House in Progress Diary

Daily Diary Archive

In the Beginning

Of course, this is when all of the writing occurs. After midnight when everyone in the "transitional house" is asleep and the dog is snoring and I am up in the loft wondering, "What on earth have we done?"

What did we do? We bought our first house. Our second anniversary is Monday. And I have never been this thrilled, tired or scared since the week before my wedding. Though I was a LOT less dirty around the time of the wedding. Every day since last Thursday has been the same thing...work at my "real" job, go to the TH* (transitional home), change into work clothes, take the dog to new house and work like a gerbil sorting and hauling debris. Stumble home to peel myself out of layers of grime. And marvel at the amazing resiliency of a mistreated house.

I will catch everyone up on the story in the next few posts by cutting and pasting some correspondence that "sets the scene". Then we can get to the latest installments.

Every Day

Every day, there are discoveries at the new house. Those funny looking sink drains that I thought was just extra hardware? (They were thrown onto the hardware bench versus tossed out.)

Collectible flower frogs. Who knew?

At this point, we just want to peek behind the fireplace boards and get the first floor clean. And evict the raccoons from the attic.

We have organized everything that we need to research by floor and room. Now that the digital camera is back, we'll be able to share some interesting "finds". PLUS our house has many mysteries that need to be solved for restoration. But we'll come back to that.

Most interesting point in my day? Figuring out that I had a rare Mother Goose book published in 1878. One conversation with Powells in Chicago and they're sending someone out to review the rest of the "finds".

Low points of the day? Realizing that our dog absolutely hates the new house. (Too scary) Hauling out half a garage full of garbage to wait until I can call a service. Nothing interesting in there...just cardboard boxes and dirty rags and fallen plaster.

New mystery...we'll post a picture soon. How did the kitchen look originally? So complicated, that one question.

Credit Where its Due

J did a great job of providing the history of our situation in her previous post. I'd like to point out the great support and feedback we've received from the American Bungalow discussion boards. That group has provided us with great advice and encouragement through a challenging time. Thanks to each of them/you for your help and encouragement. I don't know if we'd have had the courage to buy this great old house if it weren't for the wisdom over at AB!

Plus, they deserve credit for this weblog! So many people had an interest in our situation--it was because of them that we realized that we had a somewhat interesting story to tell. (Plus we were trying to keep our relatives up to date on our situation...and they are scattered all over the place.) So yesterday I threw together this site and convinced J to commit to her job as an "embedded journalist" for our project! :-) If it works out, we think it will be fun to keep this site as a record of our progress and also keep in touch with the many friends we've developed through this experience so far.

So thanks again to the regulars over at AmericanBungalowMagazine.com. If it works out, we hope this new site is a useful (and fun!) way for us and for all of you to stay updated with each other!

P.S. - If you've never participated in that site's message boards, I recommend it highly. If you're interested in more background on our story, you can access the various posts/threads J has been involved in here.

Mysteries & Milestones

Parents came in for the cleaning "blitz" of the first floor. Photos should be ready soon. A & I bought ourselves 2 concrete pots for the front steps for our anniversary and then decorated them with red impatiens. We began trimming the hedges and mowed the lawn, set up the grill and have been sharing our abundance of overgrown backyard peonies with our neighbors.

It seems as if the "story" of the house's move-in condition has made it around the women's circle at church. Their enthusiasm to help clean is only matched by their curiousity in getting a glimpse inside of the "famously junky house."

Had a Geraldo moment as Dad and A pulled aside a board in front of the fireplace to see if the fireplace was still there ...yep, it's still back there. The front of it is gone, but the skeleton remains of the old gas fireplace. Wild. We'll eventually resuse the hickory boards for a built-in closet upstairs.

I should be able to publish LINKS to other pages at least...meaning, the pictures are going up. Not the Ofoto "before and after" shots, but we will be recording the work in progress and showing everyone what interesting "treasures" were left behind.

And we want your stories about these treasures! Maybe you remember your grandmother or great aunt having one. Let us know! We'll publish you.

Mysteries of the week:

-Are the bookcases from the fireplace (which we found in the basement) worthy of repair, or will they have to be replaced?
-What did the original kitchen look like?
-How much sleep are we EVER going to get?
-If they saved everything else, where did all of the molding from the front two rooms go?

Mysteries solved

-Where are the gas lines in the kitchen? (Answer: Everywhere)
-What created the water damage on bedroom ceiling--first floor? (Answer: Wax seal of PO-installed toilet breaking above that room)
-Where are the raccoons getting in and out? (Answer: Mushroom airvent at top of house.)

Resources of the week:

-Gary at Cellar Master who inspected and maintained on our flood control pump, gave us advice on water flow and taught us many things. He rodded our pipes and pulled out all sorts of nastiness...Go Gary!
-John at Just Sashes for sending in a pretty comprehensive proposal.

Milestones of the week

-Cleaned...and then cleaned again.
-Prepared 1st floor for living while gutting goes on around us.
-Dog no longer afraid of the first floor (too much).
-Everything categorized, but not photographed or catalogued.
-Doorbell fixed (well, kinda)
-Joist under 1920's installed tub has been sistered.
-Ordered the Silent Paint Remover.
-Pest Control comes Monday
-Mowed lawn, began weeding, trimmed bushes in front
-Exhausting research on books and music, some pottery started (especially Oriental vintage)

Pictures of daily finds will be categorized at What On Earth?!?

It's like a trip back in time in here.

Where am I?

Whew. An all nighter. I haven't pulled one of those since college. But these days, it is the only time I have in front of the computer.

So, more new pages are up...more pictures. I go over to the house today to meet with the pest inspectors (gulp!) so I'll ty to take specific pictures for those who are interested. Then I have to make a slew of phone calls and tidy up the garage. So I'll be back this evening with more of the story about the house itself. Enjoy!

Clean for a Day

I've decided that FOX needs a new game show. Well, actually, it's a new take on an old game show. I'd call it...

CLEAN FOR A DAY

Rather like the "Queen for a Day" game show that our mom and/or grandmom watched, the winner would have all 70 years of dirt and grime and nicotine in his or her house (mid-renovation) sucked up into oblivion. They would be given a big bar of scented soap and led to a sybaritic white tiled room...with sun drenched skylights...to soak and talk on the phone to their friends or (if they prefer) to soak while watching a marathon of mindless TV or read trashy novellas. Water sprites would serve pina coladas silently and make sure that you don't slip below the water before being wrapped in dustless sheets on a clean, clean, cozy bed to snooze.

And there wouldn't be any raccoons for miles and miles around. Especially not howling on your roof.

I am exhausted.

I am exhausted.

First the raccoons. Two of four. With massive apologies to our newly-deafened sleepy neighbors, especially Krystina, Jay, Alex and Caitie (since the raccoons were on that side of the house).

Then, the accounting software at work was determined to break me today.

Then, my lovely mom-in-law and her lovely friend Millie went above and beyond to get me to a meeting for selling some of the camera equipment because the keys to the car went missing.

Things go better at the Chicago Camera Collectibles meeting. Great chaps. Know their stuff! I took a few things home again, but they were being kind about price and about a collection which to REALLY seasoned collectors must seem a little yawn worthy. They were terrific really.

I'm crawling to bed soon. There is $46 in my pocket which will be great to pay a little bit towards the rental fee for stashing our things when we couldn't move in because of all of the stuff. Plus a lot of new introductions into a pretty cool group of people.

Sorry, I keep yawning into my keyboard. More new items up on: What on Earth!?" Check it out...

5, not 4

I take that back. Make that two of FIVE raccoons. How did we miss that she had 4 babies? And that she is too smart to let the remaining 2 get near the traps? I cannot see a pretty end to this.

Not much today at the house. Except the advice that people gave us running through our heads..."everything will take 3-5 longer than you think it will." Yes. That is because you get so so so so tired.

Brain-numbing tired.

A and I are trying to think of ways to keep this fun and not let it drag our relationship around. We are trying to be pre-emptive. Advice from seasoned veterans on that one is welcome. He is working very very hard at the office and I bounce from part-time office to house and back. The movers are scheduled for Friday afternoon and I am just nervous about getting the rest of the first floor clean and hoping we can fit our furniture all into the first floor of the house. Plus, how much to unpack? I'm tempted to say "Nothing!" but then, where else do you put it?

At this point, there are enough things in the house for 3 garage sales. Everyone is also saying "Ebay!" but every item would be so time consuming that you could do this full-time for a year (or more). We'd like to donate one garage sale's worth to the Senior Youth Group at church so they can finance their retreat. One garage sale for us to help finance home repair and what it is costing us to delay moving in. And donate a number of items to World Relief and other worthy causes who could use basic household items. A few things we need to sort out and investigate. Like the lithographs from Japan and Europe. Artwork? Garage sale worthy? Who knows? The research alone is mind boggling.

I took a long shower today before going to a lovely goodbye dinner for our Pastor and his wife, who are retiring. I adore them. He married A and I, was my first "non-Catholic" pastor and they are such a beautiful, loving couple. I will never forget, after being dreadfully, doggedly sick for 3 months last year when we couldn't figure out half of my symptoms, I returned to church and sat on the back bench with A while he ran sound. It was a huge milestone for me to be up and out of the house. During the recessional and before the benediction, Pastor A strode down the center aisle of our large, lovely church--a tall distinguished man--heading straight for me with no hesitation and just wrapped me in his arms in a gentle, loving hug. I was so surprised that I still burst into tears at this memory. I was still pretty frail then and not getting around so easily and I was so moved by this homecoming. This neighborhood means so much more than this broken, sad house (that will be beautiful again). It is filled with beautiful families who feel like home. I did get a compliment on my hair tonight...one on how it looked and another on how good it smelled. What can I say? I cleaned up for this occasion :)

Today, I saw kids riding their bikes and playing up and down the lawns like I used to do in Pearl River, New York with my cousins or in Pittsburgh with the neighbor kids. This was IN THE CITY. In the suburb where we were, though I am fond of it in a way, I never saw kids without parental supervision every moment. This is better. Much better.

And I need to remember that when I am cleaning and dragging myself through the selling off of things and battling raccoons. It is the bigger picture of creating a home.

10 Bags of Trash

Okay, three raccoons transplanted. The mother and one of the babies still elude us. When we're finished with the raccoons, we can begin with the squirrels :( They are living above the porch.

Emotionally, I bounce all over the place about the house. As I wrote to my friend K when I wasn't sleeping well in transition and was trying to read myself to sleep, "I just finished the "Little House on the Prairie" books. Again. For the one zillionith time. I found myself saying goofy, dumb things like, "A, if PA can build a house ON THE PRAIRIE from NOTHING, than we can restore this house." And some days, I believe that. Other days, I go home and weep. Like tonight. Some relatives were visiting and were curious about the house. They were shocked and dismayed. Seeing it through their eyes, I was dismayed too. I am going back to read a few passages from Little House on the Prairie again tonight. Do all these people think Rome sprang from the ground fully built in a day??? Well, then again, Rome was probably never this filthy dirty.

Reading Mother Theresa's biography didn't help me either. I found myself crying, again, and thinking "I'm not worthy for God's world! I must get a sari and begin serving mankind immediately!!"

Well, tonight, wearing neither sunbonnet nor sari, A and I lugged 10 trash bags full of yard waste to the dumpster in front of my in-law's house. This is so we can leave more trash for the regular city garbagemen and work our way towards getting a garage back. I was in the same jeans that just WILL NOT come clean. Because the previous owner never cleaned. And now it is ground into my jeans. Honest. We were vacuuming 1-2 INCHES (no exaggeration) of dust off of boxes and trim. There were old mouse "party favors" STILL IN THE KITCHEN. We know there aren't any mice IN the house because the pest inspector and I crawled over that place for 3 hours. Only raccoons and squirrels. But, well, gross! If you had mice at one time and you knew about it (we knew she knew because we found an ancient trap)...wouldn't you clean your floor???!!!

I am only thankful that I do not have toddlers at this point in time and I break out the bleach.

Closer...

The remaining raccoons are accounted for! No more raccoons in the attic! (Thanks to Lou from Critter Detectives for your hard work and perseverance!)

We think the squirrels may have been scared away in the raccoon scramble. Lou put some paper over the hole to test it and if they haven't broken through by tomorrow, we are boarding that bad boy up! Meanwhile, the stainless steel grille cage for the mushroom vent/fan goes on in 3 days when the attic is officially declared "raccoon free".

Today we moved our furniture in (all on the first floor) and we move in with cat and dog tomorrow. We also had our second dinner guests (after my parents)....A & L. We tested out the new grill in the back yard which will function as our kitchen until the weather becomes too cold for words. The current kitchen is a little hard to cook in.

And the "Silent Paint Remover" arrived. Everyone on the street and the alley has been offering us unlimited use of tools and equipment and that is really saying something. We have some pretty handy people in our neighborhood, all of whom know what kind of shape the house is in. After doing the math and adding up the cost of liquid paint stripper for everything needed inside/outside of the house AND the outside of the garage...the SPS was the way to go. It uses infrared heat, doesn't give off the fumes and other hazards related to heat guns, does tile/paint/varnish/and more, AND it's from (well, where else?) Sweden. So, we'll let you know how that goes. The guys on TOH gave it a big thumbs up. Hopefully, we will too. So now we have our own unusual power tool to lend to helpful neighbors because, well, with a contractor and handy ma'am for neighbors, what do you lend to the couple who have everything?

I feel better with our things in the house. Though I need to clean it again (this will be the fourth time) to get the rest of the dirt/grease/grime/dust that I didn't get first 3 times. Soft Scrub is my friend.

We're in!

(insert bars of dramatic organ music here)

We are IN the new house. First night. So, of course, I cannot sleep.

We have crammed our boxes and furniture all on the first floor since work will begin with gutting the second floor entirely. We will be saving every piece of trim, every door, every beguiling bungalow feature and dragging out everything else.

The house had only 1 bathroom and 5 bedrooms until 1951 when W decided to purchase "brand new watercloset accessories" and convert the upstairs bath into the strangest, elongated bathroom you have ever seen. While expanding the possibilities for bathroom usage, it is not the most elegant of solutions. The bathroom-related portion covers 1/3 of the room. The rest is just...well...open space. Plus, lack of proper ventilation has made a mess of things and a broken wax seal on the plumbing years ago that went unattended to made a mess of the ceiling of the bedroom in which we camping out. Since we have to lay at night and look at that for up to 12 months or more, we purchased 4 inexpensive tablecloths from Le Target and will be pinning these to the ceiling in the manner of a sultan's tent. Self-denial is a balm to the renovator's senses.

Everything is still covered in a film of grey dust. Maybe it's the dirt left over. Maybe it's an asbestos cloud from the tiles the PO began tearing up and stopped. Maybe it's the newsprint we used to pack everything or the fact that our things just spend 8 weeks in a garage. Whichever it is, it is making Dave the grey and white cat into a decidely grey cat. I did spend my first night under our blissful new showerhead. A rainshower purchased at Home Depot last week...forty of the best dollars we ever spent. Even after I turned off the water, I turned my face to it and watched solemnly as each diamond shaped nozzle cried its last tear of beautiful clean water.

Heaven. Being so clean.

Geez...Bees

Today was a little more, um, organized.

So we are moving the furniture into the right rooms but...ugh. It is unbelievable to be so dirty ALL OF THE TIME! Dave the Cat snuck onto the second floor today and came down happily two hours later with black paws. Fine, except his paws are usually snow white.

Have you ever tried to wash a cat's paws when they are unwilling? It is like trying to shake hands with a slot machine over an extended period of time. That arm just keeps shooting back.

Today we experienced a lesson in evolution...or devolution...homeowner style. It goes like this:

Trapping the live raccoons scared away the squirrels living above the front porch. Because raccoons are meat eaters and the squirrels were trying not to be lunch. So, A, brave husband, buys thick wire grating and heads up a rickety ladder we found in the garage to fasten it into place. Holding it into place for him, I watch every rung of this ladder, wondering how long it's been in garage and picturing in my head how I will catch a husband who is 1 foot taller than I am (and much more muscular and heavy) before he hits the sidewalk. I'm doing word problems in my head

A 6'7" husband traveling unexpectedly down a vertical wooden ladder which is 14 feet high, while gripping a staple gun...

Meanwhile, things are getting hairy for A up above. Because now that the squirrels have been gone for 48 hours, a family of bumblebees has decided to supplant them, just one more step down the food chain. We need to get that wire up and bumblebees are notoriously slower than their wasp or yellow jacket cousins, so...coaching him with gentle words of support, I hand up a fly swatter and tell him to "jes' knock 'em down if they get too close."

To our neighbors, it must have looked and sounded like this:

"Honey, you've got one at 12 'clock if you want to swat it."
"Where? Where? That one?"
"Oh wait, no. That's the second one."
"Whamo! Got him!"
"Wow...he really hit the sidewalk."
"Is he still alive?"
"Woozy, but he's hanging on."
"What?! So step on him!"
"Oh yuck. okay, wait. Don't sting me...and...okay he's a goner. How's that wire going?"
"Just hold the ladder..."
"Okay, but take your time. Make it look like a neat job. That's across from J and K's bedroom window..."
"It's as neat as a squirrel will need it to be...whoa! These bees are in the squirrels nest! What part of the food chain are we on now??!"
(I'm laughing, can't breathe) "Honey, when the primordial ooze starts coming out of the hole, you'll know you're near the end."
"Ooze? This swatter and spray wouldn't do a thing to ooze!"
"The spray can says that stuff will KILL SCORPIONS...I think ooze will not be a problem."
"Wham! Got two more!"
"How's that mesh coming?"

Recleaning

I am so tired of recleaning. We're on recleaning #4. Or #5. Something like that.

So instead I offer you the newest edition of What On Earth? You get to guess whether the items are random or related.

If you haven't been to pages 1-7 of "What On Earth?", by all means please help yourself to the link in the right-hand column of this page. Sorry about the ancient page design. We're waiting for the new, improved version of Blogger and we're just holding ourselves together (barely) in the meantime.

Just like everything else.

More cleaning. More unpacking.

More cleaning. More unpacking.

We even went back to my husband's parents' house today to try to undo the damage that 6 weeks, 2 transitional adults, a hairy cat and a hairy dog will do. And I learned something. My pets are ambitious. Their "shed ratio" increases with house size. In the old condo, the cat was content with one chair in the living room and a bench in the bedroom. In my husband's parents' house? The cat was a fat, fuzzy, gray "Goldilocks-wanna be". This chair is too big. This chair is too small. This one is too warm. This one is too cool. And around and around. We lint-brushed cat hair off of each chair in the entire house, I think. Enough to make a new cat. And it doesn't help that our cat has hair the consistency of cotton candy. Enough said.

We've gotten many requests for pictures of the creatures. Here they are:
Coco and Dave the Cat

We are squeezed onto the one (relatively) clean floor of the new house and still are unpacking. And yes, there is still more stuff in A's parents' garage and basement. Mostly books. Because we cannot find the fasteners that put the shelves on the 8 bookcases that we own. We put them in a "safe place" before we left the condo. Which means that they are at the bottom of one of many boxes.

Lastly, it is 85 to 90 degrees in Chicago this week. Which should be okay because we have two large window A/C units on this floor. When the owner was leaving, she (probably guiltily) took us aside and explained that they were "a little unreliable". We were puzzled. We had tried them out during the inspection--we knew they worked. But now we know better. As in the entire front of the house (2 A/C units, living room, sunroom, entry way, dining room, front half of basement) is on ONE circuit breaker. Oh. As in we can have one A/C unit on AND use the portable phone. But add a light or TV to that combination and we are plunged into a sweaty, dark nightmare. Have we told you that all of the windows on the first floor are painted, stained and (in the kitchen) GLUED shut?

We don't have any massive monthly assessments anymore though. And our washer and dryer are in the same building that we are in. Life is good.

Some days are more adventurous than others.

Some days are more adventurous than others.

The one thing I like more than anything about this project is the people. Our cool neighbors, the talented craftspeople we are discovering, hearing from people who read the website and have their own stories to tell, fellow bungalow owners.

I haven't been in touch with my bungalow pals as much as I'd like these past 2 weeks. We are cleaning like mad. Floors are scrubbed and rescrubbed. The insides of closets, walls, trim, everything covered with grime and dirt. Plus, garage living and newsprint have not been kind to our things, so they all need to be washed and freshened.

Discovery. For better or worse, this whole project is about discovery. And vision. Can we make these walls bend to our will? Turn back the clock? Sometimes others don't see what we see and even tell us, "Yuk. Glad it's not me." And that makes me sad. I wish I could show them what we see. The fully remodeled upstairs that keeps all of the trim and windows and floors and lovely nooks, but straightens out all that was muddled. The lovely living room that is rebuilt with the original fireplace, stained glass windows and bookcases. The really sunny kitchen with its bungalow touches of cleverness and efficiency.

It's at times like these, when no one else can see your vision, that you do realize that your husband is your best friend and confidant, your best grill chef and organizer.

p.s. I'd like it to rain now, please. We need the cooler air. And the plants in the backyard, especially the rosebush which has painted itself against the white clapboard wall of the tiny garage, are thirsty.

Zen & the Art of Kitchen Cleanliness

I washed the kitchen floor 2 and a half times today.

I had to.

The first time around, I was just making mud.

I cooked on the grill for the first time all by myself because it will be our kitchen for the next year.

Which should make Christmas dinner pretty lively.

peace. and good sleep to all.

We've added comments!!

We've added comments!! Now anyone can comment on an individual posting by clicking on the "Comments" link below each entry. We'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas, so comment away! :-)

The First Survivable Floor!

Let's take a trip back in time and then look at...

THE FIRST SURVIVABLE FLOOR

I can only do the front half tonight...tomorrow is second half. Then we're back to the stuff we've found and BOY! Has it gotten interesting! (Are you intrigued? Please be intrigued. It motivates us to keep going.)

Living Room BEFORE we bought

Yes, this is where the fireplace and built-in's were. They will be back someday.

Living Room (and Sun Room) NOW

Well. This room still needs a little inspiration. Not even a piano can hide the fact that the fireplace should be there. We're hoping that books on the bookshelves of our temporary bookcases (they'll go upstairs after renovations) we'll warm it up a little. That, and new curtains in the sunroom. We're washing the outside of the windows right before we install the screens.

The Dining Room BEFORE we bought

You didn't actually forget about the marlin, did you? I mean, c'mon. (By the way, she took that with her.)

The Dining Room NOW

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Once those windows are jimmied open and we have new curtains, this may become my favorite temporary room in the house. Still a shame about that trim around doors and windows, but we'll replace it.

Is this progress?

I just posted pictures of the first floor, "Before We Bought" and "After We Move In". I thought, "Weee...we are making progress here! This is livable!"

And then I discovered the drawbacks of photography.

It looks a little bit better 2-D. But to really appreciate the amount of space we have and the progress we have ALL (A & I, his parents, my parents, our neighbors who helped) made...you need to SEE it 3D. And SMELL it. (No moldy, dust, yuckky smells.)

Right now, it's about the quality of a college apartment. But with a lot more potential.

And better furniture. And healthier food in the refridgerator. And no finals. You get the picture.

P.S. Hey! A big shout out to all of the grandparents in our families following along as well as the folks from the American Bungalow Magazine forum...peace!

More of the First Survivable Floor

Let's take a trip back in time and then look at...

THE FIRST SURVIVABLE FLOOR

The second half of the first floor. Tomorrow, it's BACK TO THE STUFF.

Bathroom & Bedrooms BEFORE we bought

I wish I had taken more pictures of the Master Bedroom before. It was just so crowded, I couldn't stand anywhere to take a decent picture.

Bathrooms & Bedrooms NOW

We haven't even DONE ANYTHING YET. We've just cleaned it and put in temporary living fixes (note the shower curtain-lined walls in bathroom...pre-tile). The dog is much happier. But we still have to put the new fabric on the ceiling...because this is what we see at night before the lights go out. Yech.

The Back Room and Kitchen BEFORE we bought

Can you even SEE these rooms beyond the stuff? And the island in the middle of the floor basically took up ALL of the floor space.

The Back Room and Kitchen NOW

Again, more windows to pry open. New curtains will help (versus the sheet in the back room that she left up there...and do you like how they started painting down the wall--then stopped? That's to cover up some old roof leaks). We still have unpacking to do in the backroom, but thanks to the power of wireless technology, it is our office. And it looks out onto the REAL kitchen.

Another Day, another BBQ & Home Depot Run

Back to the stuff...tonight's edition of "What on Earth" (Batch 14) is in honor of our American Bungalow forum pal, Kitschywoman. It's a quiz for all of you playing at home, with a few ringers thrown in. Do you know your kitsch? Are you sure? Here's your chance to throw that gauntlet down :)

It was a busy weekend with A's family in town for the ordination of A's mom (go D!). Some of the group were going to go downtown to see a few museums on Saturday. After touring our home on Saturday morning, they decided that was good enough and they were free to ride the EL around the Loop and visit the John Hancock tower instead! (No fooling.) Yes, we're officially competing with The Field and the Museum of Science & Industry now.

Today, after a lovely BBQ at A's parents, A & I came back to the house. A knocked down the wasp nests and I puzzled out where a few more window screens fit and mowed the lawn. It is sad when, even with a leak in our hose and less force than there should be, that the water from a hose could knock down wasp nests AND take strips of exterior latex off of the underside of the eaves. This is a sorely neglected house.

While I tried to weed what we now can call, "The Jungle", A went to the Home Depot and scored 50 ft of hose, a groovy/solid sprinkler, and a nifty ergonomic hand sprayer all for under $50.

We are hoping that someday our lawn will be a GREEN lawn, like the neighbors all around us. Though we are careful not to direct the hose AT the house, for fear that part of the house will just break off.

Lawn Care & the Ego

A neighbor who was mowing his lawn waved at me today.

That made trimming the bushes and falling in that thorny rose hedge last weekend worth it.

There is something about cleaning up our yard that brings out the approval-hungry teenager in me. "Love our lawn? Aren't we good neighbors? Aren't I a good person? Do you liiiike mmeeeeeeee????????"

Marketing companies must chortle in glee over people like me, grab their phone and dial up the advertisting buyer for Home Depot. "No, really!!! One more $80,000 ad in this Sunday's ad circular and she is all yours!!! On a silver platter! I promise you, man..."

I am so transparent.

Coco Takes One for the Team

The dog and I are sharing a new experience...allergies.

I just get headaches. The dog has these "5 in a row" sneezing fits that are so fierce, she bangs her head on the floor during the blowback.

So now when I hear her start to wuffle, I throw my body between her chin and the floor. I've only managed to prevent a few "sneeze hits". Generally, she is so startled, she forgets about sneezing entirely.

I'll have more exciting things to post after a holiday weekend working on the house. I will be attempting to make (ta DA!) curtains. Temporary ones for the downstairs windows which currently have sheets on them.

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

A....CHOOO!

The Biggest Pile of Trash Ever!

Okay, so I cleaned out part of the basement today. One of the TWO toolbenches. W was a real "do-it-yourself" guy. I found a bunch of old tools, parts of things and a LOT of dirt and rust and broken glass and pieces of wood and string.

Life is not all eBay excitement here.

I did find an old Ford hubcap in pretty good condition. And we can finally get into our personal safe (did I mention the house came with a great big safe? There is an enormous safe. And they left us the combination. Which is way cool. And it was empty. 'Cause I know what you're thinking...I mean...my mind went there too, originally.)

The garbage men (and lady...go girl!) came this morning (one day early!) without warning. So, I'm pouring coffee while in my p.j.'s when I heard that familiar whine in the alley. I FLEW out of the back door, looking not very hot, screeching "Wait! Wait!" I tore into the back of the garage and hit the button for the garage door. And I just watched everyones' eyes get really big as the door rose up to reveal...

I plucked 6 big things out of the pile and handed them over (which didn't even make a dent, really), thanked everyone, shut the door, and headed back inside. There's a limit to how much you're allowed to give the nice garbage people and we're working our way towards gaining custody of the garage one week at a time. At this rate, the garage sale will be in September. Of 2004. When we have our garage back.

Peace.

A New Site!!

Welcome to our new digs! We decided that we were having a lot of fun with this and that we should get a proper set of tools and our very own web address! :-)

We hope you like the new look. It also has cool new features, like the category buttons along the right. Try 'em out!

It's a HOUSE! (A crazy house!) It's a WEBLOG! (Mom, that's an online diary...) It's a, um, HOUSEBLOG! A HOMEBLOG! A CHAOSBLOG? Chaosblog seems most appropriate for the moment.

PS - Thanks to AJ for the webhosting. If you're looking for a good service try him out at aefjdesigns.com.

It's us against the weather

This isn't living. It's survival.

How did vintage bungalow people do it?

I mean, sure. Their windows opened back then. But they had petticoats too.

Yesterday, the thermometer topped 93 degrees outdoors. I don't even want to think of it indoors. Meanwhile, for the hottest part of the day, we (2 humans, a cat and a dog) huddled against the A/C in the bedroom with the door closed and prowled around at night. Until we all fell asleep at 4 a.m. That's when we found out that contractors don't work when the rest of us do...they are tireless.

Because the phone rang at 7:30 am. It was a lovely man, someone who is a real trooper to even come see the place because he usually works somewhere in the southwest suburbs. It was the Saturday after a holiday and he was ringing us up to tell us that he'd be out to look at the masonry at 9:00 am. And we would have answered the phone usually. But this was after the rainstorm drama.

You see, when we finally fell into bed, there was a rainstorm. Around 4 am. And ALL of the windows upstairs, as well as the only ones which will open on the first floor, were open. Being blessed with the ability to hear the cat cough up a hairball even in the middle of my REM cycle (but not with the ability to hear my husband telling me to "shove over", hmmm), I sprang bolt upright, with both feet aiming for the floor and landed on the dog.

I sprinted around calling, "A! A!" at the top of my lungs. But the poor man was exhausted and besides, didn't everyone tell us that lathe and plaster was magnificent at killing sound?

It is.

After I groped around without my glasses and managed to find the OLD towels with which to mop up, I realized with horror that it wasn't just the rain pouring water onto our sills.

The ancient A/C from Montgomery Ward had been propped up in the window with a few boards of wood to tilt the unit INTO the house. So ALL of the condensation from 72 hours of A/C was finally running INTO the bedroom.

Our A/C runneth over, so to speak. Well.

At 4:30 am, with the choice of stuffing a load of rags between the sill and the A/C unit OR sleeping in that room with NO A/C and no open windows, I chose the former, muttering "Worse things have been happening to this house since 1914. I'm going to bed."

Which is why we didn't get the phone at 7:30 am. And why we slept past the visit from the mason. And we are very sorry. And we won't let it happen again.

It's too darn hot

Waxing the Tub

I waxed my bathtub today.

Just for the record, I do not wax anything else in my life. Car, floor, legs...(I'm a razor grrl).

But when Tim says "Wax the tub every 5 days for the first 30 days", I become a Turtle Wax devotee. A slave to bungalow renovation.

I also caulked some fixtures and reassembled them. (Caulk is messy.) And realized, dispairingly, that before we tile the walls in the first floor bathroom, we're going to have to go into the wall behind the fixtures and fix whatever is lurking there first. I guess I feel better that we don't have to go through TILE to do that...because the tile is already gone. But we have LOOKED at replacement tile...3 x 6 subway tile...so proper for a bungalow.

The Bug Slayer

Before I moved into this house, I was a total wuss about anything with more than 6 legs.

I mean, there were things with six legs I wasn't keen on either. Like the Palmetto bug. These bugs have six legs but THEY ARE LARGER THAN MY SHOE, therefore making them part of the "HTK" (Harder to Kill) category and super scary. (Click to make photo larger...IF YOU DARE!!!)

My friend, K, is going to bust me on this one because I think that is actually a picture of a giant roach. But a palmetto bug LOOKS like a Giant ROACH to me. So. There.

Well, we don't have these. But! We do have icky SPIDERS:

Again, I don't hang around to take pictures of real spiders...I am usually hollering for A at the top of my lungs to come kill it. Do you know how FAST those things are? And how much ground they can cover for their size? I think creepy + speed = death fear in my book. And yes, I know, I know. "Spiders are our friends because they kill other bugs." I've heard it, I've said it to 7 year olds while crossing my fingers behind my back. Well, fine. Spiders can be someone else's friend. I don't want them as friends. I am not scared out of my mind by other bugs!!! Which is why I sucked up all the spiders in the basement with the Wet/Dry vacuum last weekend. A told me that I would regret it, but I only regret it because I'm too afraid to empty the Wet/Dry Vac. Did I regret sucking them up into their own private plastic prison, however?

No.

Which brings me to my most feared enemy, the THOUSAND LEGGER.

I never, ever saw these before I moved to the Midwest. They are technically a "house centipede". Uh-huh. That makes them sound too nice, like a "House Cat" or a "House Pet". These things have ONE MILLION LEGS (perhaps a tiny exaggeration) that enable them to propel themselves at you faster than you can run. They run across the floor and up a wall. There are so many legs, you can't guess which way they are going to turn...which is why it is good to just RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY! If you see one.

Well. That was before I moved into "The House".

We still have these things. But I have become numb. My first 1000-legger encounter took me by surprise early on, I'll admit. I was walking into the kitchen and it was walking out. I screamed at the top of my lungs and spun around to take off. But just before my sprint, I noticed something.

It spun around too. And dove under the stove. I scared it.

Aha. My feared enemy is VULNERABLE.

So, 2 nights ago, up at 3:00 am, I had a metal spatula on the desk next to me. (Don't ask why.) And a BIG, HUGE thousand legger fluttered its way across the platform where the cat's food bowl is. And I thought, "Oh no, you don't, bug boy!"

And I reached over, cut it in two with the spatula and went back to typing, thinking "I'll clean it up in the morning or (hopefully) the cat will eat it."

The cat, however, is useless...unless its prey is in the shape of a pellet of Iams Cat Chow and that pellet does try to run away. Pulls no weight around here in the pest control department.

So, after proudly displaying my kill to my husband the next morning, I wrapped it in TP and flushed it. Because, you know, drowning the bug even after it is dead makes SURE it won't come back to life and come and get you....right?

p.s. I slept last night. First time in days. Whoo hooo!

We're a hit!

Today our site was featured on the popular site boingboing.net! (You can see their description of our site here.)

As a result we saw a HUGE spike in traffic today!

Many thanks to Cory and boingboing.net! :-)

Random...it's all random

This entry is totally random. My life has become random.

Things I'm thinking about:

- I do not miss cable TV except that I can't get any news of the outside world. This may be because I ONLY get my news from one source...The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Because if we weren't laughing, we'd be crying. (But it REALLY bothers me that you have to get through ads to get to their site now...Jon, I love you. Now stop that.) Okay. Enough politics. Or big JW is going to jump in here and rant at me. :)

- Being on the front page of BoingBoing.net for a day surprised me...I mean, wow! Isn't that like the cool guy in school noticing you before he asks out your sister? It's so fleeting, yet so...so...I don't know! BUT! My DAD posting on the site...that just floored me. My dad! Screening our Blog! That is, like, BIG TIME!!!! Dad! What are you doing on the INTERNET???

- La-la-la...groovin to the new Victor Vagabond CD and diggin' it.

- We solemnly handed over a few trinkets from the house this weekend to our pal, E, who is the manager of a U.S. Soccer Team and has to move to L.A. We'll miss you E...but we're glad the bowling shirts will be with you.

- Where is the battery charger for the digital camera? Oh, over here...behind these boxes. Oh, my new mascara too. The next entry this evening is the latest installment of "WHAT ON EARTH??!!" for the fans of stuff. (Now that we've categorized the entries, I'm posting them separately.)

All the stuff today? It's all random.

I am SO difficult.

So, we continue to sally forth.

Today we awoke to a sticky kind of heat...the kind of heat that makes you wish that you could just sprawl in a kiddie pool all day long. Whoa. We COULD get a kiddie pool. There is no condo board here!

A is sketching different tile strategies for the bathroom. TILE is HARD. Not floor tile so much...we're digging that American Olean has 1" hexagon tile and other neat patterns with backing so you can install them in sheets. (Cheating, I know.) But WALL TILE.

That's a whole different story.

If you have good wall tile, go thank it before you go to bed tonight. Say, "Nice tile, nice tile" and brush your fingers along its straight, geometrically perfect grout lines.

For fun with tile, go to this site. Can you believe that this is my brand of FUN these days? :) I used to go clubbing. Now, I play with tile software.

Today, the cable man came. And went.

They're getting better at this cable thing. They CALL YOU right before they get there...it's no longer a TOTAL mystery. But you still don't know if it will be closer to 1 pm or 4 pm.

Anyway. It's hot, I'm grumpy, the cat is grumpy, the dog is confused. The cat is actually in the one A/C room but horked on the rug last night and is still brooding. Like WE CAUSED that! He is so sensitive.

The cable man shows up. And I'm sure that he is a perfectly sensible cable man, sent to do his job. He checks out where we need cable--downstairs and up. Then he goes outside and disappears.

I'm curious but have work to do. So I'm at my computer by the window when I notice the cable guy's truck in the backyard and he is setting up a ladder against the house to tack up cable. Completely opposite of the house corner where this cable needs to go!

So I stroll outside and ask him some questions. Turns out he wants to nail the thick black cable halfway up the side of the house and wrap it around to the front. Which, if you were looking at the house while walking up the sidewalk from the south, would look like the house was wearing a super cheesy pencil-thin mustache. Se�or Bungalow.

"Near the roofline?" I ask. "No, too high." "Near the ground?" I plead. "No, too low." So, I sent him away. I started to give in then thought...wait! I own now! I don't want the outside of my house to look this way! So I sent him away like Queen Homeowner. And now a "specialty company" is coming next Tuesday to give us a quote on "fishing" the cable through the walls of the house. Which should be interesting because they will have to, somehow, go around the chimney.

Now. My husband is an incredibly lovely man. He already tried to tell me about the cable thing. Priced one of those little cable mini-dishes. I couldn't do it. I picture the radiation or whatever it is pulsing out of one of those things like the lightning bolts in a Flash Gordon comic. Or picture myself at 80 years old with a big cauliflower looking thing on the side of my head from exposure. It doesn't help that our neighbors in the old place had one and, everytime I walked within 20 feet of it, my cell phone shorted out with a zap. And, of course, the cauliflower thing could be from the cell phone....but that doesn't LOOK as lethal as those dishes.

BEFORE CABLE DISH

AFTER CABLE DISH

(the comb-over does nothing for the cauliflower growth)

And it was the All-Star Series tonight. Something that has to do with sports and it is important. He graciously offered to listen to it on the radio. So I did what any loving wife would do.

I sent him to his parent's air-conditioned house to watch the TV.

I am so difficult.

Smelly Encounter

"Adventures in homeownership"

We took the evening off.

After I got home from work and used my new CLEANER OF CHOICE (vinegar) on a couple of things (it really does work)...

...we went sailing for the first time this season. A's family has had a trim little sailboat in the family for three generations so we headed out for the evening on Lake Michigan with our pals, AJ and L.

So relaxing. When the water is calm, the breeze is steady and its dusk...it's like sitting in your living room with the coolest view of Chicago in the world. And...you're moving.

Ok. So. Anyway. When we got home, we took the dog for a stroll around the new 'hood...

She'll be 12 in a week, she's an awesome dog, but not the brightest penny in the bank.

This is Coco, hugging my feet when she is sleepy.

I'm joking around a little because I've seen a possum and have smelled AND seen a skunk on different days this month. I tell A, "If we see the skunk, grab the dog." And the dog is careening all over the sidewalk like she has a steering problem. Because she is following her nose and she is always excited about nose following.

I see the black cat on the wall first. I open my mouth to say, "Wow...look at the cat..." Except nothing comes out, because I see the skunk. Like Pepe la Pew serenading his beloved in a cartoon, except this is real life and much more stinky.

The dog veers straight for the skunk. "Get!" "Her!" I yell, as I grab her back end and pull.

The skunk waddles away super fast, straight for our front steps...past our front steps and into the neighbors' yard.

And the dog is like, "What? Huh?"

And all I can think of is....vinegar.

No good, very bad, horrible day

Last night I used vinegar successfully to take some funky stains off of some vintage Pyrex glassware, but then set off a huge cloud of acrid smoke in the basement when I turned on the mangle to try pressing some towels.

At 3 am.

So A and I had to drag that thing into the back yard (with it screeching and protesting and belching smoke the whole way--I am terribly sorry for our neighbors) so we didn't have to worry about it exploding before morning. I turned the hose on it a few times for good measure.

It was the sorriest sight to see over morning coffee.

The poor thing looks like it tried to crawl out to the garbage and died on the way there, next to the sidewalk.

This sleep deprivation thing is a huge bummer.

{waving hello madly...}

You know...this Internet thing is super fun.

I had no idea the interesting sites that I would find by looking at people who had looked at OUR site. This is one big Internet-fest. Sorry I sound so much like a geek but honestly, this blog thing is a pretty new phenomenon to me. Though I really miss the Table Talk crowd at MWT for Salon.com. :(

And to those of you who are tuning in to just our site (like my family), roam around a little bit. These folks, especially some of the livejournal crowd, are very good writers and FUN!

Our top ten linked sites (according to web stats) are:

1. BoingBoing - This is some very cool stuff served up piping hot daily.

2. American Bungalow Magazine - If you love the site, the zine will have you swooning. Plus, such a helpful house restoration crowd.

3. Old House - If you have an Old House, you need this site. Not to be confused with "This Old House".

4. Purejuice - She's a great writer, she's got soul, and she's got a kickin' site. Also voted Livejournal user we'd most like to have a margarita and conversation with.

Rest of top ten if you click the link...

5. Gapers Block - Something else in Chicago that I love as much as the Chicago Reader but didn't know it existed until 3 days ago.

6. Craigs List - What do you want to know? It's on Craigs List.

7. Saucy Dwellings from LiveJournal - The sauciest! Dwellings! Ever!

8. Morphius 7 Friends - Dang! Who is Morphius 7? And how'd he get so many friends?

9. Cadence 90 - Lisa Williams is insightful, funny and interesting. Get to know her.

10. Vicki and Friends - Again...many, many friends. Dialogue, random-ness, photos, entertaining!

11. Blogwise.com - A directory of blogs...thanks Sven!

We are just blogging away about the house...these folks have real exciting lives! With photos! And points-of-view!

Someday. Someday.

Okay, back to the stuff.

Electricity and I--Not the best of pals

Today, after I got home from work, I put on a brave face and started to sort and tag. For the garage sale, that is. Man, but researching what things should cost is stressful. There is a LOT of stuff in here. And a lot of it is worth very, very little. Trust me on this. Old does not necessarily equal valuable.

A good thing and a not so good thing happened.

I did drag our BIG PRIZE SCORE from the dangers of the unventilated bathroom to the dry comfort of the storage room in the attic. This part of the attic has a cute little door and everything. Very sweet...

As is the TRUNK! (Our aforementioned big score...)

Constructed by the Hartmann Luggage Company at the turn of the century. Those clever drawers have ribbons in them to tie things. Under the silk hanging down is a series of flat wooden hangers. It has it's original keys... It is very smart and we love it. We will be tucking this into the kneewalls of the Master Bedroom

When we have a Master Bedroom.

BUT THEN! Tragedy (again with electricity!). I was wiping off and examining the marks of some unusual pottery in the basement. The piece I'm about to show you is by Lewis Weil:

I have no idea who that is...but his name is on the piece. I was fascinated by this piece. The overall construction involves a lightbulb in the head of the yawning boy and when you plug it in, it is a nightlight. With the light coming out of his mouth. A little strange, but in a wacky vintage way.

Without examining the age of the cord or it's series of tapings with electrical tape, I confidentally plugged it into the wall...and immediately shorted out a breaker in the box while at the same time sparking the cord and blowing it into two pieces. The head survived just fine.

Sigh. I will never know what this happy little head looks like lit up at night.

And as I type, I am making less and less sense because it is LATE. Goodnight. And goodnight Lewis Weil, whoever you are...

Say whaaaa...??? (To paraphrase Jon Stewart)

So, we are at that place where we feel like we are losing momentum rather than gaining it. After the initial cleaning and before we've had time to begin anything major and drawn out. Before the hot and muggy weather is gone.

Luckily, a phone call to L in Boston has me laughing instead of blue. Not only do her sister and brother-in-law live in a gorgeously renovated Victorian in Northampton, but they have put themselves through this more than once! Is there a type of -mania, like "kleptomania", except with renovation? What IS that Latin word for "renovates endlessly putting themselves through torture repeatedly"?

She's says I'll be alright. That is the absolutely most yucky stage.

Well, that's good.

So, before we fall asleep at night, A and I read our little "Do It Yourself" picture books and gear up for the weekend. Here's a snippet of our conversation from last night:

A: Listen to this. Who writes the copy that goes with these pictures? (reading aloud) ��sometimes, though, you want to go beyond the basics and experience the real pleasure of bathing. The deep relaxation of hot water. The therapy of quiet immersion. The peaceful pleasure of bathing with family or friends�� (stops reading) Whaaaaa? (makes funny cartoon shaking head noise)

J: (Can't speak...laughing too hard with a combination of horror and fascination...makes hand waving gesture that indicates "keep reading!")

A: (Reading on) "�my sense is that the quality of room as a space is paramount�with places to sit around the perimeter with good natural lighting��

J: Ohmigosh! Who wrote your book???!!! I mean, the photographs are great, so maybe the guy hired to write copy around them thought, "It's Friday. No one will really read this...I'm outta here for the weekend"...?

A: No, but wait! Don't you see? This is exactly what we need to design for our upstairs bathroom! So when you are taking a bath, and if you have a guest over, they have somewhere to sit, you know, on the perimeter�

J: Stop! STOP! Suddenly, I don�t want to know anymore...I'm going to sleep.

What happens when you have too much "guest seating" around your bathtub? Alice Springs, Australia...that's what happens!

(It's the Bath Tub races at Alice Springs, Australia!)

What have we learned so far about old things?

You know, researching the history of historical and vintage items is so much more difficult than we thought, After many trips to the library, and bookstores, and MANY searches on the web, I still have the following questions:

1) Who is the pottery artist named "de Vegh?"

2) What is the story on the Gefle company in Sweden?

3) Who is Lewis Weil?

And many others. It's back to the books on this one.

The objects themselves are interesting, however, it's the story behind each one that I find fascinating. I spied this on a book list somewhere and thought it might explain my general fascination. Objects of Desire: The Lives of Antiques...

To this end, the folks on the eBay Community Discussion boards have been INVALUABLE. I tip my hat to their good judgement, generousity and kindness. Thank you folks. (If you are ever confused about something's identity, check with these folks...they REALLY know their stuff!)

Also, if you want to complete Mom's wedding china set with that cup and saucer that you accidentally broke when you were 11, here is you BIG CHANCE. Replacements, LTD can at least get you started...

I've learned that vinegar is a handy cleaner when it comes to old glass and even metal. Straight ammonia (use in well-ventilated area, protect clothes, wood and other surfaces) can strip years of grime off of a window and chandelier and linoleum tile. (Thanks Mom)

Using Oxyclean then a gentle vinegar rinse breathes new life (and white) into some darkened or stained linens. Treat stains with a combination of salt and vinegar using a small fingernail brush. Or with an enzyme-absorbing stain remover. Dry in the sunshine on a breezy day...the sun will lighten and is a critical part of the process! I was blown away by how snowy white I was able to get an old lace daily after a gentle vinegar rinse and some time in the sun.

(sorry...took the second picture at night with the overhead light on, created some funky shadows)

A dehumidifier is critical in a musty, damp basement. Yahhoo!

LPG says that using vodka on a rag to wipe down the drawers of antiques and built-ins gets ALL the musty, old smell out. But I have been too afraid to try it. I throw dryer sheets in them instead but I think I may have to try her approach soon.

I'm going to use an interesting stucco cleaning recipe I found today...I'll post the results later.

Any one else have cleaning or freshening words of wisdom? Bungalow pals? Relatives? livejournal folks? eBay friends? Friends in general?

Is this renovating? Or dating?

The cable person stood me up today.

I feel like I am dating again.

I thought A and I were safely tucked away within the bonds of matrimony and suddenly we've been thrust into the front lines of THE HOME REPAIR GAME because we have bought a fixer-upper. Waiting by the phone? Yes. Wondering if they'll like you enough to come back? Yes. Moping around until you hear from them? Yes.

I'm in high school all over again. I'm scanning the "Ask Norm" column in This Old House magazine as feverishly as I used to scan the "Dating Tips" column in Seventeen Magazine.

So, we did a lot of stuff ourselves this past weekend while pretending like we didn't care that the most POPULAR contractors were spending time with OTHER clients. Probably cheerleader clients.

We took the garage from WORSE than this (click on the picture for a close-up):

To BETTER than THIS:

Raising our hopes (oh please please please!) for a garage/yard/basement sale in September. That's right, you heard it here first...GARAGE SALE IN SEPTEMBER. Of 2003 even! Probably the 2nd or 3rd weekend. Bring the kids. Unless you need the room for the amazing STUFF you'll get. eBay auctions for a few choice items will begin that same weekend...more later.

We dragged this little beauty from the garage to the upstairs bathroom to temporarily solve our ventilation problem near the shower...

Aii-yup. (I drawl, as I hook my thumbs in my suspenders and rock back on my heels.) That there is a gen-u-ine Berns "Air King" RE-versible window fan. Just a touch of the lever on the top and the whole fan unit inside that grill flips over to blow air in the other direction. 'a course, we've got it facing OUT so that the moist air from the shower doesn't wreck the "bedroom-turned-bathroom in 1951" anymore than it is already wrecked. No plastic? Art deco styling? I'm guessing the fan is from the 1930's or 1940's...

Ah, the GOOD life. With modern technology....

A peaceful place

Our Own Personal Niagara Falls

Today was a very unusual day.

Coco had a yucky day. She ate something that didn't agree with her and didn't feel well.

She didn't feel well many times. On almost an hourly basis for about 5 hours. This kept us on our toes all day.

And it rained VERY hard today. And also hailed.

When we checked the new extended downspout in the front of the house, we were very proud little homeowners. It was working very well.

So we checked the back of the house, just out of curiousity.

And realized that the back sidewalk was ANKLE DEEP in water. Which I tested out...yup, ankle deep. Love those Teva's.

This made me wonder...hmm. How is the basement doing? So I trotted down there. Everything looked dry! Great! And then, I heard the sound of rushing water. So I opened the back door which is at the bottom of some steps under the back room of the house. Actually it is the SECOND back door. We have 2 doors there...one at backyard level and one at basement level.

Luckily we had decided to have the pipes under the house rodded clear of debris the first week we moved over. Because the drain and the pipes were keeping our own personal NIAGARA FALLS from flooding into the basement.

Notice how I popped the top off of the drain? This is because it was draining a tad bit more slowly than it needed to for this onslaught of water.

Like I said, it was an unusual day.

Splash!

Everyone needs a buddy break!

You know, when this whole process becomes too overwhelming, we are thankful for our friends. Because they make us laugh. And think hard about world issues. And help us through the rough spots. (But...at the end of this story is a surprise appearance by the EMPEROR of creepy crawlies...be careful when scrolling.)

Today, K came in from Law School in DC...we were SO HAPPY to see her! She and her sister, B, as well as friends L & A helped A & I to celebrate a mild Friday evening in the flowery backyard. And to break in the new (old) lawn furniture! (Okay, okay...I'm the one next to L on the seat...with the blue dress. A is taking the picture.)

We cooked dinner on the grill (of course) and moved into the dining room to eat. Everyone looks satisfied with the meal and company...except Coco. Coco just looks hopeful.

Then B and K and L entertained us with a Swedish song about a frog with no tail, and um, a bunny, and a pig I think. Man, it is a hard language. But hand signals help obviously...

At the end of the evening, we waved goodbye to everyone from our front porch. And it reminded me that I wanted to take a photo of this weird contraption installed on the top of the front porch column. So I just held my digital camera about my head, pointed and shot, hoping for a good picture. The PO had glued a plastic shoebox and a piece of wood with nails to discourage nesting birds. Interesting solution.

When I loaded up my file onto the PC, I got more than I bargained for. There was a "friend" in the photo who I couldn't see from my angle. So I enlarged the photo and

THERE

EVER!!

Do Not click on this next link, unless you are sure you can handle it. I mean, this thing is enormous. It has its own zipcode. I think it is the size of a Komodo Dragon.

Remember, I warned you.

Click here if you dare.

The Gang's All Here!

Sometimes, while you are reading this blog, you may be thinking, "Who is nutty enough about a type of ARCHITECTURE that they would put themselves through that renovation stuff?"

Well, we are. But we're not alone!

We have plenty of Bungalow Pals who get us through our ups and downs. Including many on the American Bungalow Magazine forum. People who love bungalows are more than a "group"...they are a movement! Much like the movement between 1910 and 1940 when most of the bungalows across the country were built. Bungalows may look little but they live LARGE, are esthetically pleasing, and have a lot of heart AND soul.

We have many Bungalow Pals who have blazed the "un-muddling" trail ahead of us...and lots of bungalows we admire. The folks on the AB Forum are a nice group whether you have a bungalow or just want to talk renovation and interior design (and furniture and paint and so on). Maybe you have a Georgian, a Colonial or other type of home...this group that will invite you in, shake your hand and settle you down on the porch with a glass of wine.

We can't list ALL of them here--there are so many! But here are few cool places to check out...make sure you click the links to review THEIR before and after photos.

Suzanne's Sweet Bungalow

Mike's Magnificent Bungalow Stove

Diane's Divine Bath

Wendi & Jason's Dreamy Slumberland Fireplace (Slumberland is also a fun blog...)

Rick and Carrie's "Back from the Brink" Bungalow

Heather and Dave's "Wow-Me" Woodwork

(Apologies to significant others, family and friends who also deserve credit...I didn't know everyones' name!)

If you want to see MORE impressive un-muddling, check out these little beauties:

Mary and Ken's Marvelous Tudor Revival

Anne's Kitschy Gem-licious Bungalow

Robin and Tom's Wonderful Wyoming Bungalow (Here too!)

Kristen's In-credible Bungalow House

Vix's Very Amazing Villa

Scott & Carolyn's Pumpkin Shell...which they keep very, very well

Ahhh...the bungalow life...

p.s. Scott & Carolyn...does Rose want some extra projects? :)

Looking for Mr. or Ms. Good Wrench

Coco and I went on a mission together in the car.

We were looking for....craftspeople.

This is the Number One cause of stress in restoring an old house and home improvement. More than no tiles on the wall of the bathroom, funky smells or peeling paint. Finding good people in any profession has always been difficult. And we haven't been having much luck in finding the structural folks that will get us to the next step.

The few folks who we've talked to want us to "gut it" in order to complete the work. Take out ALL of the plaster...walls and ceilings. Which would mean taking off the wood trim. And putting up drywall for the whole house. And insulating behind this drywall. And replacing the trim. Plaster and trim that has been there for 90 years. The drywall that was put up in this house within the last 5 years or so? That already needs to be replaced.

It's time for a meltdown.

After all of the original stuff is scrapped....why did we buy an old house? Of course we don't want it the easiest, cheapest way! Or we'd be living in a townhouse just over the Illinois border.

According to TEConnor (another Bungalow Pal and craftperson-ologist), the quality craftsperson is:

The rare breed...They are elusive, nocturnal, hibernating beasts that may or may not have identifiable characteristics. Their habitat ranges from stately mansions in posh historic districts to gentrification projects in forgotten neighborhoods. They do not own phones. They do not believe in pagers or cell phones. They only work by the written word. People who have witnessed this rare and dying breed claim that they are the most beautiful species of contractors known to restoration man. They are known to flee from the sight of smiling teeth and extended hands. If sighted, it is best to approach them with head bowed and hands to the side. Allow them to initiate all discussion and just nod with agreement at all they say. The slightest misuse of electrical jargon will send this species running back to their nesting vans, the windows apparently uncleaned in decades, the dash littered with chicken scratch receipts and unidentifiable rusty metal objects, never to return.

I feel like I am stalking a Yeti.

The first place we drove by looked promising. The people behind the counter were less hopeful. "Anyone of deez guys is an electrician," said one, snapping her gum and waving her hand. I approached one of them carefully and explained my situation. He eyes me critically, "Keep the plaster, eh? You mean fish it down between the walls? I don't like taking those kind of jobs and I'm really booked...but here is my card. Call me."

Back in traffic, it began to rain. We went from supply place to supply place. No luck.

Now this is REALLY getting depressing. So, I pulled the car into the last stop, dashed for the door and took a number at the order counter to wait my turn.

"Calling Number 30! Yeah? Whad'dya want?"

My words spilled out in a rush.

He laughed. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't trust any of the clowns in here with my OWN house!"

My shoulders slumped. I prepared to drag my feet to the door when I heard myself ask, "Who WOULD you trust with your own house?"

He fished around in the cash register drawer and came up with a plain white card. A name and number with a lightening bolt printed in the corner. The words "No job too big or too small" printed at the top. "He's the uncle of one of the guys who works here. An old guy. Call him."

Hope in the form of a little white card. It's enough for now.

Just a Regular (Fair & Balanced) Day

Okay. Remember this guy?

Alright. So HE is how my day ended. Let's start from the top.

5:00 am

Wake up in a seated position on the couch with the laptop in your lap and an aching neck. Because you still have insomnia and are having a problem synching up the "sleep" software with the "laying down on a comfortable bed" software.

5:15 am

Find the Advil. Do a load of laundry and wash the dishes. Feed the dog and the cat because they both are hanging on to your ankles. Think long and hard about someday being a parent. Decide to just leave it up to Providence.

5:45 am

Wander around a lot in a stupor. Pour a cup of cold, old coffee. Load it up with ice cubes and sugar and pretend you are drinking an "iced latte from that coffee place in Seattle". Lay down on the living room floor until that "room spinning" feeling passes. Because, at age 37, you are battling high blood pressure and you are not supposed to be drinking coffee. Especially with Advil and your morning meds. Idiot!

6:30 am

Husband wakes up and is not completely understanding why you are already awake...but is used to the unexplainable after 2 years of marriage and trots off to the upstairs icky shower.

7:15 am

Husband leaves for work and you take a shower. Wonder if you should take apart vintage fan and clean it so it doesn't start a fire in the house. Walk dog. Eat something already.

9:00 am

Begin to use the only home improvement tool you've been able to use all week since you feel kinda stuck without an electrician or plumber.

10:00 am

Leave the house and head out for a day of research...the only full day you'll get...so you know what in the heck to sell in the garag--excuse me--ESTATE sale. Head to the most horrific architectural facade to ever be designed in the last 10 years...the Harold Washington Library Center. Shudder as you walk up to it because it looks like one of the Creatures from the Black Lagoon is launching itself right off of the building AT YOU!

Imagine terrified little kids and adults with BIG imaginations freaking out as you gape up at this gargoyle on your walk across the street and up to the building. Then notice that it is ONLY AN OWL with a lot of stuff going on behind it. Feel annoyed with the architect who designed it and the city council who approved it for failing to make this MORE clear at a distance.

5:00 pm

Get in the car to head home and then have your heart jump into your throat as you catch the tail end of a story on NPR about something crazy happening in New York. Where your extended family lives. Pray. Catch the rest of the story. Breathe a sigh of relief.

6:30 pm

Get home, chat with husband about day, grill out in the "kitchen" and notice that the door to the storage space under the back porch has been pried open. Wonder if this has anything to do with why the dog got excited about something happening in the backyard at 2:00 am. Especially since someone is home all day in the houses on BOTH sides of you and couldn't have gotten in there without being seen. Think about the skunk you've been seeing all week.

7:00 pm

Leave husband outside, advising him to grill as quickly as possible, and go inside to wait until dark.

9:30 pm

Go out to bravely close the door after dark, theory being "skunk will have left for the night." Fret as amused husband trails you with camera.

Shut door and try not to laugh at husband's jokes, this is SERIOUS BUSINESS!

AND STAY OUT! Shove iron urn in front of door and kick it for good measure. Stubbing your toe.

Try to get some sleep because you are getting seriously whackaloon.

p.s. FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th is FAIR & BALANCED DAY! Happy Fair and Balanced Day!

Nothing Much

Some days we make more progress than others. Today was one of the others...

We did have a nice dinner with my parents and grandparents, though. It just didn't result in any progress in our estate-sale preparation or our home improvement quest. Oh well...

Ssssh. Don't scare him away...

(whispering)

Okay, cool. We may have found an electrician. A guy that digs plaster walls, has loads of experience and is very pleasant. We saw his work in progress on C & D's house and called him. He has the precision of a surgeon when it comes to plaster walls and ceilings. Until we are sure that we haven't scared him away, we will have to refer to him as

Mr. X

(cue organ music here!)

We conferred with the cool people at Fine Homebuilding's Breaktime message boards for some advice on snagging a quality, busy, works-for-himself craftsperson. We'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, read this article called "Salvaged Bones". It is AMAZING to me what someone talented can do re-using materials from a house.

Hopefully we'll get to use all of the wood W saved somewhere in here. And the pieces of marble. And some bricks. We've already used some of the string and the oaktag.

A budget and a stalled economy is all the motivation you need. Now, if you'll excuse me, the dog is taking up all the space in front of our one air-conditioner and I have to make her share. It is after 10 pm and still close to 90 degrees up here. Yech.

Eventually, life finds YOU...through the internet

Okay, before I launch into our very fun experience yesterday, I just want to give you a small visual update.

THIS room used to be FULL to the BRIM with things. And now, most things on the second floor have been researched, tagged, photographed and put in their proper temporary storage place. Either for sale or for keeping. We worked on this floor today. (click to make things larger):

What you are ALSO seeing (or NOT seeing) is the result of about 12 weeks of cleaning and recleaning (and recleaning). Trash. Rocks. Dust bunnies so large they looked like bird's nests. Pieces of plaster wall and ceiling. Twisted metal. String. So much dirt that the dog has been in HEAVEN. Dirt from the 1940's. Pieces of peeling paint. Slivers of glass. Dead bugs. Old mouse "party favors". Exhausting, painful-beyond-belief-when-you-are-allergic-to-dust-and-mites type cleaning. Much like the gerbil I had when I was ten.

Or hamster. Or whatever that was. When it would clean out its den and a HUGE pile of "stuff" would just be outside the door. I have felt like that gerbil. (No offense to gerbils or hamsters...we could have used a few and probably would be done with this room faster.) I think our garbagepeople think we are gerbils, too.

Anyway.

Yesterday, I checked my email and found a note in my inbox from someone whose nephew found our site when searching for genealogy information. Then I received TWO more notes from members of this same family!! We're pretty sure that THIS is the family that originally owned the house--this is mind-blowing type exciting! Turns out that the man who might have bought or built the house was from Denmark and was a builder! (Which explains the absolutely magnificent trim and built-in's). The previous owner's grandparents would have bought the house from this family during the Great Depression! We've written a few more notes...and now I am just letting it sink in. ALL of those NIGHTS when I laid awake, unable to sleep, wondering about the first inhabitants of the house. Who they were, where they were from, what they were like. And NOW...maybe....we might find out more about them!! This means SO much to us, especially as we are trying to restore as many things as we can and make the house beautiful again.

Now you are probably thinking: "J, don't be so naive. This could be ANYONE on the INTERNET playing with you. Those 3 notes could be from the same 7th grader in Phoenix, for example."

I'll admit, I was hesitant at first. But when the grandson of the man who may have been the first owner wrote to me, he included information about the house in the note that IS NOT ON THIS SITE. And that is pretty amazing.

So, eventually life does find you on the Internet. :)

p.s. We would just like to say "hello" to the different countries outside of the United States that are visting the site...we couldn't believe it when we checked the stats.

So (in order) hello Australia, Finland, Belgium, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, New Zealand, Brazil, Phillipines, Taiwan, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, France, Sweden, Romania, Spain, the Russian Federation, Austria and South Africa!

This House in Progress supports world peace and a cleaner planet for all of us. Thanks for stopping by.

Mom, do not read this. I'm serious.

Another scorching day. Another day spent by the A/C unit.

I didn't know whether I should write about this next topic or not. But, in the absence of further progress on the "de" construction (and at the insistance of my dear spouse), I shall now bring up a very VERY serious topic with all of you.

The matter of what to do with your wedding band during home improvement projects.

(Mom, stop reading now. Or you'll hyperventilate. Go find a good book or something.)

Once upon a time...

If you were anything like me, you would always imagine the VERY VERY worst thing that could happen YEARS in advance of any event. "What if I look REALLY AWFUL with gray hair?" "What if the other people at the retirement home don't laugh at my jokes?"

Things like that.

So the thought of sticking my hand into an unfinished wall in a very old house with my wedding ring on my finger plays back like this photograph over and over in my head.

(By the way, if you should need your very own Orc Banner, you can get it here. Isn't the Internet amazing?)

With that in mind, I decided last weekend NOT to wear my ring while we were mucking around with open walls and hammers and garbage bags of dirt and so forth. Which, I'll tell you now--because I know she didn't listen to me--is causing my mother to have heart failure this very minute.

Because she told me NEVER, NEVER TAKE IT OFF!

I grew up a tomboy and was never very good with jewelry and "stuff", although I adore THIS ring because this guy I dig kinda, you know, gave it to me and all. In fact, LIKING the ring is exactly what triggered the next little paranoid episode in this drama.

If it is not on my finger, WHERE should it BE?

So, I hid it. And I was quite clever about it too. I hid it away from dust and dirt and accidentally getting thrown out in construction mayhem and from the dog in my tiny jewelry box with my good watch (already chipped the face while working with it on), a pair of very pretty faux pearl earrings, and a coin from our trip to China. I was so clever about hiding this box that I could not remember where it was.

At all. This seems to be the curse of women in our family. My father is probably picking up my mother off of the floor right now.

So, after I panicked and cried and was consoled by my level-headed dear spouse, we checked a few places that I COULD have put it, while sweating and dizzy in the house with no ventilation.

We retired to bed to "sleep on it" so that "maybe I would remember where I put it if I relaxed." (My spouse's idea.) I did not sleep at all. I lay awake at 4:00 am staring at the ceiling and feeling completely miserable.

Dawn came. My spouse went to work. I started to rewrite the syllabus for the class I'm teaching this fall. And then abandoned it, grabbed a flashlight and room-by-room picked this house apart.

By 4:00 pm, with sweat streaming off of my brow, I found it. Even after I saw the box there, I had no memory of putting it there.

Under the mattress. Upon which I had lain awake. All night. Like a modern day "Princess and the Pea". (Which, can only be illustrated by Edmund Dulac, who was one of the best illustrators ever.)

And thus, the ring is being taken from this house for safekeeping and only the occassional wearing until de-construction is over. By my dear spouse. Who will know where it is at all times.

The End

What are you DOING here? It's a HOLIDAY!

Really. You need to take a break from looking at home, um, improvement. It's Labor Day. Meaning a day to celebrate by NOT laboring. A day to fire up the grill and invite some pals into your backyard so they can look in horror at the mess you've bought.

Like we are.

So, while we are out in the yard, we can offer up these sites that we find interesting, clever and amusing (and educational!) and that we aren't usually able to feature because they have NOTHING to do with our topic. Home De-construction.

Check them out. You'll enjoy yourself. And have a happy Labor Day. From all of us at Home in Progress.

Chaos Kitty: Simply elegant and funny.

Ze Frank: Still the master of creativity and having a good time on the Internet. And, he mentions his mom a lot in his blog...always good to give a little love to the mom.

Things that are broken make me want to fix them. (Except companies. I've gotten out of that now. Because, well, they don't want to be fixed.) Plus, Mark Good is a very nice down to earth guy who knows his stuff.

This American Life...the real one.

My life right now. Except I'm in one house and these guys are everywhere.

Chicago Uncommon. Some of the most beautiful photography to be found documenting a city I love.

___________________________________________

Ask my mom. She will tell you that I was born marching to the step of a different drummer. Which means that these following links will be of no surprise to her. But, if you just want to keep to the lighthearted portion of this holiday....do not cross this line, please.
____________________________________________

Okay. You crossed it. So now you know. When I'm not blogging on this website and tearing up a house, I'm pretty outspoken regarding human rights, politics, social issues and truth in media.

Mark Fiore: Some people call him "Mr. Fiore" Politicians call him &*!@# I call him "MasterFlash Mark"

I love Walter Cronkite for making a comeback. I really, really do. And this time he gets to share HIS opinion, finally! Give us all heck WC...

I've said it before, I'm saying it again. I love The Daily Show. It's sad, though, when this show is the ONLY news show that gives me the bottom line on what's going on within my own government. And puts it into the clearest perspective.

And if I need to know what is really going on in Iraq...I go to the source.

Now with Bill Moyers...watch him.

The most compelling reality film footage you will ever see. Which should make the major networks ashamed, very ashamed.

They Rule. It's frightening. Do they rule you?

Finally, a long distance company with more substance than spam. I've been a loyal customer since 1995. I've never looked back.

And finally, he's caustic but he's honest. Mr. Moore and the best links to what we aren't getting from Faux and CNN. Especially funny? Mary Rosh, aka John Lott. But also terribly sad. Especially when you consider the shade of his/her lipstick. And that eyebrow pencil. I wonder if his gun matches his hat.

What are you looking for?

We were enjoying ourselves thoroughly at our BLOCK PARTY tonight. :) Neighbors are cool. Plus, we are thoroughly convinced that we live on one of the coolest streets of neighbors in Chicago. They've been doing this block party thing for 20 years! There was live music and great food...it was much fun.

So, with little time before I head downstairs to rummage, I checked out our "stats" on the site, which I do occasionally. It's fun to see which countries access the site and so forth.

I'm always intrigued by what people are LOOKING FOR when they stumble across our site via an Internet search engine, like Google or Yahoo or MSN.

The fact that they are looking for THESE things doesn't really surprise me (in order of popularity):

silent paint remover
i cannot place this
installing coaxial cable
thousand legger
houseinprogress
subway tile
bungalow tile
palmetto bug photo
home improvement bungalow
just sashes
americanbungalow.com
fishing wire through walls
i have a small bathroom new bathtub
bungalow restoration
conduits old house
how to clean stucco

Of course, we do get searches on items from the "What On Earth?" section. That's to be expected.

THESE things seem a little bit more, um, UNUSUAL :) And I don't think we talk about some of them on our site (like, um, opium plants for instance. I know THOSE aren't on there.)

in-law s dirty home
cnn --huh?
what does beginner opium plants look like
wall shelves from cardboxes
do scorpians have nests
a/c dog house --we would like A/C in the regular house.
what should i do if my cat gets paint thinner on her paws
possum vinegar --I don't want to know.
smelly toes cartoon --Again, I don't want to know.
stay-puft marshmellow man
where can i buy steer horns in chicago
evolution of dishwashing liquid
bangs gerbil blog
oompa band chicago
this whole house --Whoops. I think they want "This Old House"
can honey damage wall in house?
improvement of a meat grinder
how do i make pictures that look like they are from the 70 s
opium based liquor
picture of a spatula of the 1930 s
paint googie color scheme --"googie" hee!
funny/cartoon pictures of leprechauns
list 2003 email address of cool room owners
a & m leatherlines
whaaaa jon stewart --I'm just flattered we made it for this one.
sultan pepper nebraska music
3 dimensional bark pictures japan
doll that gets tan
tony fross -- who can be reached at Octave Consulting :)
2003 used fan for sale by owner romania
husband latex happily married --um, not on OUR site. But good luck to you, you crazy kids you.

Shh! Be Very Very Quiet...

...and no sudden moves.

Our favorite electrician out of the bunch we reviewed is BACK! We are so excited. More about Mr. X later.

It's all in the details.

Some days I am quite sure I know why we bought this house.

Other days, as I am vaccuuming yet more dirt from the floors, or brushing plaster dust from my clothing, or washing my 4th set of dishes that day, I think...

What did we SEE in this place?

Okay. Okay. It was the location (in A's old neighborhood near his parents and near our church). It was the neighbors...awesome. It was the "flow" of the house...very nice. And it was the details. They obviously blinded us to all else.

The built-in cabinets>...(click on a picture to make it larger)

Unpainted doors, lots of six-over-six windows and most of the trim:

There were things like the doorknobs and the front hall tile:

Small windows in odd places...the stained glass windows (which the PO reluctantly left behind) that SHOULD be on either side of the fireplace and the nice little Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen:

And yes, a 6'7" husband means that higher than average ceilings on all 3 floors were a "plus". And there were the raftertails and the kneewalls outside...

Okay. So EVERYTHING ELSE IS DIRTY OR BROKEN AND FALLING OFF. But those details...THUMBS UP! No doubt...sigh.

Never Ever Alone

If you double-click on this picture, you will get an impression of what it is like to grab a quick burger between tagging and cleaning in our house.

You are never, ever eating ALONE!

And, by the way? Since we published the search engine phrases that have led people astray and to OUR website, we've actually had a few funnier, some definitely puzzling, and more gross ones, like:

- cleaning bathroom lend slave

- diary entries about camping in jungle

- next Wouldn't every website EVER show up in this search?

- how to repaint fake wood Repaint it? Get rid of it!

- how much did a sweater cost in the 1930

- how to cover up a mail slot with a mailbox Because......?

- pictures spiders in the basement

- articles about amway during august 2003

- photos of people waving hello

- catch bees with soda and dishwashing liquid

- i am exhausted

- pancho villa liquor bottles on ebay These exist?

- another word for skunk

- what kind of bug digs into neck area of humans? ohmigosh!!!!

- if there is a will and someone is quick deeded on the house but the house goes to two different people in the will when that person passes away do the two people in the will still own the house?

- abandon joint tenancy Obviously, something is not working out for these folks.

- dating an old house I'd recommend being friends first.

How ACCURATE are search engines? Well, hmmmm.

A trip to the Restoration and Renovation Expo

Today we went to the Restoration & Renovation Expo at Chicago's Navy Pier.

Even though it's a conference intended for architects and contractors, we found it pretty useful as homeowners, too. (It's in Boston in 2004 for those of you in that neck of the woods.) It was nice to make quick work of our questions in just one afternoon, and we had plenty of access to vendors since traffic was a bit light on the afternoon of the last day of the conference.

A great thing about our new place is that it is a quick trip downtown via the El. In just 30 minutes, we were enjoying a beautiful day on the Lake Michigan waterfront.

After a stroll along the pier, we headed in to register. A few minutes later, we'd registered and "House in Progress" was officially at the show.

What we found was a bit of everything. We got good information on:

• Mini-duct AC systems (we've intended to learn about Space Pak and Unico for awhile now.)
  
• Window alternatives to replace the glass block in our ff bathroom (The Andersen guys were nice.)
  
• Lots of neat reproduction and vintage hardware distributors (like Rejuvenation Hardware)
  

So the surprise of the day? While we certainly learned alot, we never would have thought that we would have been recognized because of this site! But sure enough, at two vendor booths when we walked up they looked at our badges and said "Hey, the House in Progress people!" Weird!

Anyway, we'll be gathering bids on mini-duct AC systems in the next few months, so we'll let you know how that pans out. In the meantime, it was just nice to get out of the house and enjoy the last weekend of summer!

Happiness CAN be found in an Appliance

Well, not complete happiness forever and ever. But a little "whee, kicking up my heels" happiness for the moment. And that is nice.

Our very small dishwasher...She is working! And that is HUGE! Even though she is not. Huge that is :)

She joins the ranks of admirable appliances here at Chez Mess. Mr. Vacuum, Mr & Mrs Washer and Dryer and Mr. Electric Lawnmower.

A long time ago, I used to think that washing the dishes was soothing and pleasurable. Here, it is the battle of Sisyphus against grime and dirt.

Yes, it is tiny...18" across.

And yes, it falls out of the wall when you use it and has to be shoved back in again each time.

But it works! It works!

What do you want, Coco?

Would someone out in Readerland please read this dog's mind and tell us what she wants. Please? (click on the picture for the full effect)

Because we honestly DON'T KNOW.

Her nightly ritual at 9:45 pm has become *grrr, grrr* then BARK! BARK! BARK! then a series of meaningful looks that plead..."you KNOW what I want. C'mon. Give me what I want."

But we DON'T know. We know it's not "out". We know it's not "play". We know it's not "toy" or "cat". All attempts are met with only frustrated sighs and dog groans.

I guess I don't even need to say that this never happened in the old house.

As I type this, the cycle has been repeated twice and it is beginning again. From the top. With the *grrr's*.

WHAT DOES SHE WANT????!!!!!!

Dust you can write your name in

Today, we tried and tried to get the best of our "to do" list, but some days it IS hard.

The dust left in this house does not help. In the beginning, it got into everything...our hair, our clothes, our food. We clean and clean but it will take awhile...and that is BEFORE the work begins! It is dust you can write your name in.

I wasn't kidding! This is the top shelf of a bookcase we tipped over to carry down the stairs.

The whole house was like this when we started. And we have had to spend time carefully cleaning each item that wasn't protected by a box or plastic bag all of these years.

How long does it take for dust this thick to accumulate inside of a house? Astounding.

For the next three days, we will be disassembling and reassembling every window in the house, many of which have not been opened in years. Like these dining room windows.

The thought makes us nervous with excitement and, well, nervousness. We'll take you through the action with us. Please wish us luck! (And not much broken glass...)

Nooooooooooooooo!

Not a garbage strike! No, please, not that!

And, what will we...I mean, where will...what will we do with the LITTERBOX????

Come to think of it, the collectors probably should get more money based on our house alone. Sigh.

Sick. An Tired.

I am sick. I am also tired. Mostly this is due to the cold season coming on (I work near pre-schoolers and with folks in college.) I tend to pick up every "bug" imaginable.

How tired am I? Last night, I climbed into bed with my dinner (a stack of plain rice cakes) and my book. I don't remember anything until waking up this morning with the book on my stomach and a totally complete rice cake STICKING OUT OF MY MOUTH!

I hadn't moved all night. Even to chew. I was THAT tired. I must have breathed through my nose, which is a miracle.

Why neither pet took advatage of my plight shall always remain a mystery.

CUBS WIN!!!

Cubs Win!!!!

The last time the Cubs won a (postseason) Series is BEFORE THIS HOUSE WAS BUILT!

Which means that there will be a lot more of this happening around here for a little while.

Yeah. The last time there was no house. No TV. And that chair certainly wasn't around. Wow.

This is all a mind blower. Right, A? A? A?

Something tells me I'm on my own for researching and tagging for the next few weeks.

HouseKEEPING...in progress

How does one live in transition? Live in a house while work ON the house is ongoing?

You go a little nuts trying to keep up. Then you set your priorities and your expectations around everything else sinks very VERY low.

Then, you go into a frenzy about every 2 weeks crying out, "Please! No more dust!! NO MORE DUST!!!"

Because, every 2 days when you dust (no longer is it 1 week or 2), you have this:

Wastebasket that you could use in the old house:

Wastebasket you NEED in the new house:

Vacuum cleaner you used in the old house:

Vacuum cleaner you NEED in the new house:

NOOOO! NOT in THERE! It's the first floor bathroom! FRIGHTENING! Shut the door quick before all the dirt gets out!!!

Whew...

Clean sheets without grit? It's a constant churn. Doing laundry? Every day it seems.

Dave trying to "undo" the laundry if you leave it too long in the wrong spot?

Well. that's pretty normal, actually....

Though, if anyone has some "Dirt Containment Ideas" for reconstruction...please share! Please? (whimper)

This might finally be a reality show we can relate to

I'm not a big fan of reality TV.

I don't consider it very "real". Even shows which are fun about home improvement are a little SURreal...where's the disagreement about door placement? Where are the 18 trips to Lowes or Home Depot or the local lumberyard?

And NO WAY can you do the amount of work they're doing in 60 minutes. With commercial breaks.

BUT! TBS and Lowe's have just announced a NEW reality TV show called "House Rules." If it shows just ONE real thing about a couple working on a house that is a mess (some quiet crying maybe? Or a trip to the Emergency Room?), I will consider this to be "the real deal".

If you are or were one of the couples who responded to this site, hats off to you, mates. You are brave souls.

Hmmm. I'm already having my doubts. And I haven't seen the show yet! However, the Lowe's website shows a contestant "demolishing" a counter top. No...sorry. Only "pre-demolished" items are real.

And then, there are these rules:

--Each team will renovate one home, starting on a new room each week. (Ahhh haa haa haaa haaaa haaaa! )

--Each team will put their lives on hold for the 12 weeks of the competition. This means they must take a leave of absence from their jobs, as well as move into the house they are renovating. (Lives on hold? Lives on hold?? No, sorry. Live in house, keep lives AND renovate. THAT is real.)

--Weekly allowances will be given to each team, but they must compete in theme games to determine which team gets the largest allowance. Each week's allowance can only be spent for that week's room. It cannot be spent on another room or banked for use later. (Allowances that come every week? I WANT THAT!! Bring on your theme game! I will theme for that! Because...that's not real.)

--Contestants must do all work themselves, with a few exceptions for major installations, which will be handled by Lowe's. (Major installations? I hope they mean, like, installing a furnace.)

--Teams cannot call friends to help them on larger projects. They can only ask for help from their competitors. (Okay, this seems a little strange. It's like calling the neighbor who despises you instead of your dad. This is all very "mind gamey"...)

--All materials must come from Lowe's. (Hmmm. This explains the allowance part. Forget the theme game. I want to choose my own suppliers. Does Lowe's have an emergancy room, by the way?)

--Major tools must be shared among the teams. (Okay, I guess they need this for a "show". Otherwise, they would call it "Barn Raising".)

--A panel of judges will view each team's work for the week. The team whose project is chosen as the week's best will win a special prize. (We never get a special prize...this is SO not real. We may get windows that open. But never a "special prize.")

--At the end of the 12 weeks, TBS Superstation viewers will determine which team will actually win the house they've renovated. (This is more real than "This Old House"...12 weeks. If they made it 12 YEARS, then it would be the MOST REAL "reality show" on television.)

(Keep repeating to self..."do not measure progress against TV...do not measure progress against TV...")

By the way, if you've read this far, you deserve to know reality. Reality is that we had a pile of shredded and ripped up wallpaper in the front room upstairs. On a rug that we weren't keeping. And the cat, angry at us for something, decided to use it as a litterbox. Which he never does. Bye-bye rug. Hello reality.

Early morning, thinking about remarks made about "treasure hunting"

It is 5:00 am and I cannot sleep again. There are many things weighing heavily on my heart and mind. I won't put them here.

I stepped outside of the back door this evening and found this little tree just blazing Fall glory with all of its might...the leaves actually seemed to crackle and burn with colour.

Fall is such an appropriate season for letting go...but it is difficult, because the colours call our attention to the beauty of everything that will soon be hidden.

Someone who spoke to A today teasingly mentioned that he wasn't so interested in our things because we've already identified "everything" and have taken the fun out of treasure hunting. I threw back my head and laughed as I thought that over. Everything? Everything? That would take a thousand years!! Time we don't have. So, no. We have not. We've showed you some interesting things. But some things are far beyond us. They aren't listed anywhere. We have to go to the lowest common denominator in those cases and bless the souls who have time to research it and kudos for their recognition of the value of things. We set out on this course as a historical game--we wanted the STORIES of things.

In the meantime, we need to begin work on the bathroom.

Something else amusing did happen in the last day or so that pulled me out of my reverie for a little while.

We had taken two air conditioners the size of car engines out back behind the garage. It is easy money for the "iron men" to take the metal and then get paid for the weight by their scrap yard of choice. We are only too happy to accomodate them. They help us too, by recycling these things.

But there couldn't have been room in their truck for our things. So they left us a gift in return ;)

A stereo turntable from the 1980's. Which was gone by the next night.

Bless all of the night people.

Which is MORE frightening?

Which is more frigthening? You decide...

The STEPFORD WIVES?

(A bunch of housewives in the 1970's become faceless, expressionless zombies, who are pleasant, malleable and ignorant. But WHO or WHAT is making them THAT WAY? Intrigue, gender power wars, the "perfect wife", robots, murder, strangeness.)

Or.....

The Invasion of the MixMaster Ladies?

(June Cleaver and Aunt Bee clones churn home baked goods out faster than you can eat them and then follow you around, chanting, "Can I get you a little something? Can I get you a little something?")

~Shiver!~

BOTH would give ME bad dreams at night. What do you think?

Sanity Retreat

This weekend we had a "mini-retreat" from the house. We spent a night at a Comfort Inn in Milwaukee (J had to fly out the next morning), and a hotel room never seemed more deluxe!

Working light fixtures, clean floors, no dust! Who would have thought that these "normal" comforts could seem like such a treat!? Actually, the best part was the jacuzzi tub we were upgraded to when our first room was by the elevator and too noisy. After a bath we were cleaner than we had been since June!

Coming back wasn't a downer. It was just nice to spend a night with the comforts that we'd grown so used to until we took on the challenge of the live-in renovation. I'm sure there will be more "sanity retreats" in our future...

Smells like...? A new game. Unfortunately.

So, we had a smelly basement and thought we had fixed it. We felt so clever. So superior. So...naive.

It's back. The SMELL IN THE BASEMENT!

Why I can smell things before A can or even when he cannot, I have no idea. Luckily, other people do. Otherwise, A would think that I was a complete nut.

We've been pouring water down the drains more than once a day. We have tried vinegar. We have tried bleach.

There is no stopping the Smell.

The basement floor is concrete and definitely has settled under some of the support beams. I imagine that the pipes that run the length of the house (and to the sewer under the street) are made of clay. The drains closer to the gas-fired steam boiler seem to be worse than those further away.

That's all I can figure out.

Anyeone in home improvement land know what we can try? I just hope it isn't anything requiring digging up the basement.

And just in case you thought only human adults were capable of "the yuck face"...

* **

* From, "Beagles on the Web"

**Arm & Hammer Fresh Face Winner.

"I will not pick at the house...I will not..."

I can't help it. It's like...well...it's like playing with a thread that is unraveling from your sweater. Or scratching a mosquito bite.

You KNOW you're not supposed to do it. But, it FEELS so good. You know?

I get that way with this house. So much stuff peeling and flaking and tearing away and drooping around here. It's so HARD not to pick at it.

So, I'm on the phone and completely engrossed in the conversation and my eyes naturally drift to my kitchen floor. And to the obvious border that USED to be the outside wall of the house before they moved the back door 3-4 feet to the west.

And then my eyes roam up the wall. And I notice that the vent fan (just stuck in there...not in a useful place and also not attractive) is not QUITE lined up with that old outside wall. Hmmm.

And there is this "mystery bump" in the wall to the right of the fan. And we ARE going to re-do the kitchen.............someday.............and the wallpaper already IS peeling off, so without thinking about it, I begin picking at it. Is there plaster on BOTH sides of the fan? How did they get the fan into the wall? (If you've read our history with this house, you won't be surprised that I am wondering.) And what IS the mystery bump?

So, I'm chatting and peeling, chatting and picking...then

A walks into the kitchen. "What are you DOING???"

My hand freezes mid-pick. "Ummmm. I'm....checking this out. We're going to re-do the kitchen anyway, right?"

"But we aren't going to be able to afford to do the kitchen for five years or so!"

Right. So. No more picking in the kitchen. Can I live for 5 years without knowing what that mystery bump is? Oh man. I need a distraction. Like....

....the doorbell. This is the thing that rings when someone presses our doorbell. Except the thing on top? That isn't it...that's painted over and frozen. OUR doorbell is the xylophone-like chime below it. And, hmm. That looks like duct tape. That can't be good.

Aaaauuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh. "I will not pick at the house. I will not pick at the house. I will not pick at the house."

Happy Halloween Coco!

Coco and I took first shift of trick-or-treat duty since A was commuting from work.

She decided to go as the "Wolf who Ate Grandma in Little Red Riding Hood"

I told her it was a very scary costume. Good choice!

By the 10th try at getting the picture right, you tell she is getting impatient with me. You can specifically tell this by looking at the photo on the right. Dog grin? Or "back off with the camera, babe" bad girl look?

You decide :)

The little kids loved her. Her costume didn't scare them one bit! She was kind of disappointed...she wanted to be scary. On the other hand, they gave her candy wrappers. And that made up for it with her.

Restoration with Love

As a couple, you don't get to spend a lot of romantic time staring into each other's eyes and being mushy when you have a lot of work to do on a house!

So, you have to get creative. So, maybe you're stripping the tile backing off of a wood floor one day. Your dear spouse is working in the basement or off to try to find tile under the tar in the bathroom.

So you proceed to strip the floor...around the carpet anyway. 89% of the thick black dust in this house can be traced back to this flaky floor.

See? THIS is what I am talking about. His side of the bed. You know you'll already be wiped out and sleeping. But you just want him to know.

Can I get a collective "Awwww....so cute!" here? Thanks. :)

Because I know my sisters are gagging right now.

We love dads

What a weekend. It WAS work, work, work. But, oh so worth it.

A's dad was in town this weekend and so was mine! It was Dad heaven! Dad's are great for many reasons, one of which is that they offer help, advice and skills with home repair.

See TV Dads for more dads. Except our dads are married dads. Remember...always give props to the moms too.

So it was off to Home Despot (yes, I spell it that way) for some supplies and then some little "fixes".

Before the weekend, I had picked at the house again. (I know, I know.) I wanted to know what was under THIS paste down vinyl tile in the bathroom.

I was rewarded!! Well, kind of. The original hex tile IS under there. And it isn't broken or cracked. But...there is a gooey layer of black tar between us and the tile. Which will require removal. Which will not be easy. This little patch...still needing to be whitened...took me an hour until I figured out that the *SILENT PAINT REMOVER* could help. More about that in another entry...

Nothing ever comes easy, eh?

Meanwhile, after a few warm days, the steam heat is coming back on and it sounds like little gnomes are sloshing around and firing off cannons in the radiators. It is SO LOUD! The dog is scared half to death...signing off for now... (take cover, Coco!)

You know, I was just talking about web stats...

...to my pal, BFx. And since tonight's other posting, about electrical work, is not finished (and I'm actually tired before midnight...hurray!) then what better time to scan our more fun stats, "countries that are vising us" and "Most Popular Search phrases"?

Hmmmmm.....

Top of the list are the ones you'd expect...the United States, Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan. They like the voyeurism of watching a young couple freak out about the house...

Not expected? So many visits from the US Government and Military, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, TOGO (!!) and Uruguay.

(Many pardons to the 20+ other countries not mentioned...we love you too!)

Expected search phrases?

The following: silent paint remover, wooden window restoration, bathroom subway tile, installing coaxial cable, americanbungalow, and renovating dirty neglected smelly home.

I don't know why I feel miffed about that last one. It's true and yet...I wish it weren't.

Least expected?

looking for japan women contractors email current lists
opium house picture
removing silly string stains
khus ventilation in india
1930 s- 1950 s cleaning house
how to make gingerbread houses out of cardboard
very horrible thing
tablecloths versus placemats
open showers without doors
whacky ideas
how to remove fake nails with house hold cleaning supples
1940 s�@�j�n�e�����e���w�@�t�u�j���`���[
i feel tiny bugs on me in my house
trapping bobcats cages
cleaning after rent-back period

Who knows why people search for the phrases that they do...

Overwhelmed

This weekend we were overwhelmed. We worked on the house, got little sleep and volunteered to host an event gone awry in our future bedroom.

Twenty folks were originally going to take a hayride on Saturday night. It didn't work out. So we offered up the now empty second floor for an inpromtu "hayride substitute evening."

And now we know that 20 people can fit into our future bedroom. Not that we will EVER EVER need to know this once it is ACTUALLY a bedroom.

I'm really tired. And babbling. I'll stop here to prevent further embarrassment. Go about your web surfing as usual, everyone. Thanks.

Sleeping in Seattle

Surprise Norm! By now you know we weren't at home posting in our diary this weekend after all. We were celebrating your 80th birthday with you in Seattle!

And it was a lovely, grand affair. Besides the fact that J was able to meet many Seattle and Bellingham relatives she'd never met (whose warmth defies description)...A & J were also able to spend a little quality time with H in Bellingham in her beautiful home on Friday evening.

It was a weekend of clean, soft sheets and relaxing soaks in a bathtub...ahhhh! The decadence of a beautiful morning view while quietly sipping coffee.

The last night there, the big surprise was on us. We felt like we had won the LOTTERY!

(A's mom's cousin) Ralph, his wife Marilyn & his son Karl offered us accomodations in the State Room of the Match Maker...the beee-yooo-ti-ful cruising ship that the family uses for their charter business, Cristal Charters LLC.

The family had gathered on to celebrate Norm's Birthday! This ship is SO magnificent and was especially interesting to two bungalow enthusiasts like us.

The original owner had restored the ship, adding hidden upgrades (an incredible sound system...steel infrastructure for the upstairs deck to accomodate enthusiastically dancing guests). He had preserved the beautiful teak wood, inside and out, which the Hammersborg Family lovingly tends to. Like a bungalow, it combines the beauty of elegant craftsmanship, the utility of space needed, and a cozy warmth.

Everything from the clever drawers and storage, to a creatively hidden washer/dryer, a dishwasher, a full-sized fridge and many bathrooms! (My favorite feature was the "ironing board" closet which mimics the exact features of those found in many a bungalow kitchen.) It's a bungalow of the waves!

The openness of the boat to the sea and sky, its accomodations that allow people to effortlessly gather and be together...it is a wonder. And, of course, the Hammersborg hosts are as kind and hospitable as can be. With Captain Ralph at the helm, the whole family is experienced in hosting weddings, parties, families, and adventurers in and around Seattle, Victoria, the San Juan Islands...the Northwest Passage in style and comfort and FUN!

We were rocked to a peaceful, quiet sleep in the State Room and enjoyed coffee in the Salon while watching the sun rise.

If you are ever in the Northwest (or you want to visit in a wonderful way), check out the MatchMaker on her own website. She is truly wonderful.

(More about our weekend adventure later and its relationship to our current project...my bed is calling to me! Yes, the one with plaster falling on it from the ceiling above....sigh. The dream is over.)

No more travel allowed

Dave the Cat makes his position on our 48 hour absence pretty clear.

No more travel unless we:

a) take him along, or
b) go without luggage.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NEWSFLASH! Young TAD LINCOLN saves the White House Turkey from executioner's clutches!

And meanwhile, bless these women. After I read their lists of how they prepare for Thanksgiving, I was thankful that I was not doing the same. Especially "vacuuming the ceiling".

Sleepless.

That's it. Sleepless tonight. Wide awake. And just waiting for the dog to stop snoring.

Last night we put up some nice Christmas lights. (You will have to click on pic to see them...kind of....real life looks prettier.)

They kind of take the attention away from the huge crack in the side of the sunroom. We'll be getting that footing repoured in the Spring.

And A lit the Christmas Candle his dad had brought back to us from Norway. It is a long white taper that counts out the 25 days. It burns brightly and slowly :) I suppose many Norwegian children silently pray for the wax to melt a little faster towards Day 21 or Day 22. All of us are able to push the buttons of our childhoods at this time of year and feel similiar things.

And if we need to make new memories, we make new ones to replace the old ones. Better ones. A and I are lucky....we remember very good ones.

Though I miss a tree so much this year. These is no time, nor space, nor energy. But I'm looking ahead to next year already. Nothing can stop me then! Real tree, smell of fir and pine, white lights....magical.

It's electric

I should actually have a "Don't Do It Yourself" category for this one.

So, after my "sleepless" post a few nights back, I was bored and decided to "fix" our floor lamp. It's a lamp I've had since I moved to Chicago in 1988 and I love it. It was last in our lovely old condo...clean, pretty, fixed old condo.

(You're going to want to double-click on ALL of the pictures to see them more closely.)

< Small, but CLEAN, old condo. Some days I really miss it.

The main cord with the plug had "rotted through" as A found out when he switched it on the other night and the frayed part went *SNAP! CRACKLE!* Not good.

So, I thought. Well, I'll reverse engineer it. I'll take it carefully apart and then replace the wire and put it back together. I studied our wiring books and set to work with my screwdriver.

I was very, very tired even though I could not sleep.

The next thing I knew, I had a pile of parts next to me on the floor and a hazy idea of how they got there. I had freed the frayed wire. Which was buried under NINE other cloth covered wires. No kidding.

This lamp looks so sad now. It looks like a lamp that Johnny Depp had in Edward Scissorhands...that is how morose it looks. It won't even stay still for a good picture.

So I've asked the guys at Fine Homebuilding's Forum, "Breaktime", to give me a hand here. Plus my dad and anyone else with a knack. Here's what we are working with.

Obviously, the lamp. TWO switches--one three-way for the three chandelier bulbs below and one for the one bulb above. The upper body of the lamp is off. The lower part (with chandelier wires and such is still attached and together).

Photo A

The chandelier wires are cream. There is a red wire down in there that I don't dare touch. And my main black wire threaded up through the bottom of the lamp and up through this stuff.

Photo B

Okey-doke. What else are we working with here? Because I made a nice special knot (I think) and I'm excited that I got that far.

Photo C

_________________________________________

Part A

Part B - This seems to be made of non-conducting material...like a fuzzy cardboard, if that helps. My luck? Probably asbestos.

Part C - Switch for main bulb fits into the side there and through Part A - this casing is white porcelain

Parts D & E (Identical) - These are two cloth covered wires that are identical...one end of each is a wire bundle and the other end has a screw.

Parts F, G, H and so on through "O"

Part P - Switch for main bulb, not sure how wires attach to this.

Part Q

Except for the lightbulbs, I think that is everything.

I am assuming the following:

1) Part Q goes inside of Part C.

2) That's all I want to assume right now :)

Anyone game for this? If you give me a couple of steps, I can assemble 'em, photograph 'em and post 'em. I'm game for anything at this point.

Finding a Vintage Medicine Cabinet

So we really wanted one of these for the first floor bathroom but can't bring ourselves to plunk down the $400+. We pondered trying to make our own...whether that would be the start of a fun new hobby or a huge disaster wasn't clear.

But then we went on eBay and immediately saw this!

It will fit perfectly! We especially like the little shelf below the mirror and the beadboard backing. We're also thrilled with how well it will go with the built-in cabinet in the bathroom (which also has a beadboard interior).

How cool is that!? In case you're interested, here a link to what's currently on eBay using the search we did:

"Vintage Medicine Cabinets on eBay."

In which I do the best Godfather impression I've ever done

I am very thankful for email right now...very VERY thankful. Because I have lost my voice. Entirely. Gone. Due to a bad viral infection. (Though I'm sure inhaling 90 year old plaster dust and mold helped too :)

During the few times a day I can whisper something, I sound like someone from The Godfather:

(Theme from The Godfather plays softly in the background. Jeannie sits upright in the front parlor, a comforter tucked around her and her glasses on her forehead. Her eyes are closed. The phone is ringing but no one answers it. Aaron crouches down on one knee and touches her arm lightly to get her attention...)

Aaron: "Jeannie, what can I do for you?"

Jeannie motions Aaron closer without opening her eyes. Camera angle tightens in on Jeannie's lips whispering into Aaron's ear. Her voice sounds like gravel."Aaron, you are a good man. I need you to do something for me. Something very important, yes? All right. There is this man...down on Christiana and Foster. This man, Aaron, he sells...(cough, cough)...he sells...chocolate ice cream. I need you should bring me some of this ice cream. Now, this you will do for me, yes?"

Aaron clasps Jeannie's hands in his own. "This, this I will do for you." The music fades.

Schmaltzy, eh? Just life at our house.

Actually, Coco the Dog had the best deal of all today. It snowed. And nothing is more exciting to her than her...towel.

Hmmm

Today the knob fell of the front screen door. We're trying not to take it personally. It just seems so much like a scene out of the The Money Pit.

Ugh.

Take THAT! And that's a warning for the rest of ya'

The knob on the old aluminum screen door in the front of the house wouldn't go back on. Hmmmph.

So we took the wicked thing right off the house. Hinges and all. (Hint: Click to make the photo larger.)

And THEN we banished it to the back alley...never to be SEEN AGAIN!

We can see our front door better this way anyhow. (Hands on hips, my tongue is blowing raspberries at the old screen door.)

(NOTE: Actually, we're dying to put an original bungalow door BACK onto the house...this door is a muddle from the 60's. Other houses on the street have their originals. Sigh. But the wreath looks mighty nice. Just don't look at anything else. The bad tuckpointing. The really bad stucco patch job. The cracked and tilting and chippy painted front steps. You know, the stuff we haven't fixed yet.)

But! We kept that doorknob. The one that has "Security" printed onto it. As a warning and reminder to all of the other parts of the house. To keep them in line.

Just in case they've got any of their OWN ideas.....

Sometimes, it's hard being Coco

(Click on the images to make them larger)

I mean, really.

Leaving the warmth of the house when you have to "go out" isn't always appealing...

And then, there are all of those steps to get IN! And someone isn't just waiting there in this weather. Sometimes you have to give a sharp bark to get a little attention.

And...what's this? Just because SHE is hungry and it's not my dinnertime, I get to look in the fridge but I can't touch. This is incredibly unfair.

I wanna be a squirrel or something else today. Or go to Australia. Or have my own butcher shop. Life as a dog. Bleh.

We Stay True to Our Word

As if protesting the screen door's demise, two of the metal shelves in the basement collapsed. No collateral damage. But true to our word, out they went.

Are we being tested? It feels like a revolt is brewing in here. It is really difficult not to take this stuff personally.

Who is out there? Hallooooo?

We haven't had a lot of time to check the stats side of the site lately, but I have to say...

A majority of you are looking for solutions to a similar set of problems that we're experiencing with the house. In summary, these problems (so far in the month of December) seem to be:

Number 1 issue! Almost 300 of you were looking for help with your steam radiator and boiler within the last 16 days.

Number 2 issue! 200 of you were looking for information about tubs. Slipper. Clawfoot. Subfoot. Repair. Refinishing. Salvage. A real range of issues here.

Number 3 issue! 150 of you were looking for information on removing part of your structure that is LOAD BEARING. See my panicked notes below.

Number 4 issue! Fishing coaxial cable through the walls of the house. 100 of you in the last 16 days.

Number 5 issue! Smelly. Smelly. Basements. 40 of you in the last 16 days.

Well, at least we don't feel so alone :)

Here are some lessons we've learned about what you're looking for and a quick list of the more, um, unusual requests on the site.

Number 1 issue? Steam radiators.

We have a one-pipe steam radiator. This is different than a water radiator. Use sites like Heating Help and Boiler Room Home Forum as suggested by our fearless readers, Dave and Jeff. Get the specialty booklets on whatever radiator type you have. Spend some quality time with your radiator. Map out where the pipes go. Have a technician give you a crash course on maintenance. I feel more comfy with the radiator now than I did one month ago. The maintaining of steam radiators is an ART!

Things I wish I knew about the boiler/radiators before we started:

1) Our boiler needs monthly "drain-off" maintenance for the organge-y slag water in the bottom. (Your mileage may vary.) I keep these episodes tracked on our house calendar. We also keep a bucket and scrub brush on hand...and keep an eye on that water level tube so it doesn't get too close to the top. We drain that stuff off until the water runs clear whenever we can. Then scrub our bucket clean for next time. A scrubbed bucket makes it easier to see cloudy water.

2) Shutting off one radiator entirely created knocking in a bunch of others for us. Our system has interdependent features. We have to tune it up like a guitar and keep experiementing until we "get it". Usually, it's good to have one person working on this to keep track of changes.

3) A little bit of pressure can create a WHOLE LOT of steam. So, the pressure gauge shouldn't be registering very high unless it's a super sensitive gauge (originally I had read 5 -7, but I was wrong. It should be MUCH lower --like .5 - 2). I was really frightened when our pressure gauge wasn't registering. But the lowest reading on it is "1". So, if we aren't exerting a lot of pressure to heat the house, no big reading.

4) Knocking is caused by the cooler water in the radiator (that was created from the steam) rolling back down the pipe and hitting new steam coming back up. We've put our radiators on a tilt toward the "draining pipe" by "shimming" one end. Since our house has settled (or pieces of it have settled), we're gong to check on the incline of the pipes back to the radiator...they might need to be readjusted. Insulating the pipes should keep steam and water from cooling too fast.

5) STEAM radiators that are spitting water are a cry for help. "Too much water in my boiler! Too much water in my boiler!" Water radiators....wow, I don't know. It could be so many more things that I'm not knowledgable about at all.

Number 2 issue: Tubs

Gosh. Honestly? I'm at a loss here. We had one tub refinished and we are purchasing another clawfoot tub that has been "reclaimed."

Things I wish I knew about tubs before we started:

1) I wish I could have inspectd to see if the previous owners provided adequate support under heavy things like tubs. Cutting into the joists to fit the plumbing in for a tub and not having something else to transfer the weight to? Bad idea. Joists need to support the weight of a tub full of water. Which can be quite heavy.

2) We had an iron/porcelein tub refinished and now we are redoing the whole bathroom. We should have refinished the tub close to last. Not first. We've already chipped ours when a tool dropped on it from a great height. Plus, we didn't realize until later the extent of our bathroom redo. We should have planned it ALL out before impatiently getting work done just to SEE something.

3) Luckily, we found out the height and width of our second floor joists BEFORE we got too far into designing a bath up there on the second floor. For what we want to do, we are going to have to rip up floors and ceilings and reinforce because we only have "old house" 6 inch joists. That the previous owners cut into. For other plumbing.

Number 3 issue: Load bearing walls

We reached out for an experienced person before doing this--A's dad. Loads are nothing to mess around with. Different types of wall construction may require different solutions. Bearing loads...one of the most important things a house will do for you.

Things I wish I knew about tubs before we started:

1) To have been SO freaked out. With some REALLY QUALITY guidance, this was a DIY project.

Number 4 issue: Fishing Coaxial Cable

I'm going to have to defer to A regarding questions about this one.

Number 5 issue: Smelly basement

Ours have involved the battle of the drains. We filled with new water everyday there for awhile, and then covered 'em. (Definitely less smell.) Not wanting to completely ignore the problem and create gas build-up, we are going to try some mineral oil down the drains to slow evaporation.

WACKY OR CONFUSING SEARCHES FOR DECEMBER 1st - 18th

No kidding, these are some of the search terms that have led folks to our website. We can understand some of them...others are a total mystery.

-india hicks - Ummmm. Huh?

-st. nazianz

-curse of the goat collectible - This sounds hilarious. Unless you know the Cubs.

-tiki tissue holder - One of the only things we HAVEN'T found in here.

-photos of lady cleaner vacuuming a floor

-how can i identify picasso s signature

-k&d liquors - This is...nevermind.

-things to fix in a house - Like, everything.

-decorative rubber stamps planet earth

-the freak house - Ouch. This one hurts.

-brief explanation of earth - We attempt many things. But not this.

-what is the brief explanation of history - Again, this is a tall order.

-i don t like my tile

-who invented the mistletoe - I think it just grows.

-fake cardboard fireplace - Hopefully, they are looking to UNinstall one.

-wood dimensional cat tissue holder - For when your cat needs tissues.

-getting racoons to go away

-how to build a life size gingerbread house - If successful, the raccoons will never go away from this.

-clay dingman - Who is Clay Dingman?

-tacky 70 s decor

-moping companies directory - Cool! There are companies who will mope FOR you?

-Lewis Weil - WHO IS LEWIS WEIL???!!! I HAVE TO KNOW!!!!

Between floors

Sometimes it is better NOT to know things.

Like, what your house looks like between floors. The first and second floor in this case.

I stuck the camera up as high as my arm could reach and took these pictures because I couldn't see up there myself. I didn't want to drag the stepladder up from downstairs.

I regret that now.

For people who don't like thousand leggers, this is like a view into their little world. And I really didn't want to know that they had a parallel little world so close to mine.

Ignorance can be bliss.

Pieces of the house...Peace on Earth

Well, it's Christmas Eve.

And why look at pieces of the house? Like the living room ceiling?

When you could be looking at this.

Peace.

I had vanished into something better

Mood: Overwhelming sadness.

Nothing is as important in the world as the ones we have loved. Not this work. Not anything.

Patricia Liguori -- - Pat and her brother, Jim - The girls showing some leg -

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

from Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver

She was stoic yet funny if that makes any sense. When I was six, my mom almost died and my aunt was one of the relatives who took me in. My dad had to travel 24/7 for work. My younger sisters went with another family and I was passed around. In my memories, it seemed like I changed schools every 2-3 weeks...but it was probably less than that. There was no continuity.

I was a pretty confused and angry little six year old. No one would talk to me about what had happened to my mom and all I knew at that moment was that I wanted her back. Now. To tuck me in. To hug me. To tell me everything was alright.

My aunt was a nurse, fifteen years older than my mother. She cleaned and cooked and was one of the people who took in this furious little blond ball of spit and fire. She never flinched when I raged. She understood. I was a little girl whose parents had unexpectedly vanished, whose sisters had disappeared to live with someone else, and who was very, very frightened.

She was quietly compassionate. She was always gorgeous and naturally glamorous. To see photos of her when she was eighteen years old was to be looking at a movie starlet on my grandmother's old couch. She had the best legs in the family ever...even until Christmas Day when she left us (she was 73).

When I grew older, I appreciated her outrageous sense of humor, her orientation to fun and risk, her appreciation for family and its craziness.

I just wish I had known that part sooner. It was confusing to grow up from far away with a six year old's grudge and not have it named. I didn't know why I found it so difficult to feel close to my extended family back East. Did I associate them with my parents' sudden disappearance? Was I still angry that they were grown-ups in denial who were also frightened about possibly losing my twenty-seven year old mom and didn't know how to appear warm & safe to an angry little girl? Perhaps I feared that if I loved any of them and they disappeared, I might not be able to bear such pain again?

It was probably all of this, tucked behind the confusion of my mother's recovery, our family's reunion and then silence about it, moving far from all of them, and becoming a sensitive teenager. Something never quite healed. Never quite righted itself.

I talked with my aunt recently. I picked up the lotion on her bedside table and lightly ran my fingers over the palms of her hands in small, gentle circles. It was something I had done for sick friends or during my days as a "candy striper". Somehow, I don't think she would have let me do this under normal circumstances. Those hands were always cleaning. Always making meals and writing out birthday cards for the 80+ members of "her clan" (and that number doesn't include lifelong friends). We were quiet. She slept for awhile. She woke up. We chatted. We talked about memories. Something she said awakened a particularly painful memory I had of talking back to her when I was age six. She was holding a laundry basket and we were standing on the stairs. I was mad. I wanted my mother. "You are not MY MOTHER!" I shrieked at her. I don't remember what she said to me. I was finally able to pinpoint something to apologize for.

She became brusque and impassive again, sitting up straighter in her hospital bed, taking charge. "It was nothing. You were little. You wanted your mother. And all of the grown-ups around you were keeping secrets. Don't apologize." She was living out her last two months, though we didn't know that at the time. I could finally give a voice to my feelings. She gave a voice to hers. We moved past it. She asked for more lotion.

I gave it to her and kept warming her hands. How could I refuse her? Who could refuse any direct request from her? She asked for very little. She gave so much. When she left, she left on her terms...her favorite day--Christmas. Her favorite hour--happy hour.

God probably couldn't have refused her either, I imagine.

The Costello kids: Jim, Pat, Jack, Honey, Tom

Real Life

Well, I'm telling this story for a reason. Besides the fact that I think my Aunt Pat would have found it funny.

(Thank you all who have sent condolences and shared experiences of your own. You have truly comforted me and I appreciate it.)

Rule #1, 2, 3 and well, ALL in home renovation.

PLAN FOR THE UNEXPECTED. Or, maybe that should be "don't try to plan TOO much because things will go wrong and real life will intervene and the house is not always the top priority and sometimes the timing of these are when they are timed, for better or for worse."

Case in point: Early in the evening on Christmas, we receive the call that we were hoping to escape this Christmas at my sister's house in Pennsylvania. We needed to rally for a funeral and fast. Second one in less than four weeks for the family. We are in shock and in motion.

A & I were there with the dog and the car and gifts and Dave the Cat was waiting for us back home. The services were in less than 48 hours.

Our family swings into action. Two vans loaded with people head to Florida after A & I desperately try to scrounge up some low fare last minute tickets to Orlando. Not to see the Mouse. But that seems to be where the ENTIRE WORLD is going, and they paid months before and things were not pretty. Northwest Airlines was extremely gracious in finding a solution for us.

A & I put the dog back into the car, pack up and head straight to Chicago. We unpack one set of suitcases and pack another set. The neighbors take over the house and the pets.

While home and packing, I notice water dripping onto the floor of the first floor bath where the water was turned off for work. (see next entry)

A looks up and gets zapped right in the eye by a huge drop of water. From the second floor bathroom. And we cannot deal with a major dilemma right now and still catch the flight. I practically mow him over in my zeal to hit those stairs and find out what is going on for the second floor bath.

Broken faucet. Water had sprayed all over walls, door and puddled on floor. Since there is little separating the two floors right how, and gravity pulls water downhill....well....to the first floor it went.

We turned off the water up there, grabbed a roll of paper towels and mopped up. Our gracious neighbor took over the house, dog & cat.

We drove to Milwaukee to catch the flight and we were in Orlando by midnight that night.

That is so much MORE of a reality "show" than the networks can bring to us.

Quick rewind and wrap up

We wanted to share the a few things before we plunge into the New Year...2004...with a fresh start.

We have had between 50,000-60,000 visits to this website since we launched it on July 4, 2003. That blows are our minds and we thank you. Who knew a little site put up to entertain our family and friends back East would connect us to so many cool people?

As thanks to those who have bought items from our Estate Sale and eBay (the funds from which go to keep this website going and towards the renovation), we are keeping a list of names and dates--and hometowns if we have them--that will be put into this bottle:

...and enclosed in the walls of the house. In decades to come, when someone else finds the bottle, they (hopefully) will be able to publish the list on the Internet and help descendants understand how their relatives contributed to the rebuilding of this modest little bungalow.

When we packed up the car before Christmas, we were amused by Coco the Dog's stand to be included in the trip. She went to sit down by the car and, unlike her usual obediant self, would not budge until she was allowed to come along.

Her triumph was enormous! And short-lived. She fell asleep.

Dave the Cat elected to stay at home with a family member who borrowed the house.

My sister's adorable house in Pittsburgh has bungalow elements. The layout is more "Dutch colonial" but it definitely was built in same time period as ours. She and her husband have renovated it already and have done an amazing job. Here are just a few nice little pieces of it...

We loved the bathroom tile. Milky white tile that is at least 14" x 14" and trimmed with black tile of the same look. It looks like "milk glass". I have no idea where you would get it today. But it is extremely beautiful.

They also are going to sell a neat miniature radiator for a gas hook up that they disconnected when they updated a space in the house. It is cast iron, was built in the 1920's and looks like the perfect fireplace insert. We'll try to get a picture of it up soon. You can email us in care of our website if you have questions. We already have what we need for our place.

My sister and her family are so generous and hospitable...they were so kind to put us up for the holiday. It was a lovely place to wake up to on Christmas morning.

That closes our year, I guess. More in 2004. Enjoy the Eve!

Home Improvement Design Ideas

Many years ago, J started a scrapbook.

It was a collection of all her hopes and aspirations for the design of her future home.

Much later, when we decided to buy this neglected bungalow, we started a file folder.

The folder had tabs: exteriors, structural, bedrooms, bathrooms, etc. We filled it with promotional flyers, magazine photos and articles. It represented the ideas we wanted to keep track of as we planned our own restoration project.

After a few months of living in the house, some of our favorite photos migrated from the file folder to a bulletin board. Hung in our kitchen, we can look at it whenever we question our decision to buy a run-down house like this.

Now, with the advent of this website, we're taking the 'idea guide' virtual. We've posted a few of our inspirational photos already and will be adding more over time. They certainly help us...maybe they'll serve as inspiration for someone else too!

Check out the Idea Guide

what a pair

This is how we spend our Saturday nights.

It's too exciting for words, isn't it? (Home improvement does nothing for your complexion or your eyebrows. As you will see here. But I know you all want a mask like mine, don't you? You know you do.)

The highs and the lows home improvement

It is 3:00 am. I cannot sleep. I stay up and read a book that I had chosen in an airport (where? Minneapolis?) when I was desperate for some distraction.

We had 1500+ books here when we moved in. With hundreds left, I had held back the most intriguing titles--this strange and unexpected out-of-print library--for "gobbling up" at night. I cannot resist these authors.

This current book is not from the library...it is called "An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan" by Jason Elliot. It is an amazing story which is playing a cruel game of catch with my emotions...first, this quote from St. Exupery:

On ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur
L'essential est invisible par les yeux

(One sees truly only with the heart
The essential is hidden from the eye.)

The two faces in the photograph last night, I do not recognize them, although are labeled as my husband and me. At 3:00 am, I do not feel the faith in this house that I see behind their eyes only 5 hours ago.

So I wander through the living room, shivering under an old blanket. Proper heat is our challenge this season. So many walls and ceilings open. We would roast in summer if we tried this or freeze now. Robert Frost is in my head. And the cat has just been discovered sitting on the table and drinking from my warm milk. Bad kitty! I just give up and pour some of the rest in his bowl before making another mug.

I pass the bulletin board in the kitchen that we put up that first week in the house. Our idea board. Our vision. My blurry eyes focus on this picture.

I want to welcome a friend into our clean house and sit them in this chair by the fireplace. I want to bring them a drink and laugh with them about what we found behind the fireplace boards when we took them down. (What will we find? Who knows.) And sit in this chair and watch my future children open their holiday stockings. Or curl up here and read a book quietly.

But that corner will only exist if we make it exist. So, I pull the blanket more tightly around me and return to bed. The cat goes off to prowl on his own. And it snows outside of my window.

This bathroom floor is GONE

Bride-to-be, KJ, was visiting from Alaska for the holidays. So, of COURSE we put her to work!

She TAWANDA-ED* that floor! She's swinging that hammer so fast you can't even SEE it!

After she left, I finished the job and then got a little overzealous with the wet/dry vac. I guess I have lived with a little too much dust for too long.

We carried out about 15 buckets of concrete and tile. These old floors were SOLID! The concrete was 3 inches thick.

And yes, that IS a Tupperware lid with free weights on top of the drain for the toilet. Why do you ask? There is a piece of flat cardboard between it and the wax seal which has completely blocked any odor from coming back up into the house. Our temporary solutions are occasionally the "creative, unelegant" kind.

If you want classy, you may need to find another site unfortunately. Now, SASSY, we're all about that. Classy LONG TERM...we aim for that. Short term, you take what you can get, eh?

* TAWANDA (verb): To rip apart or break apart or hammer through in the manner of a really tough Amazonian Warrior Princess. Kjerstin-Speak.

No clumping

If it snows on the steps and sidewalk, and a "handy household hints" guide suggests sprinkling kitty litter on the snow to make everything less slippery...?

Do NOT use kitty litter that CLUMPS. Just use the regular kind. The stuff that is like sand. Better yet, use sand.

Or you will be cleaning shoes for the rest of the year.

Just a tip. That is all for now.

Dave's Back

I think "sauntered back" wouldn't begin to describe the chutzpah with which Dave wandered into the kitchen this morning.

This is after we:

- Scoured every closet, drawer and cabinet.
- Checked under every piece of furniture -- 3 times.
- Walked around the block in the cold calling his name forlornly -- 4 times
- Used the big flashlight to look in the walls and between the floors where we had openings
- Went to bed sad and frustrated, wondering how fast we could put up posters in the morning

We still have no idea WHERE he WAS. And he won't say. But he is WAY "over me" as I try to take a celebratory photo of him.

"Ah, c'mon Dave! Just one picture for everyone so they can see how happy you are to be back!"

"Okay! Fine! What if I turn on the can opener?"

"That's what I thought. Next time, I'm just using the can opener and a long extension cord. Forget about hiking around in the cold dark...." Mutter, mutter, mutter.

For the rest of you with a cat like mine, check out Garrison Keillor's "Songs of the Cat: The In and Out Song." The lyrics are true enough.

Free money? Really?

It is amazing, with a weblog and email address that is so public, how many people PER DAY write from a foreign country to tell you that they have an uncollected inheritance that YOU can get a cut of if you just provide a little personal information. Like your SS#. Or your bank account numbers.

We are contacted by an average of 3-4 princes, princesses, businesspeople, damsels in distress, colonels, generals and such of said country per day. We could be ZILLIONAIRES!!!

Are ALL folks who maintain weblogs this lucky? Or is it just us? Wait! Another one just came in! Continue....

DEAR SIR (sir?),

FIRST, I MUST SOLICIT YOUR CONFIDENCE IN THIS TRANSACTION;THIS IS BY VIRTUE OF ITS NATURE AS BEING UTTERLY CONFIDENTIAL AND TOP SECRET.THOUGH I KNOW THAT A TRANSACTION OF THIS MAGNITUDE WILL MAKE ANY ONE APPREHENSIVE AND WORRIED,BUT I AM ASSURING YOU THAT ALL WILL BE WELL AT THE END OF THE DAY.

(Translation: I am here to scam you, please don't tell anyone because, well! This is incredibly big stuff. But I assure you that my day will be made if I succeed in getting you to buy this incredulous story.)

WE HAVE DECIDED TO CONTACT YOU DUE TO THE URGENCY OF THIS
TRANSACTION, AS WE HAVE BEEN RELIABLY INFORMED OF YOUR DISCRETNESS AND ABILITY IN TRANSACTION OF THIS NATURE.

(Translation: Since you use this email address to participate in some forums and it is on the front of your web page, we think you are the perfect person to be gullible enough to fall for this. Man, it took you long time to figure out the "o w n e r (at) h o u s e i n p r o g r e s s . n e t" trick that could foil our internet search team! Therefore, we know you may not have heard of THESE scams because you obviously WAY behind the times.)

LET ME START BY INTRODUCING MYSELF PROPERLY TO YOU.I AM MR.KONAL
OXFORD, CREDIT OFFICER WITH THE UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC, LAGOS. I CAME TO KNOW YOU IN MY PRIVATE SEARCH FOR A RELIABLE AND REPUTABLE PERSON TO HANDLE THIS CONFIDENTIAL TRANSACTION,WHICH INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF HUGE SUM OF MONEY TO A FOREIGN ACCOUNT REQUIRING MAXIMUM CONFIDENCE.

(Translation: You can just call me Ox. I will be your scammer this evening, you will be my "scammie". I will praise you, although I have no idea who you are, because I am hoping that flattery and the words "HUGE SUM OF MONEY" will have you throwing your better judgement out of the window.)

THE PROPOSITION:

A FOREIGNER AN AMERICAN,LATE ENGR JOHN CREEK (SNR) AN OIL MERCHANT WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA,UNTIL HIS DEATH IN KENYA AIR BUS (A310-300) FLIGHT KQ430,BANKED WITH US AT UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC LAGOS AND HAD A CLOSING BALANCE AS AT THE END OF JANUARY,2000 WORTH USD25, 000,000.00 (TWENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLAR),THE BANK NOW EXPECTS A NEXT OF KIN AS BENEFICIARY. VALUABLE EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE BY THE UNION BANK OF NIGERIA TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ANY OF THE CREEK'S FAMILY OR RELATIVES BUT TO NO SUCCESS.

(Translation: An American! An American! That should make it okay, right? And, golly, OIL MONEY. Also makes my story very trustworthy. He was an engineer but no one seems to know this mystery guy. Quelle trag�die! But we did do our best to locate someone and you believe us, right?)

IT IS BECAUSE OF THE PERCEIVED POSSIBILITY OF NOT BEING ABLE TO LOCATE ANY OF LATE ENGR.JOHN CREEK(SNR)'S NEXT OF KIN (HE HAD NO WIFE OR CHILDREN THAT IS KNOWN TO US).THE MANAGEMENT UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF OUR CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, THAT ARANGE HAS BEEN MADE FOR THE FUND TO BE DECLEARED "UNCLAINMED" AND SUBSEQUENTLY BE DONATED TO THE TRUST FUND FOR ARMS AND AMMUNITION TO FURTHER ENHANCE THE COURSE OF WAR IN AFRICA AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL.

(Translation: I am now getting so excited at the prospect of scamming you that I am misspelling words...and, I can't seem to shut off my CAPS LOCK key so it seems as if I am shouting. But I AM SO EXCITED! CAN YOU FEEL IT? You may not know of this "little arms trust fund" but, believe you me, it is SO scary! War! For the world! They want to use this money for sharks with laser beams on their heads! You don't want THAT, do you?)

IN ORDER TO AVERT THIS NEGATIVE DEVELOPMENT, SOME OF MY TRUSTED
COLLEAGUES AND I NOW SEEK YOUR PERMISSION TO HAVE YOU STAND AS NEXT OF KIN TO LATE ENGR. JOHN CREEK(SNR) SO THAT THE FUND USD25 MILLION WILL BE RELEASED AND PAID INTO YOUR ACCOUNT AS THE BENEFICIARY'S NEXT OF KIN. ALL DOCUMENTS AND PROVES TO ENABLE YOU GET THIS FUND WILL BE CAREFULLY WORKED OUT.

(Translation: We don't want sharks either. WE would spend that money much more wisely. Like, on ourselves! Don't ask too many questions about how. But we promise YOU, no sharks. We've picked you at random hoping you are just the kind of very silly person who would believe all of this. Trust us....T R U S T U S.....you are getting very sleepy....)

WE HAVE SECURE FROM THE PROBATE AN ORDER OF MADAMUS TO LOCATE ANY OF DECEASED BENEFICIARIES,AND MORE SO WE ARE ASSURING YOU THAT THIS BUSINESS IS 100% RISK FREE INVOLVEMENT.YOUR SHARE STAYS WHILE THE REST BE FOR MYSELF AND MY COLLEAGUES FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSE.

(Translation: See? "Probate." "Madamus." "Beneficiaries." We're legit all right. Will anything happen to you? No, silly! If we happen to get caught---but we won't. We won't! Because Moe and Curly have this plan... you'd be off the hook! 'cept maybe for being in the FBI's Files of Gullible people, some stories on TV about how you trusted people you didn't know out of goofiness, and, well, some of your friends may laugh at you. But that won't happen to YOU, hoo boy, NO! 'Cause you're smart to get in on the ground floor of this fabulous opportunity.)

ACCORDING TO AGGREMENT WITHIN BOTH PARTIES AS SOON AS WE RECIEVE AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT OF THIS MESSAGE IN ACCEPTANCE OF OUR MUTUAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL,WE WOULD FURNISH YOU WITH THE NECCESSARY MODALITIES AND DISBURSEMENT RATIO TO SUITE BOTH PARTIES WITHOUT ANY CONFLICT.

(Translation: So, okay. Just hit that "reply" button and you'll know exactly how much cash we're willing to fork over to you. You get some cash! And we'll be furnish your place with some awfully nice modalities...the kind no one should be without! It's THAT easy!)

IF THIS PROPOSAL IS ACCEPTABLE BY YOU DO NOT MAKE UNDUE ADVANTAGE OF THE TRUST WE HAVE BESTOWED IN YOU AND YOUR COMPANY,THEN KINDLY GET TO ME IMMEDIATELY VIA MY E-MAIL:konox@xxxxxxx.xxx

(Translation: If you're willing to go along with this, don't call the cops, like, okay? Gee, you're nice. Have I ever told you that?)

PLEASE FURNISH ME WITH YOUR MOST CONFIDENTIAL TELEPHONE,FAX NUMBERS SO THAT I CAN USE THIS INFORMATION TO APPLY FOR THE RELEASE AND SUBSEQUENT TRANSFER OF THE FUND IN YOUR FAVOUR.

(Translation: We need to start stalking you in earnest. So please send us your phone and fax numbers. Don't tell your spouse! Or your boss. Or that nosy Mrs. Kravitz next door. Because we're going to be sending you quite a tidy bundle of change and we don't want those "hangers on" to see a single penny! Especially your cousin, Francis. What did he ever do for you? It's just you and us and money, bay-bee. And no sharks with laser beams.)

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR ANTICIPATED CO-ORPORATION.

(Translation: You're gonna do this, right? Right? 'Cause it's been slow this week and I need a live one...)

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

MR. KONAL OXFORD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

(By the way, should YOU get one of these funky notes, just delete it. Sigh. Nothing in life is free. This house has taught us that, absolutely. It's extracted in money, time or the sweat of your brow. Ack.)

Ugliest bathroom? OK, maybe not...

When we first bought our house, American Standard just happened to launch their "Ugliest Bathroom in America" contest.

For obvious reasons, we figured we'd have a fair shot.

How wrong we were! The winner was just declared and boy, it is U-G-L-Y, ugly!

Check it out: link

Sign us,

For once REALLY happy not to have won.

Let's Tour the Workshop!

Today was a heavy cleaning and tidying up day. That gave A a chance to spend some time downstairs organizing the workshop. With so much work ahead of us, we've really needed a good space for project work and to keep our growing collection of tools organized.

After many months, it's finally coming together:

The table along the far wall was actually in the house when we bought it. We simply lined it with shelving (also already here...we supplied the old boombox!) for better organization.

The coolest thing they left behind is the woodworking bench in the center of the room. (Well, and the old hand tools. J loves those.) It's a well-worn woodworking bench with two all-wooden vises, a recessed trowel for holding your tools while you work, and a built-in tool rack along the back. Looks a lot like the one in a recent issue of Fine Woodworking (an exquisite one made by Mike Dunbar). We're going to have to clean ours up though. Mike's is spotless!

Last weekend we added more work space by setting up the table on the right. That metal folding table (reinforced underneath by a wooden frame we built) was actually used for Boy Scout troop events by the previous owner.

There's lots of storage. Most things are stored below the shelf under the long bench. There's also shelving that you can see on the far right side. This is actually a combination of shelving and drawers that stretches along the basement wall for 35 feet! We've been told it was originally used in a ladies' clothing shop not far from our house. We're not quite sure how it got down here, but it sure is useful (although we wish it wasn't pink).

As for tools, a lot of the hammers, screwdrivers, chisels, planes and miscellaneous hardware were left by the previous owner. W was obviously into woodworking "things", although the condition of the house makes us somewhat suspicious of his dedication and skill level. You might notice a much newer looking meiter saw there on the metal table...one of A's Christmas presents (BIG sale at the new Lowes that opened close by) ;-) We haven't had much of a chance to test it out yet but we'll share a thorough write-up when we do.

Anyway, the nice thing is that tonight, for once, not just the shop but the whole house is pretty well organized and (relatively) clean. Not a regular occurance. As a result, we're dead tired. Time for a good nights sleep!

Showers are so beautiful

Taking a shower when restoring a house is a necessity AND a luxury. This is why, even though only the yucky one is working, we are thankful to have ONE.

We are SO CLOSE to a new bathroom overall (it's a matter of days now) and our current things KNOW this. THUS, they feel no need to hang on to this life.

Unfortunately.

I went upstairs to slip into a little "water paradise" when, um, the handle broke off. (Seems to be a theme now.)

What to do now? The old shower is supposed to look like this:

But are we going to let a little thing like a handle keep us from our last couple of weeks in this shower?? Heck, NO! And are we going to waste a bunch of time trying to fix it when it is out the door anyhow? Heck, NO!

A trip to the old toolbox. One old wrench and....

Pull and turn at the same time...adjusting for the perfect water temperature...

...eh voila!!! Success!!!

Survival of the fittest. That's what this house is. Survival of the fittest...and of those who are desperate to be clean...

P.S. Later, the car radio knob broke off in my hand when I was turning it. I do believe it is a conspiracy.

21st century Home Voyeurism

I was a kid who always liked to stroll sidewalks at night when I lived back East. And I'm an adult who cannot shake the same habit.

I am a 21st century home voyeur.

A few friends and I have shared the habit over the years. Lest we sound like social deviants, let me explain more clearly. I've NEVER been interested in seeing PEOPLE at home.

We NEVER WANTED to see people. In fact, that ruins the effect. Because the point is, of course, projecting yourself into these different habitats and trying them on for size in your imagination. Which house would "fit" you?

The best houses for viewing leave all of their lights on and you can just peek inside lighted windows and see kitchens, stairways, living rooms, ceiling lights...dreaming, assessing and thinking of what you might do differently.

**

As a kid, I would gather ideas in my head as I would gather ideas in my notebook years later. The folks on the corner took out their living room ceiling and created a balcony out of their upstairs hallway. The family on the next street cleverly turned their breakfast room into a greenhouse with windows and plants all around the table.

My friends and I are the same people who now buy magazines devoted to house and home and devour them from cover to cover. House "pron" if you will. We spread the pages out on the dining room table and look at the same photos over again, hunting for clues we didn't see before. What kind of knobs are on the cabinets? Brushed or shiny nickel fixtures? Where are the outlets placed? What about the trim? The shape of the windows? The slant of the light?

These obsessions later drove us to create our own spaces, braving old plumbing and squeaky floorboards and cold winters during (sometimes years of) renovation. Except they have a modern twist...the Internet and the sharing of our passion with like-minded folks from across the world. And a boost from modern technology to drive our research and dreaming. Which leads me to quote this paragraph from brickmanhouse.com:

Now that we've got clear access to the plumbing for all the bathrooms from the underside, we should start demo on the bathrooms themselves. But hey, you know what? It's just too damn cold. Home renovation motivation takes a serious dive when we risk frostbite just opening the door to take out a bin full of plaster chunks, and no way we're actually opening windows to toss cast iron chunks of bathtub out onto the ground below. So we light a fire in the fireplace (which is still seriously ugly, but it's just going to have to wait), huddle around it, grab the laptop, and start combing the 'net for vintage fixtures and tile.

House obsession as fed by the convenience of the Internet. How very modern of us!

**Detail from one of the Christmas Cards in the attic, 1932. Artist unknown.

Gifted & Talented Neighbors

I really LOVE our neighbors.

No, really. REALLY!!

It's been snowing here almost every day for a week. K, our neighbor to our left, and I have begun walking in the morning to jumpstart the day. We head over to the campus or to the nature preserve (Yes, this is IN the city...Chicago is a city of trees). This is AFTER we have tried to beat each other out the door to shovel the other person's sidewalk.

It's become quite funny...who willl get to it first? Who will win? It is a strange feeling to suit up for the cold, grab your shovel, open the door and....

We then grab our shovels and use part of our walk to search out the folks on the street who we know that may need a hand with THEIR shoveling.

It feels good here.

Yesterday, Coco and Dave were visited by two folks...one person was their new vet, Dr. H, who lives 4 or 5 houses down the street. Dr. H only does house calls (except for surgery, when he picks up and drops off). I couldn't believe it when I heard it but it's true. Our neighborhood, with all of the pets within a few blocks, keeps him pretty busy.

He's kind and gentle with the pets and REALLY knows his stuff. (I wanted to be a vet when I was a little girl...then, I realized that I couldn't do surgery. Sigh)

We also have a neighbor, CT, who loves the dog and the cat and watches them for us when we have to go away. She is amazing with them.

Other neighbors are musicians, artists, carpenters, designers, amateur chefs...the list of talents is never ending.

We feel lucky. And often unworthy. But always very, very lucky...

You Snooze, You Lose?

When I was a little girl, my dad used to tell me, "You snooze, you lose." Meaning that if you didn't pay attention, you might miss something that you want.

Dave was snoozing and won. Disproving Dad's law.

The little weasel got my spot in bed!

We are cowards...COWARDS!!!

Why? WHY? Why did we get ourselves into THIS?

Honestly. There is so much dirt/dust and peeling paint and broken stuff that last week I froze in my tracks, horrified at the thought...

WE ARE PAYING GOOD MONEY TO LIVE LIKE THIS.

That's right. PAYING. No one is paying us. We are paying OTHER PEOPLE. Specifically, people from the bank and the city tax office and people who help with specialty repairs. Repairs that involve....oh....running water. Heat. Lights.

I feel like I am on the set of a really bad C.O.P.S. episode. Everyday. Except without the illegal drugs that the bad guys get.

So, this past weekend, when the water being turned off coincided with the opportunity to see friends (including one I hadn't seen in 4 years), we cashed in a few remaining airline miles and slunk out of town like two felons.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Home of pastel pink & blue haciendas, strip malls and lots of "Mattress Giant" stores. (What is UP with that?)

Waiting two hours (no, I am not exaggerating) in line for a rental car at midnight with a crowd of short-tempered parents did not stifle our enthusiasm. Even after the space we were directed to was EMPTY! Yes, empty. Someone must have tired of waiting and driven off in our very budget car. They probably drove it out under the fence.

My friend,K, and I were IN DENIAL that the car was gone at all.

A sticky rain lasted the weekend. True to Florida retiree form, we ATE and NAPPED and ATE and NAPPED in the plush Highway 1 accommodations of a roadside motel...lulled to sleep each night by the sound of the ice machine outside of our door. Woken by the sound of the big rigs gearing up each morning in the parking lot.

So (besides getting to see friends...which is always good), what did we regain during our little venture to the Sunshine State?

Did we come back with tans? (Um, no.) Did we "grab some fun" at a wacky theme park? (No, but we pooled our quarters and played some wicked awesome Ms. Pac Man). Did we turn out, fabulously dressed each evening, for some frothy tropical drinks on a warm, breezy deck? (Not quite. No tiny umbrellas. Just budget conscious 7-n-7's consumed while watching the Patriots and Panthers in the Room 140 Lounge.)

So what did we get? We regained our sense of DENIAL.

Until we hit the front door again in Chicago. It all comes back to you so fast, in the light of day.

p.s. Oh, and I have a cold now. So does the cat . And he just sneezed on my pajamas. So I have to go change. Or, whatever. Like it makes a difference in this place anyway. Ugh.

new yanky workshop
venting bathrooms fans
temporary bungalow
removing a load bearing wall
pictures of leprechauns
sistering floor joists
removing plaster
pressure balancing valve
install pedastal sink
thousand legger
Ironrite
replacing a load bearing wall
beckwith reed organ
clogged floor drain do it yourself
old house smell
michael lind tuba
bungalow restoration
palmetto bug behind stove
Hoosier cabinet
nostalgia life in 1970 s
tiki man tissue holder
googie house
bad vendor shower
bleeding radiator valves
reality show contestant
radiator explode basement
vintage coffee cans
nervine drugs
blowgun poison at home
taking out a fireplace
buck lathe chucks salvage
tiki bathroom ideas
charles lindbergh diary entries
beautiful showers
vintage sunbeam mixmaster
junky house
Bruno Matheson
showers without doors
moving a vent stack
wall fishing cable
fitting a round peg in a round hole
items left behind
game trash
Searchalot
caffeine and where it is from
how to install a furnance in a ceiling
putting the dollar on hold
do it yourself wet basement
tips of lpg saving for kitchen to women
advice on snagging
wanted glass block
thank you sir may i have another
if you missed a treasure do that mean you can t get ainma on ff10
peaceful house picture
why am i so difficult
bells of sarna India
bibendum marshmallow
framing studs angled wall
evening in paris
victrola spring wound motors
keep mice out
fruit chalkware
cat hoarders
mr stay puft
bungalow fix
the cost diagrams of unusual breads
staring at the ceiling
under law can i leave my parents house at seventeen
what on earth lemons
Fishtape
hex floor tiles for sale
trash to treasure
Plastered in paris
house history in looking glass
exterior house painting gone wild
radiator bleeding air
smiling fruit plaques
marathon dancing photos during 1920 s
kitchen cleanliness

Preserving houses and marital bliss too.

Whole house restoration (deconstruction plus construction) creates a house full of DUST.

A houseful of DUST creates a houseful of ALLERGIES.

A houseful of ALLERGIES creates a snoring WIFE and DOG.

It was A's birthday today. I tried to find him the perfect gift.

Happy Birthday A :)

Earplugs. Preserving marital bliss along with old houses since...well...since they were invented probably. tm

Add Us to Your My Yahoo! (RSS Rocks!)

Today Yahoo added a cool new feature--you can now track other websites on My Yahoo! As Yahoo users who read lots of other blogs ourselves, this seems really cool.

Thanks to the magic of RSS (geek info here), this can make it easier to keep up on our 'progress' without having to remember to check the site for updates.

You can add us to your My Yahoo page simply by clicking here:

Vision Test

This is a simple test of your vision and the quality of your monitor...match the three pictures below with the correct label:
1. A white cow in a snowstorm.
2. The Beatles' White Album
3. Our first floor bathroom project

A	B	C

Reminder: You can click on each image for a close up if that helps. ;-)

2004 Chicago Bungalow Expo and Seminars

For you locals, we just noticed today that the Chicago Bungalow Association has posted their 2004 seminar series and a "save the date" notice for the 2004 Expo on May 1st.

This year's seminars include:

• Working with an Architect
  
• Chicago Bungalow Landscapes
  
• Masonry & Foundations
  
• Heating & Cooling 101
  
• Refinishing Woodwork & Window Restoration
  
• The Vintage Bungalow Interior

Slave to Bungalow Restoration

You'd think, being a homeowner and all, I would just get with it already and buy that spine that I've been dying to own. The one that would allow me to be firm yet fair.

When it comes to home improvement, I am a jellyfish. An amoeba. Spineless all the way.

I've shouted in picket lines, marched in protests and have gone nose to nose with rude Lincoln Park Tow Truck drivers. But, I collapse in the face of those who know more about the workings of my house than I do.

They are around so much, for one thing. It's a relationship. Not a purchase. Everything must be tenderly negotiated with real craftspeople. They have definite opinions about their work. And they come back the next day. They become integrated into your life. And preserving harmony in my home is pretty important to me also.

A picked up on some of these things first.

He was the one who identified our friend, Paul, as the new "Eldin".

(If you never saw Murphy Brown, Eldin was the painter with the never ending job...he was always working on Murphy's house. He was there so often he began to dispense advice, became involved in family affairs, and eventually became the nanny of the child who Dan Quayle got so grocked out over.)

It is a bit unnerving to get up for your shower at 7:00 am, only to be met in the kitchen by people who don't live in your house.

A has been in the shower and I have still been deep in sleep limbo when he has heard the alarming sound of our front door opening and work boots clomping around on the first floor. Nothing makes you feel more vulnerable than to be in the shower, armed only with a shampoo bottle and a towel for protecting your dignity and your family.

For the first few weeks, I tried to appear somewhat together at these moments...clean sweats, shoes on feet, hair combed. After a few weeks, these formalities flew out the window and the guys just became part of our morning routine.

"A, coffee?"

"Sure."

These guys are "house artists." The level of detail they are concerned with far exceeds mine at this point.

My standards have sunk to the following in the dirty light of February:

1) Relatively clean, sometime soon.

2) Warm.

3) Safe.

4) No more holes in the walls. Or ceilings.

5) Operational

I figure that I'll work out the details later.

I became aware of the spineless thing as, at 10 p.m. last night and exhausted from a weekend of work, I was frantically stripping trim in the new bathroom and talking to myself, "Would Paul approve of this? Is it smooth enough? Is he going to make me do it over?"

(Check out my thousand yard stare here...it happens in home restoration, you know?)

Because if Paul wanted me to do it over, by golly, I'd do it. And I am paying him to tell me as much.

You see? No spine. Just a wallet, which doesn't count as part of the exo-skeletal structure. Since it doesn't meet the requirement of protecting us from impact.

It's Mimi!

Completely off topic, one of our fellow (but more famous) Chicago "bloggers"--Mimi Smartypants--will be interviewed on Chicago's CBS Channel 2 news Thursday night.

Check her out! But only if you like smart, sharp humor as a topping for your sarcasm and irreverance. ;)

Coco on a birdseed bender

Sorry for the late post. Coco and I were up all night after her "birdseed bender."

She doesn't feel very good, poor sweet thing.

I had bought a new bird feeder to attach to the window (for Dave the Cat's amusement...it's like "Cat TV"). Unfortunately, I forgot to move the bag of bird seed (just millet) to a high place.

And Coco thought it smelled interesting enough to make an hors d'eouvre out of it while I was at work.

When I came home, it looked like she really hadn't eaten much of it. It was mostly on the kitchen floor (*grumble, grumble*). So I swept it up and forgot about it.

Around 9:00 pm, she kept going outside and just sitting there. I thought she was enjoying the change to slightly warmer weather. I even went out and sat on the steps with her for awhile.

I am such a stupid human. Do not read on if you have a delicate constitution. I am completely serious. Or if you read on, DO NOT click the link.

We came back in and *it* started. All night long, I laid on the floor with her until I was sure it was out of her system. A awoke this morning...nope. She had still been going strong.

I think she generated more in her belly. I'm sure I didn't buy THAT much birdseed.

She's still not interested in breakfast (that's just NOT like lab-like), so I did some research on the Internet this morning before calling Jim the vet.

I found this. Which made me feel oogy but slightly better that I was only dealing with birdseed.It also made me realize how important it will be to pick up our tools, nails, etc. during the work on this house.

Because it could be infinitely worse than birdseed, but it isn't. Thank goodness!

The Money Pit of My Life

Did you ever have one of those years in your life where you felt like ever dollar you have ever made was just slipping out of your hands?

Yes. Right. Well, this is one of those years for us.

We knew that the house budget would run 3x the original estimates people gave us. We planned for that. That's why we figured that the entire project would take us a little less than a decade.

We did NOT budget for EVERYTHING breaking in the FIRST year. I mean, BEYOND house. Like, car. Pets. Health. Family stuff.

It's as if everything that would cost money over the span of 10 years decided to give up the ghost in the FIRST year. Bam! Fall apart.

I am anxious. And I feel like sniffling. And I feel like laughing hysterically. The key quailfier being "hysterically." Actually, if my head rotated on my neck like the chick from The Exorcist, I would not feel at all surprised.

So, that giant slurpy sound you hear? Either it is our money being sucked into a black hole or my morale being sucked out of my body. Or both. Probably both.

So, now we have had to divert house funds to buy the following things to replace those things which have recently died...surprise.:

A NEW (used) Subaru Outback. I can't fix on whether I feel like a soccer mom or a really tough chick on the way to the lumber company. Anyway, a car with a rear end larger than mine...I can handle that.

Our old laptop (from my old job) died. I wish Tonka would make laptops for folks working in the trades and home improvement. Which means, the REALLY REALLY old desktop in the backroom is what we have right now. The VPR Brand was Best Buy's Own brand...I loved this thing. Maybe a little too much.

My prescription drug coverage copays go up! And UP! Whoo hoo! $200/per month for normalcy...do they work though? Heck yeah. 'Nuff said. Many folks don't have that.

The water heater you already know about.

Ah! Here's something new! I had unhinged the storm in the guest room so we could divert the exhaust from doing the bathroom outside. Totally forgot to refasten it. I've discovered that you can move pretty quickly at 5:00 am when a big crash of glass happens outside.

Giving Birth to a Blog and House...No Hat Trick Yet

My mom is a little disappointed. We talked on the phone last night.

You have to know that this is the woman who, upon first driving out to our bungalow from her house in Virginia, leapt out of the car and dragged the following item up the front steps:

(via Babyjogger.com)

Subtle? My mother? When it comes to cheering on her brood towards procreation, she is about as subtle as a brick dropped on one's head.

She will not be entirely satisfied until we have a baby in one hand and a roofing nailer in the other. Personally, we think this could lead to some scary, scary mix-ups.

A and I are determined to "lock down" the second floor of this place for a finished retreat before the patter of little feet go teetering for the Miter Saw. Second floor first. Kid, after.

This has not deterred my mother.

She has now practically ordered us to draw up a plan and has determined that she, my father and my brother-in-law will drive west in the minivan this Spring and NAIL DOWN THAT SECOND FLOOR!

So, to set her mind at rest that we have accomplished something of value in these past nine months, I will need to speak to her in her language. Excuse me. Ahem.

Mother dear--

I used the online due date calculator today. According to our calculations, we have passed an important milestone for your new grandchild, the weblog. Aren't you happy? Could you be more delirious with joy???!!!

Yup, the due date is FRIDAY, MARCH 26th!!!

J

p.s. I HAVE to give a shout out to Anita Rowland, one of our favorite bloggers, who was just interviewed by NPR's "The Works"...you can catch the interview on the KUOW website. Anita, glam blogger :)

Spring. It's here.

Today was a very sunny day. And more on the warm side. Which means only one thing...

IT'S TIME FOR SPRING CHORES!!!

And twice the amount of work we are usually doing. How do we know this? Because the book that my sister got us for Christmas says so.

Is she trying to tell us something? I think so.

This book is by the Carey Brothers who have a radio show called "On the House". They are the "Click and Clack" of Home Repair. (I love Car Talk and unashamedly love Public Radio.)

So, we prepped last night and got up early. It did not escape our attention that we have BECOME the line in "Old School" that Will Ferrell throws out to some college guys while turning down the drink they offer him..."Me and the missus...you know, we have a BIG DAY tomorrow...gonna go to Home Depot...buy some wallpaper...maybe some flooring...we might even go to Bed, Bath and Beyond!"

Yeah, we used to be cool hipsters. Now we are the anti-hipsters.

Okay...so we load up the dog in the Outback and head to Lowe's. That's about as anti-hipster as it gets. But it makes the DOG happy, people.

So, here's the checklist:

- Get something to deal with the Milk Paint (see later entry, maybe tomorrow...it deserves its own entry)
- Wax the bathtub
- Paint the medicine cabinet that is installed in the new bathroom.
- Roll out the grill and clean it.
- Dig out the wooden window screens and strip 'em...we'll need them soon.
- Clean the yard.
- Weekly housecleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, etcetera.

Yes, WAX the bathtub. Because when you get a bathtub refinished, you need to wax it a number of times to build up a protective coating. You can't use anything abrasive on a refinished bathtub so waxing it makes cleaning it easier...especially if you have hard water like we do.

Mr. Turtle Wax? Meet Mr. Tub.

I wax, A paints.

Aren't you all excited to see the finished bathroom? So are we, so are we. The milk paint stopped us dead in our tracks. We'll explain later.

Meanwhile, after LaundryScreenWindowsCleanGrillGroceryShopCleanHouseCleanYard, we throw a few pork chops on the grill. We feed the dog then turn her loose in the backyard. Usually, she comes back to the door pretty quickly and barks to be let in.

But not this time.

This time, she is waiting by the grill. She may not be the Einstein of the canine world. But her nose works perfectly well, thankyouverymuch.

Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

My artist friend Liz creates magnificent cards of her own design and sends them in beautifully decorated glassine paper envelopes. They always cheer me up. (Plus, her handwriting is amazing. It is art too!)

Years ago, she and I were having a bad day at work and she created a different kind of card highlighting the character from one of our favorite books, "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst. So, it wasn't an original design, but it summed up how we felt about some folks who we wanted to send a card to on our terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

After A was rear-ended in the new/used Outback this morning on the way to work... (She didn't even brake. Thank goodness that Outbacks are built like tanks and no one was hurt.)

After a night of no sleep when I already felt pretty grouchy and Dave the Cat graced us with a hairball in the back room...

After multiple panicked notes...is it really Milk Paint? Or some kind of gooey, viscous old lead paint that had been made with Linseed Oil? (Thank goodness for disposable clothing, HEPA filters, heavy plastic sheeting, regulation face masks and such...regardless, the damage will have been super minimal so far but is enough to make me cower under the bed.)

After STILL calling around about low income housing for this nice woman we are trying to find housing for and finding that Section 8 housing has a closed waiting list, she is three years too young to qualify for any senior housing/benefits, yada yada yada...and getting nowhere fast with deadlines looming...

And...after our kind, brilliant and lovely neighbor passed away this afternoon which left me dissolved in tears even though I didn't know them very well yet...I've met and talked to his wife and she is a magnificent woman. They go to our church. Grace is the epitome of grace here on earth.

...I am left blurry-eyed and tongue-tied...trying to feel my way along tonight and not doing a very good job of acting brave or normal.

I'm sure everyone has days where they want to move to Australia with Alexander. Today was one of them.

p.s. I just woke up in my chair at the computer in the middle of the night after writing this. I'll post it and correct the mistakes later. I'm going to bed. Under the bed.

Sorry we were down all morning.

Sorry about the site being down. It was a surprise to you and a surprise to us...thanks to A Johnson of AEFJ (our host) who quickly brought us back up again and didn't even bat an eye. He is truly a wonder and we thank him profusely.

We might as well confess that we think the jump in traffic occurred because the April edition of Chicago Magazine hit the newstands this week. And we're in there...somewhere...about people who maintain weblogs in Chicago.

There are very nicely illustrated pixel people that depict A and I...either pixels really improve your looks or the illustrator has earned my undying admiration for giving me the, er, figure I always wanted but never had.

(This is NOT the illustration :) This is courtesy of This Old Toy)

It's goofy. It's surreal. We started this thing so our family scattered from coast-to-coast (Virginia to Alaska...Happy Birthday Kjerstin!) could play along.

And now people in Malaysia know what our bathroom looks like. And that occassionally weirds me out and makes me feel kinda strange. I am glad that others are able to learn from the site and try things on their own houses. As a society, we don't have many ways to learn house skills anymore except from TV or books. And we rarely have the opportunity to learn from other's mistakes.

So, maybe that is our niche in weblog history..."Learn From Our Mistakes!"

If this is your first time looking at weblogs in Chicago, please be sure to check out Gaper's Block, Chicago Bloggers and some of the other weblog rings listed in our right hand column on our main page. Chicago is blessed with some excellent writers who are a pleasure to read.

(Since I have preached this to my students, I'll preach it here too.) Weblogs are written by a diverse number of people of different ages, races, ethnicities, experiences and interests. Seek them out. Sample them all.

Cruise by:

The Ageless Project (and kudos to Vincent for his awesome blog "Clearing Away the Fog"...Vincent wil be 77 this April),

blackblogz

Latino Blogs

Rice Bowl Journals: Asian Blogs

Blogs by Black Women

MommyBrain

Expat Blogs

...you know, with the amount of specialty weblog groups out there (called "blog rings"), there IS something for everyone.

So, explore. Get to know some new writers...connect with someone.

Renewal and hope

Hope looks like the first crocus.

Sounds like the whistle of the mailman coming up the walk.
Smells like new paint and clean laundry.
Feels like a new season gliding in behind the old one.

Just another soggy Sunday

Spring is here and April showers are a little early. Which is fine with me. Because I enjoy warm rain in the spring. It is squishy and clear and drippy and clean.

I was stripping the built-in cabinet and listening to the house in the quiet when I heard a *plonk, plonk, plonk* I mean, *drip drip drip*...this is a sound I know. But plonk? It was like hitting one note on a xylophone...or a....

pipe?

Of course, I grabbed our "ever ready" camera and went in search of the source. Outside of the front window, the gutter had pulled down at one end. This sent rainwater over the side of the gutter instead of down the drainpipe and away from the foundation. I suspect the ice damn over the winter that lay on the edge of the roof and dripped heavy icicles off of the gutter. But, who knows?

This is not supposed to happen. It is supposed to go down the drainpipe and the seam is not supposed to leak either.

The whole object being that water, once in the drainpipe, gets directed AWAY from the foundation. AWAY being very good where houses meet water in the ground. (Unless you live on a houseboat, which we do not.) "X" marks the spot where the water SHOULD be. But is not.

This can only mean one thing. A really hesitant, fear-clutched-up-in-your-chest trip to the basement. Where...

...ah. Okay. Time for a mop. And a box of tissues. And some long distance phone calls seeking advice.

(It's where the City of Chicago water line comes into the house through the foundation.)

It's also time for some algebra. We will postulate the following equation based upon our experiences thus far in almost 10 months.

(3 things done positively to the house) + (1 thing that the house undoes itself) = a weekend's work.

In other words, for every 3 fixes, a new repair is needed. Know this now! Going in! It will be on the final exam.

Argh.

Sorry. Short entry today. Work, work, work and the car was broken into. (They didn't steal anything, but we have to replace that window.)

We did find this interesting site from the City of Chicago that shows the latest crimes committed in each neighborhood as well as information on Community Policing.

More at 11.

(Well, not really.)

"Arrange Whatever Pieces Come Your Way."

When we heard Anne Lamott speak the other night, this quote struck J as particularly meaningful. It's a beautiful way at looking at life. It is especially meaningful to our situation in this house. Most days that's a pretty good description of what we do around here.

We're thinking of stenciling the quote around the ceiling of our entryway. Frank Lloyd Wright often used the same decorative approach in the foyers he designed.

For now, this will have to do...

A clean, sunny window

I need to stop thinking so much. I WANT to stop thinking so much. I tend to imagine the worst possible scenario and then push way beyond that.

I'm one of those people who ride in the passenger seat of life, furiously pumping an imaginary brake with her foot or making little gasping noises when an 18-wheeler comes too close.

Via Lizart

I must have dozed off with my head on the desk while I was waiting for my media project to finish rendering. I dreamt that we were in this house, but it was a different house. We could put a desk over here and a vase of flowers there because we weren't wondering if a wall was going to fall over on it.

It still needed work, but there wasn't any asbestos tile, or lead paint, or mysterious insulation that could be inhaled, or parovirus from raccoon nests, or bad ventilation, or broken joists, or mold, or wasp nests, or leaking lead pipes.

I wasn't obsessed with lung cancer, allergies or bacteria.

Friends with children could visit us. The wood floors were scrubbed and waxed. I wasn't worried about the dog or A's health or my lungs. I wasn't picturing limbs falling off or growing new limbs from exposure to some strange toxic substance, a la starfish.

The afternoon sun was streaming in through a window that was clean on the inside. It painted a stripe of light across a low wooden stool with a vase of tulips on it. Breathe deeply without fear.

I woke up with my forehead in my arms and my breathing was shallow from being doubled over. I shifted and looked at the chipping vinyl tile between my feet. Dark grey flakes.

Tripped over the dog in my hurry to get the back door open and lean against the screen, inhaling the April wind in great gulps, over and over.

It's cold here.

Advantages of home renovation

Having hit the lowest point in my online diary regarding the home renovation (it can only go up when you're down), I also have a burning need to figure out the benefits of our situation...slanting floors and all.

And it's tax week, too.

#1 Change. We don't feel at ALL guilty creating massive chaos to get the house to be exactly how we want it. It is ALREADY so bad, we have unlimited choices on how to fix it.

#2 Motivation. We feel motivated to work on the house. Having no walls or a missing ceiling will do that to you. "Ma�ana" (tomorrow) is normally not appealing.

#3 Our location. We could have never afforded a house in this neighborhood and on this amazing street (so close to family!) without having bought this way.

#4 Learning new skills and gaining confidence...eventually. Once we've done this, there will be very little we will feel that we cannot do.

#5 Homestead for friends and family. Once completed, or even most of the way along, this size and layout of house will allow us provide a gathering place for friends and family that wouldn't have been possible in the condo.

#6 Long-term Investment. This neighborhood and this house is a much better investment than the condo and we have much more control over our investment.

#7 Financial benefits of owning. At today's interest rates, and calculating in the tax savings on mortgage interest and property taxes, we are spending just a little bit more than renting would cost. That includes the yearly maintenance costs and money invested in restoration. We are aggressive budgeters because, well, we have to be. Don't like credit cards and we're saving for retirement on the side. Reuse, repair, take care of what you have. That's the motto. "How does this contribute to our life?" That's the burning question which we constantly measure our life values against if we are interested in spending money.

#8 History. This neighborhood, this community and this house is so very rich in history. As are its contents! And besides, did we ever think we would own our very own blowgun, like, ever?

#9 Memories and Personal Growth. Will I ever think of Aaron charging in to gut the bathroom without extreme admiration for his abilities? Or his creative use of the grill when the kitchen was too hard to cook in? Nope :) He has my admiration forever.

A night off....wheeeeeee!

Last night, we snuck out of the house like two guilty, gleeful kids. Went to have dinner at a local Japanese restaurant with some new pals and laughed until I inhaled my drink. (Bad idea...breathing liquid. Good idea? Dinner out with achingly funny, whip-smart kind people.)

Of course, we got lost in our OWN NEIGHBORHOOD on the way to the restaurant. An important indicator of how we need to get out a wee bit more.

These days, it seems like we never LEAVE this place. Like the house is just another crazy character that we live with. But we left Coco and Dave in charge and snuck away before the house knew what was up and hurled down a rafter or door knob in a fit of temper for not being included.

Really, the house needs to be more mature about this, don't you think?

We didn't talk about the house ALL NIGHT. Okay, maybe a little. But it was in the context of admiring the house that THEY have just sold and the photos of the one they are moving into. They've done the rehab thing and they're great at it. What HOPE that gives us! Cleanliness! Esthetics! Real pictures that HANG on the walls!

We reached back into our memories as best we could and talked about pop culture, the ranking of stand-up comics, movies, music, life and sponginess as a human characteristic. (George's mom on Seinfeld? Spongy. Who knew? Anthropomorphism in reverse. If you can be spongy, can you be stony? Wooden? Snoopy-like? I think you CAN.)

We had a blast and overstayed and the dog was happy when we returned. The cat and the house were sulky. But we didn't care. It was FUN!

Lisa, Chris, Beth, Larry and Angus presented us with the lovely, lucky bamboo shoots pictured up there. We are now convinced THAT is why nothing fell off of the house while we were out. So, bamboo is already very, very lucky indeed.

Spring Maintenance

Each time the season changes, we have to learn how to maintain the house...which is quite different than restoring it. Maintaining is done year after year. It is the necessary investment in time that you make to protect your financial investment in the house.

Sunday, we worked on the exterior...weeding, patching gutters, inspecting the roof, taking off the storm windows and putting up the screens (hooray!) We also hauled a lot of stuff out of here for disposal.

Our house currently has 37 windows. Yup. It should have 40, but three are covered up.

We found out on Sunday that we had CLOSE to this many screens in the basement, but not all of the screens are from THIS house. Because they didn't fit the windows. In the end, we had 14 screens. Hmmm. That leaves 13 windows without screens. Ooooookayyyyy.....

How do you quickly know if a screen and window fit together? (Or a storm window and window, for that matter.)

Numbered tacks. We love 'em. Someone in the distant past thought to use them and they are such a help. Because it is rare to find two windows in our old house that are exactly the same size.

An Aaron's-eye view of working on storms and screens. This would make me dizzy. I learned as a climber long ago...don't look down!

This is one of my favorite rows of windows...the windows in the dining room. They will really be beautiful someday...they are beautiful now even though some of the wooden frames need to be repaired. (We'll cover that later.)

Meanwhile, it was chop! Chop! Chop! And haul....weeding. Sorting. Tossing. Cleaning.

Then, a well deserved glass of red wine while reading Fine Homebuilding in the backyard on a warm Spring evening. WOW! We own a backyard! What a crazy thing...

Faithful Companion

We love our dog, Coco. She's not the "brightest bulb on the tree" but she is such a good, good dog.

Yesterday, she was POSITIVE that she heard Aaron coming home from work. So, I let her hang out on the front porch to greet him while I did some work in the front room.

And there she waited. Patiently. For 45 minutes.

THAT is devotion. A little early, perhaps, but devotion nonetheless.

You Know You Live in a Fixer-Upper When...

...on Saturday mornings, contractors working in the neighborhood ring your doorbell just because "I'm working down the street and noticed that your place could use a little work."

Sigh.

Hitting the Bottle

Tonight, after a work filled weekend (we'll fill you in later), we took a few hours off to go "a little crazy"...out for some posh Vietnamese cuisine (yum!) and then on to some highbrow entertainment.

Via StLukesPR.org

Because you haven't REALLY lived until you've hung out for an evening with some lovely and musically talented Lutherans who enjoy a finely tuned Leinenkugel's.

Don't believe me? Ask David Letterman. David Letterman knows entertainment.

(Many thanks to my in-laws for this post-birthday outing. Their company is as fine as their taste in fun! My future vision for my 65th birthday has been realized...I'm going to be a musical STAR! NOTE TO SELF: Must begin by emptying bottles and practicing now.)

p.s. Sorry, kids. The April-May 2004 25th Anniversary Gala of the St. Luke's Bottle Band is all sold out :( But they'll be playing more dates later on this year. It is a show worth experiencing. In these film clips, they may only seem like good-looking and talented performers...but there is some real comedy and drama there that cannot be communicated in a Real Player clip. Plus, they may need help emptying the instruments for the next performance.

So many adventures, only 3 hours

From 7:00 am to 10:00 am today, we have had a plethora of adventures.

(What a good word...plethora. Say it out loud. Sounds good, doesn't it?)

7:00 am We pulled M's old dining room rug outside to finally air it out and beat the dust out of it. Meanwhile, we found a few large water damage spots underneath it (sigh).

This thing is SO heavy that it was quite a feat to get it up there on those laundry lines. I'll beat it later. Good exercise for those involved in home improvement :)

7:45 am We've also been putting out an exciting collection of "junque" by the garage door over the last two weeks. We've found that if we can pile it up there on a Saturday, by Thursday it's all gone and the garbagepeople have nothing to haul away. We need to move our things out of A's parents' garage and into this house. It is getting a bit silly...almost a year!

At 8:00 am, I took my meds and drank some coffee. This is NOT a good combination as I now have unpredictable blood pressure and caffeine is a no-no. Sadly, so is beer, hard cheeses or anything with tyramine. But coffee tastes so good and it is such a little cup. Mmmmm. I love my coffee.

Why do I take meds? Past bouts with depression. So, you have to have a good sense of humor and be "out" about it so you can pave the way for others. Actually, when I first "outed" my depression, my friends and I came up with a great protest chant for medical coverage equity:

"We're HERE! And, um, we're DEPRESSED! And we're going BACK to BED!"

Mixed up with thyroid issues and sleep apnea...which probably cause it. I admire writers like Martha Manning and Dooce who can just be up front about it without dwelling constantly on the morose. It is terrible when you are in the throes of it, it is. And cannot be imagined if you've not experienced it. If you can be treated successfully, life is rather normal. So you deal with it and life goes on. And that is that.

9:00 am In the meantime, side effects can be annoying. This morning, I heard a man open the gate on the side of the house while he was talking on a cell phone. And I thought, "Who...?" I was working on the computer and I watched as he walked through my back yard. All I could think of was, "Is this the guy who keeps leaving my gate open?" So I jumped up out of my chair and ran down the steps to ask.

It was the electricity meter reader.

You would think, after living with my blood pressure for two years, that I would remember that "jumping up" combined with "running" is very very very very very STUPID.

I was able to ask, "Hi! Can I help you?" and "Did you remember to close the gate? Because I have a dog..." before I fell over, hitting my head on the garage. And freaking out the electricity guy.

This is more weird LOOKING than weird FEELING. It feels kinda dizzy and floaty and peaceful and then I wake up after two seconds. On the ground. It happens VERY rarely. Everyone has experienced the dizziness of standing up too quickly...this is just a little more intense. Where your body decides it needs to quickly get horizontal to balance your blood pressure. So it knocks you over. If you are quick, you just sit down on the ground before gravity takes over. That's what I usually do.

I've now unintentionally pulled this trick on the meter reader, the garbage people and our electrician. They are terrified of me. No one wants me to stand up while I am having my morning coffee. Because then I'm sitting on the floor with this beatific smile on my face. Mute.

10:00 am Aaron has dusted me off, pointed me towards breakfast (I need to eat and I always forget) and has examined my head (fine). He's consoled the meter reader who is completely hysterical and sent him away. So helpful that A was working at home today!

Wow, our adventures. If Aaron survives his spouse AND the house, I think he should be nominated for sainthood. I'm just saying.

And, yes, I'll be switching to decaf.

Ring the bells that still can ring;
forget your perfect offering;
there is a crack in everything;
that's how the light gets in..."

"Anthem" by Leonard Cohen

Things I Learned from My Web Stats

You know, the statistics from this web site are pretty interesting to us. Many folks find their way here via a home improvement topic or maybe a phrase that exists in our "What on Earth?" section.

And some search engine phrases...well...we don't know how they connect to us.

But we learn a lot from them.

For instance, a searcher recently typed in "how fast does a spider run?" and it directed them to our web page. Because we HAVE discussed spiders, but have not answered this specific question, I became curious. How fast DOES a spider run...on your bedroom ceiling...at 2:00 am?

Luckily, this site had a clue. It tells us that a spider can run 330 times its length in 10 seconds. That is too fast to make me comfortable. That means a one inch long spider can sprint from 27.5 feet ACROSS THE ROOM to ABOVE MY HEAD in 10 seconds. If I don't see it before it sees me, that is.

Another reader typed in the word, "Pootatuck". I had no idea what this meant. Except that it didn't sound polite.

NOW I know that Pootatuck is a brand of tools. But it sounds more strange than that, doesn't it?

I have not pursued the following:

- feminist reading of leave it to beaver (now, THIS does NOT sound polite)

- planning the perfect kitchen juta

- where do i get screw grab - We THINK this is what they meant. We think.

- mr peanut accessories - Mr. Peanut shops for accessories?

- mr. peanut clothing - Mr. Peanut has CLOTHING? I thought he just had the hat and cane!

- cat traveling sprinkler - Many cats ARE traveling sprinklers, yes.

- predator-urine - See previous.

- Cowboy Chic

- squangle - This word would not fly in a game of Scrabble.

- husqvarna rancher 55 discontinued?

- i bought a house with asbestos tile - This sounds like a Reader's Digest article.

- how much does norm abram make on this old house - Whatever it is, you deserve it, Norm-old-pal.

- Progress with viktor schauberger

- domestic bliss -- oh yes. Home improvement=domestic bliss. No question.

We're Moving! (to Another Room)

Today we prepared for the next wave of attack on the house by moving our things to the other first floor bedroom.

This will allow us to remove the ceiling from the first bedroom. It's in pretty bad shape, so it was coming down eventually, and at this point we'll need to get in there to sister the joists below the master bathroom upstairs.

So, in a way it was "moving day" almost exactly one year after we moved out of our condo! Aside from the new bedroom being slightly smaller, the biggest change is probably just the scenery...

Here's the ceilings we look at when we'll wake up now vs. before. Definitely an improvement.

And here is the view at the foot of our bed. Ack, the crazy wall!

Clearly we'll be having dreams incorporating the Ice Bowl or Blue Highways this summer.

Well, I guess that if challenging conditions contribute something to our motivation we should be finished with the master bedroom upstairs in no time!

You Know You Live in a Fixer-Upper When...

...you know that a "Code 3" at Lowe's means they need more cashiers.

Contractors! Contractors! Contractors!

They seem to come in bunches! We'd been working on our own for a while now, when all of the sudden we've had three in a week. Last Monday it was attic insulation removal and decontamination, Thursday it was an estimate on the chimney repair, and today it was another estimate--air conditioning.

The nice thing about the A/C one is the more direct benefit we'd get from it, versus the repair-related work. The down side is that we're going to end up taking night shift jobs to pay for this all.

While sympathetic, the A/C guy seemed cool (pun intended) to my suggestion that they consider doing it for free as a tax-deductible act of charity.

Actually, we didn't get a specific quote since it was his first visit. We walked through the house together and discussed options. The main decision we'll need to make seems to be between a single system and a two-zone approach. The former would be slightly cheaper but cost a closet. The latter would cost more but the much smaller coolant piping could fit in a wall somewhere. We also discussed retro-fit friendly, high-velocity systems like Unico, but our desire to retire some day makes those unlikely. (Notice a theme here?)

The other thing it got us thinking about was registers. What does a bungalow-friendly cool air return vent look like!? J set in to do the research and actually found some good options, actually. We'll post some of our favorites in our virtual scrapbook soon.

"Not much. You?"

We've been behind in posting this week because very little "Progress" is taking place. E is in town and is our guest for a few nights as his brother graduates from seminary this Saturday.

Regular life intervenes sometimes...

p.s. Rev Michael Louis Pflager and Rev. Dr. F. Burton Nelson received the honorary doctorates at the ceremony. Sometimes the good guys, who stand up for social justice and REAL compassion, do get recognized...

Where is my local hardware store?

After having one of our tools break the other day, I realized that big-box retail has really changed shopping. There's something to be said for the local hardware store that knows your name or the Sears store with their walk-in lifetime exchange guarantee. (They do still do that, don't they?)

For some reason, one of their commercials really sticks in my head from when I was a kid. A guy walks into Sears with a broken hammer (or was it a crescent wrench?) that he's had forever. He apologizes for not having a receipt, but the salesman says, "That isn't a problem." He walks over to exchange the tool for him. That was it. People in commercials sure were nice back then.

What ever happened to those days? We don't even have a local hardware store since the Ace in this neighborhood closed 8 years ago. That said, there is another big-box Home Depot going in near by. It will be the third home improvement store within 15 minutes of our house and the second built in just the last six months. We have a sneaking suspicion they did a marketing study and realized just how much we'd be spending in the next ten years. :-(

Lathe Makes Good Firewood

House Call...of a Different Kind

We are very, very lucky to live in a neighborhood where our friendly vet ONLY makes housecalls.

Less overhead...easy on everyone.

So Dr. Jim came this weekend and Coco was a very brave patient as she had some growths removed from her sleek brown head, her nose and her ear (she was starting to scratch them...that's when we decided to call him in.) He had only expected to give her a heartworm shot...right there in the dining room...but quickly and easily performed a little surgery with antiseptic, needle, local anesthetic, sutures and Nurses JM and Aaron attending.

I never dreamed I'm be called to assist in small animal surgery...however minor. It was very James Herriott and very impressive.

Then Dave the Cat had to be undergo a delicate procedure involving an operating glove and his posterior. I believe Aaron left the room for that one.

Dave the Cat is now sulking.

Poor Brave Coco with her stictches! Poor grumpy Dave the Cat with his sore bum!

Sympathy for both is being showered upon them.

What Women Want

Do women want diamonds and pearls? And silk dresses? Or furs?

(Double-click on any of the above to take a closer look...they are from a copy of Harper's Bazaar)

Nope. Nope. Nope.

This is what women want.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

If we are going to be putting up a house FULL of blueboard, this is what women want.

DeWalt DW260K Heavy Duty Variable Speed Reversing All Purpose Screwdriver Kit with a depth-sensitive "set and forget" nosepiece for consistent fastener depth.

Or, THIS woman, anyway ;)

And this is nice too. I got this for Christmas last year.

Restore America (with lots of cash)

HGTV continues to churn out 30-minute programs as quickly as they make home improvements look like they'll take. (And that is SO WRONG!) The latest show we've been Tivo-ing is Restore America, a show focused on historic and vintage properties.

Better than average, the show still suffers from the two shortcomings common to nearly all such shows:

- It looks too easy.
- Someone won the lottery.

That said, the episode we just saw was kind of cool, featuring three restored properties that included one California bungalow.

The house was a Greene and Greene style bungalow in Oakland. The "before" photos make it clear that the house was a legitimate wreck. Much of the cedar shingle siding was rotted and the plaster was separating (or already had) from the walls.

In contrast, the restored house was a work of art. All the plaster had been restored, including an entire gut renovation of the second floor. The stairway was widened with a beautiful oak newel post at the bottom. Many of the windows were leaded glass. A gourmet kitchen featured a professional gas range and a large island. Finally, the couple liked gardening so the large property was landscaped dramatically.

As the couple sat on their couch and talked about the house, I kept looking at the great green tile face on the fireplace...it helped distract me from my jealousy of their million dollar budget they obviously had. While I know we'll never spend as much as they could, it's still fun to imagine what it would be like to be done.

Working Weekends

What? Doesn't everyone have creeping black mold in their computer room forcing them to work like this?

I have a deadline. To finish this media project before it kills me.

"This Old, Stuffed House"

OK, so another funny milestone along this strange journey. Yesterday the story of our house adventures was on our local public radio station, Chicago Public Radio, on the local show 848 and during All Things Considered.

This Old, Stuffed House
Lisa Labuz ? Correspondent, Chicago Public Radio News
We hear the story of a Chicago couple that bought their first home...and got a whole lot more than they bargained for.

You can listen to the story in their online archives if you have Real Media Player. Click here. Or click on the June 7th broadcast and scroll down to that segment....or search for "stuffed house" on the Internet.

PS - Yes, we're fans and members of public radio. You should be too, even if you live outside of Chicago their programming is worth an online listen! Join here.

Congratulations Kjerstin & Joe!

Aaron's sister is married! Congrats Kj & Joe!

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Am I Obsessed? Mmmm...yes.

I am realizing that our digital camera is revealing more than just the interior of our house...it is exposing how my mind works.

And that is really frightening to me.

Everyone ELSE was fascinated by Alaska's majestic beauty as seen from the lovely town of Seward at the edge of Resurrection Bay, surrounded by gorgeous mountains and icefields.

I was worried that the little guy on the sign wasn't running fast enough to escape a watery death.

My mind has taken control of the camera. (And you can click on any of these photos to make them larger.) What I'm thinking translates itself from brain chemistry to digital imagery in a snap. As in...

"The SKY has NO LIMITS???! NO limits?? Hurray!!!"

"Oh. Well. Maybe it has some tiny limits."

I was fascinated with this old bus (Aaron took the picture for me). It made me think about those elephant cemeteries where old pachyderms go to die. "And this is where old buses go."

Finally, my obsession with home repair crept into my daily shower. We were staying at a little lodge that has just been built out on Miller's Landing. The contractors had made some mistakes and I couldn't stop noticing them. I desperately wanted a tube of clear caulk to fix the seal between the tub pan and shower walls.

Poor wall! Poor floor! So I discretely took the owner aside at the end of our stay to coach her on what to ask for from the contractors so the water and mold wouldn't spread. This felt liking taking someone aside at a cocktail party to tell them they have spinach in their teeth.

She was very gracious about a total stranger giving her this kind of advice. (Actually, she was grateful but I felt like enough of a weirdo never to do it again.)

I need to get a hobby unrelated to the house. For my own sanity. As well as that of my husband and family. Photography should not be on the list. Nor anything involving collecting or tools.

I have no idea what that would be. Ergh.

More on Home Improvement Shows

So, we flew back from Alaska on United and their June issue of Hemispheres magazine featured an interview with Norm Abrams from This Old House. Hemispheres is actually a great magazine, so not surprisingly the interview was well done. It focused on the legacy of the venerable home improvement show (now in its 25th year), the status of home restoration in America, and even how This Old House has gone rather high-end in recent years.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a copy with me so I went online looking for the article at the magazine's website. The bad news is that they don't offer their full magazine content online. The good news is that they had a "companion" article on the site--"Gimme Shelter!"--which was also a interesting read reviewing the various home improvement shows that have come around more recently (and which we have been chronicling here from time to time)...

Of course they mentioned the standard spouse/neighbor shows like Trading Spaces and While You were Out ("even their best results have a flimsy, provisional look") and the well known shoe-string remodeling shows ("Design on a Dime, which makes the most of a tight budget, and Divine Design, which makes the most of imagination because the budget isn't even mentioned").

They had distain for the fix-and-sell shows like Curb Appeal and Design to Sell, but you could tell the writer got some weird pleasure out of the homeowner misfortune shows: "the cautionary House Detectives...terrorizes buyers with skilled inspectors exposing expensive and even dangerous flaws�always after the contract�s been signed."

Finally, the article referenced several newer historic and old home restoration shows we haven't yet checked out, such as If Walls Could Talk and Old Homes Restored.

I'm still optimistic we'll come across more shows that reflect (and ideally inspire) our own sensibilities about old homes.

What's Happening?!?

We are researching ways to restore the brick for the chimney and side walls, as well as equipment for (maybe) installing central air.

And not kill our budget.

And work outside of the house at our real jobs has been pretty crazy.

But in an interesting development, it is the thousand legger time of year again for all you fans out there. Here's the lovely speciman we found in the bathtub.

Restoring Homes, Restoring Communities

Two great community-focused ideas came across my reading list over the past week that seemed to have great potential:

• Hyperlocal Citizens' Media - This short piece focused on a project up at Northwestern University (our old neighborhood) to create an online community: GoSkokie.
  
• Tool Lending Libraries - A movement to provide tools like books, allowing anyone with a library card to check out, say, a jackhammer for up to three days. Neat!

While both great, couldn't these be even better together? I think a local website that focused on a neighorhood and facilitated the sharing of information and resources could be incredibly powerful. Existing libraries or community centers could even act as a hub for this type of thing as an extension of their existing services.

It would take a pretty tech-savvy neighborhood to work, but you never know...I was impressed to read recently how a a neighborhood listserv was used to share community news over on the Little White Bungalow weblog.

what you set your heart upon

I haven't written much on the blog in the last few weeks. It isn't that I have run out of things to say about the house and the work on it (oh no!) But my body seems to be working against me these days, which makes posting a bit harder.

Even though I live in Chicago, sometimes my body goes to bed in Apia, Samoa (4 am CST). If I get to bed on time, it wakes up in Praia, Cape Verde. (3 am CST)

Map courtesy of Holt, Rhinehart and Winston

I don't know what this means exactly. Perhaps my body is trying to tell me something. (Something like, "GO! Go to the islands!")

All I know is that it induces a somewhat "zombie-like" state that doesn't feel very healthy or productive.

If I am incoherant for the next few weeks as I try to reset my internal clock, I'll apologize now. Or it may provide some amusing ramblings. Who knows. I guess there is always a bright side, eh?

Meanwhile, this saying keeps sticking in my head. There is a veiled meaning to it that my zombie brain meditates upon. (This was given to us by our friend Parker and is stuck to the refridgerator door.)

All I can think of is this: Dreams come with shadows and you have to battle the shadows to realize the dream.

And the meaning of that in regards to this house? Well, I'm rambling, aren't I? Well, then, off to bed again!

Hungry for Conversation

Often in the middle of an attack of insomnia, I will turn to Coco as my sounding board. I register complaints, fears and dreams about this house project with her.

And she is a VERY good listener. Very attentive. Alert.

As long as I am making a sandwich or toast.

Hey. I'm not proud. I'll take what I can get.

It's a JUNGLE out there!

But this year, it is not a JUNGLE in HERE...thank goodness.

We had a raccoon family living in our attic. This family has decided to live in the grape arbor a few doors down. Easy pickins' eh?

Click the picture to get a closer look. It's like playing Where's Waldo?

Raccoon 1: Dude! We've been busted! It's the cops!

Raccoon 2: Harry! Help me outta here! I'm stuck! I'm stuck, I tell ya!

Raccoon 1: Harry! Don't walk THAT way! AWAY from the light...AWAY from the light!!

There were not timid at all and began walking right up to us. So we took off. And covered our tracks. Don't want those guys following me home. No way.

It is war.

I know. I know. They can be helpful. They kill other bugs.

But the bathroom is mine, darn it. I'm defending it with my life (and a great big old flyswatter.)

They have the basement, the attic, the crawlspaces, one of the first floor bedrooms, the second floor and garage. I want to have the little part of the house that we are camping out in. (About 600-700 square feet).

(Yes, he is 2.5 inches long...plus some probably.)

I went to find Aaron who is sleeping peacefully.

Dave the Bug Killer? I left him in front of the window today and he hasn't moved since.

Coco, the perpetually hungry and shedding dog? Also snoring.

So, I put on my "stomping shoes", grabbed the flyswatter and went in alone. Ten minutes later and there wasn't anything left but a few legs.

I was a little out of control there. So sorry and all that.

Fourth of July

We worked and worked. Right through the holiday. Next couple of entries we'll let you know how it went.

Right now, I'm just going to share some snaps of the debris after dinner in the backyard.

Mark (Aaron's dad) snuck up on us with some Black Cats :)

He is really showing us up! Has all sorts of energy and skill while Aaron and I struggle just to keep up.

The Most Important Tool...

It has been amazing to discover the most important side benefit of all to keeping track of our Home Renovation Adventure!tm in photos and a daily diary.

Most Important Side Benefit

Keeping your sense of humor.

*I think Home Renovation Adventure! sounds better than Home Renovation Nightmare!, don't you? Much more positive. It's all about "spin," you know?

More than a table saw, more than a power drill and (gulp) only slightly more than a Sawzall, the most important tool in home renovation is....

Yep, you guessed it. A sense of humor.

Everyday something WILL go wrong. It will. And it will be something you didn't forsee. So if you are thinking, "Furnace, I'm going to have problems with that soon, I'll bet" or "Dishwasher. That's about to go."

You will be right.

AND...the door will fall off that day. Or you will find ants. Or the cat's head will get stuck in the wall.

Better to grab your camera, laugh about it and write it up than to despair and take to your bed with a box of Ho-Ho's and a bottle of Tylenol. (Though, to be fair, I've done both.)

Because the faster you can laugh about it, the faster you can move on and just let it go. Renovations get more disgusting before they get nicer. And when you are living IN them, that is very very discouraging. Because you are making things dirtier and more chaotic in the pursuit of peace and cleanliness.

Which is so very Zen. Or Dr. Suess. I'm always mixing those two up.

Every other store? Hardware store.

I was searching for something on the 'Net tonight, stumbled across this photo, and it made me laugh.

(Original image courtesy of Ozaukee County, Wisconsin.)

The original caption is Every other store is a hardware store. And if you look at the photograph, they're right. Every other store here IS a hardware store.

A fifth--5th!!!--"big box" home improvement store (think "Home Depot", "Lowes", etc.) is opening up within 3 miles of our house. Or, if you prefer, within 5-7 minutes of our house.

This "big box" category does NOT include major lumber yards (2 of them) or small-medium hardware stores (over 20 of them) or specialty supply stores (roofing, kitchens, windows, etc.). I stopped counting the specialty supply stores. There are an awful lot of those.

What is up?!

I used to have to rent a car in the early 90's to get to a hardware store that sold power tools larger than a small drill. I have been known to drive OVER THE STATE LINE to look at bathroom fixtures because reasonably priced ones were never anywhere near Chicago.

And why so close to OUR house?

(Adjusts brim on her tinfoil conspiracy hat.)

Are we THAT obvious? Can we actually keep FIVE home improvement mega-stores in business?

Wow. It's worse than I thought.

internet Access Problems

sorry for the lack of posts...our DSL has been down the last few days. It is easy to forget how s l o w dial-up is!

Anyway, SBC is sending a tech specialist out tomorrow so hopefully we be postng again regularly soon.

Murphy's Laws of Broken Things

Is there a law that Murphy proposed that maps the relationship of things that break occuring at points in linear time?

Because, if there is, it would probably read something like this:

"One major appliance or vehicle breaking down and needing major attention that requires payment for repairs will inspire a Mechanical Item Revolt whereby ALL mechanical items will be affected."

Therefore, the lawn mower decided to join two cars, the DSL, the washing machine, the sewer line, the grill and the oven in the Great Mechanical Item Revolt, Summer of 2004.

However it lived a long, if poorly-maintained, life. When it died, it was 25 years old TO THE DAY. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

How did we happen to own the lawnmower? Well...it's all in the letter we received at the closing for the house, prior to the month that we rented it back to the previous owner so she could clean it out.

What can we do now but laugh? :) How naive we were not to read more into this at the time!! Pretty naive. Ah well.

Telling Entirely Too Much

This entry will not have a photo.

Living in chaos (walls down...stuff everywhere) it is common for us to run around in the morning trying to escape from the house for work, errands, appointments. This involves climbing over, around, down and through things. Quickly. The dog is trying to follow you and panting. The phone is ringing. The cat is meowing. You look for your glasses and often find them on your head. Well, I do anyway.

So it shouldn't be a complete surprise that after flying through the house, fishing around for keys, loading things in the car, dropping things off, popping in at my mother-in-law's office, looking for change for the meter, whipping through Target and taking the car in for its air test that I would be distracted.

And that, on my way towards the last stop, I would discover that my long summer dress had split. Up the back. Very, very far up the back. Until what had started out as a back-of-the-knee high kick vent had ended up somewhere in the range of "Radio City Music Hall Rockette." No, actually, beyond Rockette. Beyond go-go dancer. Heading towards strange-looking halter top.

I have no idea if it started out that way or became that way somewhere during the day. If it started out that way, I have left a trail of people gouging out their eyes in Target, I am sure. Because what you could see wasn't very pretty. At all.

End of story. Good night.

Insomnia Games with Coco

Shhh! Aaron's sleeping and so is Dave the cat. I thought Coco was too, but she is trying to get my attention. She's led me here...

...to the refridgerator.

No, no Coco! It's too late for snacks.

Okay. Let's play "find the carrot." That should kill some time. Get your head out of the refridgerator please.

I'll hide the carrots in this bookcase. Then you try to find them. Go!

Now you've got the idea!

Yes, that's Coco. A bird dog for vegetables.

Times up!

Now we have to figure out how to kill maybe 2-3 more hours.

Sigh.

Coco, what are you waiting for?

Coco is waiting. Watching. WANTING. Something.

"What is it, girl? Is it air conditioning? You want some air conditioning?"

I think that's it. August in Chicago. We could all use some right now.

p.s. Coco's giving a shout out to Cincy pal, Scout!

Scout is at the ready to relieve Coco on A/C Watch. 'Cause dogs hang together like that, y'know?

Trading Spaces - Behind the Scenes

Apparently, the crew of Trading Spaces descended upon the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn last week. The article confirms what you'd expect--the work became a neighborhood spectacle and there were two contractors behind the scenes for every person on camera. It sounds like the speed of everything makes for a hazardous work environment, too...

"Pastor...shot herself with a nail gun Wednesday night and had to be taken to the hospital, according to neighbors."

Ouch!

Ugh.

Today, I want to run away from home. Well. Maybe not "from home." From "this house."

No particular reason, except that I feel burnt out on broken house/car/body. All the party people renovation people in the house, give me a "Yeh! Yehhhhhh!"

I woke up late this morning, which meant that I woke Aaron up with a shout from the kitchen, "How much do you love me?"

Everyone who is married will recognize this for the unfair and manipulative question that it is. For him, I'm sure it was like being woken up at some twisted marriage bootcamp.

"Very much, ma'am! Reporting for duty, ma'am!"

I needed a ride to the doctor's office all the way downtown, since I wouldn't be able to park and make it on time. Since he is a terrific sport, I met him at the door with his baseball cap and shoes on the way out.

He cruised Millenium Park in the station wagon until I was done. Then we went to drop off the other car at the mechanic...again. Hey! Third time is a charm, right?

It is a grey and overcast day here, after being sunny and in the high 70's, after being in the high & humid 90's. All within the last week. Ahhh. We love Chicago.

So I am sulking in the back room with the dog and working on the computer doing research. The moldy and smelly back room.

And I want to run away. With my pillow and my toothbrush. And my husband and pets.

Signed,

Little Miss Sunshine---not.

Low tonight? 50 degrees F

Yeah....we love AUGUST in Chicago.

What is up with this weather? Pollution blotting out the sun? Global warming? Or a REALLY big bird? Your guess is as good as mine.

(Sorry, I HAVE to include this because it is one of the most unfortunate logos EVER...

Note to the EPA: Put your hands on the monitor and step away from the clip art. Is this how bad our priorities are in this country? The EPA has to use CLIPART while Barney gets his own overdesigned PAGE???

Sorry, that gets a 10 out of 10 for poor management of my tax money.)

Killer house

We think that this house is trying to break us.

We are trying not to take it personally.

Now that MY back is better, Aaron has thrown out HIS back. And, at 6'7", he has a MUCH larger back to throw out.

Before & After...The Armstrongs

(subtitle: A very real renovation story)

We don't know if Heather and Jon live in a bungalow. And that isn't the point anyway.

Heather's account of their kitchen renovation in her 8th month of pregnancy is so poignant, so hilarious, so...so...full of Chuck goodness that it is worth passing along.

I cannot say anything more. Click here for The Armstrong Kitchen Remodeling Disaster

p.s. I was catching up with The Rage Diaries this morning (August 17th) when I saw that they had ALSO linked to the Armstrong story....and....to our blog in the same entry. Whoa. Can someone say synchronicity"? (Jung, not Sting) No? You can't? How about "strange coincidence"? That should be easier....

Code Blue! Calling all old house people!

Would the cheerleading squad please report to the House in Progress? Any fellow Old House people in the house?

'Cause we have an old house motivation emergency!

Hi, JM:

I am a frequent poster and reader of your site and I am in serious need of motivation lately. I was looking on the internet and the forums, newsgroups etc. about WHAT exactly motivates us Old House people?

I could (and did) have the Big NEW house in the suburbs. The main reason we left was the people that buy houses like that lived all around us! (we were the only ones who ever got out on a ladder). But we still could have bought another NEW house on more land (also with mature trees, like old house neighborhoods) to fix the neighbor problem. WHY OLD?

Have you posted a post about this? Why Old for you? Will you make it a topic upcoming? Can you help me remember what my rationale was? Help me figure out what to tell my (new house) brother when he comes to see the place and asks "you paid HOW much for this place? are you NUTS?"

Please help me- help us all in your eloquent way. WHY did I do this? WHY all this work for such a small house? -- Carol from NC
______________________________________________________

JM: Okay, everyone here at Old Houses Anonymous (OHA!) say hi to Carol...

Everyone more or less in unison: ...HI CAROL!

JM: Carol, you aren't the only one to ever ask this. I'm sure that back in the first tent made of fur, one couple asked another couple, "A CAVE?! Why would you buy a cave when you could have a nice new moosehide tent in the 'burbs?!"

Moments of doubt pulse through me like, um, great BIG pulse-y things at least 5 or more times a day on the average. Sometimes it sinks to one, sometimes it's WAY up...it all averages out.

I have this goofy, deep love for things that are built solidly and with integrity. When we got this house, there were holes in the walls so you could see into a lot of places that you usually don't get to see. I would be amazed and touched by the craftmanship where a rafter met a wall. Or how a window was placed "just so". A team of builders really cared about what they were doing when they made these parts of the house you aren't supposed to see.

Some choices depend on where you live and the price of things. A new house that has this level of construction (rafter tails, old hard wood, fabulous wood doors and floors, trim, gorgeous wood windows, this style) would cost a fortune here in Chicago. Million dollar range. Plus, we would have had architects and contractors too. So there wouldn't have been any way around that. We would have needed to live somewhere in the meantime.

We couldn't have afforded it. Especially not anywhere near the city, near family and friends, where we can walk everywhere and neighbors have lived here forever and take care of each other.

It's hard to find craftspeople these days who really care about building fine NEW homes. They do exist and are infinitely more rare. We're lucky...we've found GREAT craftspeople after a LOT of looking. Owners of new homes forget this level of quality because everything is new and clean. Those first few years don't seem like much maintenance is needed because it's a new home, right? Until the gutters clog up and water is in the basement and it has been discovered that the contractor forgot that oh-so-important piece of the plumbing...and you are 48 mortgage payments in. Owners of old houses get surprises too, but we also get to chant to ourselves, "She's lasted 90 years. She's lasted 90 years." Although a small thing, it means a lot.

Demo and construction can be rotten and no fun. My husband was talking to friends the other day, "Well, when we build our retirement house..." I did a double take and then gave him "The Look." He said, "What? What?" And I told him. "You will be building a retirement house after I've died in this one, because I'm not doing this again." Everyone laughed, including me, but on another level I was kind of serious. (Aren't I awful? I think I am. I don't usually jump all over someone's dreams this way. First sign of burnout.)

Then there comes this softening...this life...these little "a-ha's." The day I realized that location and design can matter much more than big. That there is such a thing as "big enough." Just like hearts, old houses find interesting ways to expand and cram people in without needing a transplant.

And solid architecture...like a good friendship or marriage. I'm know there are a few flaws here and there in the corners and on the edges, but my love of the whole is so much more than than the sum of those flaws. Then, occasionally, those flaws can look so beautiful in the right light and circumstances.

It's the real KNOWING. Having seen inside of the walls, I can trace the line of each pipe and wire when that wall goes back up. There's everything I've been learning...not just about the house, but about myself and my priorities and limits. I've never been one for process and patience. I'm all about closure and big dashes of getting things done and perfection. It has been hard to let go of some things in the quest to balance myself out.

I despised those darn weeds in the back garden until I realized that my dog was getting old and there was no place that she would rather snooze than in the grass next to me as I pulled and swore under my breath. I love her and I enjoy her pleasure. So I will pull weeds for her and pray that she lasts as long as there are weeds in my garden.

The constant recleaning tires me as does the stripping of wood. I've tried to use that time to reacquaint myself with my older CD's. We're going to send out a few doors to be dipped because I will be in tears if I have to do them all. I've been trying to keep as much packed away as possible and get rid of much more. All the rugs have been rolled up and stored away and I use slipcovers that I can throw in the washer. Good pieces of advice that I got from the Brickmans of Brickman house. I make the Sisyphus joke and attack the house and it rarely feels good to be constantly cleaning.

Then I allow myself to really examine what I'm working on. How's it doing? Everything okay? Any patching needed? Or repairs? Look at how the notch here on the rafter tails lines up so perfectly with its neighbor...how did they do that? I am in second grade all over again and Mrs. Hangen of West Elementary is encouraging me to examine a butterfly cocoon or a shell. Time slows down and I lose myself in the pleasure of being absorbed in something sensory. The "to do" list, general overseer of my hours, falls off the edge of the roof and I do not miss her.

There is working alongside of this man I married and who I admire as we figure out that he is better at the framing and I am better at the maintenance of the appliances and we barter and teach each other how to do things and drop into bed exhausted.

Some visitors come through and some see our vision. Others do not and are "truly horrified for us" and say so. I smile and nod and when they leave, I crawl onto the sofa with a cup of tea or something stronger and sob until Aaron comforts me. I pledge to develop a thicker skin and wonder out loud if I can avoid showing the naysayers future pictures of our children...I just don't think I could take the critique. Aaron says something funny and I laugh in little hiccup-like sobs.

I guess what I am saying is...ALL houses are maintenance and layers of memory and much luck. (All marriages and friendships and family relationships are like that too, I suppose.) I like to take my chances with the tried and true. After 90 years, if that old girl is still standing, I think she'll be here for awhile more.

Wood Prices Increase - Ack!

So my dad and I went to Lowes today to pick up a replacement attic fan and a few other things J and I needed. We also went to the lumber section, since my parents need to replace some rotting planks in their deck. He needed cedar but we also walked by the standard pine 2x4s where I stopped and noticed...wood prices have gone through the roof!

It's been over a month now since we did a lot of our infrastructure work upstairs, but still...we paid $2.49 per 2x8x8 then and now they're going for over $4 each!

Sure enough, a quick search of Google News verified that this is true everywhere. Apparently the housing boom, the war in Iraq, and even the construction boom in China are all combining to put a pinch on wood prices.

A few of the finer points from an article in the Chicago Daily Herald...

Wood prices soaring
8/15/2004

Demand for lumber has been strong since the home-building boom took off during the late 1990s. Rains in the South in spring 2003, followed by summer fires in the West, caused mill closures. Then Hurricane Isabel hit Florida in late summer 2003, boosting demand for plywood used in repairs....Other complicating factors include a building boom in China that sucked in imports, a 27 percent tariff slapped on imports of lumber from Canada - which supplies 30 percent of U.S. lumber consumption - in May 2002, and a weaker U.S. dollar that makes imports from Europe more costly.

Ouch!

Pup Dreams

I am a better person as a result of owning a dog.

Dave the Cat is a cool feline friend and we're pals...he is an awesome cat. Very cool, very laid back.

There is something different about my relationship with Coco. Dave keeps his own counsel and lives in his own sphere most of the day...he is the cat that comes and goes as he pleases. He always comes through when I need him, though. He is the best nursemaid ever.

Coco and I rotate around each other like twin satellites. Since she came to live with me, before I had met Aaron, we naturally grafted ourselves onto one another. And she has enthusiastically expanded our universe to allow Aaron in. She was also keen on Dave but he was less keen on her, so she treats him with a wary and distant respect.

She came to me when she was almost seven. And now she is thirteen. An amazing creature with a lopsided dog smile and warm, brown eyes who was perpetually hungry. She had a bad ear infection and perfect manners...no accidents or chewing shoes. She would turn her head to one side while looking at you intently. She would enthusiastically bound down the beach and into Lake Michigan without missing a beat. In her dreams, she would paddle her legs chasing tennis balls and thump her tail without waking when I would speak to her.

When I lived in a condo, I would walk her up and down four flights of stairs. During the Chicago winters, I would join the legion of other dog owners who owned down coats and kept their mittens with a leash by the door to grab, bleary-eyed, at 7:00 am. She forced a rhythm into my life. I buried my feet beneath her body on winter days when she would lie beneath the desk where I tapped at my computer. When I was very sick, she was at my side the entire day and often became my crying towel.

Now, if I cannot sleep, she keeps herself awake and follows me from room to room. She sleeps more and more during the day. Her hearing is a little off, unless you sneak out to the kitchen. Somehow, the sound of the fridge door opening never goes undetected. She is slower to rise...she becomes sore. I massage her spine and her hips. There are days when she prefers the easy slope of the front steps to the steep rise of the back steps. She walks a little more slowly. She's not as interested in fetching as she is in lying in the grass.

Earlier this week, I was in the back room and she got up for a drink of water in the kitchen. Her metal water dish clanged against the floor...her signal for, "It's empty! Come fill it!" I called to her that I would be there and slowly picked out another sentence before I followed.

She was lying on the kitchen floor, her limbs stiff, her eyes rolling. Water was everywhere and I cried out for Aaron. I ran to her but she had already recovered, was standing up, shaking it off, drenched. She went to the back door but had trouble with the steps. So I scooped her up, my big brown girl, and carried her gently down.

She has been fine all week but I sense something ominous in her age which tears at my throat and makes it hard for me to breathe. I am selfish and cowardly and so in love with my dog that my love for her terrifies me and tears my heart to shreds.

I will try to keep my momentum. I will try to stop dissolving into tears every evening as she lies upon her bed in sleep and I hang off of the edge of mine, watching her. I will try to make whatever time I have with her as fun and interesting during her waking hours as I can.

I will try to live up to the selflessness she awakened in me with her arrival and I will try to let her go graciously when she needs to go.

I am a better person as a result of having known her. And who am I kidding? She owns me.

This is so awful.

This story is so awful. I can't even imagine. I'm speechless.

80-Year-Old Farmhouse Accidentally Razed

CUMMING, Ga. - Three generations of James Wheeler's family were sheltered by a farmhouse built by his grandfather about 80 years ago. Now, there is only red dirt, weeds and scattered debris where the farmhouse once stood, thanks to a bulldozer that accidentally razed the house for a new subdivision.

After his grandparents died, the house went to Wheeler's mother. She moved into a retirement apartment three years ago, and the house had been vacant since. Wheeler said he checked on it about once a month, the last time in mid-June.

___

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fallin' for ya

Whoa. What happened?

When did Fall start? DID Fall start? Where was I?

Gone, man. Gone.

We decided to hoof it out of town for Labor Day to visit my parents and one of my sisters. We felt somewhat guilty, yet also defiant, sneaking out of the house and heading towards relaxation. No "to do" lists. No schedules. It was bliss.

We were hoping the whole house did not crumble in our absence. It did not. Dave the Cat opted to stay home in the arms of Caitie, our compassionate neighbor, whom he adores.

My family is camera shy. So here we are sitting around playing cards, drinking wine and trading barbs with each other. We also started to talk politics...a topic you should never discuss with your family. Oh well.

My mom:

My sister and Aaron:

The dog:

Me:

My dad, who was in the middle of a political--um, "push back"--in a conversation we were having.

The great thing about my dad is his SENSE OF HUMOR. Did I say that already? Maybe I did.

Anyway...after pizza, the "Ice Cream Float" came around with Good Humor and HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!?????!!!!

Actually, it was pretty darn awesome.

Home Depot Grand Opening

Home Depot has been building a new store north of us, and today was their grand opening. I'm trying to ignore the fact that they managed to build an entire store before we could finish our upstairs renovation.

I was going to take a walk through the new store but when I drove by there was a line of more than 100 people outside! At first I wondered if there was some first-day discount, but then I noticed lots of kids so I figured one of the Chicago Cubs or Bears was signing autographs. I had a trunk full of groceries so I decided not to wait and headed home.

As we've mentioned previously, this marks the fifth big-box home improvement store located near us. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune the other day, the boom is related to Chicago's rank as the nation's top building-materials market: $10.2 billion in annual retail sales.

Either that or someone at Home Depot reads our site and saw how much we still have to spend over the next ten years to fix the house. ;-)

Maybe it's a Chicago obsession

Hewn and Hammered turned me on to sixosix. It's where I found this graphic novella by Nell Taylor that I could easily relate to.

Maybe it's an obsession with half of us who live in Chicago who try to hang onto what is old and can be made beautiful with a little care, a little tenderness.

Maybe the other half likes the generic, "1967 Communist Russia-like" condo townhomes that are thrown up in ninety days to replace a century-old building.

I can't imagine how that other half lives. Or what they like to read. Or, well, anything. How can you live without dust and imagination and old wood? That's missing all of the fun and soul.

Not my fault! Really!

Although I was grouchy earlier in the week, this isn't my fault!!! Honest!!!

Tropical Storm Jeanne

I have a feeling that my sisters will have something to say about this.

Long Nights

Jay's been over the last few nights installing the skylights.

He should finish up tomorrow. We'll post the photos then.

Good morning, glory.

Aaron did an admirable job of holding down (and proceeding with!) the fort this weekend while I snuck away for some spiritual renewal.

I didn't realize that one whole weekend without house talk or political talk or work talk could refresh me so completely. But it did.

Learn from this. Learn from my mistake of waiting so long (15 months) to make time for these other important things. If your house project is beginning to tear at the edges of you, get away if only for a very short time.

Laugh a lot. Listen to wise friends. Sleep tightly.

Then re-approach the work.

Take time to smell the roses (or, in this case, to admire the morning glories clinging to the post next to the alley.) Life is a process, not a product, and we cannot hope to measure it in its completeness, for it is never done.

p.s. Thank you, wonder women of Triplet #3, for showing your generous spirits to me this past weekend...you know who you are. :)

Old House Blues

Sorry for the scarcity of actual "work moving forward" photos.

We are really, REALLY tired. I look especially bad when I am tired. Here I am from last night. I put on my "thinking cap" to try to come with some rejuvenating ideas.

Nothing. I've got nothing. Even my cap was too tired.

Work outside of the house has been FULL TILT for the last few weeks. And lots of extracurricular things have been going on.

I would be lying shamelessly if I didn't confess that this kind of project has its highs AND lows. This is a low.

I am simply blown away by the kindness of neighbors and friends at times like these. My friend, Krystyna, sent me a bag of yummy muffins and SNUCK a built-in out of the house this weekend so she could strip it for us in her garage.

I am not worthy.

Lenore and Kris hooked me up this past weekend and Aaron sent me packing for a little overnight R & R. Which was sorely needed. I hadn't laughed SO HARD in so long nor felt so soulfully renewed either.

We're still camping with a mortgage. We got ourselves into this willingly. We're big kids. We'll dig ourselves out.

A neighbor down the street told us of two OTHER neighbors who lived in their basements and cooked with microwaves (one had the microwave balanced on the dryer and was down there for TEN YEARS!) And they had kids. Incredible. In comparison, I have no right to feel sorry for my whiney self. Microwave. Basement. Years. Yikes.

I never see Norm or Tom from This Old House living in a basement with a microwave. I don't know why that would make me feel better to see that. I like them. I don't wish it upon them. And yet...I'd like to see the photo albums from their first houses anyway. I'm in need of a reality check, I think.

Raincheck

ohmigosh, it is almost midnight and I am just getting home from work. On a Friday.

Please forgive me if I just zone out and have nothing, absolutely nothing, original to say.

It is eversokind of you to keep dropping by when we have been so lame. Here...um...read some interesting House Stories. These are fun.

Here are some more things to keep you busy that you'll enjoy...

Find out who used to live in your house. I wonder who lives in your childhood home right now? Have a photo for them? Mail it back!

Or design your own virtual garden.

Play. Have fun. Let me know how it goes. I have an all day meeting tomorrow (yes...Saturday) and a big event on Sunday that I'm helping to coordinate. Pardon me while I go pull out my hair strand by strand.

Estate Sale

No, not ours :( We still have no room!

A friend of ours is moving to a smaller apartment after decades in her flawlessly maintained Chicago-style bungalow. She is selling the contents of her house.

I cannot go because we are still trying to deal with the contents that we inherited! But she is a VSP** who will no doubt have a lovely, organized sale of vintage household items.

5236 N. Bernard Avenue
8:00 am to 3:00 pm
Friday, October 1st

**Very special person

"Who are you? Do you live here too?"

Everyone has some kind of horror story about a couple breaking up because of a house renovation.

Which would really be quite awful. I mean, wow, like who would get custody of the miter saw? And how could Aaron live without my awful hat?

We know that "The House" (by now, it is its own character with its own personality) desperately tries to throw itself between us. During each little negotiation and decision, as in:

"If I let you pick the lights for the bathroom, I want to choose the sink."

With each little surprise it springs on us...each time our bank account dips precariously low....the House is lurking in the background, ready to spring.

Oh my gosh! The House is a homewrecker! Hussy. Playah.

So we decided to go on the offensive, head off any problems and carve out "non-House time" for ourselves each week. Because, frankly, I couldn't remember what Aaron looked like without a dust mask on.

Dinner out on a weekly basis was not an option with our budget. But breakfast? Yeah! Right on! So every Saturday morning we have a standing date to walk to somewhere new in the neighborhood and sit down across from each other--instead of over a couple of boards on sawhorses--and calmly sip coffee and NOT TALK ABOUT THE HOUSE.**

We decided to splurge a little on our first one and headed to Tre Kronor on Foster. Yummmmmmmmm. Swedish pancakes. Omlettes with turkey and leeks.

And The House was not invited. Nyah.

**Thank you to friends, Lenore and AJ, for this awesome idea. They are so smart :)

CONTEST: Worst house story ever

About a week and a half ago, we asked people to send in their worst house stories when we posted this picture of Derek's "Mother of all Mouse Nests"...

Now it's time to VOTE FOR YOUR CANDIDATES!!!

We don't have punchcards or fancy kiosks here at HouseinProgress, but we can use two things: 1) email, and 2) the Honor System.

Remember the honor system? Boy, I sure do. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Hangen, drummed it into our heads and it was the first case of dread that I experienced as a six year old. "What if I have already blown this honor system thing??!! Because I didn't know about it??!! Why didn't they tell me about this in kindergarten???!!"

I was kind of high strung like that.

Anyway, you will be voting for your candidates (one reader equals one vote) by sending EMAIL to a special account for scientific tabulation.

Here are your choices:

#1 Derek, his mouse nest, the 10 ft x 2 ft hole in his rotted floor, and the 70 sq feet of removed stucco. (Story here)

#2 Sean's mummified kitty and its removal--which caused it to fall into pieces (Story in comments section here)

#3 John's rotton termite-destroyed walls, LIVE termites (eating the house out from under him) and HIS skeletons. (Story starts here)

#4 Jonathan's houseful of bat "guano" and one iron fell when the ceiling came down--stitches required (Story in comments section here)

#5 Cheryl and the crazy previous owners who REALLY muddled their house, her leg went through the floor in their bath (Story starts in comments section here)

Here is where you send ONE email for the WORST old house renovation project story (by the way, HouseinProgress does NOT collect email addresses or do any foo-foo marketing...we don't have time. Your email will be erased when the vote is over 'cause I have to get insulation into the attic before it snows. Vote with confidence.):

#1 Derek vote1@houseinprogress.net

#2 Sean vote2@houseinprogress.net

#3 John vote3@houseinprogress.net

#4 Jonathan vote4@houseinprogress.net

#5 Cheryl vote5@houseinprogress.net

Happy Voting! Polls close Friday, October 8th at midnight, Central Standard Time. No debates, no spin, no opinionated pundits, no finger pointing or snarkiness. Just happy happy voting here.

Rolling Right into Stressville, USA

This was supposed to be a different post than the one that follows. But this is what really happened during the course of my day. So it goes...

1) Get home from sleep study at 5:30 am. This sounds like an oxymoron. Is it really a sleep study...if you have to get up so early?

2) Left new book, America the Book: A Guide to Democracy Inaction, at the hospital. Feel frustrated with my increasing absentmindedness.

3) Dave the Cat is angry with me for being gone overnight.

4) Take photos for weblog during last 4 days while working to restore exterior wood trim. But, in a panic when the laptop starts to melt down, erase all of the pictures accidentally. Abandon my plans to post in detail about that project this evening.

5) Whine to the dog. The dog wants a treat.

6) Read an article about lead dust that has me frantically re-cleaning and scrubbing. Wonder if someone could set off alarms in airports from the lead content in their body. Could they?

7) Drip stripper on my arm (even though I am wearing long rubber gloves) when I use the stuff on a difficult piece of outside trim that I can't reach with the SPR. Creates alarming blister. Wonder if I could finish the house if my arm fell off.

8) Cry to Aaron when he comes home. He is very comforting. And he orders pizza.

9) Watch the Presidential debates...kind of. Get agitated and finish stripping wood around the front door while listening for the television in the living room.

10) Become despondent in a strange, "out of proportion way" when The Daily Show doesn't do a show after the debate because it is Friday. Take it very personally. Decide that Jon Stewart is standing between me and a complete breakdown.

11) Pledge to Aaron that I will try to stop taking politics and the media so personally. Go to bed. But put the cat out of the bedroom first.

The house is only a small part of the stress ball that I have become.

Winner of the Worst House Project Contest

You know, when you take on house renovation, you tend to hear a LOT of horror stories. I think my "skin crawling moment" happened when I read about Heather and David's episode with the mites this past summer.

And ALL of the stories have been uniquely horrifying moments that any home owner could look back upon and hope (HOPE!) to be able to laugh at one day.

The voters for HIP's contest have spoken. Although all of the entries received votes, a winner clearly emerged by midnight on Friday.

Yes, Jonathan's story of "Bat Guano and Stitches" sufficiently grossed out enough readers to rise victorious out of the fray and give us all (especially me) perspective into our own house dilemmas.

Some of the comments that were sent along with the votes illustrate how the story was received by our readers:

An honorable mention should go to Sean's mummified kitty, which also received quite a few votes. However, EVERY entry received votes which just goes to show you that house restoration takes courage and fortitude and...a very large first aid kit with the phone number for an exterminator taped to the lid.

Since Halloween IS coming at the end of the month, and your own little "ghosts and goblins" might be interested in something more INTERACTIVE that has emerged from our winning story...HouseInProgress offers this link to making your very own bat guano with our compliments.

Enjoy :)

The Ugly Truth About Change Orders?

Dave--a good friend, fellow bungalow owner, and architect--forwarded on an ad for a book he came across. It was so disturbing I had to post it here...

Increase your effectiveness in requesting change orders, while simplifying your work and boosting your change order approval rate.

I can't believe a book like this exists! Wait--yes I can.

I've got no problem with someone getting paid for valid changes in scope or materials. I don't think that contractors should have to pay for "just one more little thing" out of their own pockets. When I read the first sentence of the paragraph about the book, I thought "that's only fair."

Get paid in full for every change delay or added expense...

But the fact that someone would write a book focused on maximizing cost increases for changes based on mistakes or everything not clarified is sad. As alluded to in the next part of the description about the book.

What the architect would have previously 'clarified', for example, the owner will now process and pay for as a change order.

We've been lucky to have had great contractors all along, but mainly because of good references that have led us to honest folk plus attention to detail on our part. We've had a few potential contractors who we haven't hired but only because we were able to ask very informed questions about materials or the process of the work. We've had a few contractors remember to ask things in the negotiations phase that we had not thought of...they were very honest to do that. I'm sure there are lots of homeowners out there who aren't so dilligent or lucky.

Because the world of construction and home building requires the knowing and understanding of so much new information (mechanics, processes, language), many homeowners WOULDN'T know if something has or hasn't been clarified.

Sometimes that could be the architect's problem...they forgot something or didn't mark something correctly. Sometimes that could be the homeowner's problem...they didn't think something through or didn't communicate something they wanted ahead of time.

Sometimes that could be the contractor's problem...they didn't install something correctly, or they've used substandard materials. (Architects can't draw every nut and bolt in detail. There has to be some assumption of quality building standards that architects and owners make which rests with the contractor. They also don't write step-by-step instructions for installing certain systems or materials correctly...the responsibility to know that rests with the contractor as well if they have said they can do it.)

It certainly doesn't surprise me that the very good folks at Fine Homebuilding's Breaktime discuss the application of everyday ethics in their forum. It is a fine line to walk, not to want to be cheated but also to want to do "the right thing."

But charging $75.00 a book to teach someone how to just go for the money to be made in mistakes and not ask "what is the right thing?"

Well, that seems wrong.

Caveat emptor. Caveat subscriptor. Caveat venditor. Sigh.

More bona fides would be nice.

The Dark Side of House Restoration

I am so out of the closet about my lifelong relationship with depression that it has become very old news.

But if you are wondering why I have started, but not completed or posted umpteen (that IS a number, right?) entries on the house lately, blame my biochemistry.

We cleared some time on the docket to experiment with my thyroid and my sleep patterns. In the twinkling of an eye, I go from having projects to BEING a project. :)

Strangely, during my lifetime, the very same wellspring in my head that was able to produce art and poetry and music also coughed up an interesting amount of despair and dark comedy and self-created isolation and fear earlier on.

So, what does this have to do with an old stuffed house?

Well, plenty actually.

Living in chaos with little to be able to control but your own perspective on the situation, occasionally faced with what seems to be only a snail-like progress, can test the most placid of people.

For people like me, it can be a real obstacle course. In fact, I've heard it said that a few old house restorations have driven folks over "The Edge". Thank goodness I've been over "The Edge" and know how to eventually get back! Though it is...without a doubt...the most indescribable experience ever. There are really no words though many have tried to string adjectives together or run metaphors up the flagpole to see who salutes them.** "Crummy" doesn't even begin to address it. Neither does "numb" nor "bleak".

Tight-fisted control used to see me through these pre-"old stuffed house" times. In the condo, I knew that I could count on the exact number of spoons in a drawer and the perfect arrangement of sofa pillows and dining room chairs. This old house says, "HA!" to that kind of predictability.

(I think that my addiction to the ideal and the perfect started pretty early. I have been told that at my 5th birthday party...driven into pre-party panic...I actually practiced the game of dropping the clothes-pins in the bottle before the visitors arrived to calm my performance anxiety. So I would "get it right" when they came. That's pretty fierce for age 5. And why a lot of corporations love people like me. "Hmm, you'll stay for 15 or 19 hours today to get that presentation absolutely perfect? Okay. You'll work like that on a regular basis? Okay.")

So, as the super hero known as "Idealism Girl...Woman for Advocacy", it is necessary every once in a while to throw my cape over my head, let myself sink into imperfection and have a good, hard cry about it.

At least I know I'm in good company...Mike Wallace, Bill Styron, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Simon, Dar Williams, Phil Graham. That's just a few of many. One in eight in the U.S., so I'm told. Amazing, all of the functioning and creativity going on out there, even with this albatross.

The laptop melted down about the same time I did. Aaron took the laptop back to the store, but kept me. And I think that was really nice of him.

So it's back to the fray. I'm out of bed and using my allotted active hours today to clean up the basement.

Sorry for the diversion. But if I'm gonna keep it real, well, you've gotta know the real.

**Private joke. Leftover from old marketing project. Sorry.

Smack Down at Home Depot

I was in Home Depot recently where I started out simply looking for a old storm window "push out" hinge and ended up in a tradin' smack talk episode with an HD employee in Aisle 8 who was trying to convince me that I was a fool for not replacing my wood windows with aluminum clad.

(Thanks, Tony, for the link about HD)

You'd think, since I am 38 and he was looking down the far side of 50-something, that both of us would be above the, "Oh yeah? Well, let me tell YOU something..." rhetoric from fourth grade.

We were not, I am sorry to report.

Aaron was very disappointed in me. He showed up at the end of the "discussion" when I got all "East Coast" on this guy and was ready to start tradin' the dozens. I was two seconds away from, "Well, your MAMA is so...."

Aaron steered me into the insulation aisle, "Were you talking SMACK with that guy about WINDOWS?"

Me: "Yes. Yes I was! And I would do it again! He said, HE said...that MY wood windows...were...and I was...and then HE implied that I was...was...and...so I told him that HIS windows were gonna be around for 10, maybe 12 and mine...90 years...and...WHAT does he know? Dumb guy..."

And then I got all emotional and teary.

I think I am getting a little "overinvested" in this project.

Man, I just wouldn't make it on the playground anymore.

Broken Dryer, I Challenge Thee!

In the middle of doing laundry last night, our 1993 Kenmore Heavy Duty dryer turned on me...it actually growled and opened its maw and spit out the words...

NO. MORE. TOWELS!

It then promptly shut down the spinning of its drum, its blower making a low humming noise.

Aaron was gone on business. And I had an armful of wet towels. Which were promptly dispatched all over the house.

This was extremely sad. And drippy. It represented something larger to me...something sinister and darker than just a clump of wet towels.

The appliances in our house have been total divas (to quote Nathan) and I was all, "Ah! Poor Mr. Stove/Fridge/Dryer...there, there. It will be okay."

NOT ANY MORE! Now I feel all ninja and determined and ready to kick some major appliance butt!

I'm going to try to FIX IT MYSELF. Yes, me. All by myself. (knees knocking) With the help of some tools and my trusty internet connection. When I have been successful...and I WILL DEFEAT the dryer...I will post it in the Do It Yourself section. That includes any major mistakes that I make.

For now, I need to wait for $40 in parts from my initial diagnosis.

And pray for the forgiveness of my parents-in-law as I drag our dirty laundry through the alley...to their house.

(In my best movie preview voice...but with a slightly adjusted script...)

She's BACK with a wrench.
And a vengeance.
Move over, Mr. Maytag Repairman.
This little lady isn't going to take it.
From these old appliances.
Anymore.

Autumn. Life.

Most days it seems imperative that I get all of the storm windows fixed as soon as possible. That every hour needs to be about getting it all done.

And then...there are moments like this.

Watching the World Go By. Literally.

Tonight, Aaron came home while I was cleaning the bathtub and coaxed me upstairs to the roof...to watch the lunar eclipse.

Leaning back against the peak of our bungalow roof, we felt pretty calm and peaceful. It helped that our bungalow roof is the classic low pitched roof.

(Image courtesy of the DiscoveryChannel.com because my camera couldn't capture this.)

It was really lovely. It was also extremely romantic, lying on the roof above the treetops and watching the line of the earth's shadow move across the face of the moon. We saw a falling star and made a wish. And reminisced about how we couldn't have done this on our condo roof. (Not allowed up there.)

And then, from around the corner of the dormer, a familiar face...

Meow!

"DAVE! What are you doing up on the roof??!!"

Bad kitty. Funny kitty. Dave wasn't too confident up there. Aaron had to take him back inside.

Finally, the ex-teacher in me ran to pull my in-laws out onto their porch to see the celestial show. A family down the street with school age children also got a knock on the door from me. Everyone "ooohhh"d and "ahhh"'d at the pretty eclipse.

Yes, yes, I am the crazy lady of our small block. I would take that over being "the grumpy lady" any day :)

It's.....Fell.

By the little tree in my backyard, I can see that it is no longer Fall.