What a week

Well, it has been a week.

First, Imelda got glasses. Isn't she adorable? I know that glasses don't make you smarter but I think that her IQ has gone up by at least 20 points

We are inching ever closer to get into the house.. the carpet was installed in the basement. Whoa! There is a leap of faith. I remember when my basement was dark and dusty with an uneven floor... now it looks like rec room... and some kiddie rooms too...

Oh, but sadly, the guest room bathroom knobs have gone missing... I suspect someone thought the box was empty. Maybe, they will turn up... or.. I will have to replace them... ahhh

Well, it is time to start moving back in.

So I am late!

I have a good excuse!

First Imelda had to sing at mass.. she is a member of the children's choir at church and I love to pick the sound of her voice out of the mass of little girls and boys... plus if you listen carefully? You can hear her giving the other children directions... (she has done this since she was about... oh, 3)

Then we had to be ready for the Angel's track meet. but as it turns out it was cancelled due to insurance concerns... stupid

THEN, finally at 7:00pm Imelda had her quarter?/semi? final volley ball match. Amazingly, the burned through the other team... the Saints. And this was the Saints first stringers... our girls played their B-team on Saturday.. and dispatched them. Now they play again next Sunday. And if they win at 4:00 pm... they will be back at 7:00 to win the whole thing! (knocking on wood as I type this)

So...

I missed Earth Day.

But here is the thing. It is important and easy to respect the earth. And ironically? Cost Effective. So many people think that to be environmentally correct has to include strange architecture and inefficient appliance. But this is no more!

Here are some things that Fun Daddy and I have included in the rehab that are environmentally friendly...

Roof: Metal with a Hylar coating before the final color coating. The Hylar is important in that it improves the reflectivity of the roof. This allows solar radiation to bounce off the roof back into the atmosphere instead of transforming from solar to thermal energy. The metal roof also cools quickly after sundown. All around this decreases the energy use for cooling. Increased electrical use in summer generally requires the use of more fossil fuels which increases global warming gas production as well as an increase in ground level ozone.

Appliances: We are using as many Energy Star rated or equivalent appliances as possible. The washer and dryer and energy star rated, the fridge has an equivalent rating.... In fact using as much energy in the course of a year as a standard incandescent light bulb. The zoned heating and cooling units are all high efficiency and will work to keep the various zones at optimal temps without over taxing the entire system. In lieu of a high efficiency hot water tank, we have opted for an on demand hot water system... This allows us to have all the hot water we need by super heating water quickly when we need it instead of wasting energy heating and reheating a tank of water that will then be depleted. oh and the washer and dryer system minimize the use of water (front loading) and are Energy Star rated.

Windows? Low e double insulated windows that keep heat in more than standard double insulated.

Insulation? Well, we have some now.. The house is now built to Energy Code instead of relying on the thermal mass of the building we will actually have R-13 in the walls and R-40 in the roofing. this cuts down on heating and cooling cost. we lost some space in areas of the house but gained additional benefits...

Such as daylighting! In those parts of the house where insulation was added to the old portion of the house each window now has a 10-inch sill. This sill allow light to bounce off of it and in fact acts like an interior light shelf.. The light in house is brighter than we have ever had.. especially in the basement. Wow. I really recommend it.

Another issue with light? Compact fluorescents. Dollar for dollar the best money you can spend to green your house. Not only do they use less electricity to operate? They last longer too! The cost efficiency of these bulbs make up for their steeper initial cost. So... buy two or three a month... The first one that I bought lasted 7 years. And that was for a bathroom light that needed to be on almost constantly due to the darkness of the room naturally and that it was the bathroom and I had little kids. Yes! One CFL got me through potty training and then another 5 years with mes filles.... The initial cost of the bulb? $8. How many incandescent bulbs would you have gone through in that time period given the use of the light? I guess 20. I saved money on the cost of the bulbs alone without considering the cost of the energy to run them...

BUY THEM NOW!

The final item that I think of in this rehab is one of the most vain... Paint.

I insisted on Low-VOC paints. VOCs are volatile organic compounds and can best be described as the stinky fumes in products that are considered bad for the environment. Gas, paint, to name a couple. VOCs outside the house lead to an increase of ground level ozone. Now I know you are thinking, "Ozone? Don't we need more of that stuff?" and yes we do.... but we need it in the stratosphere to protect the earth from ultra-violet radiation. This radiation causes skin cancer and ironically the preponderance of ground level ozone...

Ground level ozone on the other hand leads to increased respiratory problems in people with those kinds of problems (for example, my brother would have had to stay in on an ozone action day.) Why?

Volatile Organic Compounds or VOCs interact with particulate matter in the presence of sunshine and create ground level ozone. The best way to fix this? eliminate the VOCs which are present in gasoline, paint fumes and thinners, dry cleaning fluids, farming and ruminant animals (the dreaded cow methane) and particulate matter which is most common in the burning of fossil fuels such as diesel fuels and gasoline and dusts from natural resources. Together in the presence of sunshine, these chemicals create ground level ozone...

So yes I am late, but Happy Earth Day! I can't wait to start on my outdoors agenda!

Almost done!

LOOK! The painting is done! WHEE!

Where are my light fixtures?!

Uncle Buck has them...

No, he is not really Uncle Buck.

He just looks like him.

For God's sake, why does it take 8 weeks to get one stupid fixture... it isn't solid gold...

But it is for the kids bathroom which is very dark... so... I...NEED......LIGHTS......NOW!

Inching...

And it is killing me! If I don't get into the house soon I am going to lose it. I had to go over today to accept deliver of (and less amusingly) pay for the appliances... But the good news is that most of the stuff looks fantastic and the builder decided that we don't have to vent it the hood to the west side of the house near the evil neighbors... (although I had evil dreams about alternating preparing really good smelling or exceptionally foul smelling foods to be vented into their yard. Ahhh, a girl can dream...) now the vent is on the east side. WHEE! Soon I will be flambé-ing at will... without any further fear of singeing cookbooks (Julia Child wouldn't have minded).

The bad? Well, the microwave sent over was the wrong model.. it was supposed to be undermounted to a cabinet. Oh and I still can't install my gutters until the fucktard neighbors move... and I am sure that Eric Schmitt was peeking through the blinds or the two wind mirror coating that only the discerning paranoid uses on their front door window to take account of what types of appliances that we got. No doubt, they will be upping their blackmail demand accordingly.

Oh, I did get a nice picture of the filles! And that is considering that they were peeved at me for keeping them close to me while we were at the house. Hey! There were a lot of workmen scurrying around with sharp tools... I think that makes me une bonne maman... but I doubt that they think so.

Hmmmm

My friend Jon says that I have this set about 30% too big... and here was I just feeling like I read this without squinting for the first time in a while...

Oh well, I guess that means I am old.

Sigh.

Btw... i will be showing you scary knobs tomorrow...

I think you will know that why I can't see anymore... my brain is still trying to absorb all the knob and pull choices.

And that doesn't include door knobs, which I solved today...

Knobs, knobs, knobs, knobs...


Sorry...

I am punchdrunk and can't take it anymore...

By the way... this is about what the lock will look like... but more like this other color...

Yes.. my brain hurts.... and when I say it, I mean it in this way... Hopefully somebody out there will understand what I am saying... Please?

Getting Closer!

Another day... and more progress. Yesterday, I noticed that the porch was going onto the house... Ooops, please note that I have failed to provide that picture...

However I did manage to snag some others....

First the backplash in the kitchen... from a distance and closer up... I am really digging the way it looks with the cabinets as like with everything else, I have selected this item blindly. The builder asked me if I remembered the color of the grout that I had selected... I almost laughed out loud. I can't remember my own name these days. C'est la vie, I suppose.

Next, is the toilet that is installed in the powder room... yes, it is pretty spiffy and very modern. It is probably the funkiest thing that we are doing in the house... well, that entire bathroom is... I can't wait to show you what the sink will look like.. but it isn't in yet! GRRRR.

Next, is something that completely amazes me. That is the kids pogo stick. It was in the backyard when the demolition started. They asked what we wanted done with it. I said, "TOSS IT!" But for some odd reason, every crew that comes into the house to work has kept it and now it is sitting in my living room.

Finally, my last shot is of the staircase... it still needs the rails at the landing and a final coat of pain, but it looks great. And the builder said that it casts a beautiful shadow at sunset. I can't wait to see it.

The appliances are supposed to be installed Thursday... and painting should be done next week... This is driving me crazy!

Oh, and I still don't have my west side gutters up and now I am finding out that the hood for the range has to be vented out... you guessed it... the west side of the house.

Does anyone know anything about extortion law in Illinois?

Two weeks?

That is what they are saying about the move back into the old/new house.

To say that we can't wait would be a huge underestimate. Here are the things that I still need to do:

Select door knobs - Fun Daddy doesn't like the knobs that are handles.. he wants round door knobs;
Select cabinet knobs - This is a particular joke in my famille... Papa Charles and Nana Mimi built their retirement home years ago... they moved into the house the weekend that the Angel was born. To date? There are still not knobs on all the cabinets.. and don't get me started on curtains.. apparently the decisions are too big to make;
Select towel racks, toilet paper holders for the bathrooms;
Call comcast and arrange for phone service and digital cable;
Select ventless fireboxes;
Select a mailbox; and
Select house numbers.

This week the porches should be going on the house... which will make it look more like a house.

The final moving of electrical, water and gas lines for appliances will be done.

Oh and they were trying to install regular hot water heaters instead of tankless...

So this should drive me crazy, right?

More House News

Wow, I have spent a lot of time at that house the last couple of days. First here are some pictures of the progress being made... The first is the kids bathroom with the subway tile that I am completely loving... including the two stripes.. one, in black the other royal blue... And yes.. I know it is hard to tell.. I am working on the lights.... The next picture is from the kitchen... at this point all that is done is the kitchen floor... it is a lovely black slate.. Wow. it looks better now than when I saw it in the showroom. Next is the front door... We knew that was the door when we first saw it... Luckily it almost matches the floor that I insisted on having. Some day I am hoping to make a selection that my builder doesn't think is crazy... as the project has only about 6 weeks left... I am thinking it ain't happening. The last picture is the staircase and where I am putting my piano. Fun Daddy isn't sure about this.. but I say.. That is where it goes. Tough Nougies.. Yes, folks, I am losing my sense of humor on this project and want to go home.