Sunday morning

Should be for lazying around, drinking coffee and reading the paper. One day maybe it will be but for the moment it is when we try to get all the chores done.
On today's list: re-align hinges on another tall kitchen cabinet; install hardware in downstairs bath; mortar three bluestone paving slabs on the old barbeque base.
Chore one went without a hitch. Chore two hit a snag when we realised that one screw holding the old towel bar on the tile had had its head stripped and would not come off. We'll leave it for now and make do with the old towel rail that matches the mirror. If we ever do a re-tile or beadboard job in there we can install the new one then. We did get the toilet roll holder on the vanity without a hassle, though and it looks very smart.
Chore three started to go bad when Steven realised he had badly underestimated the amount of mortar he needed and blamed me for not accompanying him to Home Depot to get the stuff. He had to apologise when he decided this made him look a) incapable and b) grumpy, but that cost us half an hour or so. We made a run to the Depot together, collected an 80lb bag of mortar and then broke for lunch.
Despite the increasingly grey skies, and the weather forecast predicting thunderstorms, Steven declared he wouldn't recommence work outside until he had got the results of the Tour de France - on TV. He could have had them on the web anytime but no, it had to be on the TV, right now, this minute. I did point out that he was probably the only person left who was still interested in this year's race, but that failed to move him, so I waited patiently (ahem) until all the men in spandex had received their bouquets of flowers and we ran outside just as the first claps of thunder started.
Luckily all the prep work paid off and fifteen minutes later we had three 2' sq flagstones laid perfectly level. Steve covered his beautiful work with contractors sacks to keep it dry, I cleaned the tools and we made it inside just as the first drops fell.
No pictures yet but it looks pretty neat. I'm not sure what we will do with the base now. We can either use it as a base for the new bbq or for planters. Or we could plant flowers around it and encourage them to grow over the edges. I'm sure we'll think of something.

One door closes

It's been a few weeks since the corner cabinet door fell off its hinges, and for all of this time we have leant it up against the door frame and pretended nothing had happened.
One of our neighbours did ask why it was leaning like that and offered to bang a nail in it for us just so it would be back in position, but I politely declined. It's laminate, and I thought it would crack and look awful. Like a door leaning against the frame doesn't look bad enough?
Today was chore day, though and we thought we'd either have to nail it in or superglue it in place as it was becoming something of an embarrassment and more guests are due next week. We were all lined up with the glue when it became obvious that to close it in position we'd have to take off the hinges. And then it hit me. Why not take off the broken parts, put the good parts back at the top and bottom of the door and shut it (hopefully remembering NOT TO OPEN IT AGAIN, EVER). Half an hour later, with the help of another broken piece of another kitchen cabinet (did I mention we need a new kitchen?) the door was securely closed.
Steven is really proud that we managed to do this, but I can't get over the fact that it took us six weeks. Now, nobody breathe near this unit.

Jungle Maya

Maya in the tall plant
Originally uploaded by modernemama

If you're a tiny kitten and you want some peace and quiet away from the big cats and dogs, where would you hang out? On the balcony, ten feet up in the great room, seems like a safe bet.

Cheapest repair ever

espresso
Originally uploaded by modernemama

And the most efficacious. The repair on the FrancisFrancis X1 consisted of a new part: an 82 cent rubber gasket. I got a spare one while I was about it because the postage cost three times that amount and the week we were without an espresso machine was truly trying.

Laundry countertop redone

laundry countertop
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Well it's very clean and bright and I actually don't mind spending time in here now, but I don't yet know how tough it will be. At least it's an improvement on the old formica.
I'm really impatient to put in some new cabinets in here. All it takes is time and money. Unfortunately both of these are in short supply at the moment.

More makeovers

I finally persuaded Steven to put a coat of Benjamin Moore Cloud White on the ceiling and it took him, oh I don't know, maybe 30 minutes to finish. Then he spent two hours in the pool recovering.
I spent that time undergoing a change of my own. I left the house blond and returned a brunette. All this house makeover stuff must have rubbed off on me because it wasn't a planned thing at all.
Today I put the primer on the countertop and tomorrow I'll give it a coat of Rustoleum. If it doesn't work, it's no big deal, it's a temporary thing. The new hair colour, on the other hand, is a keeper.

Finally paid for the bathrooms.

I finally got the bill from the plumber last week. That is the bill for all the work on the three bathrooms, one of which was finished in April, one in May and one on June 22. How many contractors would do that amount of work, including purchasing special order toilets and not even ask for a deposit? And the bill was very fair for all the hours they were here and the anal retentive pickiness we put them through. I showed them the master bath plan last time they were here and they seemed to be looking forward to it. I'll but up with the moaning about my European fixtures to get service this great again.


I also chose and ordered a toilet roll holder and towel bar for the downstairs bath yesterday, which'll mean the work has truly come to a close. Considering we started on November 23, that's not a moment too soon.

When it rains here

July 18 2007
Originally uploaded by modernemama

it really rains. A few weeks ago the Village cleared the land it owns at the corner of Vineyard Rd and laid twelve storms drains. The idea is that the first inch of water, which contains all the pollutants, will be absorbed into this area before it has a chance to reach Long Island Sound.
But it rarely rains a little here. Huntington frequently features on the local news as the town where residents abandon their cars and take to kayaks. three inches is a common amount of rainfall and today we were hit by a serious storm.
The poor drains were overwhelmed and for an hour or so we had a raging torrent 2' wide streaming down Vineyard Rd alongside my property and a big flood on the bend where the road level dips. I don't know if any of the nitrates made it to the bay but the surge sure left a lot of debris behind.

Never miss another call

Although Steven has issued a "the well is dry" notice which effectively precludes any more demolition or construction before January 2008, I am still hunting around for inspiration for the master bathroom renovation. After all, looking costs nothing, right?
While researching bathrooms on HGTV.com I came across this gem:
"Phones in the toilet area are part of the expanding communication technology for baths".
Lovely. Just what you need when you were hoping for a quiet, private moment. If you look at the picture that accompanies this piece of puffery, you can see how well that communication technology blends with this year's decor. Also, not at all unsanitary, is it?

Another one bites the dust

It's been a bad year for appliances on Vineyard Rd.
First to go was my beloved imac, then the Dyson needed a bunch of new parts, followed by the barbeque and of course, the washer and the dryer, and the laundry room fan.
But the latest appliance to throw a hissy fit is the one that really hurts. My trusty FrancisFrancis X1 espresso maker, which was the first thing I bought in the US when we arrived in 2000, decided that the gasket seal had put in enough work ensuring we had a good presion and therefore great crema and shredded itself.
How can I explain my need for three decent cups of espresso a day? For some the staff of life is bread; for me it is coffee. I crave the colour, the aroma and the taste. So when I am forced to make a choice between going without or driving the three miles to the local coffee shop after every meal, I can get a little snippy.
If this disaster had occurred next year it wouldn't have mattered so much as we plan to put in a built-in coffee maker, but we are nowhere near tackling the kitchen yet. So I've left a message with the service department at FrancisFrancis to see if I can get a replacement part. If not, it'll have to be a new machine and quickly before the crankiness really sets in, and I start wearing out, too.

Reflective

First Frost
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I just love this color, First Frost, from Pittsburgh Paints, not only because it's clean but it's also shiny too. Just look at the cat food cans reflected off the wall. (Must hang cabinet for those!).
I still have to paint the old laminate countertop but it already looks a gazillion times better than it did before.

Meltdown averted

iBook G4
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I had an awful morning trying to get my iBook G4 to start. I'd left it sending email last night and when I got to it this morning its screen was blank and it was making a horrible whirring sound.
As I'm still in mourning over the demise of Ruby Red my beloved iMac G3, I was slightly freaking out especially when turning it off and on accomplished nothing, and performing a hard restart resulted in a chime, the noise of the fan and a grey screen.
After that I tried turning it off again and another Shift-Control-Option-Power restart and I got the Apple symbol up and the power wheel but it just stayed like that for hours. I was about to pack it up and trek to the Apple store when it occurred to be to try one last thing: Pressing the C key while holding down the power button.
And it worked. It did take almost fifteen minutes to start up but it's working now. I'm going to be extra nice to it today and not ask it to perform 10 functions at the same time and hopefully it won't let me down again. If it does I foresee a major meltdown in my future.

Maya

Maya
Originally uploaded by modernemama

As cute as a kitten.

Hermes in the bamboo bedroom

Hermes
Originally uploaded by modernemama

Is this the cutest Siamese kitten?

A little mint with your chocolate, anyone?

I took a look in the kitchen cabinets this morning. The fact that we actually have food in them means we have guests and this particular selection can mean only one thing: Verity's home.
Can anyone guess what her favourite ice cream flavour is?

First Frost in High Summer

Voice of Color- First Frost
Originally uploaded by modernemama

While the gusts have gone to Baltimore and DC for a few days I decided to paint the laundry room, a task I have been putting off for a couple of weeks. I used First Frost from Pittsburgh Paints Voice of color range.
It truly wasn't my intention to do this but I'm sure that this is the same color that was on the wallpaper in here in 1970. I think I might have chosen it because subconsciously I'm worried that we are taking too much of the original feel out of the house, but my original intention was to get a clean, reflective tone into a windowless space. This is just the tinted primer so we will have to suspend judgement until the top coat has dried. I'm going to paint the formica countertop while I'm about it. Hopefully the Rustoleum will do as great a job on that as it did in the medicine cabinets in the boys' bath. Those babies look brand new. This will be a temporary fix until we do the kitchen and put in new countertops and cabinets in here as well. But I want a nice space to do the washing in until then.
I've had to stop for today because I took a brushful of primer to the right eye and as we had to use oil-based primer because of the weird stains it took a while to clean it up. And it's nearly martini time.

Finishing Touches but no Fireworks

Smith and Noble 2" wood blind - dark wenge
Originally uploaded by modernemama

As the skies got darker on Independence Day we decided no one was going to get into the pool and we should just get on with a few chores instead. Verity and Steve put up the Smith and Noble 2" wood blind in the downstairs bath. The dark wenge has turned out to be an almost prefect match for the vanity and this bathroom looks totally remodeled now. It lacks only a toilet roll holder to be completely finished.
The rain held off until lunchtime so we managed to get a fair amount of weeding done, too. One brave guest did venture into the pool but it was too cold for anyone else. I barbecued at 5 pm but we ate indoors, and just as we sat down the thunderstorms started. It looks like it has set in for the evening so I guess we won't be walking down to the beach to see the fireworks across the Sound.

Happy BBQ Day

BBQ
Originally uploaded by modernemama

What do you do if you can't get the old barbecue support pipe out of the ground? When you tried disguising it with a sapling and that didn't work? You buy a new bbq and strategically place it in front of the pipe. That'll do for now.

Balcony kitties

Balcony kitties
Originally uploaded by modernemama

They've been hanging out here for a while but they are making their way downstairs now. I took them for a check up today; Maya weighs 2lbs and Hermes 5lbs.
So far they have stood their ground against the other cats and the dogs and even pushed Sadie and Polly away from the dog food so they can get at the dogs' Nutro.

Nemesis

what shall we do with the bbq support?
Originally uploaded by modernemama

The old built-in barbeque is refusing to lie down and accept defeat. So far three of us have had a go at removing it. Verity took out most of it with the sledgehammer, Steven decided to save the bricks and chipped the mortar off the whole ones, I took the sledgehammer to the bottom course and chiseled out the cement between the patio and the bbq base.
But the base itself is a surround of bricks with poured concrete in the middle and right in the centre is the old support for the bbq and gas line, which was cemented into the ground. This obviously went in first, then the brick surround and them the concrete was poured in. The base is 5' long, 2' deep and 6" deep. And it won't budge.
I think the only thing to do is to rent a jackhammer and reduce it to rubble but until then I've lent this Japanese Knotweed seedling that was growing behind the barbecue in front of the pipe. I think it disguises it quite nicely, don't you?