Did I mention we're redoing our back yard?

Well, half of our back yard.  We have a large space behind our garage that currently is the digging play area for our kids. Don't get me wrong, we've loved having over 1000 square feet of dirt to play pirate, build fairy houses, throw the frisbee, and the like.  But Brian really could use a quieter, more removed, more productive work space, and I could use a vegetable garden.

So, ground broke a few days ago on turning the dirt patch into three outdoor "rooms". Brian's office, a small crushed-gravel patio, and a terraced veggie bed.  So exciting.

Before pictures: looking North from the far south corner:

Looking the opposite way.

We were told the project was to last 9 days.  They've been working hard, but we'll see.  Also, the shed (ahem - outdoor home office) manufacture can't even get the structure to us till end of October, but beginning a project is so much more exciting than mulling over the logistics of finishing it.


 

Induction cooktop: New Kitchen Review 1

*kitchen nerd alert* this is a detailed perspective on 1.5 week usage of our new cooktop.  If you're not interested, check out the next post.

We splurged on a few things in the kitchen, one of them being a cooktop/oven versus a range.  The difference is kinda subtle, but the combo allows for a bit more choice over what appliance you want.  Also, when it's all finished, it looks a bit more polished to have a built-in oven and countertop cook surface rather than a combo.

We didn't like the gas range we put in our last house, and we were ho-hum on electric.  Then we learned about induction.  Woah ... cooking with electromagnetic energy?!  Are we living in 2010 or what? Oh wait. . .

 We were lured by pictures like this: a raw egg spilled over a sliced-in-half skillet, one side perfectly cooked the other still clear and runny.  Or here where the butter is slowly melting in the pan but the butter on the cooktop is still intact.  We've got two little kids and two exploring cats, who wouldn't want a little extra protection from burnt fingers?

While it's been less than two weeks, I'm so far really happy with the induction cooktop.  1. it boils water in about 90 seconds.  I'm not kidding.  It's got a special setting marked "H" that cooks the %&*)(@ out of water.  It also turns off after 10 minutes, in the event you forgot about your water.  It senses when a pan is on the burner, and turns off if a pan is not sensed after a given amount of time.  Tonight, I was being the sloppy cook and spilled things all over the cooktop.  Rather than be rewarded with that acrid, lingering smoke that typically rewards such carelessness, the spilled food did nothing. It lay there, inert, cooling, waiting for me to clean it up. And it was directly on top of the "burner".

One downside is it doesn't work with all pans.  Aluminum pans don't work because they don't participate in electromagnetic hoobiedos (yes that's the technical term).  Also, cast-iron skillets are not recommended as the metal may scratch the glass surface, damaging the cooking capabilities.  I love, love, LOVE my cast iron skillet. I've cooked with it nearly nonstop for about 18 years now and it's only recently becoming properly seasoned.  I can't imagine not cooking with it. But maybe I'll make a few adjustments for the convenience this cooktop offers. Or I"ll still use it and not swish it around too much.  

Kitchen remodel: Week 7

It's down to the nitty gritty.  The floors took a lot longer than expected.  The workers even came on Sunday, in hopes to have the project wrapped up by Tues or Wed.  No dice.  It took them until Tuesday to get all the flooring done.  Fridge is in, trim is done, still need some touch-up on painting. And the punch list.  The contractor's list was minor: change a shelf out here, fix a hole here.  Ours is about 1 1/2 pages and includes things like: dishwasher door only opens half-way, 1/8" fine dust coats everything, pocket door no longer closes, and exhaust fan does not work.  But, fingers crossed, it will be done tomorrow and we can move back in this weekend.

Pictures taken with iPhone!

Kitchen Remodel Week 6

Yesterday morning, a truck pulled up with two slabs of granite.  I had no idea these things were so big and so heavy.  With all these 6 men, they could barely inch it onto the ground: 

They quickly set up shop in our driveway and made all the cuts on-site, measuring, trimming, polishing as they went.

This is the piece for the island.  It's nearly the entire slab, and actually we have a much shorter overhang on the breakfast bar because the stone was not as big as we thought. It took every ounce of strength these guys had to move it.

 And they CAAAAARRRRREEEEEFFFFFUUUULLLLLLLLLLLLLY placed it.

How it looks now:

Getting there.  We haven't really seen how the colors look yet because all the power tools the men used burnt out a circuit in our house.  The lights don't work in the kitchen, laundry, bathroom, and each bedroom.  But the plugs do so we still have some light.  That will be fixed tomorrow.

You  can note that the cooktop is in, as is the microwave, although the microwave must be chinched about 1/8 inch to the left as the right side cabinets cannot open without crashing into it.

Still left: a dab of painting, appliances, faucet, flooring, baseboard. They are hoping to be done on Friday, but we'll see.  It is close.

Kitchen Remodel: Week 5

This week: 

Cabinets installed (complete)

Kitchen painting (all but trim)

Crown moulding (complete)

Drawer hardware (in progress) 

Under-mount light and remaining electrical (complete)

Plywood subfloor (complete)

Family room primed and painted (complete)

Family room trim (in progress)

plywood for countertops (complete)

Man these guys move fast!

Kitchen Remodel Week 4

This week:
sheetrock (complete)
Mud/texture (complete
Painting (primed so far)
Minor electrical (complete)
Cabinet install (ongoing and LOUD)
Plywood subfloor (ongoing and VERY LOUD)

The main mess is over.  And it's starting to look like a kitchen again!

Goodbye Stove!

Today as I was cleaning out cabinets in prep for the kitchen demo, I found the original manual for our range. I tried to figure out what date it was installed.  The most recent manual I could find online was from 1984, and it was a later model than ours.  Judging from the canning tips and very slender, well manicured ladies' hands in the drawings, I'm guessing early '70's.  

As funky as this range is/was I will not miss it.  We stopped using the two right burners a long time ago as we would frequently get a sharp electric shock when cooking with them.  Brian and his dad figured they weren't grounded but try as they might couldn't fix it.  So we removed the knobs and stopped using them. So we've been cooking with 2 burners for nearly 2 years.  And the larger of the 2 working burners only works about 60% of the time.

I look forward to a stove and oven that work and will let me live till dinner.

T-minus 6 days to demo

As is the trend this winter/spring, we are embarking on a kitchen remodel.  The cabinets and appliances are in our garage.  Monday is the predicted start day, when demo will begin.  We learned this yesterday afternoon.  So 6 days to pack everything up, not only in the kitchen but the adjacent family room, and relocate to the living/dining room.  Should be smooth.

The project is expected to take 8 weeks, hopefully less but I'm not holding my breath. We've done the kitchen remodel on the PDX house, so we kind of know the drill.  Last time we had a microwave, hot plate, BBQ, with a dishwasher rigged up in the basement.  Erin was about 9 months old at the time, so we were pretty much only cooking for two.

This time we're considering paper/compostable plates, microwave, BBQ, and our camping cookstove.  We are thinking of having a very basic menu of 7 easy meals - either all made in the microwave or in one pot - and using the same menu for the span of the project.

Any meal ideas, dear readers? I mean, other than Budget Gourmet one night and Asia Palace the next.

Toilets A-Flushin'!

We're back in, uh, business, so to speak. Yay!

A small army of people arrived this morning, dug out a hole on the house side, finished digging out the hole by the street, then pulled a new semi-rigid plastic pipe through the existing clay pipe, expanding and breaking up the old pipe as it went. Magic.

Here's the giant hole of poo that I dug out on Saturday (I blurred the worker's face):


Here's the hole they dug by the front porch, with the new pipe part-way through:


Here's the 65-foot pipe on its way in.


Here's me and Erin reveling in the awesomeness that is indoor plumbing:

Sewer Update

Neighborhood: still stinky

Water: still off

Landscaping: receiving a lot of pee.  Sorry, daffodils

Contractors: bids received, one chosen, work to begin Thursday morning

First shower scheduled for: Thursday evening.  Wahooty!

Here's a shot of me from Saturday, two hours into my five hour effort, repairing a tear in my suit.  If that looks like a lot of sewage, imagine what hour five looked like.  Imagine what it smelled like.  Or, probably better, don't.