

The fourth coat of varnish went on the wood floors yesterday. Today, the electrical guy installs the lights and outlets and switches. Saturday… we move back in! The paint guys still have to do the trim work, but since they dropped the ball and didn’t show up for two days before the floor guys started, then they can just maneuver around our stuff.

We are so excited to move things out of storage and get them back in the house. Living in the back bedroom for months was a challenge. We both had various forms of claustrophobia. I’m so tempted to go minimalist on everything: if we haven’t used something in a year, it’s gone.

Last night we celebrated the almost-complete job by going to a Vietnamese restaurant: fantastic food. Later, we lay on the bed and watched ‘The Dresden Files’, my new favorite television show (Battlestar Galactica and Desperate Housewivesis are off my list). That wizard is one sexy bastard.

This week’s Poetry Thursday prompt was to write a poem based on a famous painting or image. All I could think about was Michelangelo’s David, but I didn’t want to write a poem about marble buns or his marble weenis, though marble/cold/shrinkage did cross my mind. I’m bowing out of this week, so as not to inflict my sense of humor on anyone’s sensibilities. I retain the option of changing my mind at any time, of course.

Weekend Peace

There is nothing like being home, even in the midst of the construction and chaos. The Russian floor guys sanded and did the first coat of varnish (oil based) on Friday. Some would scoff and say that the ‘high’ from being home was just the fumes of the varnish, but I say unto them that they know not the ways of this house (maybe those fumes did do a number?).

Scott and I spent the weekend rototilling, digging trenches for the sprinklers and water lines, and a few hours at some home and garden stores. Yes, pictures are forthcoming: flowering red bud tree, a lilac bush, foxglove, coral bells, and hollyhocks for starters. See, I’m so peaceful that I can’t move my ass from the chair and download the pics from the flashcard that’s a mere 10 feet away. It could be that I’m exhausted from shovelling and digging and using muscles I didn’t know I had. Either way, I’m feeling peaceful and don’t have the fire to argue (I’d win), arm wrestle (I’d win), or bet on a beer (who cares who’d win?).

Schedule: three more coats of varnish on the floor, through this week. It’s possible, but highly unlikely, that the paint guys would complete the front bedroom and trim, by Friday. Best case scenario – we start moving back in by next weekend. Worst case? The week after. At this point, it’s all a blur of days and weeks and months of waiting. In the meantime, we have a front yard that we’re slowly transforming.

Delays

Patience. If you have any extra, send it my way. The house may still be weeks away from being done. Weeks, is what the floor guy said. Procedure: sand, we’re going natural/no stain, four coats of varnish, voila – we’ll be dancing like this guy on the hardwood floors (if Julz is reading this, I hope she’ll attest that I can dance better than that). The delay? Coordinating their schedule with the interior paint and trim guy.

Scott and I can paint. Finish the fucking floors and we’ll paint. I want my life back. I want all the furniture and various items we scrunched (not me, by the way) into the two-car garage (that includes the ‘64 convertible (Scott’s baby) sitting on one side). I want the extra furniture in the other rooms back where they belong. I want to stop feeling claustrophobic and squished – it’s like I’m having an over-reactive fear of spandex (thanks, Fiddley).

Construction: Almost Done

A few more weeks to go. The first picture is the house as it used to be. The next pictures are shots from inside and then a few of the almost-done outside. Scott and I both have cabin-fever and are feeling claustrophobic – we want it all done! This week the crew will do the new walkways outside and paint inside. Still needed: stucco the side, paint the exterior, tile kitchen (Scott and I will do that), remove and replace hardwood interior floors, get a Valium prescription. Allow me a moment of whining, but can you understand how writing is a little challenging?

Construction: Inside Views

In prior lives, I’ve helped lay carpet, painted, and replaced linoleum. The first year with Scott, I helped him lay tile. This is my first, huge, remodel, evah. Scott had warned me that it would be dusty and dirty, especially when the ceilings came down and the crew started extending the roof line. A remodel is kind of like sand at the beach – the dust and debris gets everywhere, in every crack.

If you stand near the old front door and look towards this kitchen, this is the view (above). Note, the wall on the left will be removed. Floors will be redone.

This view is standing in the kitchen, looking towards the old front door. As of this writing, they don’t exist any more (in those incarnations, anyway). The pit on the left is where the chimney used to be. The room far to the right is the old guest room. It will be the “new” geek room, when we finish.

Here’s a view, facing the old fireplace. Note the natural skylight. As of right now, the new roof is in place, up to the tar paper – no new shingles yet. It rained the last two days, but there was only one place that had a serious leak, which we corrected. The prior front of the house has been moved. The bay window is sitting on the floor; we hope they install it this week.

We got haircuts, today. Dinner was roasted pork. I made the gravy for the mashed potatos (with Scott’s directions). I worked out finally. Last, but not least and not to be a total cocktease, but I worked on Part V today for Seasons of Truth.

Construction Recap

In the beginning there was Dog in front of the house where the birch had just been chopped down. Note the stump, below the window and just beyond Midas’ left shoulder. Note the grass and yard – we won’t see a yard until later this spring.

On the first day, there was much movement of earth and dirt and concrete debris.

Verily, I say, there were new forms and frames, and the forms were exceedingly pleasing to the eye and the very foundation.

The domestic gods were pleased. The crawl space doubles as a wine-cellar. Let the salutations and salivations begin.

Faster than Fiddley, there were walls.

The next (and current) phase is: tearing out half the roof and ceilings in the current front bedroom and living room, removing the current fireplace, starting frame of the new roof on Saturday.

Did I mention the small downpour, yesterday? A little warped wood never hurt anyone.

Construction: Phase I

We had to cut down the birch in the center. This pic is pre-construction. The living room will be extended six feet. There will be an additional room added to the left side of the house.

Here’s the trench from a few weeks ago. They moved the water line. They still have to move the sewer line. Note, the orange tree trunk is all that’s left of our Mimosa Sundays. Everything within the orange lines on the grass will be dug down 30″.