Make Me See Green

I'm not Irish, don't really give a hoot about the introduction of Christianity to the Irish people, and I'm not what one would label a "heavy drinker" so St. Patrick's Day is always a holiday I struggle with. If it weren't for the color-coding and the parades, the whole thing would probably pass by me unnoticed.Luckily we had some visitors that thrust us into the outer fray where we were confronted, unprovoked.

Breakfast at Tannersville Inn, where they served our coffees in Irish mugs. We were the only ones there, again.

We found ourselves at a tractor supply store where Fatih decided he would play with the chicks, even tho the sign specifically asked him not to. He has an excuse tho.

Then it was time to hit the only parade held on the actual holiday within 100 miles. Unfortunately it was in Allentown, but we'll take what we can get. Supply stores available everywhere. 

And the people were festive for sure

Yuula had no trouble getting the height to see the parade pass by

Honestly there wasn't a terribly good display

The llamas were pretty neat

Yuula didn't care for the grande finale of large antique tractors

Not bad for a holiday we could care less about.

I Want To Make This Plain

song of the day

16 year old me would probably be freaked out to know that this is one of 34 year old me's favorite new albums, but hey, what can you do?

Under A Fitted Sheet

This is Yuula's new favorite game

She stays under there for long periods of time

Sometimes alone, sometimes with a book or a stuffed animal or a drink of chocolate milk.

it's weird

As A Matter Of Fact I Have Seen Him Before

I've had this for awhile, but now I gotta listen to it...

Turkish Cake From The Oz

I'm actually dropping everything right now to do a little write-up, a catch-up, because while probably nothing of any significance outside our lumber riddled abode has occurred, we here feel the progress has been made and have the strange desire to catalogue the whole dreadful experience. So...

I have been working quite a bit. I think I need a new chair because the padding on this one has worn down to almost nothing. I am metal on flesh. But we've been busy, and I can't complain. I feel like responsibilities are being awarded unto me, or rewarded maybe. Who knows. Big job that took us almost a year is finally {almost} behind us and we're moving right along. 

Other than that, in pretty much eery waking moment not spent boothing or feeding the child has been on this reconstruction, which honestly, I don't have too many complaints over. I mean, there have been the mini-battles of me versus the tape measure or me versus the screwdriver or me versus the level, but for the most part, things are actually coming together. The last I think you saw was a bunch of lumber in the shape of a closet. Now that lumber is hidden. Mostly. From the inside at least. But sheetrocking may be an aspect of this whole mess that I can possibly handle. I mean, don't get me wrong, I thank Buddha for the invention of spackle and 2" tape, but I think it's a masterpiece.

At some point we must've gone out because here's a photo taken Wednesday of Yuula eating something we clearly did not make at somewhere that is clearly not our dining room. That's right, we had to make a material run to the HD for some wood and so on. And we stopped in the Tile City to try and get a quote and instead got some Turkish cake from the owner Oz.

They definitely got our business now.

I guess the latest is that we finally have a "normal" sized opening from our bedroom to the hallway. It was only about 16 inches for a while there and things were getting ugly. But we're taking the rest of the weekend (which is really only Sunday) off and enjoying a good ol' visit from Eric and his Turkish cake.

Where The Forest Meets The Bridge

song of the day

this album is really growing on me... and how

All Because The Sun Came Out

 We had planned to run the electric thru the new walls today, getting another step closer to sheetrocking, bringing us closer to actually having s closet and being able to sop picking thru the pile of clothes that has become the front room upstairs. But when we woke up ad felt the sun shining and the temperature up in the 50's we decided to head out and make a day of it.  

We went to the tiny-but-expensive antique shop on 611 to see if we could get inspired by design. They have some incredible finds there. If we were wealthy we'd be having a good old time up in there. But for today's cause, we were content to browse.

This here is a photo we found online that we fell in love with the sink and hoped to model our new bathroom upstairs after, as close we could, knowing we'd NEVER be able to find that sink, but we'd be willing to settle for a close knock-off from the Home Depot or something. And it was the furthest thing in our mind when we rounded the corner in the basement of the antique shop when...

Bam. I mean we are talking identical. Just without the updated faucet, which is a feature still up for debate. We were stoked and having learned our lesson numerous times over of thinking "oh it will be here next time we come" and then not, we snatched it up and didn't look back. The owner assured us it's a great deal, but she also told us not to trust anyone, especially if they're trying to sell you something. Seems like an odd approach to sales. What do we care, we found our sink!

Yuula got a free purse and baby Raybans and we hit the road, glad we didn't stay home for once and encouraged that the renovation is going to end up just as we want. That is if doesn't all collapse thru the floor.

 And Laura got a mimosa.

Hey Mr. Doughnut-Head-Man

Over cereal this morning we caught a scene or two of Wayne's World, another evocative piece of pop culture from my childhood that Laura had no idea even existed. I just shake it off these days. But it's funny how all these years later and I still find it gloriously silly. Garth daydreaming himself singing Foxy Lady to the blonde is such a nice memory for some reason, and it still tickles me pink.

I asked Yuula if Mommy was a "foxy lady". She said no.

The Eiffer Towel

She's in awl

Heart Breaks Your Mood Dry

song of the day

I've listened thru a couple Parenthetical Girls albums, but I think they really nailed it this time...

I love when bands nail it...

Legit Tac Toe

 We had some pretty good rounds of tic tac toe going on here tonight. I mean, yeah, we were letting her win, but she made a few brilliant strategic moves that had us questioning who was playing who here. I'm just still impressed she could handle the circle.

She rubbed it in

Giddy'up Mama

That's right, she calls her "mama" now... and we have no idea why

Sound Of A Cold And Ghost Town

 "The thousands of miles between their adopted home of Berlin and an abandoned mining town halfway between the Arctic Circle and the North Pole might seem like a drastic length to travel, but the band members were inspired. For musicians obsessed with sound, Piramida offered unimaginable opportunities: to turn every object within sight into a musical instrument; to turn an entire town, in effect, into a recording studio.

Some objects they found had an innate musicality. Clausen recorded his footsteps while running on a long boardwalk, which would later become the beat for one of the songs on the album. He crawled into pipes and sang, his clear tenor multiplying into a ghostly choir as it bounced off metal walls. A fuel tank, half full of water and covered in spikes — to hold insulation that had long since rotted away — turned into a giant percussive instrument once the band discovered that each spike had a distinct tone. Once they taught themselves to play it, it sounded a little like a kalimba."

should be good

Too Pooped To Potty

I know, lame pun, but Laura made me. It's very seldom I get her input on this here blog, so when I do, I have to use it.

But don't worry, it's not only time she gets a nap...

reading wears her out too.

Frasier Had A Nice Walk-In Closet

 Maybe it's because I've been drawing some footprints of my own lately, or possibly because I love floorplans... I found this website fascinating. I only hope they continue to expand. I wanna see Perfect Strangers, Silver Spoons, and I never could figure what was going on at the Huxtables.

Are These Her Rowers?

Her "drawings" have suddenly become quite detailed and specific. I think this is her rendition of Rowers' Lunch by Renoir,

you know, like the Glass Man painted one every year in Amelie...

From The Guys Who Brought You Can

song of the day

more please

Keeping Her Happy

We've semi-neglected Yuula in all the home renovations, it's no place for a sticky-fingered grabby-hands to be hanging out, but we've managed to give her a few good times in between.

Sarah's birthday party was on Sunday, so that's a nice break from wood and metal and blood and tears. That's right folks, they're turning three this year.

 She had some surprise visitors keep her up til midnight playing soccer and dancing the evening to death.

And of course we've been making sure the evening play sessions reach their maximum intensity no matter how sore our backs may be.

The Border's Gonna Be Pissed

I have no idea

Our Time Spent Building

Yeah. I've been neglecting leisure and journaling is leisure. But it's mostly journal-worthy stuff that's kept me away so, let me refresh.

This is what our dining room table has looked like...

And this is how my hair has been...

Our unexpected major construction project is well under way and I think we're making progress, but honestly, it's hard to tell. First we took down the stairs in the living room. A sad and trying project, almost like putting it out of its misery, but towards the end of the night it turned into a full-on demolition. But now we have the space...

Our house is held together with nails from the Cretaceous period, so that made things interesting and almost impossible...

We've been to Home Depot so many times Yuula's starting to think it's her new bedroom...

My carpentry skills have vastly improved but that's like saying your flying skills have vastly improved after you fall off the roof.

Then yesterday I built out the frame for our new closet. I hope we fit.

Laura had a little project going on herself just below me that made all the busted knuckles worth it.

Still a long way to go, electrical and maybe sheetrock this weekend and then who knows what. We haven't thought that far yet.

Death Of A Stairs

This One's Not Barefoot

song of the day

and probably does not taste as good

4 Seconds A Day: February 2013

Break For The Look

Went out the other day, just to get out of the house (mountain winters can give you home fever) and ended up grabbing some ice cream at Sweet Creams and then checking out some of the more "fun" aspects of redesigning your entire upstairs.

I think we got some good ideas...

A Veritable Kubrickian Da Vinci Code

Can. Not. Wait.

Think it'll ruin it?

We Need The Commercial Break

Pushing forward on the home renovation. On the schedule yesterday was tearing down the living room stairs and patching the hole in the floor. Seems simple enough for an afternoons work. Right?

I got about 5 minutes into the demolition when I found some suspect beams. The deeper I dug the worse it got, and to an amateur homeowner the likes of myself, that is a horrifying site. So I stepped away for a bit, made a few phone calls to the only carpenter I know, cried for an hour or so and then took myself back up the the staircase and started to tear away. Tore away flooring, the second story plate, the main beam of the wall and the first floor header, about 28 inches of it. I could've sworn the house would just fall down, but that just shows how much I have no idea about construction.

Around 8pm I had a nice hole in the wall that I could be proud of. Cutting a few replacements out in the dark and the snow is exactly what I wanted to be doing, rather than walking on my new floor upstairs like I planned. But I am proud of the precision cuts I made and how tightly it all came together. Only about an hour later I had the new wall in place.

It looks rough right now, but we have to replace the sheetrock and everything else will be covered by the new floor. So Yay! 24 hours later and we're right back where we started and spent $150 to get there. The hardest part was tearing out the nails. This thing was built back in a day where they used dinosaur nails. These things were no joke. Don't believe me?

So yeah. Moderate drama, valuable time spent, and a day lost. Laura tried to cheer me up by reminding me of all the home improvement shows on TV where they always come across the unknown. I reminded her that that is always the point in the show where they cut to a commercial break and when they come back the problem is miraculously solved. We need the commercial break.