Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Hey day

Allow me to introduce a new player to the house game….meet Apple. Apple is a super awesome friend of ours who has come to stay for a bit and help out with the house.

The Notorious has a full-time job. I have a full-time job (and no house renovation skills). Life lately has left little time to get much done.  

Enter Apple.

First a quick review...

We did recently get new windows. Which is kinda like being robbed of all your money. But less fun.  
 
We also had the roof re-sealed and silver coated. Now it constantly looks as if it has snowed. Which is pleasant.

And we had the roof done b/c “we” “finished” the bathroom. And days later Philly got a 100-years rain and the new ceiling leaked. Notorious had to strike it with a knife to allow the water to pour out into the tub. Yes. Pity us. 
 


We still need a new bathroom door. The old one is…well,



Oh, and we upgraded the electrical system from a 100-amp service to a 200-amp service. Plus, a new service line. We now have more breakers available than we have electrical items.




Onward and upward tho. Peep game on the kitchen.






Kill shot to HoPiKi.

Of course the demo has had it’s hiccups.

The ceiling(s) once torn out comprised something like 3000 lbs of trash. I promise we don’t hate the earth, but our house really, really does.  

Hiccup.  

The wall we want to take out to open up the first floor was (1) questionably load bearing and (2) housing both water pipes and hydronic heat pipes. The water ones are no big deal. The heat ones cannot be moved easily until we turn off the boiler and drain it for the season.


Hiccup.  

An amazing surprise awaited the guys in the ceiling corner. Apparently, and I regret to say I was not around to witness this, when they tore out this particular ceiling area the room FILLED with black ash and smoke/dust.  

The kitchen is an add-on. Most rowhomes in Philly were built with “kitchens” in the basement. Sometime in the last 100-years, kitchens were added on to the backs of homes. Ours is no exception. But along the way some questionable design choices were made. Like to hide an old, upstairs fireplace in a wall w/o ever terminating it well or cleaning it out.
 


Apple retells the story with affection. Says he hadn’t laughed that hard in years. Said it was a wall-slapper, take-a-knee kind of laugh. Says it was made all the more funny by the Notorious’ reaction which was not laughter. Said he looked like he was either going to cry or go punch out a car window. He laughs about it now.

Hiccup.

The catfaces are black. (Typing this just had me wrapped up in a revelation that animals have no race. Well, that’s just beautiful.) We’ve had to construct a plastic wall to keep them out of the construction zone. Man, they are jerks. They time the door opening and bolt from all angles – pretty sure even from above – to make it into the wreckage.

 
 So, that’s that. Dining room tear down today. I’m going to help but as cats w/o boundaries as my witness, I will NOT go to the dump again. 

xoxo,
e.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

It's On Cuz It's Off Day

I’ve been staging a resistance of sorts. Until the bathroom was completely done, I enacted a blog out. Now, some key points I’ve learned about staging a resistance.

Resistance is in fact futile. Especially against the likes of the Notorious. The man has the ability to outlast me, you, and everyone we know.

Also, very, very key, a resistance must be noticed to be effective. I kept waiting for him to ask “why no blogging”. 

I am still waiting.

Needless to say, I have some catching up to do. I am in fact showering WITHOUT shoes nowadays. It is as amazing as you could imagine. When he set the commode, I asked for a snapshot of me kissing the bowl. 

All the major players are in place and functioning in the bath. It is lovely, but still not done-done.

So, I’m gonna time machine this bitch and release the goods slow like. To that end, if you want to see the (un)finished product, join me in overtaking the Notorious! Harass him via phone, text, email, Facebook, etc.

That’s right. I am now staging a coup. You always usurp the one you love. 



 Oooh, it sooo looks nothing like this now….wouldn’t you like to see it…. 



 Getting closer, but still not even close. 



Super handsome target acquired. Lock on people!


IDK. Should I go with a “floor him” reference or a “make him blue”?






Had I been blogging, someone could have stopped us from using this color. Oh snap, did we or didn’t we? 

Should you require more incentive to join me in my mutiny, consider this:
 

ONE - Pirates are awesome



TWO - We may or may not have gotten windows recently.


And THREE - I am and always will be the Notorious' #1 fan. But sometimes he needs me to intervene on his behalf.



xoxo
e. 

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

M.V.P. day, not the M.V.P.A. day

Hello friends! We have returned from a trip to the fabulous Jersey shore.  

Which is apparently what one does during the summer months on the east coast. Assimilation complete. We went with some seriously awesome people.  
 
(Yes, that is us standing in front of the letters. )

Which made the trip seriously awesome. But East coasters will never understand a Midwesterners distrust of the ocean.  


Seriously. 

The Notorious tried to explain, it’s not a lake, a creek or a crick. And the water’s not green enough. You feel me Hoosiers?  

We returned to the Villa in South Philla (a boozy gem from the trip) on Saturday. And would you believe nothing had changed. WTF. Why don’t things get done in our absence? I thought surely if they don't get done in our presence....

I did finish the floors before vacating for the vacation. Get ready for my fancy aerial shot.
I think they turned out well. I had originally intended to complete 3 rows but, well, I just didn’t want to.
 

I am glad I left the creepy pictures on the wall. Given they are the only decorations on the wall. Me + Plaster + Drill = Fail.  

We condensed the livitchen to make better use of the room. I have actually sat down here and ate, read, composed this very blog post, etc.  
 

I have no idea how both of the next pics are of the same room. One makes it look super short and the other more accurately represents how loooong the house really is. (Ok, I do have an idea of how this effect is effected, but still I marvel).  
 

Since being back, big, big, news. I’m in love. I’m in love. And I don’t care who knows it.  

I LUV THE HEAT GUN. I am prepared to say it is the most awesome tool ever. Removing paint is soooo much better than applying paint. 

Well, when you’re packing a heat gun. 

Is like a ray gun. 

If I were in space, it would totally be my weapon of choice. 

Well, space in the future of course.  

It’s a Wagner. Each time I see its’ name on the side I think it reads “Danger”, not "Wagner". And really, it should.

I’m working on de-redding the stairs.
 
We’ll be lucky to make it out of this without me starting a fire. I finished for the day and my face is hot and smells of burnt paint. 

I did watch an e-how video before starting. The gentlemen noted the heat gun’s similarity in shape to a hair dryer. He explicitly warned against using it as a hair dryer tho. God bless the Internet, right? That could have been embarrassing.  

I only got to the landing and the first step. 
 
 Angry red paint is angry.  


*Sorry if my pictures are all super flash-y. The Notorious fancied up the camera settings over the trip. He’s all “aperture” and "other fancy camera words". Despite spending several years developing actual software, used TO FLY AIRPLANES, I cannot de-Notorious the camera. Auto was my only move. Look what the fancy did to my beloved heat gun.  


While I appreciate the suggestion of an impending blast off, the heat gun commands respect. 

I even considered composing a haiku about/for the HG. I kept repeating "I love you heat gun" in my head. Then I realized it was a 5-syllable repeat. Now that I've stepped away, I realize I should have protected myself better from the fumes. But at least no fire. Super bonus given I just ordered smoke detectors from Amazon yesterday. Don't tell my Mom.



But should she find out. Mom, we do have the fire ladder you so kindly purchased for us.



Don't tell her I sold it to buy the smoke detectors. 

Ah, I jest.



e.