progress on a few little projects

It's very satisfying to finish projects around the house, no matter the size.

This window is on the fourth floor penthouse (access to roof).  By mistake, it so low that it is a code violation (that they didn't catch), but at this height, even code compliant windows are scary.  We used metal pipes and I'm really excited to be able to leave this window open because it is very good for ventilation, has a screen, and is less of a concern if it rains unexpectedly.

We'd planned to put a food poster of some kind in the kitchen, and we finally found one that I like, from Pop Chart Labs.  It's a diagram of edible plants families.   There are a lot of tacky food posters out there.

This towel rack is a detail I've been looking forward to.  On the kitchen island, there is not a good place for a towel rack, so we came up with an unconventional spot under the counter.  It's also where we have the garbage disposal switch and a kitchen stool to access high storage and windows.  It is on the kitchen side of the island so it's not visible from most of the room.

Last month we finally put up this mirror, fixed some wiring and installed the light fixtures in one of the bathrooms.  Drilling through tile to mount it was harder than I expected and required a diamond drill bit (who knew?).  I was happy to find the mirror at Second Use, although I managed to forget to use the coupon I had.














This totally random formatting is brought to you by Google Blogger.  I can't find any good free blogging program.  In May, Open Live Writer, which replaced the older Windows Live Writer, stopped working.   You can write blog posts directly in Word, but not with google blogs if you have Windows 7, which I do.  I find this frustrating.

house cleaning with a house

It should come as no surprise that taking care of a house is a lot more work than taking care of a one thousandishish square foot apartment.  Yet, I am still occasionally taken aback.

While I reserve the right to change my mind in the future, I'm not ready to hire a house cleaner, even though I heard that the Joneses have one.  My objections stem from a combination of frugality, pride and ideology.

The idea that I can do something productive that is not on a computer appeals to me.  Even though it isn’t much exercise, I feel called to fight against the dystopian future where we automate everything except eating and then spend grudging hours on the treadmill so that our bodies continue to function.  Or perhaps that is already the present?

One of my first jobs as a kid was cleaning houses and I found it to be fairly enjoyable.  I have fond memories of vacuuming up some pretty gnarly places such as the ceiling of a very old Irish farmhouse I stayed in.  Cleaning is satisfying, unlike straightening up, which is onerously full of sidetracks, and in our house, stair climbing.

Does this mean our house is dirtier than we’d like?  Absolutely.  There are still floors in our house that have *never* been mopped and  vestiges of construction dust, since we were so crunched for time that there was no post-construction deep clean before we moved in.

Though we’ve long held a preference for non-carpeted floors, this is the first time we had them.  With wood floors, when the windows are wide open in the heat, the dust bunnies leap about athletically in the breeze.  To combat this herd, we now have three vacuums.  The first is a backpack vacuum, which is quite necessary with all the stairs, the second is a shopvac for the car and all the projects on our list and the third is our new Roomba.

Cleaning robots like the Roomba and our beloved Cat Genie litter box somehow don’t compromise my values like a hired person would. 

Disclaimer: I fully recognize the hypocrisy of this D.I.Y. post, considering the amount of cleaning help (mostly laundry and dishes) our parents do while watching D.

preschool en français

In April, D started at another preschool two mornings a week.  It took quite a bit of research to find a school we liked which could be paired with his daycare.  I've learned that places that call themselves preschools, rather than daycare centers, tend to follow the public school schedule, meaning that they close all summer long, in addition to winter, mid-winter and spring breaks.  Giving up our daycare was really not an option and I would have been sad to give up the community we have there.  The other obstacle was that the daycare requires three adjacent days of the week as the minimum for part time, while many preschools offer only M/W/F or Tu/Th options for part time.   Finally we managed to find a great school that was flexible about dates.  His grandparents pick him up and spend two afternoons a week with him.

The school is French immersion, which is pretty exciting.  The staff is wonderful and all those holiday breaks make them very energized.  Two days a month they spend the whole morning in one of my favorite Seattle parks.  They have a great balance of structure and freedom, fun toys and a good outdoor space, and they send us pictures every day so we get to see just how swell everything is.

So the obvious question is, how much French has D learned?  The short answer is, not that much, but I'm still happy about it.

The longer answer follows.  We wanted to give him this opportunity, primarily for the mind expanding exposure to a new language during this developmental window.  Our ability to participate more in French than other languages made it a good choice, but beyond that it's not really about the specific language.

In March, before he started, I taught him to count to 10 and he picked it up quickly.  Three and half months later he says only a few other things like greetings.  Comprehension is much harder to judge.  He seems to understand some questions and instructions about food and things he likes.  Mostly though, the French immersion seems to have magnified his comfort with the idea of multiple ways to say things.  He knows "bleu" (blue) and claims that red is "reh" (it's "rouge").  He asks how to say things in French and then tells me that some random combination of sounds is how you say something else in French.  These last few months he has strongly preferred to sing his own made up song lyrics (some with real English words and some with nonsense), where he used to like singing songs we had learned together.  Now he knows that most of the time we speak English.  He is unencumbered by French spelling (think of all the extra letters) and has generally excellent pronunciation.  He's been much less frustrated by not understanding things at school than I thought he would be.  Today he told me he loves his main teacher there.

Here are some of my favorite school pictures from this spring.

Happy 3rd Birthday, D!

 

For this momentous occaision, we had a big family part at our house, with slot cars, ballons, cake and “things on toast” (bruscetta, chicken salad, bean spread, and tuna salad) which I thought worked out pretty well for party food. The birthday boy had a blast.  Jack and I had fun decorating the windows.

 

We also celebrated with our PEPs group, which is always fun.  It’s fun to be at the park, even in the rain and they kids are now old enough to enjoy games like What Time is it Mr. Fox?

spring celebration

 

In many ways, Easter is too Christian for my taste, but I do like getting together with family and welcoming the change of seasons.  Now that we are in our house, in a centrally located neighborhood, we are often the hosts.  It’s nice to see our house and kitchen rise to the occaision (how many people can be in the kitchen at one time?) and it’s certainly convenient to have D at home for sleeping times that overlap with gatherings and preparations.

I had fun dying eggs with beets, blueberries and turmuric, with a little help from my favorite almost-three-yea-old.  One lesson for next year is to not decorate eggs too early because after a few days these natural colors converged on brown.

indoor projects

 

Here’s a loooong list of house projects.  There is enough to do that prioritizing the time and money can be tricky, but we’ll get them done eventually.

Kitchen

Completed:

• flipped refridgerator door swing
• electrical
• built ikea cabinets for kitchen

To Do:

• add panels to conceal the litter box area and contain more of the litter pellets
• install instant hot water on prep sink
• install a hand towel rack in the kitchen
• assemble and install cabinets in dining room
• create an awesome light feature above dining area
• replace prep sink faucet, which is too small and low flow to use
• build a “barbecue cart” that will roll in to the empty under-counter space
• install a water filtration system (pending discussions about what it is worth to us)

 

Bedrooms and Bathrooms

Completed:

• built ikea cabinets for bathrooms
• electrical
• hung one mirror and one plant
• installed a bidet
• installed master bedroom closet system
• installed most of smaller bedroom closet systems

To Do:

• put in a mirror or medicine cabinet and light fixtures in bathroom
• build sliding closet doors for master closet
• install three toilet paper holders (one actually needs to be moved)
• add tile on wall just outside of master shower which seems to get a little bit wet
• assemble and install cabinets in master bedroom, master bathroom, second bathroom, which will include the laundry chute
• build a storage bench along the windows

 

Rest of the House

Completed:

• assembled two futons
• put up coat rack in entry way
• attached shelves to walls (baby/earthquake safety)
• hung up pictures (just the frames we already had)
• put peephole, chain and chain guard on front door
• put up mailbox
• put up two hanging racks in the basement (my parents did)
• installed doors and inner shelves on staircase bookshelf
• installed peg board for tool storage

To Do:

• build a desk
• diagnose and fix electrical issues (flickering lights, master bathroom lights, some stair lights)
• put in more outlets in basement
• put safety bars over the terrifyingly low fourth floor window
• put in drywall on basement interior walls
• install a doorbell and perhaps security features
• install a cell phone docking station
• install speakers and clean up the routers using all the low voltage wires we put in
• finish or replace the supports for the clear moxy pannels next to the stairs
• buy and install blinds for whole house (currently we have hardware store temporary blinds)

 

Bloedel Reserve

 

Yesterday, Becky, D and I took three hours to walk the two mile loop at the beautiful Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island.

We saw lots of native plants, a broody goose, a mansion and some ants.

outdoor projects

 

Here’s a look at the outdoor projects we have done and what we have left to do.

Completed:

• installed turf in “the boite,” which is our little boxy yard
• put up mailbox and house numbers on the fence
• painted neighbor’s replacement fence, which required trying to match the paint color of a lichen colored ten-year-old fence, and rebuilt rock terraces
• transplanted one hand-me-down tree from my parents (Hinoki False Cypress) and got two street trees (Japanese Snowbells) planted
• installed bars (with security screws) to lock up bikes in the bike garages.  Hooray for not having to bring bikes in to the house!

To Do:

• figure out how to mitigate the pooling water around the roof drains, which is very disappointing for new construction
• install concrete roof pavers and planters
• landscape along the sidewalk
• add plants to be chosen by neighbors next to our parking spot
• build doors for the bike garages
• install a retractable net around the boite to keep whiffle balls in
• put up an address sign on the alley to help lost delivery drivers
• keep our trees alive for the next few critical years!
• knock out a small interior wall so that Emo can access the cat door to the roof
• add louvres (horizontal slats of wood) to outside of house to fulfill Jack’s architectural vision

 

The roof and keeping the trees alive are at the top of our lists for outdoor tasks, though there are a few indoor tasks that will take priority.  I’ll save those for another post.

42 pints and counting

 

While planning to donate blood recently, I was pleased to see that Bloodworks Northwest makes donor records easily available on their website.  I’ve always enjoyed giving blood, partly out of altruism and partly out of fascination, I think.  My parents were regular donors when I was a kid and I ate many cookies in the canteen while waiting for them, creating a positive association for me as an aspiring donor.  Aside from the periods of post-Grand Adventure travel restrictions and pregnancy and it’s aftermath, I’ve been a regular donor since late high school.  Lately it is the only type of community service I have managed to fit in to my life.

It was quite satisfying to see my Seattle donation count (23) though I had to estimate how many times I donated in Montreal, Pittsburgh and Boston.  Henceforth, I am crediting myself with 19 non-Seattle donations, which brings me to 42 pints, or 5 gallons and 1 quart.  Isn’t standard a quaint system?  Here’s a 5 gallon bucket for a visual.

* about 6 donations were apheresis platelet donations, but I’m glossing over that