Only a little over a week till our annual Oktoberfest party.
The panic is setting in.
I had planned to be sooooo organized this year so that the day of the party I could sleep in, go get my nails done, leisurely play with my kids....etc. Not gonna happen.
If this rain doesn't let up we will be mowing grass as the guests arrive. The good news is that the extended forecast is calling for sun the day of our party. Now, I cannot tell you why that cheers me as I am sure the forecast will change a dozen times before then AND because I think my toddlers can predict the weather as well as that Doppler radar. But none the less I am cheered.
It looks like we will have a little over 100 people here this year....so.....I had better get busy.
'til next time...
Friday, September 23, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Addition update - inspections, cabinets and tile patterns...
It has been a week and half since I wrote about the addition but that is because we were too busy making progress! Sounds like a great excuse doesn't it??
We have made progress though.
Thursday I took my two toddlers down to the county office to work their magic on the staff there. We had allowed our permit to expire by going too long without an inspection. Since most of the work was done they were probably only going to make us pay a stiff fine to reinstate it but you never know with the zoning department. So, I took back up with me, in the form of a 3 year old and almost 2 year old. I have discovered that they are scarier than a visit from the mafia. If they told me that we needed to reapply for the permit my plan was to turn the toddlers loose and let them scream and reek havoc while I said "I can't hear you, you said everything is fine? we have passed inspection?"
Fortunately I didn't have to turn 'em loose. They were pretty easy, Ainsley just gave them the stink eye and they started getting things sorted out on their end. My son stood at the counter and repeatedly demanded that they bring the toys out, he was convinced that they had toys, namely Thomas the train, hidden behind the counter. But, after a few mea culpas and a $90 fine we had our permit reinstated.
Friday the inspector came out to do the close-in inspection for the plumbing, that was the only thing left for close-in. He was in a foul mood when he got here and my optimism for passing the inspection was waning. Before he even got up the sidewalk he was complaining that we didn't have a mailbox at the end of our driveway. ??? Maybe he wants to be a postal inspector when he grows up. He complained that we still had everything opened up, I explained that since we were having the "close-in" inspection we really weren't supposed to close the walls up yet. He didn't want to go under the house because it was muddy, he didn't want to look at pictures of the pipes under the house because "that doesn't prove anything". Instead he wrote us up for not having the walls and openings closed up and then "passed" us for the inspection. Dealing with inspectors can be like dealing with toddlers, same amount of logic. But we have a piece of paper that says the plumbing passed!
We found a company that was able to drill holes in our slab of granite and did it without cracking the granite! Peter built up some arm muscles toting that slab around! But now it is home, installed, the sink and faucet are installed and we have working hot & cold water. Now that is progress.
We have been looking for a cabinet to fit in the bathroom. We realized during our search that the size we needed is basically unheard of. We found a cabinet at a shop in Leesburg that was very close to what we wanted but about 6 inches too big. We would drive to Leesburg, stare at the cabinet, drive back home stare at the space on our wall, drive back to Leesburg, stare at the cabinet......we did this about 64,000 times. Yesterday, we were staring at the cabinet again and the owner of the shop, who by now is getting a little worried about us, said "I'll knock some money off if you will just buy and go away never to return." My husband says "well, I think this cabinet will work, I will just have to move the bathroom wall and then cut the closet door out and move it about 6 inches down the wall." I think that only made the shop-owner-lady more worried about us. So, we bought the cabinet, now we get to start tearing down walls. Unfortunately for shop-owner-lady she will have to see us one more time when we go back to pick up the cabinet, but then we will be out of her hair. Probably forever.
In my spare time this week ("hahahahaha....maniacal laugh...) I am going to meet with the tile company to pick out our tile (AGAIN) for the bathroom. I have been working on drawings of the bathroom to try and design the pattern we want. There are way too many patterns for installing tile, everything is starting to look like one big mosaic to me. Deep breath....
'til next time...
We have made progress though.
Thursday I took my two toddlers down to the county office to work their magic on the staff there. We had allowed our permit to expire by going too long without an inspection. Since most of the work was done they were probably only going to make us pay a stiff fine to reinstate it but you never know with the zoning department. So, I took back up with me, in the form of a 3 year old and almost 2 year old. I have discovered that they are scarier than a visit from the mafia. If they told me that we needed to reapply for the permit my plan was to turn the toddlers loose and let them scream and reek havoc while I said "I can't hear you, you said everything is fine? we have passed inspection?"
Fortunately I didn't have to turn 'em loose. They were pretty easy, Ainsley just gave them the stink eye and they started getting things sorted out on their end. My son stood at the counter and repeatedly demanded that they bring the toys out, he was convinced that they had toys, namely Thomas the train, hidden behind the counter. But, after a few mea culpas and a $90 fine we had our permit reinstated.
Friday the inspector came out to do the close-in inspection for the plumbing, that was the only thing left for close-in. He was in a foul mood when he got here and my optimism for passing the inspection was waning. Before he even got up the sidewalk he was complaining that we didn't have a mailbox at the end of our driveway. ??? Maybe he wants to be a postal inspector when he grows up. He complained that we still had everything opened up, I explained that since we were having the "close-in" inspection we really weren't supposed to close the walls up yet. He didn't want to go under the house because it was muddy, he didn't want to look at pictures of the pipes under the house because "that doesn't prove anything". Instead he wrote us up for not having the walls and openings closed up and then "passed" us for the inspection. Dealing with inspectors can be like dealing with toddlers, same amount of logic. But we have a piece of paper that says the plumbing passed!
We found a company that was able to drill holes in our slab of granite and did it without cracking the granite! Peter built up some arm muscles toting that slab around! But now it is home, installed, the sink and faucet are installed and we have working hot & cold water. Now that is progress.
We have been looking for a cabinet to fit in the bathroom. We realized during our search that the size we needed is basically unheard of. We found a cabinet at a shop in Leesburg that was very close to what we wanted but about 6 inches too big. We would drive to Leesburg, stare at the cabinet, drive back home stare at the space on our wall, drive back to Leesburg, stare at the cabinet......we did this about 64,000 times. Yesterday, we were staring at the cabinet again and the owner of the shop, who by now is getting a little worried about us, said "I'll knock some money off if you will just buy and go away never to return." My husband says "well, I think this cabinet will work, I will just have to move the bathroom wall and then cut the closet door out and move it about 6 inches down the wall." I think that only made the shop-owner-lady more worried about us. So, we bought the cabinet, now we get to start tearing down walls. Unfortunately for shop-owner-lady she will have to see us one more time when we go back to pick up the cabinet, but then we will be out of her hair. Probably forever.
In my spare time this week ("hahahahaha....maniacal laugh...) I am going to meet with the tile company to pick out our tile (AGAIN) for the bathroom. I have been working on drawings of the bathroom to try and design the pattern we want. There are way too many patterns for installing tile, everything is starting to look like one big mosaic to me. Deep breath....
'til next time...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Reading...The Wall
I love old books and collect many books that were written in the early 1900's. One of my favorite authors from this time period is Mary Roberts Rinehart. She wrote from the early 1900's till the early 1950's. Most of her books are mysteries and are written from the perspective of an individual involved in the affair.
Recently I discovered that there are books of hers that I have not read yet. I was very excited to find two books online that were previously unknown to me. I ordered them (of course) and have read both of them in the past couple weeks. They are "The Wall" and "The Swimming Pool". I enjoyed them both since I am a fan of her work however they aren't as good as some of the books she wrote earlier in her career. In my opinion the books she wrote towards the end of her life tend to leave some loose ends, something she didn't do in the earlier years. But I was still glad to come across them and add them to my collection.
'til next time...
Recently I discovered that there are books of hers that I have not read yet. I was very excited to find two books online that were previously unknown to me. I ordered them (of course) and have read both of them in the past couple weeks. They are "The Wall" and "The Swimming Pool". I enjoyed them both since I am a fan of her work however they aren't as good as some of the books she wrote earlier in her career. In my opinion the books she wrote towards the end of her life tend to leave some loose ends, something she didn't do in the earlier years. But I was still glad to come across them and add them to my collection.
'til next time...
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