"That's all your house is, a pile of stuff with a cover on it."

No surprise that I've been thinking about George Carlin for weeks now. It's the human condition, what we're dealing with lately... we're just dealing with it a little more explicitly than usual.

Packing up again

Tomorrow morning we have to move again... sigh. I was hoping we could just sleep in our own basement Friday night, even though the house will not be accessible, but then I realized that there would be no shower or kitchen or anything. Also, we don't all go to bed at the same time, and those of us who stay up past 7pm can't exactly hang out in the garage for hours; nor could we go anywhere else. And maybe the fumes would be prohibitive anyway. So back to Glenway we go.

First thing Saturday morning is the yard sale, and I'm SO glad, because it will get so much stuff out of the basement. However, that presents its own logistical challenges, because it means schlepping everyone from Glenway back to here first thing in the morning -- the yard sale starts at 9, which means setup starts at 8. And Aaron takes a nap at 9. Hopefully Mike and Kathryn, who are hosting the sale, won't mind Aaron sleeping at their house. After that I guess we will go back to Glenway for the afternoon naps, at least the kids, and the other adult will stay and do yard sale cleanup.

Sunday we can hopefully be back in the house. We don't know yet if that means they're done on Saturday, or what. I think it depends on how things go, and on the fumes.

A bargain

Sergio showed me around the Haddon house yesterday and it looks amazing. The new colors are beautiful, with just enough substance to provide contrast to the lovely white trim. The floor had been sanded, and under the dark red varnish it turns out to be white oak. The new stain will be more neutral. That was yesterday. Today is the first coat of polyurethane; Thursday is the second coat; Friday and Saturday it dries while they put in custom molding, perfect the painting of the baseboards, and finish up with painting a couple of closet interiors and reinstalling the doorknobs and outlet covers and so on. We don't expect to be back in until Sunday.

The living room and the kitchen, after painting and floor sanding.










I am sort of hoping that we can sleep in the basement on Friday and Saturday nights instead of going back to Glenway for another weekend. This is my project for the next couple of days, to see if I can organize enough in there to make it inhabitable. Saturday during the day, we maybe can spend with neighbors; at least half the day will be devoted to the yard sale, anyway. (That will free up a lot of space in the basement.)

Meanwhile more work goes on outside. Even aside from the exterior painting, for which Dale and I are clearly unequipped, there is no way we could possibly have done the landscaping that they are doing. It is a huge amount of work and has generated multiple truckloads of trash. Thank goodness the weather was coolish for a while, down to 80 and not so humid. Now, though, it's back to the sopping heat.

Overall we are basically stunned by the incredible job that Sergio and his crew are doing. They're prompt, they're nice, they're thorough, they do good work, they keep in touch, they clean up after themselves, they leave the place secure, and they just take care of everything. They will be working on our house for a total of about eleven eight-hour days, with 2-4 workers every day. Dale never thought he would say this about a remodeling job, but last night he said, "It's a bargain."

Civilized existence

We are really in a position to appreciate the pleasures of a civilized existence right now, and this house gives us a lot to appreciate. I work at the dining room table, looking out into Long Branch Park.

And I can't not bake. Did I say a few days ago that I was "not going to have any urgent cake-baking coming up"? Ha. In this lovely and well-appointed kitchen, how can I not make a treat for our generous hosts to enjoy when they return? I'm thinking of caramel cake. And then I remembered that we're having a giant yard sale on Saturday, and for a yard sale one needs baked goods, right? Jordan loves to help me. We got started last night with sand tarts, something Mom used to make, a cookie that uses only the three essential ingredients: sugar, flour, butter. Okay, some vanilla, and you roll them in powdered sugar, but still: elemental.

What the boys are up to

Aaron has two reliable words right now: "cat" and "uh-oh." The latter is for when he pulls things down from shelves or drops things over the side of his car seat. He loves this house especially for its stairs. He now quick-marches up the stairs on hands and knees with no hesitation at all. Down is slower than up but he totally gets it, no longer needs me to remind him to go backwards. And no, I do not have a movie of this, because I can't run the camera and also be ready to catch him if he forgets. Maybe later.

I think Jordan is feeling a little neglected because we have to monitor Aaron much more closely than usual (there's no baby gate for those stairs). But he is compensated by the opportunity to wear Alex's dinosaur outfit basically the whole time we're here. The head roars and growls when you push a button on the top. (Behind the fig leaf he is actually clothed, if you call underpants clothes.)

Housesitting bliss

Steve and Mary Margaret are our new angels. Housesitting for them brings a tear to my eye. Look at their kitchen. I will be cooking this week!

Jump down to remind yourself of my kitchen outpost in the basement. Also, our refrigerator is now on the porch, which is actually in some sense convenient; when I need something out of it, I just stop by.

Unusual Monday

Navigating the weekday morning routine in the Glenway house, while also packing up because we're leaving that house today, and explaining to Jordan where we're staying next and why, and getting me out the door by 8 so that Aaron doesn't start his morning nap in the car... yeesh. Everything was fine (unless I've forgotten some critical item I don't know about yet). Fanta's was so comfortingly familiar that I hung out there for twenty minutes.

I passed through the Haddon house and it looks like the painting is done - all the trim and doors and everything - wow. They really worked hard yesterday. It's a little hard to get the effect because the place remains a worksite, but what I could see looks great. The floor guy was there setting up. I said hello, told him my ideas for where the appliances could go, and quickly left. I figure he surely must deal with moving refrigerators on a regular basis, there's multiple burly contractor guys there, and frankly I don't want to see them doing it!

I avoided the basement.

And now I'm at work for the first time in ten days. What is it I do here again?

Haddon update

I went to Haddon today and made room for the couch and the chair in the basement; the workers were kind enough to do the heavy lifting. We didn't want those to be left anywhere damp, not even the garage. Non-upholstered furniture is fine in there, though. I made sure there was nothing else we needed out of the attic, since tomorrow the floor work begins and we might not be able to go upstairs at all. We'll still have access to the basement, for what that's worth. With the rest of the furniture in there it's even more absurd than before. You would have to climb over the couch to get to the bed, and the bed is covered with stuff anyway.

The main floor continues to be a total construction site, dust and workers in every room. I think it's going to be great but it's a little hard to see past the hubbub at the moment. I believe they're supposed to finish painting today. Seemed like there was still a lot going on... on the other hand the new colors are on all the walls, and that's toward the end of the process. One of the guys conveyed to me that there is some difficulty in the bathroom – they’re painting over the wallpaper and I think some of the paper was coming off. His English is about as good as my Spanish, so I can’t be sure of the details. I figure, if Sergio hasn’t called me, it’s not an emergency. I know some stuff at the Glenway house was a pain in the neck, too, and he just dealt with it. (For example, the paneling in the basement took three painstaking coats to cover what was there, all by hand.)

While I was back in the neighborhood I met with the neighbors (on Clayborn St) to get an orientation at their house. It's going to be really nice to stay there - it's a three-bedroom home with a gorgeous kitchen - I'm thinking of baking them a pie or something! We are so grateful for their hospitality... housesitting involves much trust. It will really be a relief to be back in our own neighborhood. Out here we feel isolated. There's nothing to do inside the house, and the weather is awful, sickly hot and thunderstorming.

Glenway Before & After

The angle's not exactly the same, but the house really does look a lot bigger now. The bushes are smaller and the tree is not so low over the roof.

I'll take pictures of the inside some time when our stuff is not strewn about the premises.

Vacation

We didn't pack or haul anything today.  We went to two different parks in the morning, we had a picnic lunch, we all took afternoon naps, and we went out to dinner.  We did not go to the Haddon house to see what's happening.  It's almost a sort of vacation!  I feel better.

It's strange to think we won't be back in our house for a week.

Aaron has to be supervised very closely in this house because of stairs, electrical outlets, cat food, etc.  The good side is that we spend a lot more time than usual actively playing with him, and it's fun.  He's not only extremely cute but very sociable and attentive; he certainly understands most of what we're saying to him.  I say "Hey Aaron, time to put on your shoes," and he sits down and looks at his feet.  I am teaching him how to go down stairs (backwards) and he learned in about three minutes, although he still wants to go facing forward.  That would be face-planting forward... so we don't encourage it.  Now if he would just sleep past 5:30am, my affection would be unmixed.

Lots of room at Glenway

We're at the Glenway house - it looks fantastic.  Sergio and his crew did really excellent work: they took the trouble to do a good job without anyone looking over their shoulder, they worked quickly, and they left everything finished and clean.  The exterior is totally transformed.  And the former bunny lair is now so lovely and inviting, we made it into the temporary master bedroom.  Aaron has the other master bedroom - for a change, he's the one upstairs.  Jordan wants to sleep with us, which is fine, he's no trouble.  And the other two bedrooms we don't really have any use for.  It's funny being in such a relatively big house.  We're not used to anyone being out of earshot.  

The kids are sleeping.  Thank goodness they are so adaptable.  Aaron is thrilled to have a new house to explore - not only multiple outlets on every wall, but also stairs, whoopee!  Phil, however, spent the day hiding in his litterbox.

It took three carloads to get all the stuff we need over here.  Dale is off buying shower curtains. 

We're outta here

The Haddon house has become uninhabitable. Every room is being worked on now. The only movable things remaining upstairs are the couch, the armchair, the refrigerator, and the dishwasher. I cleared out the last few things when the contractors arrived at 8:30 this morning. They moved some furniture into the garage, which was helpful for me and makes their lives easier also. Because I was moving quickly, though, the basement is now an explosion of dresser drawers, clean and dirty laundry, breakfast dishes, and ... well, everything.

The "bedroom" - the bed is under the dresser drawers - those are moving boxes in the back:

The kitchen/nursery (that's kitchen stuff in those bags on the floor):

The pile of stuff for the neighborhood yard sale, on August 2:

I'm pretty much confined to this part of the house because they're sanding upstairs. The work should progress quickly today, with four contractors instead of the usual two. But they're only just starting the kitchen, so things are going to get worse before they get better. Thus we're going to Glenway for the weekend. That is its own form of challenge because that house has nothing in it; but Dale and Jordan loaded up the car this morning with the microwave, the toaster, the cat and his catbox, toys, books, and personal effects, and I'll bring beds and a table and chairs when I go over there today with Sergio for the walk-through.

First, destruction

It's scary watching them prep the living room.  The first stage is rather destructive.  They scrape vigorously at the walls to get off all the loose stuff.  The one guy found a big hunk of paper embedded in the ceiling and pulled it out, which produced a dramatic shower of whatever the ceiling is made of.  

Now, though, they have plastered all the rough spots on the walls, and are caulking in cracks around the trim and the windows.  This is much more reassuring.

The kitchen is empty, a dirty void.  I am so glad we're painting the insides of the cabinets.  

It's all small stuff

That's my mantra.  And it's true.  A kitchen full of normal kitchen things is not really a whole kitchen, it's one shelf.  Then another shelf.  You keep chipping away at things and hey, a whole cabinet is empty.  

An enormous amount of stuff is not really necessary for daily functioning - I mean, I love my perfect cake pans, but I'm not going to have any urgent cake-baking coming up.  A couple of skillets and saucepans are most of what I need for cooking, even for months at a time.  The daily-use dishes went into the rickety armoire in the basement.  The rest is sealed up and in the attic, not to be seen again until Seattle.

The weather today is amazing, with an actual cool breeze blowing.  We have all the windows open, practically unheard of at this time of year.  One guy is outside working on the exterior trim.  The other has finished the ceilings in the bedrooms and the hall, the trim in our room, and the necessary priming (not the whole wall, just where there were stains or cracks to smooth out).  Now the work is beginning in the living room.  Phil almost let himself be trapped under a tarp; he liked where he was sleeping.

I asked Sergio how they do the trim and he showed me that you don't have to sand it at all - you have to have very good quality paint, but when you have the right kind, it sticks to the old glossy paint just fine.  They must be doing something to smooth out the dings, too, but I haven't seen that.  

Hopefully this is the worst of it

The contractors are ahead of schedule, which is good, right? But it means they prepped both bedrooms instead of just one: and the fumes are worse than we had expected. No sleeping in those rooms, and also they're full of tools and so on. So whole back of the house is gone, except we can use the bathroom. On quite short notice, we had to figure out where everyone could sleep. We're all in the basement, with Jordan's mattress next to our bed and Aaron on the other side in his crib. The kids are asleep down there now and we're listening to the sound of the downpour outside, which would be soothing if it weren't for wondering whether the power will go out.

Tomorrow, they paint the back of the house and prep the front. That means that tonight we have to (1) empty the other two closets in the back of the house, and (2) get everything out of the kitchen, including the insides of all the cabinets and drawers and the pantry. And put all that somewhere.

This kind of snuck up on us and the only one to remain calm was Dale. Jordan and I both flipped out over something that should have been minor, which made Aaron cry. We all pulled it together in pretty short order.

Hopefully this is the worst part of the disruption. In a couple of days the bedrooms will be available again, and when they do the floors, we'll be in someone else's house.

The place looks terrible

Both bedrooms are now completely empty and wow, they look bad!  There's mildew and cracked paint all over the place, and the floors are worn and stained and blotchy.  Who knew?  By the end of this week they will be better (painted), and by the end of next week, beautiful (floors).  So we hope.  I wonder if in our future life we should have some kind of a five-year cycle of repainting, maybe different rooms each year.  Things get gross and you don't notice.

The bathroom is also empty, which means that the whole back of the house is cleared out except for two closets (those are drastically decluttered, but still in use).  The front of the house is still almost normal, although we are trying to keep packing up nonessentials, and gradually move more furniture to the basement.

We selected stylish new paint colors for the interior.  The living room will be a buttery yellow-cream color, much as it is now.  The kitchen will be more of a pale sand, rather than the current apricot color.  The hall will be similar to the living room, and our bedroom will be much like it currently is.  Jordan's room, which is now a pale blue swimming pool sort of color, will be a very light sage green, instead.  The trim and ceilings will all be brilliant white, where now they are a very antique-ivory color, almost a putty shade.  I think having the trim painted will be a wonder, not only for the result but for the process.  It's rather fancy (though at least it's all straight lines, Sergio pointed out) and it's glossy.  To me it seems impossible to either sand or paint over.  I'll report on their technique once they start.

Work on the interior is scheduled to start today but so far the guys are still busy outside, taking advantage of the lack of rain.  I should go check it out.  Neighbors are wowed by the huge pile of brush that was generated by yesterday's trimming.  I've been laying low, very tired this morning; not sure if I'm coming down with something, or just worn out from many days of packing.  Imagine the activity points I'm earning with six hours of light-to-moderate exercise every day.

Dale drove by the Glenway house and said it looks wonderful from the outside.  He's very happy with the paint colors.  Pictures soon.

Down the rabbit-hole

To make room for the painters to get at the walls in our bedroom, we had to move out the bed and the big dresser. We could sleep on the fold-up foam bed in our room, if we wanted to, but it seems simpler to just sleep in the basement. After all, our dresser is down there. And if it's good enough for guests, it's good enough for us. Maybe we'll move Aaron into our room.

We could move everything back up after the floors are finished... but that would be a lot of work. Maybe we'll just stay down in the basement. We'll set up the TV down there so we can see the Olympics. Heck, maybe we'll arrange the couch down there too. The kids are loving the bare-bones upstairs play space, and the house would show beautifully in that near-empty state. The fully-inhabited basement might be a little surprising for people, though.

Down to the walls

Exterior work at Haddon began today, and wow, what a transformation. You don't realize how overgrown things have gotten until you see them trimmed back. Although I admit the pictures make it look pretty obvious.



We had a little downpour earlier and Sergio thought for a minute they would need to switch to working inside. The first thing they do indoors is not painting, but prep for painting - filling in all the holes and cracks and so on, all over the house. Thus my job for the day became taking everything off the walls, all over the house. It's funny. At first you think this means you take down the art, and you do. Then you realize it also means the curtains (because of the rods and tiebacks), the artsy light switch plates that you want to take with you, the hooks that are only practical and not aesthetic, the ugly towel rack you always meant to get rid of but then you'd have to paint the door, etc etc etc. So I've been spending many hours doing that. And then the stuff that that displaces has to be cleaned up. Thus, my day.

As it has turned out, the rain quit after five minutes, so the exterior work has continued. They are now washing the house. I hope for the workers' sake that the mist from the power washer is cool: it is nasty hot out there.

Anticipation

When I put Jordan to bed last night I told him to "get ready in his mind" for how his room would look with nothing in it. No bed, no shelves, no toys, no chess board, no table, no wolf picture, not even any curtains. I said it's going to look funny with nothing in here, but it's all the things we are keeping safe so we can take them with us. Jordan said, "Yes, it's going to be kind of funny, and also it's pretty sad. Because we are leaving our home. And that makes me sad. That's why I cry sometimes in my bed."

I said he was right, it was going to be sad to leave. "And," I said, "also it's going to be exciting: because do you know what they have in Seattle? They have a very tall building and on the top of the building is a round part that looks like a spaceship. And they call it the Space Needle. And you can ride in an elevator all the way up to the top, and look out at the city." He was pretty impressed with that. He asked for more things and we wound up making a long list of cool Seattle stuff: blackberries you can pick yourself, a statue of a troll under a bridge that you can climb on, cousin Harry and cousin Sam and their big dog Webster who now has only one eye, Grandma and her fish, a zoo where the bears have their own stream to swim in, a hill where people fly kites. "Puddles, lots and lots of puddles," I said, which he thought was pretty funny. "Because it rains a lot." Ever since then I have been thinking of things I should have mentioned. How could I forget the mountains?

Conservation of matter

If it was ever in this house and wasn't taken out of the house, it's still here.

• The strap for the high chair, which we removed when Jordan was in the high chair because it had no purpose, but were glad to find for Aaron because he tries to climb out.
• The photos we selected to frame and cover a wall with, but never did.
• Rock collections from when Dale and I were each children.
• The Edna Hibel collector plates I inherited from my great-aunt.
• 3-1/2 inch disks.  Zip disks.  Cassette tapes.  Old cell phones.

It's a blessing and a curse.

They fit together physically, if not conceptually

I just labeled a box as follows:

STONE SUN/MOON

LADIES RESTING

COLIMBA

ICE CUBE TRAYS

FISH SERVICE

Dale is packing up decorative items from the living room, and I am packing up non-essentials in the kitchen.

Schedule

The exterior of the Glenway house is done.  Sergio (the contractor) says it looks fantastic; people are stopping by to say how great it looks and ask if it's for sale.  Yay!  They are finishing the interior now.  The last few things take a while - putting all the doorknobs back on, that kind of thing.

July 22: Exterior work begins at Haddon (landscaping, then painting).

July 23: Interior painting begins at Haddon.  Jordan's room is first.

July 28: Floors begin at Haddon.  We will move over to Steve and Mary Margaret's house while they're at the beach.

Aug 1: Floors are completed, and the fumes will have dissipated enough not to impact Aaron's IQ too much.  Steve and Mary Margaret return from the beach.  We may need to go over to the Glenway house for one more day, depending on the fumes and the painting.

Aug 6-10: Kari and Danny and Harry and Sam visit for a few days.  

Aug 18:  Both houses go on the market. 

Using what's here

I'm trying to use up the food in our kitchen cabinets.  Why move it when we could eat it?  And what's it there for, if not to be eaten?  So instead of my beloved Six O'Clock Scramble routine, I now plan our weekly meals around what's already in the house.  I really like this: it's frugal, it honors the food, and it's an interesting challenge.

Dry beans were the first thing.  They're easy to use and they cook in advance.  All I have left of these now is a lot of lentils.  Grains are also pretty easy because they go with everything, although I am challenged by all this barley.  I made a pilaf yesterday & we'll see if people like it.   Another challenge is all these prepared sauces and canned chili, which makes me realize I never use these in my normal life.  Remind me not to buy any more unless I have a specific plan.

This week my menu includes tomato soup with dumplings made from leftover matzo ball soup mix; canned chili with cornbread, using up the last bit of cornmeal in the freezer; frozen chicken shiu mai, with veggies, served over sticky rice with teriyaki sauce; canned soups with baked potatoes; canned baked beans with croquettes made from grits; and lentils and rice with caramelized onions (which is much more flavorful than it sounds).  All we need from the grocery store is some fresh fruit and salad fixins, and basics like milk and bread -- I'm expecting about $35 for the whole week!  

Sense of purpose

I haven't been using this space for anything, as you can see, because I just ... couldn't think of a reason to use it.  But now I have a lot to process about our moving.  So this is a moving journal.  My grandmother seems to especially enjoy hearing about the details.  Hi Nana!