Category: Houseblog

Before I start this, I should note that I’ve been permalinked by Moxie. Which is pretty exciting for a married man pushing 30. (Look on the right hand side, halfway down, just under “Pop Culture Kingdom.”) And now she’s taking my advice about things to do with your blog when it turns 2! “Who knew my blog was a tad on the whorish side?”

I just now saw the post linked above, as it’s been a domestic weekend. After picking up Lisa on Friday from SeaTac (after receiving roses at the Cascadian concert, I pulled up in my tux and handed her the flowers), we spent yesterday priming and today painting the formerly wallpaper covered room. It’s now—ready?—a canaryish yellow (officially marketed as “Empire Gold”). Alas, paint is one of those things that reproduces itself when you’re not looking. Now I have to repaint all the trim, and eventually the wall above the top rail, and the door, and the ceiling…

Apartment dwellers everywhere, rejoice. You don’t know how much work you’re missing by not owning a house…
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Following the sniper story to the Washington Post, I stumbled across this “Organizing Guide” that is scaring me a little bit. (Probably because our house is still a partly unpacked mess.) But the closet thing is, I think, the most out of control. If you follow some of the links in the closet article, you could wind up at EasyClosets’s online Java-based closet designer, complete with custom floor plan drawing tool.

The scary part is, I want to use it.
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I hereby curse the person who invented wallpaper and wallpaper steamers. And the idiot who put wallpaper in our parlor, which is taking all day to come off.

I have wireless again!! Loving SMC (thanks to Adam for the recommendation). The range is better than the old Airport base station.
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Lots of stuff this weekend. Friday Lisa and I went to Szmania’s in Kirkland. Ludger was doing his annual Oktoberfest “German soul food” weekend. It was pretty darn good—pleasant, professional service and excellent pork products.

Saturday we spent most of the day outside. There were a bunch of tree branches that we had pruned off then stacked under the pines in front, so I cut them up to go in recycling bags. Lisa and I both took turns killing moss in the lawn. She also built a new bed in front of the sidewalk, where our grass had died long ago. Saturday night we went for Thai with Ed, Gena, Catherine and Peter at Orrapin in Queen Anne. The food was excellent; my eyelids sweated.

Sunday we had just finished removing a dead hornet’s nest from 20 feet above our front walk when our neighbor from across the street came up. He was looking for commiseration. His basement had been flooding since yesterday; they had been unable to do more than keep up with the flooding with two pumps. We commiserated and said that we hoped it got fixed soon. When we came back from running some errands, the city was digging in front of our house. Apparently the feeder line that fed both our houses had ruptured, so they had to cut off our water until they could lay new line. They were able to give us water temporarily by running a hose from our neighbor’s house into one of our spigots (I didn’t realise those could go both ways!!). Eventful weekend.

Working from home this morning. Our long awaited window replacement contractors are here. They’re starting with the windows with broken seals in the skywall; next week, they’ll move on to replacing the old windows in the original part of the house. I’m amazed at how much work I’m getting done…

If the rain doesn’t come soon and put an end to our outdoor chores, I may end up dead. I spent about an hour or so on the roof today cleaning the gutters. Most comical thing found in the gutters: a peanut. Still trying to figure out how that got there.

Our late summer lettuce crop crossed the inflection point in the last week. We now have more arugula, frisée, and other mesclun-type stuff than we can consume. Time to start making friends at the office by handing out produce. We just planted some more lettuce, and Lisa transplanted the basil and rosemary into indoor containers–with a little luck we can keep them going all winter.

Spent the first part of the morning waterproofing our fence, then trimming the fifteen foot hedge that separates us from our loud neighbors. Ouch. My muscles are still sore. We also removed some low hanging branches from the trees in the front yard. Those three activities were supposed to have taken us the morning; they took us all day–at least, until I left to go back to Bumbershoot. Lisa had had enough of the crowds and didn’t come with me, but I was on a mission. I had to see Sonic Youth.

I never got back to working on IM and weblogs on Saturday. We spent the morning at Pike Place Market. In the afternoon Lisa and I finally installed Roman blinds on the roof panels of our “solarium” — a little bay next to the kitchen and dining room, it’s constructed from six patio window panes, three slanting up from the floor meeting three slanting down with the roof line. Unfortunately we also found out that there are serious leaks around all the panes when I tried to wash them. More contractors, more $.

Sunday we took Lisa’s dad to Mass and did some gardening. The soil in the bed next to the driveway is packed like concrete and very sandy, so we are concluding sadly that we’re going to lose one or two of the rhododendron bushes that the previous owners left. (They weren’t planted in shade anyway, so they were pretty much doomed.) I dug out a couple 1.5 foot holes for some Tuscan rosemary–besides being tasty, the plant also gets really cool blue flowers which should look nice. Hopefully they’ll do better than the rhododendron. I finished the day by washing both our cars for the first time since we’ve moved. Then finally I rolled Lisa’s car INTO THE GARAGE–yes, we’ve finally unpacked or moved enough stuff to make that possible, though you can’t open any doors on the passenger side when it’s in. A red letter day by any measure.

Happiness is… dinner on the patio for the first time in a new house. Takeout Thai food, with a chilled Languedoc and an Oregon Pinot Noir, and the company of Lisa’s parents. Music courtesy Frank Sinatra, Wynton Marsalis (Levee Low Moan, one of the few Wynton albums that breaks free of manner and drops down into the blues), and Joe Henderson. Perfect sky, sunlight slowly fading behind the hedges. Good stuff, in other words. Such a pity this only happens for three months a year.

[Originally written 8/10 but never posted due to blog error. Oh well. Never too late to update.]

I’m waiting this morning for the carpenter and the electrician to do some elective work in our dining room. We have an awful little wood-paneled closet in the “solarium” portion of our dining room that we’d like to make usable. The carpenter is coming to rip out the paneling and install drywall if necessary so we can install shelving to hold—well, probably excess glassware, as we probably have enough to stock a small Beacon Hill pub. The electrician is just being asked to install a couple of sconce lights in the dining room.

I thought I was done with contractors in the house, but now that I’m waiting for them again the thought isn’t so bad. Nice to have professionals come in before you screw everything up.

Sorry for being quiet this weekend. Lisa and I went to visit Shel in Portland on Saturday. Had a great time—a quick lunch and some hardware hunting followed by an afternoon stroll in the Rose Test Garden.

Today has been home project day. Lisa’s long been unsatisfied with the lavender color of our “laundry hall”—which connects the living room to the dining room and the two front bedrooms. The walls were dark, in a space that gets little natural light to begin with. So we found a shade of white called “Snow Ballet” that brightened up the hall considerably. And I had to buy a drill so I could start installing towel rods and so forth in our newly remodeled guest bathroom. I also had a moment of transcendence: sitting in our garage at my workbench (I have a workbench!) sorting screws into a new 37-drawer storage unit that I mounted, I realized I was feeling more peaceful than I had in some weeks. There’s something to be said for ordering your environment and working with your hands.

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the houseblog (which really needs its own category—maybe soon…) The plumber has just about finished work on the second bathroom. The tile is up, all the appliances are in place. The dishwasher stopped working, so the electrician will be out to fix it, but otherwise things are pretty much done.

Our unpacking is going slowly. I almost have all the boxes unpacked that were brought into the house by the first round of movers. We’ll be getting into real terra incognita with the stuff from the Lucadamos. I’m going to have to get the inventory sheets out to figure out where our good china is—and we’ll probably have to wait on most of that until we get a larger hutch. We also need to buy a new spice rack. Oh yeah, and a car. 🙂

But with the plumbers just about done I was able to vacuum the whole first floor last night, and we can start setting up the guest bedroom, rehanging closet doors, etc. It’ll be good fun.

After more than two weeks we finally found the box that has the teakettle in it. Life is good. Hot here in Seattle today (meaning more than 85°, so I know I get no sympathy from the East Coast). Lisa’s suitcase still hasn’t been found by Delta.

…how in God’s name did I accumulate so many books? Every time I think I’ve found the last box another turns up. I think the Kirkland library is going to be getting a hefty gift from us. Even so, I’m going to run out of shelves soon. Thank goodness the room I’m working in has some built in shelves; I’m going to need them.

When I was single, I accumulated books like no one’s business. Lisa helped me to curb my bibliomania, but between us we’ve got 21 three-foot shelves just about filled and there are more that I don’t know what to do with yet.

The good news? In school I was complaining that I didn’t have any time to do leisure reading. Now I’ll have quite a few old friends to catch up with—even if house-buying finances don’t permit purchasing any more.