July 28 & 29 - moving days

Moving ... What a bitch! The pod arrived a few days ago and we've been filling it slowly but surely! Yesterday morning the pod guys came and moved it over to the new house. Then the movers came to take apart, wrap and move the furniture. - it took them all day but they got it done and moved into out garage on SFD. Gone are the days of 1 day moves. It took 3 full days of my time to pack and organize and another day with 5 guys to move the furniture. But, it's all gone and only a few scraps remain at Shady! Cleaning tomorrow to get it all nice and shiny for the next tenants.

The work at the house is continuing even though the team's leader is, how shall I put this, indisposed. They are still jamming so we are still on track. I stopped by with the permit set for the town to approve the new work, for which we were red tagged and am hoping for approval very shortly so we can keep going!

July 29 - Hold onto your hats ...

our GC is in jail! More later!

July 24 - More of a Pink Tag, really

So we met with the building inspector this morning and he was very, reasonable and in fact fairly fantastic given the unpermitted work he saw.  So he told us to get a set of plans together that reflect some of the more obvious work we've done (new sheetrock on all bedrooms and HVAC) and get those into the town so that we can pay the permit fees on it.  I asked if we could keep working and he said yes so, even though we are supposed to stop working, he said the guys could keep going so we are going to keep going!  Aug 20 is around the corner and I'm hoping to have a home by then!

This took some serious cycles away from packing - the house is still very much in a livable state - not in a boxed up state.  I suspect that Sunday will be a frenzy.  Might be time to call in the cavalry ... Mom & Dad - what are your plans for Sunday?!?  ;)

July 23 - Red tag

We showed up to the house this morning with a red tag on the door - STOP WORK.  This is what we were dreading.  We called the building inspector and he wants to see us tomorrow morning to see what is up ... : /

July 20/21 - Our last weekend on shady.

Oh, the day has come that we must pack up and leave this lovely if somewhat ramshackle home.  It has served us very well and we will remember it fondly but, all good things must come to an end and so shall our time here - no more walking home from school in the cool shade, no more Halloweens with a thousand visitors, no more people letting their dog crap on my lawn ... OK, so I guess there are some upsides ...


We took advantage of this being our last weekend and finally had a lemonade stand.  It was so cute - we had lemonade and freshly baked cookies!  We sold out in about 2 hours - that's about as much lemonade stand as anyone could take.  Little Char Char was the best salesperson ever - bellowing "WHO WANTS LEMONADE" to every car, biker and pedestrian passing by.  Jacqui shrunk ever lower in her chair every time she made her pitch- "This is sooooo embarrassing, I'm going to wait in the garage".  8 going on 13!  Unbelievable!


Big profits were made today - Jacqui asked if she could go to the mall and pick up some lipstick and then maybe get her nails done.  I kid you not.


The plastering went on at the house all weekend long.  I haven't been by to see it yet but it's my first stop tomorrow after I drop Chars off at Art Camp. Jacqui's only camp option is full for the week so she's going to be doing a lot of 'watching mommy pack' camp.  Fun for everyone!

July 19 - From Prison Yard to Child-Friendly Woodland Wonderland in one (or 2) days!

After a fun trip to the irrigation supply store (and you didn't know that such a place existed!), I met with the gardener and a couple of his guys and started working on the area on the south side of the house - the area we affectionately refer to as the prison yard due to the dead, scrubby plants, jumble of rocks and broken-off shivs littered about.  Well, no longer!  Jose and his guys got to work right away clearing the years of debris, taking out dead and mostly dead trees and resetting some of the rocks so as to create a pleasing terraced effect.  I was hoping to get the whole side yard cleared up today but, alas, everything seems to take a little longer than hoped so Jose and his crew will have to come back to finish the job.  When it's done though, and we have added the new fence and gate close to the garage, we will have a fully enclosed and hopefully mostly safe area for the kids to play outside that does not require an adult to constantly block their access to the cars hurtling down Sir Francis Drake.   It will take a few days for me to fully trust that they cannot escape, but, once that is achieved ... oh happy day!  Children playing safely outside - on their own, without any parental involvement!  Is there anything better?!?


Oooh, I have big plans for that hillside ... I see a tree house linked to the top of a slide by a rope bridge; I see a swing and a zip line and, and, and ... so much potential, so little time/money/energy!  Well, if we can get the tree house in, I'll say we're ahead!


Inside the house, the old bathroom was demo'ed today.  It's gone.  There's a toilet on my lawn and a bathtub in my debris box ... and all that lovely tile is gone ... boo but so is the lead paint ... hurray!  Now, I need to convince Jack that we should finish that space with a little drywall and turn it into a 'bonus room'.  Why not ...


The team has been patching all the swiss cheese holes for the plastering team who will come in over the weekend.  It's a big no no to work on the weekend so they'd better be very very quiet.  I think plastering is fairly quiet ...

July 18 - Fire Inspection

Well, the Fire Marshall came through today and had a look at our sprinkler system.  He thought everything looked good!  Hurray!  Now we can start patching the ceiling!  Double hurray!

We did a little work on our irrigation system in the afternoon and picked out some plants for the side yard.  It currently looks a little desolate but, once we get some water up there and get some plants growing, I think it's going to be a nice little wonderland for the kids to explore.  We're going to close off the whole side yard so the kids can't escape and move the playhouse to the little flat area behind the garage.  It doesn't make any sense now but once the garage is gone, it will be a very nice little space.

We also worked on picking exterior paint colors.  Since our stucco is riddled with hairline fractures, we are going to seal the whole building with a coat of stucco sealer.  It doesn't make sense to seal the whole building in stucco sealer in the old color, may as well use the new color!

The fire marshal gave me an idea for the crazy shed that's half-way up our lot ... chicken coop!  Yea!  Let's do chickens!  It's a good size and nicely shaded.  We will need some protection for them so that they don't get eaten.  My neighbor kept losing her chickens to bob cats.  There's a lesson in the cycle of life for the kids!

July 17 - Sorry for the break

Hello dear readers.  I'm sorry for the break in blogging.  No excuse ... just chose to play solitaire while falling asleep instead of blogging ... naughty!

Now I'm back and I hope I didn't lose you to another blog ... :'(

So, things are humming along at the house - let's get down to the update:

Permits - met with the structural engineer this weekend who drew up our plans and he found a mistake in his work that he needs to fix before we can submit.  Luckily he found it now and the permit review guy didn't find it!  We are paused while he figures that out.  We have a few things to figure out too though.  After chatting with some friends, we are wondering if the addition in the back is even necessary ... do we need the extra space (probably not); is the master in the back better (not really); is the kitchen better where it is (that's a pretty kickin' view).  So many decisions ...

Inspections - the inspector didn't show up and didn't call.  Hoping that he has a very bad short term memory and will just come for his scheduled inspection in a week or so and forget everything else he saw ... :)

Building - we have sheet rock!  We put up a bunch of sheer wall (seismic retrofitting) and got some other suggestions on improving our house's chances in an earthquake.  The good news is that all the structural engineers we've met with have universally said that our foundation is good.  Amazing.  They managed to drop a house on bedrock and still get it right!

Drainage - we have decided to dig out the french drain and relay the pipe with the correct pitch and some new rocks and silt netting.  Easy!

That's it for now.  Pics to come shortly.

July 11 - building inspector a no-show!

After stressing all night and all morning, the building inspector didn't even show up for our 10:30 meeting. Hmmmm. I'm not sure what that means but we are pressing ahead as planned and hoping for the best! Window on order, ventilation duct covers on order and an interim landscaping plan for the side yard. Small milestones but progress none the less.

July 10 - building inspector

... the building inspector stopped in this morning just to check in on our project. Neither Adelson or I were there. He has some questions and is coming back tomorrow. 😬

July 9 - mommy camp

Mommy camp started with a play date at Pixie Park and then a road trip to sonoma to Laura's mum's place for a pool party. What a beautiful spot!!

June 6 & 7 - Everybody Loves Raymond

's headboard ...

Well, our beautiful cherry sleigh bed has been sold! Along with it, the night stands and lamps. Goodbye fair bedroom set. We will miss you. Unfortunately, you do not fit in our new bedroom so we will be using the guest bed with the famous headboard. (Its famous because its the headboard used on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond.) Funny and a little sad. Google it. You'll see!

So on Saturday, I got a taste of the Machiavellian machinations of our fair little Mayberry. That took some of the wind out of my sails. Fool me once, shame on me - try and fool me a second time and watch out!

Saturday afternoon we spent lots of time in the pool - with 2 sets of neighbors. Then we met David over at the house for lots of good ideas - now just our heads are swimming!

Sunday, we packed the kids up and took then to the county fair. Almost, kinda like the Belleville Fair of my youth. Oh, the Belleville fair was so exciting! Thrilling rides, greasy food and boys ... not just any boys ... city boys! We didn't talk to any of them -but it was thrilling just the same. Well the county fair here was kinda the same - they had the Zipper and the Tilt-a-whirl (good memories). And the livestock and the pie contest! The girls had a great time even after the great tiger meltdown. (Jacqui lost the squirter game (to an adult no less) and therefore lost her chance at the big prize.) I did see some kids walking by with the really big prizes and it reminded me of when uncle Pete helped me win that enormous frog. There is a special kind of pride walking through the fair with a stuffed animal that's bigger than your Gym teacher. I got to live that and, someday (not today), I will make sure my kids experience that too. Good times!

July 5 - Just like old times!!

Remember back when, way way back when, before we owned a house, when we had all sorts of discretionary time? Well, today felt like that! Jack did go over to the house first thing and chat w the GC, who was already hanging sheet rock, But other than that, it was a house-free/stress-free day!

We hung out with the kids in the morning (although Natalie woke up on the wrong side of the crib today and was irrevocably grumpy - it happens sometimes - she's 2!). Then date night started at 2:00 with lunch at Rustic Bakery, a little shopping at Calypso (50% off sale? Why yes I will!) and then off to the city for a stairway walk and dinner in The Castro. Oh, so, so delightful! Just like old times! We did spend most of our time talking about the house but that was inevitable! Just like new parents out for their first dinner after Jr. is born - inevitable!

The stairway walk that we took is about 50% of one of Jacks favorite runs in the city. The walk included walking up 4 different hills - Kite Hill, Tank Hill, Corona Heights Hill and another one! It was a heart-buster to walk - I couldn't imagine running it! That's Jack for you though - doesn't shrink from a self-imposed challenge!

Although the fog was threatening to spill over Twin Peaks at any moment and drop the temperature by 15 degrees, we enjoyed sunshine and spectacular views for our whole hike. All-in-all, a fantastic afternoon!

This was our little farewell celebration since Jack goes back to work on Monday. Party is over people - time for reality! He's ready to get back into it and the house is (mostly) under control. It's time. I'll miss working together on picking sconces and casing and paint colors but, income is good too!

July 4 - Happy Independence Day!!

July 2 - FUD

FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.  This is a well-know sales tactic and one that works on us, innocent home-owners very effectively, as it turns out.  We met our GC at the property to do our final walk through before he starts hanging the sheet rock.  He got us nervous about the inspections.  Then we met with the moisture control guy and he got us anxious about the crumbling rock face in our crawlspace.  Then we met with a Design/Build guy who is going to bid Phase 2 and he really laid it on ... if this isn't done right it will leak and ruin your ceilings, if that's not done right the inspector will make you rip it all off and start again, and if you do this other thing wrong, well, you may as well light a match baby because the whole thing won't be worth the old-growth red wood timbers that it's teetering on!  Holy smokes ... we came out of that meeting a little rattled!  How is this possible ... I mean, we are still only talking about a building here, right?  Wood and nails and waterproofing membranes ... this isn't brain surgery ... right?

Luckily, he didn't scare us enough to stop everything so he could come in an make sure we weren't making any mistakes.  That ship has sailed my friend ... we need to keep moving!  Fingers crossed ...

July 1 - HAPPY CANADA DAY

Although I was thinking hard about my fellow countrymen up in Canada drinking Labatt's and trying not to get eaten alive while waiting for the fireworks to start, I did not properly celebrate Canada day myself (shame, shame). It was just another busy day at the house putting out fires (luckily, only figuratively) and setting J-boxes! So the sprinkler guys finished up today and we officially handed the reigns back off to the GC for him to jam through sheet rocking. mudding, taping, priming, trimming and patching. Lots of work to do before the first set of inspections start.


The girls also started another fun summer of Swim Lessons with Kelsey! The best part about swim lessons with Kelsey is that she comes to our house and does them right here in my pool. No schlepping, no waiting, no athlete's foot! Love Kelsey!


Jacqui is swimming across the width of the pool (hurray) but needs to tune up her form for efficiency. Charlotte is practicing her torpedo and getting much more confident in the distance she is willing to torpedo herself. Natalie is just blowing bubbles in the water but, baby steps!

June 29 & 30 - HEAT WAVE

Oh ... so hot.  Heat escape was job 1 this weekend.  Saturday we lounged by the pool - taking advantage while we still have it (sniff)!  Jacqui's swimming is coming along nicely and Charlotte is not far behind.  Swim lessons with Kelsey start again on Monday for 1 month of intensive, daily lessons for all 3 girls.  My goal for the end of August is Jacqui and Charlotte floatie-free and Natalie on her way.  Lofty goals but, heck, this is California, ya gotta be able to swim!


Saturday evening we went to a friend's 40th birthday party and played ... are you ready for it ... Beer Pong.  Yes, that's right!  The cops came twice (although this is Ross, so what else do they have to do?).  It was a hoot and, although we were both knocked out in early rounds, it was a nail biter to the end.  Sunday morning was a little rough but we rallied and joined David and his family for a ride in their powerboat and a picnic lunch on Angel Island.  So fun.  Natalie found the sound of the waves and the fresh sea air a powerful soporific and slept in my arms on the way over.  It was so nice to have her sleep on me.  You never know when the last time will be for something and that might have been it for her sleeping on me.  It is such a wonderful feeling (although I did lose feeling in my left arm for most of the afternoon).  She woke up when we got there and enjoyed playing on the beach after lunch.  What a lovely day!