Snow Days

Who likes snow? Kobe likes snow!! He's built for this weather, with his waterproof fur coat. Oh, I just look at that photo and smile.He was absolutely bounding thru the snow today on our walk.












Here's our 'hood these days. Please observe center photo with people on skis. Skis, sleds, tobaggans, innertubes. Our local hills have become slopes for entertainment. Seems like about a foot deep of snow in our yard. The huz' hasn't been to his office since last Wed. I got into work on Thurs and Fri because of my reliable bus - complete with chained tires for the weather. This week I'm on vacation and just slightly happy to not have the internal debate about trying to go anywhere. Until Wed. when we go to Chicago....hoping the airport is back to normal by then.


Today's big event was walking 25 blocks (each way! in snow! too bad it wasn't uphill both ways...) with the dog to do errands, including schlepping a bag of groceries back home. I've been glued to DVD's and cleaning the house otherwise.

The blessing of this snow is that it stops my anal retentive "how can we push the kitchen to be done soonest" drive. I have been really stressed about these last few weeks. First, I truly hate leaving a not quite done remodel to our dear friend who will be house/dog sitting when we are out of town for Xmas. Second, my end of the rope-edness and wanting this stupid thing DONE. As we get to the finish line, I find my type A personality blowing up. Get it done!!! How soon can we be done?? What else can I check off the list?! We must be efficient - who can I call, what can I schedule??

And now - where am I and what am I doing in this handbasket? (my favorite Far Side cartoon ever...) Weather has delayed the guys from coming to work on the house for days. We wonder if our countertops will be installed tomorrow. Or our oven delivered. Or our remaining flooring delivered to the store where I can't possibly drive to pick it up. I did get all "I'm from the midwest.....I can drive in this!" Until I pulled my car out of the driveway and began sliding uncontrollably towards our neighbor's Volvo....and then I decided maybe it wasn't that important to drive...and pulled sheepishly back into the driveway. The very few snow plows in Seattle only hit the main roads. Our street in a hilly neighborhood where many streets are closed will never see a snow plow. I have to let go and just let it be. Kitchen not finished, not finishing, delayed even more. There is nothing I can do. My Type A screams and stomps in the background, yet there is truly nothing I can do about this snow or the road conditions. Being safe is more important than being one day more done. That in itself is an odd relief. I have to just let it be and let go. For now.

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.

Seattle September Sun

We've been enjoying the remains of summer in Seattle this week. Perfect mid 70's sunny days with just a hint of crispness in the air to remind that sweater weather is just around the corner.

Lovely sunsets every night - this tonight from my bedroom. This big guy had a bit of a scare this weekend. On a walk a seemingly like any other, a dog approached while it's owner gave us the okay. Didn't take long after standard dog introductions for the other dog - bigger than my 85 lb Lab - to jump on him with bared teeth and proceed to bite a hole in his ear. ( big dog yelp - what a sad sound!) He seemed okay after we got them apart, aside from the blood on his ear. He rejoined me in our walk as if nothing had happened. I, on the other hand, was shaking with adrenaline and had to sit down to catch my breath.
Last night on our evening walk however, at the approach of every dog the hair on his back stood up. That is completely non standard for Kobe. We're going to have to get him to trust other dogs again....poor guy.



Here's the latest shot of construction. Not a lot seems to be happening. Allegedly they will pour the rest of the foundation tomorrow.I'm really spending too much my time annoyed at this woman. Are people in America really that stupid or should I say uninformed? It's just so unfortunate that the race is about non-issues. Starting to get ugly. The Republicans can't focus on what the policies are because if anyone is to be reminded of who's in power over the mess that is America they would sink. If anyone paid attention to actual record and not her lies, she'd not be nearly as popular. Stop saying you're a reformer, woman!!! You are a freaking game playing politician with a really messy record that is inconsistent with all the things you say you stand for. She is more conservative than Bush, and more scary born again Christian. She and her husband actually own the rights to the business name "Rouge Cou" which is French for redneck. Haven't we had enough of the (fake) redneck in the White House???? Average people should not hold the 2nd highest office in the land. Nothing about this woman is above average, aside from her beauty queen poise. Don't you want someone smarter than you, better than you, making the decisions that affect us all??? I know I do.

Slow Progress....

P and I went to Portland for a few days. He had a work event and I decided to tag along. I think it had been 10 years since I'd been down there.....We had dinner at a nice place in the Pearl District and stopped off for a drink in the bar at the Ace Hotel. Checking it out for our next trip. One of P's childhood friends moved from LA to Portland recently, so we have more reason to go down there. Not to mention...it's got some things going for it. Like furniture and vintage stores.

Back to construction talk.....they dug a hole for our foundation. Now we have giant piles of dirt on the side of the house.....Not sure when the foundation is being poured. Today was a terribly rainy day - thunder, lightning, things we don't often see in Seattle. Seems like no work has been done today, which isn't surprising if they needed to pour concrete.

Meantime, I thought I'd share my kitchen pallette. The cabinets are carmelized bamboo, represented by the bamboo cutting board. Floor is recycled rubber/cork mix. (the black square with speckles on it) Black quartz countertops. The crazy pattern is wallpaper that will be on 2 walls, and the green paint chip will be on the remaining walls. Ceiling and trim will be white. The cabinets and appliances are all ordered!! Super excited, the cabinets are going to be glorious with many cool extras built in. Pull out pantry and spice rack, built in tray dividers, built in trash/recycling. Now to decide on sink/faucet.....

Remodel week 2.....

Week 2 of the remodel has begun. This weekend we cleaned out the back corner that is getting rebuilt as the addition blends into it. P ripped out as much tile as he could, the workers came today and took out the rest of what was in there. (on a 93 degree day) It is pretty satisfying to know things are moving along.

When we came home today, this wall was built in the back corner. They are doing the remodel on the other side of it so we will be slightly shielded from the mess until they have to open it all up to join the old walls with the new.

Looking out into the yard, we now appear to be hillbillies......


The dog is not really sure what to make of this.

We set up a temporary kitchen, while half of our kitchen remains functional.


Although today everything was covered in a nice layer of dirty dust, so I decided that this was about all I could manage to make for dinner. A nice bowl of prosciutto e melone....


A few more photos from this week......