It was bitterly cold, wet and windy. Reminded me of winter in London. I was rather discouraged from work when I got to the house, so my reaction was probably affected by that.
No matter how many times I warn students about "consequences" as in "if you don't get off your ass and complete the assignments" then you will most likely fail this course, I inevitably get at least one student who mind boggling decided he wasn't going to do any homework, or turn up for class, or take the quizzes, which if he didn't turn up for class, he can't take anyway, because I sure as heck am not writing multiple quizzes. And inevitably, I end up sitting in my chair with a student looking at me blankly and probably praying that I'll be a soft touch. Like hell, buddy.
And it's the inevitable excuse. I cannot tell you how dangerous it is to be around me. There must be something about being around me or having me for a professor because death seems to loom around the corner. Of course, they never can authenticate the reason they missed 80% of the class because of a death in the family.
So by the time I got to the house, my mood was as gray as the skies, and I was not feeling cheerful. They have begun and probably completed doing the ductwork. It all looks very scifi with silver tubes snaking here and there. When I saw the TWO duct tubes in D1's closet, I freaked. He won't have any closet at this rate...and what about here and there.
Fortunately, Jeff said he'd be around and he walked me through and allayed some of my fears. (I mean, he's not going to be able to do anything about the probability of my getting more daft students next year....the guy's a good builder but there are limits to his powers....)
There will be duct work in the utility room so they will have to bring the ceiling down a little lower there. This just means, I've got to decide NOW about the stackable or side by side washer dryer and what model. A trip to Sears is in the works....
And there is duct work in the corner of D2's bedroom so we'll get a corner there and another one in the family room in a little nook.
I was really discouraged walking through the remodel because I kept finding issues that I didn't discuss or which didn't occur to me to investigate. Jeff said, "It happens." I looked at him and said, "Not to me...." But of course, it has....
I mean this isn't as bad as my taking off from Ambon, Indonesia to a remote island with two girlfriends and forgetting that maybe they might need food. I mean, I bought a nice package of nasi kandar or nasi ambon, or nasi (rice) something with spicy chicken and veggies....what did they think we were going to find on an island abandoned and only used as a midnight stop by fishermen....Long John Silver?
(Janet if you're reading this, remember - we did survive, and we had a VERY good breakfast when we got back on the main island).
See that doesn't count because who could have anticipated two Americans who had lived in Indonesia and not wanting to buy local food to take with them on an overnight stay on some island we can't even find anymore in the guidebooks?
But ductwork eating into my closets because I didn't catch the design and engineering discrepancy...now that I should have anticipated.
Jeff said the inspector did come, and did ask for some more straps. Don't ask me. I only repeat what I hear. And they obliged. And the weather today was too pissy to do any work on the outside.
So I wandered around my house rather mournfully, feeling very gray and fed up. I swear, I'm opening up my website two weeks before class begins and putting up the LONG list of homework, quizzes and exam dates and by golly, if they stay in my course, it's caveat emptor. I'm not churning them out for the sake of education. They're going to bloody learn something even if I have to beat it into them.
There, I feel better now. Maybe I can get some extra straps from the house for the beating part....
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Day 27 Sunday
No work on house. Never have I been so anxious for the dawn of a work day....
We are settling into the townhouse well, much better than I anticipated, although having a 2 story town house is nice, as I can get away when I need some space. If it got to that, I can even close the walk in closet, lie down and take a nap and hide from the four kittens who take turns spending quality time with me.
I just managed to get Cicero, the one who looks like a black tiger, off my laptop keyboard. And if I type very fast, I might have a few minutes to myself before they send another kitten up to check on me. They are much bigger than when these pics were taken in late Sept/mid Oct but they do spend a lot of time sleeping.Exceptat 4:45am when they wake me up. I get up at 5am and you'd think they'd give me that extra 15 minutes...but noo.....
Clockwise, Patches, Seraphine, Smoky - blue eyed innocence
Clockwise, Patches, Smoky and Cicero- green eyes, and claiming the sofa as theirs
It is disconcerting to realise how spoiled we are living in a house with the driveway right next to the backdoor. The townhouse does not have an attached garage. The distance for example between the car park and the townhouse isn't great, maybe 30 feet or so. But it makes for a long and heavy walk when laden with groceries. We have not yet hooked up the utilities, since said laundry room here is filled with boxes. So I have been doing laundry at a friend's apartment complex near my office which is turning out to be a rather efficient set up, if a tad inconvenient.
I am glad we had this option. I know people have lived in their houses while putting second floor on. Having seen our own house, I can imagine the inconvenience endured. One builder said he was going to set it up so we could live in the house and run the laundry facilities, and I believe he was going to try. Another one said, it could be done but would extend the building and cost more in the long run. Our builder said it would be safer if we just moved out. And as cramped as we are here, it would have been worse in the house as it stands now.
I am still, however, counting down the days.....four months equals two 30 day months and two 31 day months. I could have been unreasonable and set the schedule for 4 consecutive Februaries....
So we are now 27 days into a 122 day schedule...and it hasn't been that bad at all. The main rush was the first two weeks, trying to pack up and get out. And I know I will be anxious to reverse direction. But Jeff gives me a list of to-dos that keep me busy - go pick out fixtures, hardware, plumbing...and I've got things I want to look into as well - a new front loading washer/dryer, a dual level dishwasher -so a trip to the library is on the list.
Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.
We are settling into the townhouse well, much better than I anticipated, although having a 2 story town house is nice, as I can get away when I need some space. If it got to that, I can even close the walk in closet, lie down and take a nap and hide from the four kittens who take turns spending quality time with me.
I just managed to get Cicero, the one who looks like a black tiger, off my laptop keyboard. And if I type very fast, I might have a few minutes to myself before they send another kitten up to check on me. They are much bigger than when these pics were taken in late Sept/mid Oct but they do spend a lot of time sleeping.Exceptat 4:45am when they wake me up. I get up at 5am and you'd think they'd give me that extra 15 minutes...but noo.....
Clockwise, Patches, Seraphine, Smoky - blue eyed innocence
Clockwise, Patches, Smoky and Cicero- green eyes, and claiming the sofa as theirs
It is disconcerting to realise how spoiled we are living in a house with the driveway right next to the backdoor. The townhouse does not have an attached garage. The distance for example between the car park and the townhouse isn't great, maybe 30 feet or so. But it makes for a long and heavy walk when laden with groceries. We have not yet hooked up the utilities, since said laundry room here is filled with boxes. So I have been doing laundry at a friend's apartment complex near my office which is turning out to be a rather efficient set up, if a tad inconvenient.
I am glad we had this option. I know people have lived in their houses while putting second floor on. Having seen our own house, I can imagine the inconvenience endured. One builder said he was going to set it up so we could live in the house and run the laundry facilities, and I believe he was going to try. Another one said, it could be done but would extend the building and cost more in the long run. Our builder said it would be safer if we just moved out. And as cramped as we are here, it would have been worse in the house as it stands now.
I am still, however, counting down the days.....four months equals two 30 day months and two 31 day months. I could have been unreasonable and set the schedule for 4 consecutive Februaries....
So we are now 27 days into a 122 day schedule...and it hasn't been that bad at all. The main rush was the first two weeks, trying to pack up and get out. And I know I will be anxious to reverse direction. But Jeff gives me a list of to-dos that keep me busy - go pick out fixtures, hardware, plumbing...and I've got things I want to look into as well - a new front loading washer/dryer, a dual level dishwasher -so a trip to the library is on the list.
Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
ProjectsDay 26
No one is working at the house. It's a good time to go over and look through the salvaged material. i.e. the cedar planks they pulled off the house. I don't know what happened to the ones from the garage. ye gods...did they throw them? They must have....oh well....surely I have more than enough right?...cedar!!! aarg...how could I have missed those?!!?
Here are some gardening projects we have thought up. By "we", I really mean the royal "we".....
a storage shed for tools
seedling rack
Grow lights
Cold frame
Rain barrels
And this amazing blog about vegetable gardening in Houston!
I'm going to have to some moving around of various plants this winter to prepare for the Spring planting. I think the rose bushes in the back will have to be moved to the side where they will get more sunshine anyway. The main reason I haven't done it is because the basketball hoop is there.
And it looks like the playground set will be coming down...I have a story about that set...but it will have to wait another day.
Here are some gardening projects we have thought up. By "we", I really mean the royal "we".....
a storage shed for tools
seedling rack
Grow lights
Cold frame
Rain barrels
And this amazing blog about vegetable gardening in Houston!
I'm going to have to some moving around of various plants this winter to prepare for the Spring planting. I think the rose bushes in the back will have to be moved to the side where they will get more sunshine anyway. The main reason I haven't done it is because the basketball hoop is there.
And it looks like the playground set will be coming down...I have a story about that set...but it will have to wait another day.
Day 25 Black Friday
Didn't go by the house today, but apparently no one was there. Iknow the shingles didn't get delivered today. The roofers were anxious to get on with it and said they would shingle if they could on Saturday.
Stayed far away from insane people who probably spent hours queuing up to get into stores, and then to pay for their purchases.....
Here's another cool idea for bedrooms...
The boys are really looking forward to their gameroom/play area. A few months ago, a friend walked into the family room downstairs a few months ago, and looking at the playmobil scattered around, she said, "You're very good to let them play here."
Where else would they play? Then I got it. At least I think I did. The family room is a public area and should always look good. It never occurred to me to forbid the boys to play in a "public" area.
It wasn't easy keeping it clean and tidy especially with the little parts that make up any playmobil or star wars set! It got progressively difficult as we began to think about remodeling, and began having boxes all over the place in a seemingly unending packing up mode. But my children LIVE here. Other people VISIT.
Still, it will be great for the boys to have a space where they can lay out their grand battles or games and not have people accidentally walk on or kick, and they won't have to hear me tell them to clean up if they are in the middle of a battle royale.
Stayed far away from insane people who probably spent hours queuing up to get into stores, and then to pay for their purchases.....
Here's another cool idea for bedrooms...
The boys are really looking forward to their gameroom/play area. A few months ago, a friend walked into the family room downstairs a few months ago, and looking at the playmobil scattered around, she said, "You're very good to let them play here."
Where else would they play? Then I got it. At least I think I did. The family room is a public area and should always look good. It never occurred to me to forbid the boys to play in a "public" area.
It wasn't easy keeping it clean and tidy especially with the little parts that make up any playmobil or star wars set! It got progressively difficult as we began to think about remodeling, and began having boxes all over the place in a seemingly unending packing up mode. But my children LIVE here. Other people VISIT.
Still, it will be great for the boys to have a space where they can lay out their grand battles or games and not have people accidentally walk on or kick, and they won't have to hear me tell them to clean up if they are in the middle of a battle royale.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Day 24 Thanksgiving
Apparently the plumbers were at the house checking the plumbing and apparently...there is a leak.They think the workers must have hit something...(sigh)...and they're going to tell on them....the plumbers say the expense of repairing the leak will be the crew's responsibility - or the fellow who runs the crew's responsabliity.
We've been thinking and talking about doing this remodel for some time now.I'm sure some BHE parents recall my mentioning it back when D2 was in Kindy....and we really started getting down to the planning stage almost, actually a year ago, before Thanksgiving and then the funeral around Christmas shelved it for a bit. But I'd say it took about 10 months from start of planning to start of construction.
Much of that delay was the HOA, the design planning, - I cannot emphasise how strongly I recommend going with an architect. They know the software, and more importantly they know their craft - we thought we made the right decision in not going with an architect....
You'd think that after the numerous discussions we had with our builder prior to starting, there would be little to no surprises or change. That hasn't been the case.
Witness my startled expression when I came home and found the garage stripped of its outer panels. Or when Jeff went into the new shower and realised the window was just a tad too big for the space given where the shower head was going to spray. Ergo one change order....
The fortunate thing about that one was that while we were too late to simply change the size of the bathroom window as they had already or were in the process of manufacturing the window, we were able to order a smaller window, and then use the window they had already made in the garage. As the original window is not clear glass, this works out well in the garage. It lets in enough light without revealing the appalling condition of the garage.
Then we changed the size of the garage door leading into the garden. But that was not tedious as they had not framed the door yet and we had not ordered doors yet.
We also decided to change the lovely wood doors in the old family room.They are fixed doors. We replaced them with doors that will open. As for the old ones, I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. A garden studio mayhaps? A glass house?
I had envisioned a simple utilitarian sink in the utility room like the one that sat in the attached garage in our house in Louisiana (or as a Houstonian neighbour used to call it, Lousyana...she hated the place....they didn't have Target then). My only concern was that the piping be high enough so I could fit in the litter box. (we didn't have kittens when all this began last year,we now have four....).
However, Jeff had planned to build a cabinet to enclose a sink there. And if you've ever walked into one of his houses, you'll notice the attention to detail and how beautiful his homes are...so thankfully, someone is thinking of that type of issues!
I had discussed changing the orientation of the boys' closets before we began work and that change was noted, (he boys' closets were originally the long and narrow closets and I suggested that we make them walk in closets instead), but not the one for the computer closet. However, that was easily rectified and did not cost much in terms of material. I assume it took them but a few minutes to change it.
I forgot to mention that I didn't want pocket doors in the computer room and finally realised the room was framed for said pocket doors on Wednesday. Fortunately Jeff said that wasn't a problem.
But it's the accumulation of these issues that make me wonder what ELSE I've missed.....
We've been thinking and talking about doing this remodel for some time now.I'm sure some BHE parents recall my mentioning it back when D2 was in Kindy....and we really started getting down to the planning stage almost, actually a year ago, before Thanksgiving and then the funeral around Christmas shelved it for a bit. But I'd say it took about 10 months from start of planning to start of construction.
Much of that delay was the HOA, the design planning, - I cannot emphasise how strongly I recommend going with an architect. They know the software, and more importantly they know their craft - we thought we made the right decision in not going with an architect....
You'd think that after the numerous discussions we had with our builder prior to starting, there would be little to no surprises or change. That hasn't been the case.
Witness my startled expression when I came home and found the garage stripped of its outer panels. Or when Jeff went into the new shower and realised the window was just a tad too big for the space given where the shower head was going to spray. Ergo one change order....
The fortunate thing about that one was that while we were too late to simply change the size of the bathroom window as they had already or were in the process of manufacturing the window, we were able to order a smaller window, and then use the window they had already made in the garage. As the original window is not clear glass, this works out well in the garage. It lets in enough light without revealing the appalling condition of the garage.
Then we changed the size of the garage door leading into the garden. But that was not tedious as they had not framed the door yet and we had not ordered doors yet.
We also decided to change the lovely wood doors in the old family room.They are fixed doors. We replaced them with doors that will open. As for the old ones, I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. A garden studio mayhaps? A glass house?
I had envisioned a simple utilitarian sink in the utility room like the one that sat in the attached garage in our house in Louisiana (or as a Houstonian neighbour used to call it, Lousyana...she hated the place....they didn't have Target then). My only concern was that the piping be high enough so I could fit in the litter box. (we didn't have kittens when all this began last year,we now have four....).
However, Jeff had planned to build a cabinet to enclose a sink there. And if you've ever walked into one of his houses, you'll notice the attention to detail and how beautiful his homes are...so thankfully, someone is thinking of that type of issues!
I had discussed changing the orientation of the boys' closets before we began work and that change was noted, (he boys' closets were originally the long and narrow closets and I suggested that we make them walk in closets instead), but not the one for the computer closet. However, that was easily rectified and did not cost much in terms of material. I assume it took them but a few minutes to change it.
I forgot to mention that I didn't want pocket doors in the computer room and finally realised the room was framed for said pocket doors on Wednesday. Fortunately Jeff said that wasn't a problem.
But it's the accumulation of these issues that make me wonder what ELSE I've missed.....
Thursday, November 26, 2009
D1 Bedroom ideas
scource
In the comments, he wrote "The base is made of 2" square, Mild Steel Tubing (use a .125" thick wall for strength!). Working from the final dimensions of The "EXPEDIT", I cut the Steel tubing/1st a frame/same size as bottom of the Bookshelf. Then, after that was welded, added the legs (same 2" square material), added some brackets, hidden in the "well" of the base- to screw the frame to the underside of the EXPEDIT. (also- small detail- so the legs were actually "flush" to the wall- I notched the back of the rear legs to "match" the baseboard).After it was all ground smooth and Surface Conditioned- I applied a Black Patina, neutralized it and the sprayed it w/ a clear Lacquer.
Purrrrty, eh?"
Yes indeed. I showed it to D1 who said, "Do they have it in white?"
D1 has decided that his new room is to be painted the whitest white ever. And that everything in his room is to be white.
This is my child?
"How about a little bit of colour?"
"No! I want it to be white. It will be awesome."
"You're going to have to keep it very clean....."
"Mmmm hmmm.."
Incidentally, I love this room :-)
I emailed the designer, she runs a children's store in NYC, and had been featured on Apartment Therapy - a great website - and she very kindly told me what the table was and I located it. It is really cool. It's actually a VERY upmarket conference table from Topdeq for $1500, a company that no longer sells in the US....so...ebay anyone?
This table is probably going to work. Except it is an ikea so quality might not be the best....and guess what...according to the website, it is not available....I like the clean lines of the Topdeq table, though if this goes into the computer room for D1 to use, he's going to need storage for papers...
Day 23 Lights, hardware, ACTION
I started cooking when I was working in Asia. It wasn't really necessary as you could get delicious hawker food for a pocket of change. Nonetheless, I realised that cooking was simply reading the recipe, wielding a chopper and voila...a reputation was born. (Said reputation has often resulted in my having to cook for relatives while on vacation...not quite the outcome I was looking for....).
Using American cookbooks while living in Asia meant I spent a fair amount of time in various specialty expat grocery stores. The products cost three times more than in the US, and at least 10 times more than a local substitute. At times, there was no discernible substitute for "marshmellowcreme" or "pumpkin sauce". It's not as if one can just dump a can of kaya or belacan into an American recipe and have it come out well.
Having done most of my expat cooking shopping in expat stores, it was culture shock to find myself in the aisle of a King Scooper in the US looking not only at prices less than the GDP of a small island nation, but at the staggering range of choices.
Take pickles. In Jakarta, there were two types of pickles. The big jar and the little jar. The big jar was probably over $10 and the little jar might have been $7. In King Scooper, there was dill pickles, kosher pickles, bread and butter pickles, pickles with bits of garlic floating around, quartered pickles, sliced pickles, diced pickles, pickles with jalapenos, ....it was pickle heaven. It just took a bit of getting used to. All those choices. What to do, what to do. How to choose?!!? How would I know that I made the right choice? Do I go by price? Appearance? Taste?
It was deja vu at the store choosing hardware. If I thought the choice of plumbing fixtures were overwhelming, the selection of hardware was over the top. My hear sank when I started walking around the display boards and realised I had to make choices of the infinite varieties. I managed to delete the porcelain firetruck doorknobs, and since I'm not Texan, I was able to eliminate the wide choice of Texanware; horns, Texas stars and boots. So that only left me with about 2678 choices to go.
Then it turned out that hardware was very versatile. You might like knob A but want to pair it with plate X in finish G. Done. It made me rather nostalgic for the old days when you had a generous two choices.
Fortunately, having shepherded me through yesterday's selection of fixtures, Robert knew what I needed and steered me in the right direction. I opted for levers on the doors and chose simple lines. "These are easy to clean, aren't they....."
The only decision pending is the finish. Nickle or living brass? As usual, I learned quite a bit about hardware and now know why there is a difference between shopping at Home Depot and at these speciality stores. Other than the fact that you don't wait for 20 minutes to get someone to notice you're in need of help, it turns out there is a difference in quality and you do get what you pay for. Since the critical point for me was not having to repeat this experience by buying something that would tarnish quickly and require replacing, I opted for durability. The price difference really wasn't that big. But the pain factor will be significantly reduced.
Incidentally, the brand of toilet we got - the Toto - the company produces one that - get this - SELF CLEANS!!!! has an automatic lid, and even warms your behind. I'm sure they have a model that will assist in other ways too....anyway, I saw that in one of the design magazines at B&N. Of course, it's over $5000, but imagine, it SELF CLEANS!!! That alone might be worth the price of the toilet.
I went ahead and braved the lighting allowance which was across the street. Paul greeted me warmly and asked me what I needed. I returned a blank look and said, "I dunno...." (I have been spending too much time around my students....). He made some quick phone calls as I wandered around the showroom. I knew I didn't want the arty farty stuff. My gosh, you could poke your eye out with that type of 3-D futuristic lighting fixture.
He came back with a list of what I needed - some fans, light fixtures and maybe fluorescent. Paul wanted to know what type of furniture we have. I explained that having purchased mainly from living abroad, we had an "eclectic" mix of furniture, mostly old, hand carved wood pieces, and lots of persian carpets. He nodded and said, "Transitional" Robert had said the same thing. So, there is a word for people like me and it's not "stubborn" or "difficult"..imagine that.....
I asked him the difference between two types of fans that looked like twins. He said, "It's like a Chevy and a Ford."
He was taken aback by my response. "I don't understand that. Which is better?"
Since he didn't tell me, having decided to switch analogies, I am now haunted by the fear that I will one day have to decide between a Chevy and a Ford and make the wrong choice.....although in Ford's favour, it hasn't asked for a government handout....yet
Paul was very helpful and tremendously assuring, but I was relieved to be done. We got fans that will run without threatening to take off like a helicopter and decapitate anyone, and they even come with a remote. I tell you....it's like a whole new world out there.
Back at the house, the roofers had arrived and would have shingled the roof if the shingles had been there. Instead they covered it in black paper while the workers tyveked the house. They also removed the old side window on the master bedroom which now looks into the new family room. The plumbers had been and were leaving. I saw evidence of their work in the utility room and in the new bathroom, and there were squares cut out in the computer room, no doubt some piping or other will snake under the boards for one reason or other. I also learned the inspector had not come.
Jeff had warned me that once the second story goes up, it will seem as if work slows down. I concur. The most dramatic change has already taken place, and even now, it's becoming increasing difficult to remember what it was like to live in the original structure. Delays will also arise from inspectors not turning up.
Nonetheless, we're still immensely impressed with how fast the work has gone and really how efficient the men have been. Any changes made were due to design issues, or us changing our minds.
So, we cross off another day.....and Jeff was true to his word. He told us that he was going to have the house covered and roofed before Thanksgiving so there would not be issues with weather. If it had not been for last Thursday and the bad weather on Friday and Saturday, he would have achieved this much earlier.
Photos taken earlier this week on Monday. Back of the house with the second story, front of the house and inside of house with staircase already built.
Using American cookbooks while living in Asia meant I spent a fair amount of time in various specialty expat grocery stores. The products cost three times more than in the US, and at least 10 times more than a local substitute. At times, there was no discernible substitute for "marshmellowcreme" or "pumpkin sauce". It's not as if one can just dump a can of kaya or belacan into an American recipe and have it come out well.
Having done most of my expat cooking shopping in expat stores, it was culture shock to find myself in the aisle of a King Scooper in the US looking not only at prices less than the GDP of a small island nation, but at the staggering range of choices.
Take pickles. In Jakarta, there were two types of pickles. The big jar and the little jar. The big jar was probably over $10 and the little jar might have been $7. In King Scooper, there was dill pickles, kosher pickles, bread and butter pickles, pickles with bits of garlic floating around, quartered pickles, sliced pickles, diced pickles, pickles with jalapenos, ....it was pickle heaven. It just took a bit of getting used to. All those choices. What to do, what to do. How to choose?!!? How would I know that I made the right choice? Do I go by price? Appearance? Taste?
It was deja vu at the store choosing hardware. If I thought the choice of plumbing fixtures were overwhelming, the selection of hardware was over the top. My hear sank when I started walking around the display boards and realised I had to make choices of the infinite varieties. I managed to delete the porcelain firetruck doorknobs, and since I'm not Texan, I was able to eliminate the wide choice of Texanware; horns, Texas stars and boots. So that only left me with about 2678 choices to go.
Then it turned out that hardware was very versatile. You might like knob A but want to pair it with plate X in finish G. Done. It made me rather nostalgic for the old days when you had a generous two choices.
Fortunately, having shepherded me through yesterday's selection of fixtures, Robert knew what I needed and steered me in the right direction. I opted for levers on the doors and chose simple lines. "These are easy to clean, aren't they....."
The only decision pending is the finish. Nickle or living brass? As usual, I learned quite a bit about hardware and now know why there is a difference between shopping at Home Depot and at these speciality stores. Other than the fact that you don't wait for 20 minutes to get someone to notice you're in need of help, it turns out there is a difference in quality and you do get what you pay for. Since the critical point for me was not having to repeat this experience by buying something that would tarnish quickly and require replacing, I opted for durability. The price difference really wasn't that big. But the pain factor will be significantly reduced.
Incidentally, the brand of toilet we got - the Toto - the company produces one that - get this - SELF CLEANS!!!! has an automatic lid, and even warms your behind. I'm sure they have a model that will assist in other ways too....anyway, I saw that in one of the design magazines at B&N. Of course, it's over $5000, but imagine, it SELF CLEANS!!! That alone might be worth the price of the toilet.
I went ahead and braved the lighting allowance which was across the street. Paul greeted me warmly and asked me what I needed. I returned a blank look and said, "I dunno...." (I have been spending too much time around my students....). He made some quick phone calls as I wandered around the showroom. I knew I didn't want the arty farty stuff. My gosh, you could poke your eye out with that type of 3-D futuristic lighting fixture.
He came back with a list of what I needed - some fans, light fixtures and maybe fluorescent. Paul wanted to know what type of furniture we have. I explained that having purchased mainly from living abroad, we had an "eclectic" mix of furniture, mostly old, hand carved wood pieces, and lots of persian carpets. He nodded and said, "Transitional" Robert had said the same thing. So, there is a word for people like me and it's not "stubborn" or "difficult"..imagine that.....
I asked him the difference between two types of fans that looked like twins. He said, "It's like a Chevy and a Ford."
He was taken aback by my response. "I don't understand that. Which is better?"
Since he didn't tell me, having decided to switch analogies, I am now haunted by the fear that I will one day have to decide between a Chevy and a Ford and make the wrong choice.....although in Ford's favour, it hasn't asked for a government handout....yet
Paul was very helpful and tremendously assuring, but I was relieved to be done. We got fans that will run without threatening to take off like a helicopter and decapitate anyone, and they even come with a remote. I tell you....it's like a whole new world out there.
Back at the house, the roofers had arrived and would have shingled the roof if the shingles had been there. Instead they covered it in black paper while the workers tyveked the house. They also removed the old side window on the master bedroom which now looks into the new family room. The plumbers had been and were leaving. I saw evidence of their work in the utility room and in the new bathroom, and there were squares cut out in the computer room, no doubt some piping or other will snake under the boards for one reason or other. I also learned the inspector had not come.
Jeff had warned me that once the second story goes up, it will seem as if work slows down. I concur. The most dramatic change has already taken place, and even now, it's becoming increasing difficult to remember what it was like to live in the original structure. Delays will also arise from inspectors not turning up.
Nonetheless, we're still immensely impressed with how fast the work has gone and really how efficient the men have been. Any changes made were due to design issues, or us changing our minds.
So, we cross off another day.....and Jeff was true to his word. He told us that he was going to have the house covered and roofed before Thanksgiving so there would not be issues with weather. If it had not been for last Thursday and the bad weather on Friday and Saturday, he would have achieved this much earlier.
Photos taken earlier this week on Monday. Back of the house with the second story, front of the house and inside of house with staircase already built.
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