CMR: The Home Stretch 4/24

Folks were at the house both Saturday and Sunday working feverishly on getting the CMR ready in time for the Wednesday night deadline.  We are confident that our movers are on schedule to arrive at our temp apartment to pack and move.  I wish I could say I have the same high confidence level regarding the completion of the construction :)  And yet, I am hopeful that these guys will pull at rabbit out of their hats to make sure that most things are done - - at least those necessary to move in.  Only time will tell.  72 hours of time to be exact.

Mostly, they're working on the icing.  My favorite part of the whole construction cake.  The end of the week brought Dan, now forever known as THE man of steel, in our books.  Most of the railings have been installed in the interior....

The kitchen railing and Dan THE man of steel

The railing that will serve the purpose of ensuring that
a) I do not fall in to the lower room
b) the boys have something to climb over for sport

The Wii Room railing.  Will this room ever get a better moniker???  I hope so.

Another photo of the kitchen railing.  Why?  It's too cool for school.

The lower railing as seen from the pool room up to the rumpus room.
New wine closet WITH lights can be seen.

The birch panelling is HERE!!  Not finished yet, but it's the bees knees.
And in the best game of "Fish" ever - - we got what we asked for!

The new bath is almost completely done.  Glass enclosure, sink,
 toilet, faucets and towel bars.

The polished concrete floors are revealed in the downstairs bed rooms.
They need a quick additional polish, but they're swell.

"Some" of our light switches have been outfitted with these nifty mid-century
 push buttons.Many others will look exactly like this as soon as we get our
electrical inspection and the ugly white plastic toggle switches are removed!

Where to put the house numbers???  Here where they used to be?

Or here?  Where we like them better!!!

In 72 hours there's a lot to do.  Most importantly, we need some shelves in closets, the floors polished, the cabinetry in the wii room and the paneling completed.  Nice to have before we move in would be a back door (while the nice thick plywood is nice, a working door might be better), interior doors for all the rooms and closets and the completion of the finish for the skylights in the atrium.  There's a million little things that will remain - - but those we can "live" with for a while.

Oh yeah - - and somewhere in the next hours a nice cleaning crew would be great.  I went over today to clean the inside of the fridge.  Note to self:  If you're going to turn off your refrigerator for a year, one box of baking soda is not sufficient.  In a battle of time and residual humidity, mold will win.  Every time.

CMR Update: Wine and Ambiance 4/21

We're exactly one week away from the big move and the team is cranking over at the CMR.  Foreman Luke is managing well with his trusty clipboard in hand.  I can hardly stand to leave there since every hour brings more of the "cool stuff" that we've imagined.  Sure, the construction part (digging the big hole.  filling the hole with stuff like cement and wood.) was awful dang amazing - - but now the pretty stuff gets done.

Steve the Wine Guy did his magic today.

You start with a big crate

You add more crates

You put all the crates in a big hole in the wall and look at them

You put on some doors and you got:  Wine Cabinet!!

Howard the Electrician is hustling about making sure all the light fixtures are getting put in:

George the Younger's Lair

Nifty bullet lights in the pool room

And the King of Steel arrived today with our custom railings.  Can you say, "Totally Wicked!" - - well that's what I said.  Finally, I can walk down the hallway without the niggling feeling like I was going to end up ass over tea kettle one floor down.

Hella Cool Metal!

It's going to be hard to keep up with everything that's getting done these days.  But, it looks like it's going to get done - and we're going to see our stuff again in the house that we built.  Astonishing.

CMR Update: T MINUS 10. April 16th...

It's already Wednesday night (so we are T-7) - - but here are some shots on what's going on.  Turns out that Jorge the Stain Lord is INDEED a super hero.  The wood looks fabulous.  The final battle of Stainpocalypse was fought and WON!!  

In outdoor news... 

Before: Little octagon window not painted white and the ivy was killing everything in the front yard

After:  Mass of ivy under control (albeit not as green and leafy) and the little octagon window stands out 

New front porch light.

New garage door light

Pretty new driveway and sidewalk

The Stainlord does GREAT things in George the Younger's Room

In person this is SCRUMPTIOUS

Still - - it looks like the boy in the bubble lives here....

Why is there a chair in my house that doesn't belong to me?  

Siding installed and painted in the atrium

More atrium

And one more.  Check out the weird paint job at the upper roof level.  Half  white half red.    Need to fix that.

See this plug??  This used to be the main source of electricity running through a window.  Note that it is now "unplugged"

Instead....our very first switch.  We are off the plug!!

Three days later and things are hopping at the CMR.  SO much is going on and we are ON FOR THE MOVE next week.  Can't believe it.

Will try to get some photos tomorrow when I head over to fix a doorbell problem.  Problem?  The bell is no longer wired to the button, but the button IS wired to the kitchen where there is no bell.  Alas.

Hot times in Nacaragua

George the Younger arrived home from his 8th grade trip this week from Nicaragua.  Before we delve in to both his remarks about the trip, and the photos - - I would like to point out that I am a tad befuddled about why he would complain at all.

I was once in 8th grade.  In them there olden days we took an 8th grade trip.  That's right, "The Junior Historians" hopped on a school bus and drove a couple o' hours to one of the most riveting spots an 8th grader could even think of dreaming of .... Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  Home of the lighted map of the famous battle of Gettysburg.  We also made a quick stop in Amish Country for a little current day local flavor.  We went to a farm animal auction.  We did not get on a great big plane.  We did not need a passport.  We did not go some place warm with an ocean.  We piled in to a seat belt-less bus and slept on a gym floor for 2 nights or so.  In the interim days we listened to someone blather on about the civil war.  Whoo-hoo.

George the Younger went to Nicaragua.  This trip was hastily arranged, since the 8th graders have historically headed down to Mexico for this trip.  Given the recent spate of shootings, bus kid-napping with shootings, general in-the-right-place-at-the-wrong-time-shootings, the school (wisely) decided to head somewhere else.  The criteria of the trip was two fold:  Spanish immersion and community service.  We ended up selecting an outfit called "ViviendasLeon: Not Just Travel, Transformation."  A boy oh, boy did they meet those criteria.

George the Younger's main complaint?  "Right when we got there, they made us work!!!"  So much that week on the beach he had imagined....

They stayed with local families in Leon - 2 to 4 in a house - pairing great Spanish speakers with not-so-great Spanish speakers.  George's buddy was Tomas - - they speak Spanish at home.  Guess who was the not-so-great speaker?  Good guess.  George the Younger was ever grateful to have Tomas since the host families did not speak any English, and even if they did, they were instructed not to use it AT ALL.

They spent the better part of the trip...

Digging a foundation

Digging more foundation looking like a secret service man

Making seed "bombs"

Walking near volcanos

Communing with the locals

And yes.......

Going to the beach!!

Thanks to ViviendasLeon for posting photos on FB for all of us parents to enjoy!

Post-Script:  George the Younger is a HUGE fan of burritos.  Strangely, when he returned from Nicaragua at 1:00 in the morning he did NOT request a burrito even though he was "starving!!!"  He requested what nearly every red-blooded American 14 year old would.... McDonalds.  Who knew that you could get a drive through at 1:00 a.m.?????

It's a Date?

My favorite (and oft used) moving company is set to start our packing on the 26th.  Dog is scheduled to go to doggie camp for the move duration.  I'm calling the utilities to get them turned off here as of May 1st.

Any one among you want to wager a bet?  To move or not to move?  That is the question...

Fingers crossed (and toes and arms and legs and whatever else can be crossed) that Jorge the Stain Lord will finish on Saturday.  Then a final week of crazy begins.  Switches installed, interior light fixtures hung,  cool exterior light fixtures put in place, final installation of the sky lights and surrounding trim, casework in the wii room, wall panels, closet rods and shelves, more wiring, back doors, knobs and towel racks, faucets and sinks, door pulls and drawer pulls, grouting in the upper two bathrooms, toilets set, Steve the Wine Guy's magic, interior paint will be touched up...and stuff I am sure I don't remember.  Oh and cleaning - - holy devil's snow batman - - that place needs a good dusting!  And finally, I think that this all needs to be inspected and signed off.

So, who's betting now? 

CMR Update: Stainmageddon: The Battle Begins 4/7

All looked peaceful and quiet as I approached the CMR this morning.  The new exterior paving and cement work (most required by the evil City of San Francisco) sat drying in the morning sun.  But there, in the bottom left side windows, was a sign that all was not right within.  Then I noticed the absence of construction trucks, construction workers....  could it be?  Could Jorge the Stain Lord have arrived to save the CMR from the grasp of the evil brown stain monster?

I snuck inside to take a look.  Things looked both ominous and promising....

Keep closed from whom or what???

Not a surface left uncovered.

Red paper on windows - - - creates a peculiar glow.

Entire rooms are blocked with colossal hefty bags

Everything protected but the wee octagonal window frame

What does this mean?  A secret message for the Stain Lord?
Or just construction jesters??

But Jorge the Stain Lord???  Where was he hiding?  Where had he chosen to begin his epic battle???

The maestro's gear is the only thing left accessible

The samples are prepared and wait for final approval

A shadowy figure in the upper hall... could this be Jorge the Stain Lord??
No.  Just one of his side kicks.

Here HE IS!!!

Jorge the Stain Lord!!!

Jorge the Stain Lord many not look like much with his curious respirator mask and his unassuming costume (where is his cape??) - - but this is the super hero that will deliver us safe harbor from Stainmageddon.  He will take the reigns and where there is brown - - he will make gold.  He will sand and he will spray and he will compare and contrast -- and he will CONQUER!!!!!

Go Stain Lord.  GO!!!!!!!