Category: family news

The cat came back. Not the very next day; it was three weeks later. Lisa and I have been in angst. Or, more properly, Lisa and I had been in angst (we had already stopped mourning his presumed demise).

The back-story: Max became an outside cat about a month ago. We determined that if he was going to use the kitchen as his litter box, he would be deprived of such opportunity. Three days into his adjustment, Brad and Mary’s dog Shadow came over to play with Maggie. Maggie loves any animal, and the cats know that. It annoys them at times, but they definitely know of her love. Shadow has a different kind of love for cats: he loves to chase them. So when Max and Shadow met, it was a brief encounter, indeed. Shadow chased, Max ran, and that was the last we were to see of him. Or so we thought. With his medical conditions, an extended absense most likely meant he was dead.

So imagine our surprise when we walked into the house this evening and Max had broken his way through a window screen and was hanging out in the hallway! Crazy. Wonders never cease.

Progress really slowed down after the first and second days. Things I’ve done today and yesterday:

• Finished patching, sanding and prepping the bathroom for painting
• Primed the bathroom
• Scraped peeling paint off the second floor landing ceiling
• Painted (with Lisa) the first coat of bathroom paint (it’s green)
• Bought all the materials I need to ready the bathroom for tile. List includes: Hardibacker, special screws, thinset, a tile cutter, a tile saw, kneepads, and a few other odds and ends. Lisa and I are going this afternoon to look at tile in Fresno.
• Patched and sealed holes in the bathroom that lead to a bedroom.
• Scratched my head over why such holes were cut in the first place.

As you can see, progress is slow but steady. It felt so good to see that first coat of paint go onto the bathroom walls. It’s a very pleasant green, and it somehome manages to be simultaneously modern and old-fashioned-looking. That paint gives me hope that this project can be done, and that it will look great when we’re finished!

I have also started listening to a new podcast: Moneypit. It’s a radio show that you can also listen to on your iPod. Listening to it on my iPod allows me to listen when and where I want, to repeat parts that seem important, and to listen to old episodes at will. Moneypit it a great home improvement show with lots of practical tips on everything from basements to yards.

Today was Day 2 of working on our new old house. Thoughts:

• Everything takes longer than planned.
• Everything is more involved than we hoped.
• It’s possible to figure out how to do anything, usually by jumping in and trying it. (*Note: This is for fixing houses, not for pilots or surgeons.)
• As I sanded today, I defined the larger object of our project as such: we’re not remodeling or renovating: we’re restoring. Out goal is to restore the house to her former glory, undoing where necessary the ‘improvements’ added in the 1950’s.
• The more we did today, the more excited I got for the project. I’m not even worried about the outcome, but relishing the actual work.

Things we did today:

1. Brian and Lisa worked most of the day stripping pink-painted wallpaper from the master bedroom. We bought a steamer from Home Depot, and it works wonders.
2. I scraped off all the peeling paint in the upstairs (main) bathroom.
3. I started sanding the walls in the main bathroom, both to take off mold and to prepare for painting.
4. I looked behind the sink as I was sanding, and decided we should take out the sink and vanity beneath it.
5. Went to Home Depot this morning and bought a new pedestal sink (sink and base, two parts).
6. Took the medicine cabinet off the wall. We’ll replace it with something that doesn’t stick out far from the wall, like a mirror. It’s a small bathroom.
7. Tore a big plastic sheet off the wall behind the claw-foot tub. Found a hole that had been cut from the bathroom to a bedroom.
8. Traced piping to the basement, then out of the house. Found the water shutoff to the house and used it.
9. Took out the sink and vanity.
10. Realized that we now need to replace the linoleum floor.
11. Frantically called my parents to ask what is involved with tiling.
12. Took out the claw-foot tub, shower hardware, and toilet.
13. Ripped out the floor, including a layer of particle board and approximately 3,128 staples.
14. Sighed.
15. Sanded and sanded and sanded the rest of the bathroom, specially the picture-rails, like the ones that run all throughout the house.
16. Started patching holes in the walls (largest one is under the sink, maybe 5 by 10 inches

It’s been a long, but productive, day. Our goal is to finish the second story as soon as possible so we can move into the house. We have two weeks at the most to meet that goal. We’ll have at least the bathroom finished, and if we need to we’ll move into the first story of the house until the second is finished. The kitchen is in good shape, and doesn’t need any immediate attention. What a fun project! We’ll continue to post pictures here on the blog, as long as you want to see them!

Good night,
Andrew