Tilesetting Resumes

Whew! I arrived home today to find a van at the curb. I didn't really panic, but I also arrived home to an open front door. Luckily by the time I got to the porch I saw my dog Henri inside. According to Csaba, the tile-setter, H got out twice today. It's tough to keep track of that dog. He never goes very far (lately anyway), but he doesn't tend to come back until he feels like it.

It feels a little like two steps forward, one step back as he took out one row of 3 tiles tile along floor on the back wall of the shower so that he can replace them with a set that matches what he's putting in. The new stuff will be more like two rows of half-tiles so that he can make up the difference between the one-tile-high row that was there and the > one-tile-high area that needs to be filled in the same line where the floor line drops for the shower drainage.

When he pulled the "old" tiles off they took some of the waterproof seal with them, so he had to re-apply that. That's the red goo on the wall there.

Anyway, Csaba will be back tomorrow and back at the shower walls. Yippie for that!

That Was Weird

I noticed the lock box was moved, but it was just a little, in fact, maybe I was just remembered it wrong (wrongly, incorrectly, dismembered it, er...). Anyway, MAYBE that means the contractor showed up today!

So I went inside and upstairs to the bathroom. Nope, no change.

Oh well. Note to self, call contractor in the morning. I'm frantically cleaning house--okay, not even that, I'm just picking up jetsam, mostly laundry and hucking it down the stairs to the basement where the W/D are, but other stuff too. I even managed to sweep before my friend arrived to walk the lake.

We walked the lake and had a little food and drink. My point here is that hours later I got back to the house and went to the bathroom, the other bathroom, and I noticed that the toilet seat was up. Now, I may leave the lid up on occasion, but the actual toilet seat, I'm pretty reliable when it comes to that, since I don't put that up in the first place unless I'm cleaning or puking and I would have remembered either one of those.

So someone has been here.

I wasn't totally freaked out or anything. But it's a little creepy when someone has been in your house, but their stated purpose has not been tended to at all. So that begs the question, is THAT the person who was here? I did change my combination on my lock box again just that morning, so presumably no one else would know it. I notice the back door is unlocked, but wait I did that myself after I got home...

No biggie. Later that evening I went down in the basement, getting back to some other cleaning up I was doing (just starting really, tip o the iceberg kinda' thing) over the weekend, plus starting that laundry I'd thrown down the stairs. As I got down there I noticed a lot of lights were on. Not typical me to leave them on, but then I did sort of stop in the middle of my crap sorting adventure last Sunday, went up for air and never went back down. So I don't think the contractor dude was down there. It's just that the creep factor/aura sort of thing has a lingering imprint on my mood. It's like what having ghosts would be like, if there were actual physical evidence.

So once again, I'm up 'til 1 A.M. doing nothing particularly useful. (Well there was that laundry and cleaning, whoopie for me!) I can blame the creep factor, or the coke I had at dinner, or really just the same old same old. Old habits die hard. And I had and 8 A.M. meeting to look forward to in the morning!

Tomorrow Noon

I received email from my new contractor for the bathroom tile-setting. They plan to start tomorrow noon. It still didn't sound CERTAIN, but at least they called me proactively. That's a (giant) step in the right direction.

Now I need a vanity! O crap, and a plumber.

Plumber: vanity and toilet, and finish shower and tub
Electrician: move vanity lighting, wire the switch for the radiant heat

tick tock..

I've hired a new tile setter. Curious that there are no new pictures though, eh? Well, that's because nothing's changed yet. I signed the new contract, I dunno, Tuesday or Wednesday last week and they said "It's possible we could start tomorrow". But when tomorrow came they were not ready to start.

The difference? I haven't paid them anything yet, and I won't until they're done... Maybe that's not a difference until they're done, come to think of it. But I expect to hear from them this week. (Does that go without saying?)

Island Time

Mom and Dad came to town this weekend for the birth of their 5th and 6th grandkids. As things worked out, they stayed at my house, and boy does it show. Mom cleaned ALL OVER THE PLACE, and Dad and I bolted down the island cabinets in the kitchen and worked on wiring for the cooktop. On Sunday, when I was otherwise occupied, Dad even also mowed my lawn. I was THRILLED to hear it even before I saw it! I'm sure my neighbors are just as enthusiastic. Now I'm ready to get bids for countertops, yippie!

Separated at Birth

My brother and sister both had babies last Thursday. My sister lives here in Seattle, and my brother is on the east coast, about an hour outside of Boston. Charlotte Lee Cassidy Bull was born at 6:33 EDT weighing in at 6 lb, 11 oz and measuring 19.5 inches. Hanna Kaisa Lassila, my sister's daughter, was born at 5:12 PDT, also weighing in at 6 lb, 11 oz, and measuring 19 inches. I'm not sure of the timing of the comparison, but at some point, my sister and brother-in-law were in room 555 at Swedish Hospital and my brother and his wife were in room 554 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The whole family are pretty tickled by all the coincidences.

Seven pictures is too many to post in one blog entry, but it's quick to get through as a small set on the flickr site. The first 3 pictures are from Boston, the next 4 are from Seattle: 20080605_BABIES

Kitchen Island

I've received my cooktop, and my 2 new cabinets for the kitchen island. I finally took the cabinets out of their boxes and lined them up in the kitchen, roughly where they will go. It makes the island a little long, but I think it will do. I haven't opened the cooktop yet. I know I'll have to before I order my countertops, 'cause there's a template in there they will need. But I'm nervous about it for some reason.

I'm needing to hire the new tile people. Haven't done it yet. Haven't sent Sim notice that I'm moving on. After dead silence last week and last weekend, I can't imagine he could be surprised.

Promises Promises

I suppose you're getting tired of reading this kind of news...

Before I left for a week's vacation Sim said "when do you get back". "Next Sunday," I said. "Good. We'll be done when you get back."

Well, it's not done.

I got home Sunday early in the afternoon. Sim and his assistant were there, presumably making progress. I didn't look too closely. I went out for lunch with some friends. I don't know if it's me or them, but it feels uncomfortable to be around the house while they're working sometimes. Maybe it's just the house in the state that it's in.

Anyway, after lunch I went and got Henri from the sitter's in Edmonds and went home. As I drove up, around 2pm, they were just packing up and leaving. I sorta thought maybe it was for lunch, but they didn't come back.

GE Considers Selling Appliances Division

A week and a half after I finally ordered my GE 30" Induction Cooktop, GE decides to look at selling their Appliances Division. Dang.

Whew! Nearly Missed 'Im

It's supposed to be mid-80 temperatures here today, perfect for walking the dog in the morning before the peak rays. I dilly dallied long enough that I just left the house at 9:40 instead of about an hour earlier, so I only got around 1/3 of Greenlake and back, with a coffee stop in the middle. Actually, I still overestimated my pace, I got back to the house at 10:35, a little late for my 10:30 appointment. As I got to my block I noticed a car drove up to the corner and doubled back. I thought "o crap, maybe that's them." I almost waved to stop him, but thought better of it. It's a stranger, if I'm wrong, I'll feel like an idiot for flagging him down.

So I got up to my porch and realize there's a business card jammed in the door, so yes indeed I have missed my appointment. I called the cell number immediately. Oddly enough it rang about 5 times then voicemail picked up. I could barely understand what was said, so I left a message saying I'd just missed him and if he was in the neighborhood could he please come back and do the estimate. When I hung up, I noticed I had missed a call, I had a new voicemail from his number. So I went to dial my voicemail and when my list of recent calls came up, I realized I'd misdialed his number--I'm forever getting numbers transposed in phone numbers especially, but all the time really. Anyway, when I then called him back at the correct phone number, he answered from still in the neighborhood, and he said he'd circle back.

Sure enough it's the stranger I saw driving away when I walked up. We both had a chuckle about that, 'cause we did double-takes and triple-takes when he drove away the first time. In he comes and I show him to the bathroom. "Wow, that's really tight grout" he says... I used to think that was a good thing. Apparently, though, it's tight enough that it's difficult to even get grout into some of the spaces. Great.

In any case. He says he'll get an estimate to me by the end of the day, and if I agree to the terms they can probably start Monday.

I have a text message from Sim that his crew will be here Sunday. The day I take off for Alaska.

Keeping My Appointments

It's like bringing an umbrella on a sunny day just to keep it from raining. I feel a little badly keeping my appointment for an estimate to finish tile-setting on Friday if Sim is actually going to finish the job.

At first when I arrived home today I was pissed off to find that the front door key was sitting out in the open on the front porch. The upside of that is.. well, there are two upsides. One: I remembered to put the lockbox with the spare key out there, and Two: it meant they actually showed up to work. So yay for that.

When I came in I noticed that the back door was left unlocked. Then I noticed that there was still a saw out on the back deck. Then I heard something in the basement, and it wasn't Henri. They were still working. All better!

I met Javier and he showed me the work they'd done today in the bathroom. Looks like they've completed the simpler parts of the tub surround, and begun the more interesting parts. They've also replaced the broken tile in the shower floor near the drain. AND they've put in some baseboard, er... base tile, or whatever it's called if it's stone instead of wood.

Tomorrow is Today

I have forgotten my cell phone, but I'm checking my messages intermittently through the day. Sim called 9-ish and said he was "in the neighborhood". Why he calls from 3 blocks away I don't know. He mentioned that his other guys might already be at the house. I'm hopeful that there will be progress made when I get home, but I'm not holding my breath, and I'm not holding up "Plan B". I made an appointment with an alternate tile-setter to do an estimate on Friday.

Tomorrow

Ah what to think. I'm getting calls from a new tilesetting company to schedule an appointment for an estimate. And now I just got a call from Sim saying he can work tomorrow with two other guys and finish it by this weekend...

What to think.

Psyche!

Lara and Kimmo in front of the house. This is a more overall view of the porch steps. In the picture, because of the perspective I guess, they actually look pretty good. But they get bigger as they go down, but they also get closer (to the lens) so it looks kind of right. But they're SO NOT RIGHT. Lara's due in a month, maybe less now.

Late Friday afternoon, well maybe Friday evening actually, I got a text message from Sim (I NEVER would have guessed he knew how to do that) asking if I wanted him to come Saturday morning (8 AM, why he names an actual time I have no idea...) with an assistant AND another installer and do what they could in a day.

DUH.

Since we hadn't spoken for a while (er, no work and no word for a week and a day), I guess it was a legitimate question. I called him back immediately and got no answer. I left a message that that would be great. I was working on getting another installer to finish the job but I wouldn't actually be collecting bids until next week. So if he could finish it sooner than that, that would be great. I made this call to him on the way to my soccer game.

I played, then checked my phone. No call. We went out for dinner. Then I checked my phone again, no call. When I got home late-ish Saturday night, I sent him an email and a text message (finally figured out how to do that...), inviting him to work on Saturday.

I called Sim at 8 o'clock on the dot Saturday morning, reiterating the agreement that he might work the day, and asking him, if he did come to work today to please give me a call. Then I left for the day to watch nieces Emma and Susie play soccer up in Bellingham, the season championship tournament.

It was a good long-ish day at the park, for a total of 3 games, 2 and a half of which is all we (my uncle Steve and myself) stayed for. We got back to town around 5 or 5:30. I got hung out for a while to wind down from the drive. I guess I was sort of putting off going home because when I left Steve and Sue's place I called Lara to see what she was up to. She and Kimmo were on their way out for dinner, and I tagged along, not stopping at home on the way. (Avoidance behavior much?) After dinner we all came back to my house to see the state of the bathroom. The exact state I left it in this morning. Front porch steps too.

Ordered the remainder of my kitchen cabinets on Friday. Man they're spendy. I'd forgotten how bad the sticker shock was for the set I bought initially. Sheesh! Who do I think I am!!? I've yet to receive word that my cooktop has shipped so I'm probably looking at at least a week still before I can get all my pieces in place and order countertops... which means that won't be happening until probably June, last week of May if I'm really lucky. I'm trying to keep my hopes down here.

Changing Horses in the Middle of the Race

Looks like I'll be hiring somebody else to finish the tile installation in my bathroom. I really hope I'm nearer the end of the race than the middle.

I'm still a little stunned that Sim is just plain flaking. I can't help but wonder a little bit if he's fallen off the face of the earth or been hit by a bus or something. I called him this morning and left a message to get back to me if he hasn't "walked off the job" as it appears. I've emailed the homeowners club regarding scope and materials for new bids. I suspect I'll need to pull the trigger on that today or tomorrow.

I'm really relieved to have ordered my cooktop. Now if I can get the remainder of my cabinets ordered, I'll really feel like I'm in the home stretch!

Quiet Around Here

I called Sim once or twice after I got home from work. I also emailed the homeowners club and asked them to send tile installers to do bids for finishing the work.

I emailed Dave this morning, or was it last night, about the front porch steps.

And I ordered my cooktop. Yay! :)

Mis-steps

My front porch steps were in bad shape before this weekend. They were crumbling and too high. I tripped and fell on them once in the winter I guess, and I know Sim tripped on them once that I saw, and supposedly his assistant tripped on them once too. I called Dave last week and he came to fix them on Sunday.

I was out all day babysitting for Laurie--not at my house with all of one chair in the living room, no kitchen, and no cable. It was a beautiful day anyway, so there was no call to be spending time indoors anyway.

Dave called in the morning, for I can't remember what, but I knew he was working on it. We stopped by the house at some point in the day so I could drop off Henri, and Dave was still working. So we said hi and dropped Henri, as gracefully as possible, over the fence into the back yard. (Stupid me, I coulda' taken him through the gate on the other side. He's FINE!)

I got home after dinner. It was still daylight. The front of the house is in shadow. I thought they looked a little off. Sure enough. There are 4 steps with the following rises, in inches, from the top down:
5.25, 5.75, 6.75, and 6.75

It's nice that they're all solid and straight now, but this is still unacceptable. I sent Dave an email today to that effect, and with some pictures to boot. We'll see what he says.

Sim, on the other hand, hasn't done anything since last Thursday, not even so much as returned my calls (4 of them).

Sure Enough

Sure enough, no show no word all day Friday. Makes for a sucky start to a weekend. At least my team won our soccer game and my knees didn't hurt too badly at the end. It's a wonder what a couple of weeks off can do.

On the upside, I've settled (again) on a cooktop. I've sort of changed my mind countless times, really having felt "firmly decided" only twice before now. The thing is, I was looking at the GE installation specs today and I saw that the GE 30" induction cooktop fits in a 30" cabinet. WO HOO! I had all but given up on that. Ed Begley Jr be darned, I think I'm putting my oven next to my fridge after all. I realized today that if I do it that way then I can see into the oven from the bar. I haven't yet (re-)ordered cabinets for that yet though so, we'll see if I change my mind on that again. I was at the shop today so the fact that I didn't order is a good indication to me that I'm actually not yet settled.

Friday No Show?

Here it is Friday morning, just barely, it's almost 11. Nothing. A day and a half of work this week. Jeesh! I want his job!... No I don't.

Shower Walls Begun

Finally a good day. A solid day of work. Sim and his assistant arrived before I left for work in the morning. As I walked out the door he was setting up the wet saw on the front porch.

When I got home in the evening I went up to the bathroom. New tile on 2 shower walls. Yay!