Fun with the 80's

This is how I went to work one day this week. In my vintage U2 tee shirt from
The Unforgettable Fire tour in 1984, a concert I attended. (of course, paired with a Stella McCartney blazer to spruce it up a bit...) Vintage rock tees are all the rage - I seriously could sell this for a few hundred bucks on Ebay. But it is far too precious. I had to point out my tee's origin to people. It's worn so thin, threadbare and perfectly soft. I fear ruining it. Many were impressed in the hallowed halls of fashion where I spend my weekdays. Like my 23 year old coworker who realized she WAS NOT BORN when I was at that concert.....

This concert is near the top of my top 10 concerts ever list. I have always kept this tee to commemorate it. U2 was not "U2" yet. They were still playing in small venues. The Aragon Ballroom on Lawrence Ave - in the heart of Al Capone's old Chicago, where my Aunt attended many a Swing dance back in the 1940's - was boarded up when last I drove past it a few years back. On this night in 1984, we were in high school. Out on our own in downtown Chicago seeing a show. My best girlfriends in tow - screaming till we were hoarse. Those best girlfriends remain in my life to this day and forever. Even if one of them notoriously can not get the words right..."Wash my arms in the name of love?" I don't think so...

I can't recall if we got beer or if we were simply covered in it from the cool-whip type containers it was served out of and subsequently sloshed to the floor from. Aside from a completely energized show by an up and coming, soon to be legendary band, the night held it's own magic. U2 always ends with their song "40". (I didn't know this then, but every time I have seen them since they end the same way....) At the end, Bono sings the chorus and the audience sings along. The guitar stops, walks off, bass stops, walks off, finally the drums stop and it's just the Rock God that is Bono on stage keeping the crowd singing. Finally he walks off. Every othrt time I have witnessed this, the crowd sings for a few minutes and trails off. Not so this cold December night in 1984. The crowd didn't stop singing. We sang the refrain walking down the steps and out into the night. It echoed thru the streets of Chicago as we left. I have never since seen anything like it.
Oh, and the house....it just drags on....This is the view from my bedroom door into the soon to be bathroom framed in back.....We're in plumbing stage now - hopefully will have inspection this week. The electrical took 2 full weeks because we had to replace our entire electrical panel. Surprise!! Once we have passed our plumbing inspection they can drywall and I believe things will start to go fast.....or so I hope......It's about week 4 of no kitchen at all. I'm ready for it to be over.

Yes. We. Did.

It's hard for me to focus on much more than the amazing result of Election Day. Who'd a thunk it a year ago? The progress this country seems to have made is heartening. The only sad note for me is the anti-gay initiatives that passed in several states. Denying gay marriage in CA, in Louisiana making adoption illegal for gay people. Really? There is still progress to be made on tolerance. It saddens me that my numerous gay friends who I love dearly are being discriminated against. Hopefully one step forward in equality with Obama as president will tip the scales for tolerance in other ways. Hopefully.

That's all for my political statement tonight. We were up so late last night in celebratory mode
that I'm really exhausted today. My friend Ricki is in town for work, she came over to watch the election returns with us. We ended up playing rock band and laughing our asses off until midnight.

We have windows!! We have windows!!! See photos above. The skinny windows on the top photo have a view to the mountains - obscured by a tree. Peter is threatening to cut the tree drastically in order to get a peekaboo view going. Not sure we really need to, since the front wall of the kitchen is now open to see the bigger view thru the dining room window. We're getting a little mountain view whore-ish over here...Bummer note. Our lead guy on the remodel was in a motorcycle accident on Friday. He's okay but spent some time in the hospital and has been off work. It seems to have slowed us down a bit. I'm leaning towards early December as a finish date for this monster.... we shall see. It's getting quite chilly in here these days with November weather and no insulation in a chunk of the space.

Progress report

This is the fun part when I can start to do before and after shots. Above is before we moved in. The house has been painted since, the fence continues to fall apart. (It's on the list. Just not this year's list.) Now feast your eyes on the new kitchen back porch. They have just started siding, the railing for the deck is only partially finished. It will wrap around the bench that you can see the bench on the right side of the railing - cuz where better to sit down and remove my gardening boots? The electrical is done. The plumbing is started. We have a hole in the kitchen ceiling while they are doing the bathroom plumbing. Hence some fun with peering from the upstairs into the kitchen this morning. It's week 2 of no sink, washing dishes in the tub, and subsisting on microwave dinners and take out. We probably have 3-4 more weeks to go. I mean, come on, we have to amuse ourselves to keep the annoyance at bay.

Kobe, me, and my foot!

Now I'm off to Home Depot.....

Now the REAL fun begins....

This.

Leads to this.

We've gotten to the super fun part. There is nothing in our kitchen but the fridge. Luckily, can stay until it gets traded out for the new one at the end. We didn't know they were taking the dishwasher and sink out this week. We had a dishwasher full of dishes. What's a girl to do but fill the tub? EEEssh. That was not fun. I have purchased compostable paper plates and bowls so we can simply stop using dishes for a while.

Allegedly we have a month to go. It's the height of the annoyance. We're eating microwave food. The house is simply covered in dust. The dog is covered in dust. We're keeping doors shut where we can, but I swear the dust is traveling through the heat vents and spewing everywhere. I swear the dust is more of a problem than the lack of a sink!

Funny thing about the economy....we put whatever we could on Craig's List. I hate throwing anything away that can be used. We're selling it all totally cheap. It's all just functional basic kitchen appliances and cabinets......And we have NO takers. Usually you put things on Craig's List and they get snapped up quickly. It's certainly the housing market - fewer people moving = fewer people fixing up to sell or fixing up what they bought. Please, someone - take the stove!!! The economic crisis hits Craig's List....I swear.

Walls come tumblin' down.....

This week they framed the bay window in the kitchen. Our cooktop will sit in it eventually, where the cutout is. The blocks of grayish substance sitting on the ledge in the window area
are insulation. We are using a cool eco friendly insulation that is made from recycled cotton denim scraps! In person it really looks like denim. (bluer than the photo shows) It's as effective as standard insulation, which is made with awful toxic substances that you don't want to inhale.
Yesterday the wall between the kitchen and dining room came down! This was this morning before I went to work. When I came home, a new beam was in at the top and it the vertical beams were gone. YAY! The flow of space with this change is incredibly different. I seriously got teary eyed walking around and seeing thru from the kitchen to the front door, from the door into the kitchen. I walked around for 10 minutes just seeing things in a new way. It's fantastic. Peter is a bit freaked out about our over-budget-ness at the moment. Still a few weeks left and we've hit the budget ceiling. ( here comes the 20% over they tell you to plan for) I, however, feel today that it is worth every penny as I grin from ear to ear walking through the mess and envisioning the perfection it shall be. This is looking into the dining room - plastic wall to help keep the dust down. I got news for ya. EV-erything is dusty......it's pervasive now......the whole main floor is just a mess. There's Kobe....he's dusty too!



We got all crazy last night and went to a concert on a Tuesday night!?!? We haven't been to a show in a while and a super fun English band "The Kooks" were in town. The hubby took this photo of me with my coworkers. It was a super fun night! We were tiiiiiiiiiiired this morning...

Major progress....and a new obsession.

We've had huge progress. The photo above shows the upstairs bath framed! The electrician has been here, things are moving. Of course, we also had a few huge surprises. Like today, we learned we have to replace our entire electrical panel. Truthfully we anticipated the possibility.

What we DIDN'T anticipate is that there is no way to put a "normal" toilet in the upstairs bath. Something about the necessary drain on the opposite side of the house. Why this came out this far into it...I don't know...The only option is digging a trench that would be horribly costly. So today was spent with some investigation into "macerating" toilets. I really don't want to go into it, it's probably what you think....Although, my investigation shows some ones that seem okay. We're not finishing the bathroom for a while, but we need to have a clue about it while they do the electrical and plumbing.



I posted the start of my silhouette project the other week. Here it is completed! I really like how it came out.


Let's be clear. I am not a video game fan. Just not interested. However, my husband finds himself out to all hours on the occasional weekend night playing "Rock Band"with friends. I recently caved and said we should get Rock Band...which is actually funny because Peter already had bought it and had it hidden in a closet. I wish I had his sheepish admission of that on video tape....Let me tell you, it is about the most fun I have had in ages! We have been playing for a few hours a night and it's just a riot. You have actual (toy) instruments that you play on, you're playing along with real songs by real artists you know, and you get rated, the crowd loves or hates you based on your performance, you get fans, you go on tour. It's just super fun!! !

Igloo.....

The finest plastic available is all that is keeping the elements out. This is RIGHT outside our bedroom, where the bathroom is being added. ( note to JK - so ends the window seat. We never used it. You mused that no one ever uses them when you saw it.) It was 53 degrees today. Overnight it was down to 39. We have the heat off, because we'd only be heating the great outdoors, so why bother. Needless to say, the house is freaking freezing!! The exterior wall is supposed to be up tomorrow, so bye bye plastic - hello heat.

Here's what the kitchen looks like today. Not airtight in here, either....and with a fine layer of dust on everything on our entire first floor.

Really keeping this short as I am coooooold and wish to get under a blanket.

Phone conversation with the husband today:
him - the contractor is framing the bathroom. turns out we only have room for a tub under 5 feet long. 5 feet is standard and the only ones I can find that are smaller are high end super expensive - we are not spending $2500 for a tub.....we may need to reconfigure the room if we can't sort this out.
me - ( getting on google) okay, okay, there has to be something out there
him - ( also clearly googling, now excited) oh - cool - motor homes have small tubs. we can totally get a motor home tub, they're really cheap too!!
me - what??? we are not getting a motor home tub. i hate flimsy plastic tubs, no way....i can find something better than that.
him - you will be the death of me.
me - ( thanks to the google) American Standard makes a 4 1/2 foot tub for a couple hundred bucks. done. I can not believe you were about to bring a motor home bathtub into my house....

Who makes all home goods decisions around here? And for good reason. Now I gotta get under a blanket. My fingers are numb.