CMR Update 01-09: Let the Sun Shine

After weeks of rain, after many clouds - Sunday dawned sunny and bright for our first up close and personal view of: A WINDOW!!!

Technically the view was of six windows, but they're all in one room. Still. Check out the views inside and out. These are the windows in what will be George the Younger's lair. Check out that these windows exit to ground level. Check out that these will be the windows of a teenager. Know that these can, and will if necessary, be nailed shut :)

Exterior from street:

Interior views. It is incredible how much of a difference a little outside light makes. These windows even provide light to the hallway outside George the Younger's door. There is no door yet, but it will eventually be made of reeded glass, so the light will always be available.

In other progress news: This is the downstairs bathroom. George the Elder and I agree that this might be one of our minor design mistakes. It's going to be a cool bathroom, but we're thinking it's going to be a bit narrow. Could have stolen some space from Henry's room which is a nice size and could been made a wee bit smaller to get another foot in the bath. Alas.

This is a closer view of what will be our shower "niches." There is one on each side of the shower. They will be tiled and will eliminate the need for any kind of shower caddy. All manner of Axe products can be stored in these niches. There are two. Two boys = two niches.

Work continues upstairs to remove any traces of the obsolete forced air heating system that has been replaced with the radiant heat. See ya later ali-grate-ors!

Here's a photo of one of the older baths upstairs that turned out to have a little water leak issue. When they turned on the water they found that it was dripping below. When it was rat slab underneath no one would have known - except maybe the garden gnome who made his home there. Now it sits directly above the lower level electrical panel in the laundry room. Water+electricity=not good. So, they tore out some tile to get to the pipes. Word is still out on how close we can come to matching this vintage tile. Remodeling the upstairs bathrooms is currently slated for Phase 4, meaning it will happen when our grand children are entering medical school. And we don't even have any grandchildren yet. But, yes, full remodel or no - that lovely wall paper is going the way of the dodo. It's just simply brutal.

Stopped by yesterday and saw one more window going in Henry's room. Oodles of excitement. We only have 5 more to go and, of course the mother of all windows - the sky light to be installed. Loads of doors on the schedule, loads of lights, more dry wall, stone in the courtyard and entry way, tile for the bath, cool marmoleum for the laundry room and about a gazillion other little things to be done.

The good news is we are starting to get down to some of the little stuff that GC Paul calls CMIPs. These are the little things that occur during construction (and in our case are some 60 year old weirdies) that need a little somethin-somethin. These are "Contractor Make It Pretty" (CMIP).

And finally, we got the new bid for our interior and exterior railings. We were looking for a streamline mid-century look. For what it's going to cost to get these suckers built and installed - - the word "streamline" can no longer be used. Unless that word can be applied to our outstanding bank balance once we pay the metal worker.

The eyes have it

The beginning of January means a visit to the optomalogist in my world. Historically, and this time was no different, this appointment is an opportunity for my doctor to inform me that I am getting older - and my eyes are aging faster than I am.

Once again, it was officially confirmed that unless the letters on a page are about a 72 font - I am unable to read them unassisted. The remote control to operate the TV is nothing but a hand-sized block of uselessness. I have to memorize where the keys are to actually operate the damn thing without my glasses on.

The new bad news was that my distance vision is also further impaired. I knew that this train was coming down the track. Still, when I was faced with the idea of tri-focals, I balked. Balked as in - no f-ing way was this going to happen. To date I have managed my vision needs with several (as in lots and lots) of different pairs of glasses designed specifically for specific needs. Problems? Of course. I can't find the ones I want when I need them for the things I need them for. I can't remember which ones do what things and end up trying on two or three different pairs to get it right or at least to get it semi-right. It's a nightmare. A blurry nightmare.

So - what's a moderately blind middle-aged gal to do? Take a different tact. I decided to try monovision contacts. For the uninformed - one eye gets a contact for distance. The other gets a contact for reading. I am like a walking right-sided magnifying glass / left-sided telescope. Let's just say it's a little disconcerting knowing that I no longer have two eyes working on the same thing. They operate independently - very chameleon-esque, eh?

I got fitted on Monday. I also got lessons in how to put them in and take them out. The first was easy - the second? Not so much. I have a new respect for long time contact wearers - they make it look so easy. Pop em in. Pop em out. For me it's more like drop them in the sink, search for them endlessly, find the little sucker, try to figure out whether its inside out or right side in, grasp my upper lid, stretch my lower lid, intend to insert and drop in sink again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Removing them is akin to just scratching my cornea endlessly trying to find the edges of those slippery little suckers and then nearly calling the eye doctors to ask if they could just remove them for me. Today I'm pretty damn sure I wore one inside out for about 2 hours before I realized that that scratchy edge probably wasn't just something I needed to adapt to. It's no eye party, I tell you that.

The good news? I was able to read a book without something hanging on to my face for the first time in 15 years. I was giddy. I went to Target and actually was able to browse shampoos with a clear understanding that I was buying shampoo and not cream rinse with out reaching in and grabbing my glasses from the bowels of my purse. I made dinner easily reading the recipe without having to pick up and take off and pick up and take off my "kitchen glasses." I tell you, it's a happy time.

The bad news - and of course there's bad news - - aging eyes serve a purpose for the aging person. When the world is just a little blurry all around, it's kind of like perpetually living in a bedroom where you've draped a sheer red scarf over the lamp to make yourself look more fetching. The contacts serve the unenviable affect of taking that damn scarf off the lamp. The mood lighting has harshly brightened. Now that I can see - I am shocked. Who knew that my face had so many tiny little wrinkles? Apparently, everyone with good vision did. In my world, I had the complexion of a 30 year old. It was kinda nice. It's highly likely that I've been wearing my eye-liner all crookedy for the last 10 years. Folks were just too nice to mention it. Why upset the old lady? Who knew that my sweet 12 year old had so many pores in his face? I didn't. I looked at him in the car yesterday and it kind of scared me. He needs to get some biore pore cleaning strips.

Right now I am adapting. I can wear them for several hours a day - - adding more and more each day until some point when I can wear them all day. What this means to me is that the time span between the frustrating process of inserting and the even more frustrating process of removing them is greater. There's also the possibility that at some point I will crack the nut and I will be one of those folks who can take their contacts out without a mirror, spit on them and put them back in while riding a horse.

Well, we'll "see" about that.

CMR Update Jan.1: Orientation and PanelX

It recently occurred to me that for those of you who have not really seen the floor plan for the new lower level - perhaps a little visual orientation might be helpful. Now that the rooms are starting to look like rooms - you can also see how the floor plan puts those rooms in perspective.

If you've been following along from the beginning, you know that the only thing that was in the basement before was the garage area, a little laundry area (with exposed beams and spider webs) and then a whole lotta rat slab in places where only a little guy in a green and red suit holding up a lawn lantern could stand erect. Then we got this great notion (and when I say "we" - I am referring to George the Elder) that wouldn't-it-be-fun to hoist the house up on steel beams and take control over the under world beneath the house. And so we did (and when I say "we" I am now referring to both George the Elder and I - who I believe practiced some voodoo magic to make me believe that this was going to be fun).

On the floor plan below you can determine the space that was there when we bought the CMR by the green "before" writing that I so professionally put on the floor plan using my excellent skills in Photoshop. Heh heh heh.

And, although it's really hard to see on this photo - - and frankly almost as hard to describe - the new basement is actually being built in 3 levels. The upstairs (the house that was existing when we bought it - is built in a kind of pseudo split level configuration) with half the house being about 4 feet higher than the other half. On the drawing you can see where the upper and lower levels split in the new basement. The reason that there's 3 levels in the basement is that we had to make the "pool room" even lower to accommodate the roof above it which is the floor of an exterior atrium that sits in the middle of the house upstairs. This atrium is being reconfigured to allow for the big sky lights that will be the main source of natural light for the basement. (I am sure that made oodles of sense?). Whatever. The pool room is lower and the skylights will run directly across the length of the room where the upper and lower levels converge.

So, now, after a gagillion weeks of digging, hoisting, shoring, lifting, cement pouring and wood cutting - the actual product is starting to look a lot more like the "dream." In fact, the photos taken New Year's day were so much fun to see. Cause, guess what? We got some walls!!

We got PANEL X walls. No chinese drywall for the Wisniewski's. Made in the good ole US of A. And know what? You can still use the insides for writing with chalk. Ask Henry - he was THRILLED!

Here's coming in the garage door. No more exposed beams with scary spiders. We've effectively trapped them all inside :)

Here is the entry way in to the house from the garage. The utility closet is to the right where all the mechanics of the house will be hidden away. The place where the big Knaack Tool Chest is sitting will be George the Elder's "work room" - who knows what he will be "working on" - but he's got a man-cave spot to do it now. I suspect it will be filled with boxes and bikes.

Here's the stairs leading up to the kitchen. They are starting to build the wall that will have the railing sitting on top of it. These are the same stair by which I will force my children to carry up many many heavy bags of groceries in the future.

Standing in the corner of the rumpus room looking down to the pool room. It is easier to see where the skylights will be in this photo. Note the very ceiling-like ceiling! There will be another steel railing that will separate the pool room from the rumpus room. It will stop children from falling in to the pit (and by children, I mean me).

Looking from just atop the entrance stairs down the hallway towards Henry's room and the bath.

Here's a view of the "Open Room" or the "Wii Room" as we call it. The ledge where the various tools are sitting will be the bottom of some cabinetry that will run from that ledge to the ceiling. It will house the wii and lots of other crap that I want to hide in closets.

Looking from the Wii Room in to the pool room.

The reverse view from before - from pool room up into the rumpus room where George the Elder stares lovingly at what will eventually be his wine closet replete with cool doors and ambient lighting.

George the Younger's room. I think they need to trim that dry wall a little? But it's fun to see where the windows will be. Rumor has it that they are going in today......

Lighting inside was provided by Henry - who discovered the roving spotlight....

The view from George the Younger's door up to Henry's door.

And here's the view standing against the far wall of the Wii Room looking towards the stairs and the door to the Pool Room.

And the last photo for today are the new walls in the library. The library is a combination of an old bedroom upstairs and a little wee tiny room that was called the "bindery" (I am not kidding) - we added them together and voila....big space with great views. You can even see the ocean!! Not from this angle...but you can really see it. Soon many, many bookshelves will line the walls. Soon. Very soon we hope!

And that's all the news that's fit to print about the progress this week. We are still on the revised schedule - but GC Paul wants to finish early and I am all. for. that. Yet, there will be no breath holding. Just a cautious optimism. Yes. Cautious.

CMR Update: A Good Month!

And long last - after three (or more) weeks of other priorities - an update on the amazing progress of the CMR. On one hand, we've made lots of progress - - on the other hand we found out our completion is delayed by 90 days. Yes, we thought we'd be the first clients in construction history (besides those folks who get the benefit of "extreme makeover home edition") to get their project done on time. We were just foolin ourselves. Alas.

I've loaded up a boatload of photos and I wanted them to be in the right order - - but they aren't, so we're going to start with some of the new stuff and then get on to the time elapsed photo journey by area. What I've come to realize is that while I think I am taking similar photos from similar angles every Sunday. I am thinking wrong. I hope you'll get the gist anyways...

First we start with FRAMING! We have:

closets in Henry's room:

Closets and doors frames shown from inside George The Younger's room:

We have bathroom walls that separate the bath from Henry's room:

We have a view of the framing from standing atop the upper level hallway looking down to George the Younger's room door:

We have INTERIOR stairs!!! No more popping upstairs through closets. No more chinese gymnastics. We just take the stairs. Cool beans - but I have to admit a little less exciting or creative.

New stairs leading from rumpus room upstairs to kitchen:

New entry stairs from garage to rumpus room:

New stairs from George the Younger's lair to Henry's room:

Library Views:

We ordered a bunch of light fixtures. We took one over to the house to see if we liked the size. George the Elder holds it up for the inspection. They're bigger than we thought, but we likey!!

Walls getting patched!!

Kitchen Hallway/Stairway:

The "tin giant" gets jammed in the wall. This is the exhaust for our radiant heating / water heater below...

And the "tin giant" gets enclosed...

We got "wall" in the kitchen!

The Upper Hallway:

Note the old framing for the doorway at the end of the hall? Note big giant trough carved in to ceiling?

See trough gone in ceiling? See old door frame removed?

See new ceiling line up close??? We LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Photos of "The Most Important" room in the house.... do you know what it is??


Dec 5th:

Dec 19:

Dec 26:

The Rumpus Room:

Dec 5th - all the radiant heating is installed and secured. Dry wall metal framing installed. Very nifty.

Dec 19: light cans installed, framing for wine celler/cabinet is in!

Dec 26: Insulation started!

Views of a garage:

Dec 5: Radiant heating insulation hanging down. Framing for storage closet is there, but you can still see through to George the Younger's room:

Dec 19: Garage = work room, but more closet framing is done. Radiant heating is all secured.

Dec 26: H finds his old crutches (a memory of exactly one year ago!), wall closed off to George the Younger's room, garage is filled with electrical stuff and drywall!!!

Exterior Stairs:

Dec 5: H climbs up to retrieve an amazon package. Does the house look like a place where mail should be delivered? No, but did I send myself something there? Yes. Dummy.

Dec 11: George the Elder retrieves more packages... this time the parts to the media rack for the rumpus room. We meant to have those delivered there!

Dec 26: After contending with much rain - - the stairs are finally poured! We still don't have a front door, but we got stairs!!!

And those stairs are protected by y: YUP, "Protecto Wrap!!"

Yes, we're delayed. No, we are not happy about it. But, we're moving forward and things are starting to look like house!

There's a big stack of doors and windows in the garage that we hope to see in the next couple of weeks. There's much drywall to be installed. There's railings to be installed. A new back door to order (since it was recently reported that the old back door needed to be either fixed or replaced since a few Sunday's ago someone threw a big ceramic planter through the glass and spend some time tooling around the house smoking cigarettes and enjoying the construction view. Nothing was taken and, according to Foreman Luke, they didn't pee on anything. ???). We are finishing the design of the bathroom vanity and the tile has been ordered after some issue with tile sizes and colors.

All good.

Many Balls

I've ignored my blog the last week (OK - it's been a month, but in the spirit of the season, you could cut me little break). I've been running around like a one-armed wall paper hanger. But, I am nearly done with all the holiday hoo-ha - and, according to my little vintage "days 'til xmas" card board doo-hickey - there are still 10 days left to the big day. If I were you, I'd start collecting canned goods, bottled water and kindling - surely the world is coming to an end. Hopefully armageddon will hold off until at least after the 25th. I mean I put in all the effort and everything.

I will be back to posting shortly. There are lots of new updates about the CMR. A teaser: We got our new completion schedule and we are delayed by more than a month. Me = unhappy. I. am. over. this. temporary. living. crap. But, it is what it is and I can't spend too much time grousing about it. I've got presents to wrap.

What is that you say? Getting all the presents wrapped is part of finishing up on the holiday hoo-ha? Fine, then. I'm not really ready. I'm only mostly ready. Feel free to hold off on stocking up on the canned pork and beans. It seems we all have lots of time left.

The Hills are Alive

Went down to the Castro Theater last night to participate in the Sound of Music Sing-a-long. One thing's for sure... I'll be making this an annual event! What a hoot.

The event was planned by the music teachers that are coordinating the trip to Salzburg this coming summer. They thought it would be grand to get all the kids there to see where they were going. A nifty note is that the "house" that is used for the front of the VonTrapp home is now the Orff institute where the festival will be held. Pretty cool.

And although the evening was planned for the kids, I have to admit that I think that the adults has a much better time! It was a like Rocky Horror Picture Show meets The Sounds of Music meets the eclectic and wildly create Castro District. How would this get any better?

There were many nuns, a woman holding a "moon beam in her hand", lots of dirndls, and one lonely goat"her". We got goody bags when we went in the door. They included:

• A piece of drapery fabric (so you could shout - "THE DRAPES!! USE THE DRAPES!")
• A small sprig of fake edelweiss (you know what that's for and you got to use it TWICE!)
• An invitation to the VonTrapp party so we could all waive it in their air while we joined in the final "goooood niiiiiight"
• A party popper to pop when Maria and Cpt. smooched for the first time (although this was used by many throughout the film whenever there was sexual tension - - and geeze if there wasn't a plethora of it in the film? Who knew?)
• A couple o' cards to help up remember the work flibberty gibbet and will o' the wisp.

There was MUCH audience participation. I wish I would have written down some of the stuff that was shouted out - but let's just say most of it went over the kids heads but was ridiculously funny. And, best of all - you could sing! Every word, every part, every song! Not only could you sing - but you were encouraged to sing. Loudly. With Gusto. Even when you were way out of your range! Loved it. I swam around in a big pool of happy singing.

Best thing of all? The words were right there for you to see. A bouncing ball above the words would have been cool, but even the Latin words for the nuns during the first abbey scene were up there. Cool beans. And yet, since I have seen TSOM about...hmmm....as many times as Joan Rivers has had plastic surgery - - my secret goal was to sing all the words without looking at them on the screen -- sort of like going to a foreign language film where you know the language so you don't need to read the subtitles. And, (sniff/nose wipe) if I don't say so myself, I am DAMN proficient in that arena. I exceeded my personal expectations. My weakest moment was the goat herder song - - but beyond the yodeling who really can say they know all the words to that one. The fun is in the yodeling, right?

And guess what? Turns out that there's more of these bad johnnies coming up in the next year: West Side Story, Mama Mia and Hairspray. Me thinks I'm going to be a regular. Next time calls for costumes and cocktails! The hills are alive!!!!

Salzburg or Bust!

In breaking news, today Henry was selected as one of 17 middle schoolers who now comprise the San Francisco School's music ensemble that will head to Salzburg in July 2011 to participate in the international symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Orff Institute.



He is OVER THE MOON with excitement. He squealed like a little girl and jumped up and down when he heard the news. So very Henry. This is something that he really wanted to be involved in and it's a chance for him to showcase what he loves. Good on him!




Congrats to Henry. Our budding international musician!! Way to go big guy.