sunday series: spying

A bit too cool for the baby to head out to watch the bubble blowing - plus the grownups were in making dinner. So we sat her in front of the open window to watch and her sister blew soap bubbles up and in through the window.

sunday series: sharing

This book was a favorite of E's when she was little. She loved looking at it each night and finding the pictures within the pictures. We never tired of looking at it either - mostly because we think it's so cool that someone sculpts such elaborate scenes out of clay to make the illustrations. We can't remember E ever trying to eat a book - she seemed to understand them and love them from day one. This baby still tries to snack on them if you aren't watching, but with a little attention she looks more than she nibbles.

sunday series: spinning

We tend to gather in F's room when the sun comes out after hiding for a few days. It did just that late Sunday afternoon, and the big one pulled the little one around in circles on her tush, in and out of the sunbeams. I thought the corners were looking a little precarious - as in baby at forty-five degree angle with the floor and both legs in the air - so I made her stop and re-center her at each one. The giggles weren't nearly as rambunctious then. I love that look she's giving me in the fourth photo - killer of all the dangerous fun.

Next came the spinning aids, and the fun factor notched up a bit. Although she doesn't look too convinced at the beginning. Bringing a pal along for the ride seemed to help, and the presence of that sunbeam didn't hurt either.

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On a side note - I went to set up this post and noticed that it was number 750. Wow. What in the world have I been talking about?

sunday series

We had one of those great kind of Sunday afternoons where there's no place to be, the baby sleeps for three hours and wakes up in this kind of mood, and every single toy in E's room comes out and gets played with and she doesn't mind if I drift off for a few minutes while she builds jungle habitats around me. I have so many funny photos that I think I'll post a series of them this week. Because I'm too tired to decide which to use, and most certainly too tired to think of something to say about them. Time to gear up for the work week. Hope yours is a good one.

not enough wall space

It's way easier to find cute birdie stuff than to find room to hang it. I found this, and some more cute cards so we'll do a little switching out on the magnetic wall this weekend.

this might take awhile

So we've happily been laundering in our house now for five days, and it is so very blissful that I've nearly forgotten the two months prior that we were without machine.

In that same sort of way that mothers forget the pain of childbirth soon after the baby is born.

Yeah, right. We don't forget.

But I will say that in this blissful state many other things that would normally nag and bother don't seem to be such a big deal. It's always easier to look on the bright side when your own whites are on the bright side.

So blissful in fact, that you forget to...say... pick up your own child from school. But that's another story for another day.

For those of you that have been waiting on the edge of your seat for the laundry room redo lowdown, let's first take a moment to recap:

Last week of January: our combination washer/dryer spun its last load in a raucous manner that shook the very walls around us and then went up into flames. (Not really flames, but a definite burning smell.) It was perfect timing since we were about to have fourteen people staying in our house a couple of days later. People that probably would prefer clean sheets. People that use towels when they shower. After the weekend we started researching models that would work in our predefined space. Only four did.

Two sets cost nearly five thousand dollars a set.

Five thousand dollars is a lot of money.

We chose cheaper, at least by a bit, and boosted the economy - at least briefly - in a locally owned appliance store. The units arrived 10 days later, with only one incorrect part that had to be returned. Our buddy J helped to carry them upstairs. They are not light. Ask him, he'll tell you.

We worked on the design of the room now that we were using two machines, not one. I modeled the room with the existing cabinets and came up with several options. We chose this one.

Demolition began, and then everything started to get moved around. Shut off valves and hot and cold water hookups were moved. It's a lot of copper.

Countertop was cut in place.

Parts were purchased and organized. Weekly trips were made to the laundromat where $20 will get a week's worth of laundry washed and partially dried and even less partially cleaned. E got the stomach flu in the middle of this. We threw some laundry away.

A new vent to the exterior was installed and three layers of brick and some plaster were drilled through with no great catastrophe. The initial area of drywall removed was between the green dots. And naturally there was a vent pipe running through the wall at that very point. So a little more drywall was removed above and below, another trip to the hardware store, and the straight run became a slightly curved run. (See a bit of the pink plaster remaining back there? Lovely.)

New drywall around the new vent. Gigantic ladder rented from the hardware store to install the vent cap on the exterior of the house. Once up there he noticed a few other things that needed a little TLC and spent an afternoon patching and repairing.

The original cabinet above the old unit was the same height as the other upper cabinets. M took the cabinet down to our friend J's workshop and shortened it - including the shaker style door. And you can't even tell, it's that perfectly done. An afternoon of work, a night of glue drying, some follow up work, sanding, priming, the works...

Power turned off and new outlet wired and installed - the old machine plugged into to a standard 120v.

Ready for primer.

Primed and painted.

And now the heavy stuff. The platform is one we used before to service the unit which sits about nine inches above the floor. M picked up the washing machine by himself and carried it from the hallway to the top of this platform. I don't know how. I couldn't watch. Next came the stacking unit with a pull out shelf, and then the dryer. And this was just to make sure it was all going to work before hooking it all up. He then lifted the dryer back off, lifted the washer into place (on top of a small rubber mat to absorb some of the sound of the units) and hooked the machine up in the rear by accessing what he needed through strategically cut holes in the rear of the drawer unit to the left. The stacking unit went back on and then the dryer was lifted back up and carried forward, into the hole, and then centered on the stacking unit. More hookups in the rear through the tiny access holes. Concern expressed by M at how much the stacked unit moves on the rubber mat. Decision made to uninstall, lift ridiculously heavy units back out and into the hallway, remove the rubber mat. Rinse. Repeat. I bit my tongue and left the room. It was just too painful to watch.

Stacked for the third time, in place for the second time, cautious optimism on my part for the first time.

Ductwork and vent assembly installed at the rear of the dryer through precut access holes in the modified cabinet. Clean, precise, can you even find the splice on that cabinet front? Drywall patched and sanded where old trim was removed.

What's left to do? It's been nine years since we did this room the first time and the whole thing is in need of some paint, and there's still some final trim to go around the unit and the new surround. The cabinet doors and drawer fronts are all off and I bought some trim paint and a new color wall paint and you can find us with paint brush in hand this weekend.

But a little scuffed and worn paint job doesn't prevent the laundry from working, and work it has.

I have known my husband for over twelve years and I've always been amazed at what he can do. And still he amazes me - in the little ways and the big ways. On the grand scale of things to worry about, laundry should be a little thing, and for the most part it is. But sometimes it is a big thing, and I know just the guy who's up to the job. Thanks for all your hard work.

to TIDE you over

Watching the laundry go 'round is big excitement around here. I have snapshots of the process I'll post soon, but we're in the middle of a week of evening meetings and taxes so I'm slow to the computer.

.....

And I promise no more lame laundry puns...

laundry...too busy doing it to talk about it

Details to follow...

spring (cleaning)

A part of me has not wanted to confess what's going on around here this week. But I will. Because perhaps you've been wondering why I'm posting shots of asparagus and rhubarb and bird collages at times like eleven o'clock in the morning or two o'clock in the afternoon. It's because it's been at those times that I'm thinking about those things and nothing else. It's this concept called spring break - one that I've forgotten about for years as I left the academic life and entered the real life. One that is slowly coming back to me as I live vicariously through my children. Last year's spring break we took advantage of free plane tickets to get out of dodge before I was too pregnant to move. This year we're on a bit of a tighter budget with extra money going towards house projects, and you know... groceries and stuff. But we still have vacation time, so why not take it now, in this academic pause?

So we have, and we've been filling these days up quite nicely. Some things with children, some without (as they occupy themselves with naps and nurseries and playdates and art camps). And for the first time in six years I find myself at home with my husband in the middle of the day, with time to do a bit of filing and cleaning as he uses the nail gun in the background. We nearly ate lunch together. He was finishing up and making a Home Depot list while I was warming up leftovers and making a garden list. Kind of like the old days, working in tandem, and less around the schedule of naps and bathtimes and dinnertimes.

And despite a nasty sinus infection and a severe case of spring fever, I have managed to get a few things done around here. The first and second floors are coated in dust and littered with tools and parts as the laundry room assembly enters its eleventh hour. But the third floor is immaculate, down to the dusted and sorted Playmobil corner, and the windows are open and the fans are on high and more canisters are covered with adorable papers and holding treasures galore and the line for the corner deli is stretched out the door onto the sidewalk and the sound of blues can be heard throughout the sun-drenched top floor and life is so, so very good.

another piece of the puzzle

E (and I) have taken advantage of her spring break to get some little things done we've been meaning to do for awhile. One such thing was her contribution to F's magnetic wall. And what a nice contribution. Although now that I look at this photo, I'm noticing it's a little crooked. I think I'll go fix that right now...