Day 86 : I Can Almost See The Finish Line

This will eventually become soon be a front entrance. 

After a minor freak out over our dwindling staff, I've calmed down, wiped the plaster dust that was stuck to my tears, and realized that what will be - will be. And then they came. More troops were sent in to battle gaping holes, exposed wood, doors that won't install themselves, etc. (Insert angels singing here.)

And now? As of this moment I'm happy to report that we have what's known as the "scratch coat" on the front of our stucco house, we have interior walls that have 2 coats of "mud" and will be sanded tomorrow, a front door, a new bow window in our new office, and more! What we don't have is our custom vanity in the en suite bath or new office or kitchen. Floors. Lighting. And more!

So....it's a process, right? Ya gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet. (No idea of the relevance of that, btw.) Ya gotta yell at a contractor to get him to sit up and take notice of the fact that a family of four is LIVING in an RV and while that might seem like an "adventure" to some, at this point, it's kind of a living hell. 

Day 78: Walls? Why yes, we have them.

We have walls. Really.

Just when it appeared that our contractor had all but abandoned us (which btw - I fully expected), things are starting to take shape. Sure the contractor decided that it would be the perfect time to visit Mom in Isreal. Yes, now. And for the last few weeks we've come to expect 2 guys - the same 2 guys - to show up each morning. And only 2 guys. Gone are the throngs of burly worker-bees that once were. And then there were 2. But the dawn today brought a much larger crew ---- and walls!


Oh walls - I love you so. You indicate to me that our house will eventually be a home again. That photographs and art and TV's will adorn you soon. I can even imagine that your chalky whiteness will someday soon be warmed with color. Ah.......

Day ??? - The Haps.

Day....wait....what day is this? I'll figure it out and get back to you.


So, here's a brief recap of the events since I last posted. We moved...and then we moved....and then we moved again. Santa Monica, Holiday Inn Express, Santa Monica, driveway - that's the order of things if I'm not mistaken. Somewhere in between the 2 Santa Monica stints we discovered that an hour commute to school every day - in each direction was pretty much out of the question. As was policing and cleaning up after our 3 dogs. It just wasn't a doable situation.


Lightbulb. I pulled from the recesses of my mind a brief somewhat-inebriated conversation at a backyard neighborhood shin-dig. Something along the lines of "we have a 36' motor home that's just sitting and doing nothing for no one - why don't you borrow it from us". Now, while we've known our neighbors for many years, and had full knowledge that they are a lovely couple, at the time it seemed out of the question and just too far fetched. But suddenly....it became much less far fetched. So we called them up and decided that a rental situation (rather than a lending situation) was more in our comfort zone and lo and behold....we're now living in a land yacht in our driveway. Much better situation - dogs are free to roam, books, clothes, toys, Internet are handy (NO MORE PACKING!!!) and we're here to watch over our house from any evil-doers and when the contractors have questions. Voila.


...And it's actually kind of comfy and cozy! So....on to the project. Everything is moving along swimmingly and while we lost both time and money on all of the extensive (as in "worse we've ever seen") termite damage, we're corrected and moving along. Windows arrived and are installed and may I add looking ever so perfect. They're a great match with our original steel French windows and I'm glad I dug my heels in and insisted on them.


Other stuff:
1. Doors from China are a hassle - but luckily not an insurmountable problem - and they're going in one by one.


2. Bathtub arrives on Friday.


3. Entry door arrived and is kind of a piece of shit, buy it'll look great once it's up. Big story attached to this door actually. I struck a deal with crestviewdoors.com to trade out an instructional video for a free set of windows for the door. (The actual door is from ETO doors in downtown L.A.) I'm an experienced woodworker and I thought - how hard can this be. Cut 3 holes in the door - insert windows - bingo. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I won't bore you with the details except to say that the project was a bitch. It was a bitch on steroids. After much hand wringing, tears, and "oh my God what was I thinking", the project was completed. And all I can say is thank God for the inventions of wood filler, sandpaper and paint.


4. Purchased a really nice pro range. Can't wait to use it!


5. Tile is completely selected and now we just need to order it.


6. Finally made our decision about flooring. Much angst involved here as we had to take wear ability (with 3 dogs), cost AND beauty in to account. Finding a match for all 3 proved to be pretty difficult and I soon learned that you have to some times give up one thing to get another.


7. Continued working on furniture - decor - particularly Nick's room (my starting place and then I'll move on to the little one).


So that's it for now. And oh yeah --- it's day 66! 


And now for some photos!

Doors from China - installed!

And finally...we have windows! I LOVE my new windows!

And an overview of the new front of our house!

Our lovely little one in front of our lovely little home on wheels.

Ah...good times.

And in the midst of all of this ----- my son celebrated both his 15th birthday AND the first ever day of high school on the same exact day! Here he is (in the middle) with his adorable friends celebrating.

And our sweetie pie celebrated her first day of kindergarten - in a brand new school! So brave!