Sometimes procrastination does bite

Crap. I waited until yesterday to buy a couple of gifts, including one for Greg and two that I need for a gift exchange in Ohio the week after xmas. Threadless.com suggested that if I order by the 19th (that's yesterday, right?), that UPS Ground would get me my goodies by xmas eve. So I did that. I figured even if I missed Saturday, Monday would still work (Greg's gift would be late but the Ohio gifts would be in hand before I depart first thing Tuesday). Easy peasy.

Well, now USP is telling me estimated delivery Tuesday afternoon. Argh. That's not good.

Attempt #1 to solve problem -- try to contact Threadless to change the order address. But there's not phone number listed. ARGH. Really? You can't even give me a phone number? I just ordered product from you and it's hung up in a transit limbo. I want to call you. Giant sigh.

Attempt #2 to solve problem -- pay $40 to UPS for their premium account status so that I can change the address mid-stream and have it delivered to my sister's address in Ohio. Expensive...but perfect! Except that the UPS site a) won't confirm that I've got the premium service, and b) it can't connect my tracked package (clearly visible on the site) with my account even though the addresses are EXACTLY THE SAME. I cannot underestimate how annoying this is.

So I called UPS. Three times. The first time, I was told I needed to wait 90 minutes for premium to kick in. So I waited and nothing happened. The next call, I was told that it was a technical support issue and was promptly connected to technical support, which was closed for the evening. (When is tech support closed earlier than the other phone support areas?!) So I waited some more, and still nothing happened. I called back and now the entire phone support system is shut down until morning (even though the first gal happily told me I could call back "anytime"). Is 10:20 p.m. Pacific not a part of anytime?

Holy cow, I am mad. And without my presents. This sucks. I suppose I should have bought locally crafted goodies with birds on them.

Zoo bus to hell

I chaperoned a Kindergarten field trip on Thursday with 36 kids, 2 teachers and 7 or so other parents. It was a well-intentioned affair, but it went south in a major way on the transportation front. Here are the impossible-to-dream-up events:

• Hired tour bus #1 makes it 25 miles out of town and promptly breaks down. We must pull over at a rest stop to assess the situation. Adults have to entertain kids for about 2 hours while we await the new bus. We trot the kids off into the woods surrounding the rest stop for some "learning."
• We get on bus #2, which is festooned with xmas lights and is blasting out Barry Manilow tunes. One kid locks himself in the lav for a short while, but we jimmy the door and free him. We make it safely to the Newport Aquarium (3 hrs. from PDX), where we now have a grand total of 1.5 hours to explore before we must return.
• Bus #2 takes off but we are assured that another bus will pick us up. That bus shows up an hour late. And is mysteriously similar to Bus #1.
• We ride Bus #1/Bus #3 for about 25 miles out of town, where it promptly breaks down. Again. Seriously? Adults have to entertain kids for about 1.75 hours while we await the new bus. We now have no power and no real food or water, but we do have a country store. We hang out with country store dude and his dogs, eating slim jims and peanut butter sandwiches. We have to buy flashlights as it's dark and we have no power on Bus #1/Bus #3.
• Bus #4 shows up; a school bus this time as opposed to a tour bus. Also, a state trooper shows up with a flood light to help escort the 36 little kids across the highway to the school bus. Yay for "Spike," the new bus driver and the unnamed state trooper!
• Spike gets us far up the road toward Portland. With about 25 miles to go, the emergency exit alarm starts going off incessantly. The emergency exit door is malfunctioning. We must pull over at a rest stop to assess the situation. The rest stop at which we pull over is THE SAME REST STOP we were at 10 hours ago during breakdown #1. We're now living in some kind of dark cosmic downward spiral from which we might never escape.
• Spike decides we'll just have to carry on with the malfunction, so we drive the final 25 miles with an alarm screeching.
• We finally make it to the school 3 hours later than expected. Teachers, parents and kids burst into applause (and for a few, into tears, to be sure).

Notes to self:

• Celia's teacher is pretty darn cool. And cool tempered. She saved the day from certain doom.
• Chaperoning a field trip comes with risks.
• Due to the aforementioned risks, think twice before volunteering again.

teh awesome

Rich made me something so cool that it's beyond words. He had a book printed of my entire house blog. Seriously. It's in my top 5 greatest gifts EVER.

Here's the front cover.

And the back.

I have no words worthy of this gift. Thank you, thank you friend.

Now...does this count as being published? ;-)

Ropin' the Wind

Good ol' Rich has come up with the perfect close-but-not-at-all-right nickname for our neighborhood Garthwick. From now on, we'll lovingly refer to it as GarthBrooks. 'Cause I've got friends in loooow places, where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases the blues away. It'll be OK." (Needless to say, this is totally NOT the right vibe for Garthwick, but whatevs.)

We were pleased to show Rich and Leland around the house on Saturday. Leland is contemplating a similar project to ours (to which my brain simultaneously says "yay!" and "the horror, the horror!"). I believe Leland is the only person we've ever had over that recognized all of our seemingly random folk art. He must be one of us. Long lost peeps!

Thanksgiving dinner at Chez Leedy this Thursday—the first of what's sure to be many parties here, intimate and gigantic. Yee-haw!

Sloppy

I have been reading some old posts again—both from this blog and my other occasionally-used tech blog—and have noticed a bunch of typos, misspellings and assorted sloppy things.

In my mind, I am a model of tidiness, but in reality I am lazy and sloppy. Good Lord, that is depressing. I wonder what other delusions I'm living under...

I am now vowing to do a better job at using spell check as well as at using actual m-dashes as opposed to two hyphens. I will try to do right by you, my loyal readers. Don't be alarmed...my overuse of ellipses and superlatives will continue. Ellipses are the best punctuation marks EVER!

Oh, also, I'll try to find something to blog about.

Feeling autumnal

Autumn has arrived in Garthwick. The leaves are taking over (and I mean that in a good way). So many deciduous trees—it boggles the mind. We're enjoying our new Linden thanks to Friend of Trees, and looking forward to seeing it grow.

Greg's friend Ian Mastenbrook was in the neighborhood a few weeks back and took some nice shots of the foliage. Check 'em out:

And now we need to find our rake. ;-)

You're so vain

I haven't posted in a while. I was thinking about it this evening and I think part of it's because the house is, in large part, done. Now if I post, I'm just talking about living in it. That seems kind of pompous.

Maybe we'll do something interesting and I'll post about it. I will strive to come up with something appropriately house-y...

That is one fine lookin' house

Paul had a photographer come over and take some nifty shots of the house. There are now posted on his website here: http://www.pmckean.com/residential/leedy/

The photographer is Dan Kvitka. Dan, thanks for making our house look so nice! Per his website, he's a top PDX photographer for artists, galleries, museums and product/graphic designers. Yeah, that sounds like the right guy for us. Check out his other stuff here: http://www.kvitkaphotography.com/

Rumor has it that a national magazine may be considering publishing a piece on our humble home. Oh please, god-of-yuppie-architecture, do your architecture god magic—we're really love to be published. And the rest of you, keep it under wraps. I don't want you to jinx it.

Depends on the importance of the word "the"

Prutting has a couple of new pics of our house on their blog. Yippee!

Check it out:

http://pruttingandcompany.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/new-photos-leedy-house-completed-by-portland-branch/

I think our house is now officially called "Leedy House." Or perhaps "The Leedy House." Hmm...do you think the "The" makes us look fat? Or just a little silly? Kind of like the way "The" makes "The Dalles" silly?

In closing, did you know that the area just West of The Dalles is a part of town called "West The Dalles"? Really. You can look it up. Oh here, I'll do it for you.

http://www.historicthedalles.org/the_dalles_historical_sites.htm

Silly, indeed.

It is on

AIA Design Matters Home tour is this morning. Who-hoo!

Greg and Drew laid decking down on our front balcony last night. It looks amazing. Drew is the hero of the week.

I can't chat; must get ready. People are coming.

11:11—T-minus 33 hours until the big event

Our home tour is happening in 1.5 days, starting Saturday morning. The house is looking pretty nifty. It's clean, art has been hung, beds have been made with beautiful new linens, dogs have been banished to doggie camp, the shop now has a beautiful new overhead door (AKA garage door) with frosted glass panels, the new front porch is setting up nicely...almost everything is in good shape.

Paul and team are headed over here tomorrow to take some pictures of the house in it's "done" stage. Watch for them on the PMa website soon!

The only thing that is bringing me down is that I screwed up the fabulous wool carpet in our bedroom cleaning up a giant mess that our dog Django left for us (don't even ask). I cleaned too aggressively and now there is evidence of where I've cleaned. Evidence that doesn't seem to be fading. Evidence that is making me very mad. And sad. I'm hoping that by sharing it with all of you, I will find peace with it. You know that feeling when you get your first ding in your car? And that ding was your fault entirely? That's the feeling I am feeling now. Giant sigh.

But...on with the show!

Are you coming over? I hope so.

Artsy

Picture pages, picture pages

My momma told me you better shop around

Shop! Nice, eh?

It's my party and I'll [X] if I want to

I was trying to think of something witty to say on my birthday, but I'm not sure exactly what I want to do today. Cry? Nah. Smile? Laugh? Pause? Breathe? Something like that. Cautious optimism is in the air...

Anyhoo, in addition to what must surely be a fabulous surprise party headed my way, we are in the midst of several improvements in advance of the open house.

Outside. We're actually doing things to make the outside look somewhat as nice as the inside. We're laying down some gravel areas and are likely laying down some sod as well (as the giant backyard mud pit in which the dogs frolic each evening is becoming suboptimal).

Shop. The shop is awaiting siding and it's gleaming glass garage door. I promise I will post pictures soon.

Decorating. We've added some touches to make the house appear more finished -- curtains, shelving, art (well, we haven't hung it yet, but it's on the list).

I must go and make myself birthday-beautiful now. Yay!

Almost famous

Check it out -- on the updated site page for the upcoming AIA Design Matters home tour, our house is prominently featured.

Admittedly, it does help that our architect is on the planning committee for said home tour. But still...famous! This is a better link to the event that I'd posted previously, for those of you who are interested: http://adfestivalpdx.com/

Now we must start hanging art. And cleaning. And hiding things that are hideous to the eye.

Unpacking and shopbuilding

Unpacking is not fun.

But having a new house with your beloved things in it is fun.

And so we unpack.

We must make better progress in advance of Oct 1, when we are featured in the AIA Design Matters home tour (http://designmattershomestour.eventbrite.com/). Yikes. That is really soon.

Here are key things that'll happen in September:

• Shop is to be framed, roofed, sided, wired, and fitted with a custom garage door. This is already in process. If I were less lazy, I would post pictures.
• Backyard is to be leveled out--the current surface texture is what I'd call "moon-like"--and areas behind the house and beside the house are to be excavated a few inches and filled in with gravel. Vendor is hired, work to begin this week.
• The front door's concrete stoop will be re-poured so that it's a lovely smooth surface again (also currently moon-like, which is not very welcoming). I believe Andrew's setting us up... Andrew, do your magic!
• Betsy's kitchen wall in her mother-in-law suite will start to come together: countertop, sink, refrig, burners and dishwasher will join recently-installed cabinets.
• 1,397 things will be put away in their proper places (or stashed in a closet so as to temporarily disappear from sight).

Later in October, we are supposed to lay down grass seed and straw. And hope for rain. Oh, also we need to transplant some roses. Oh, and master our holiday music compilation. Sh*t. October promises to be as busy as September. Well, at least there's Halloween.

Bills, notes, magazines, flyers, calendars, cards...oh my

Perhaps we've reached the point where I should deal with this.

Argh.

On the plus side, framers are framing the shop! Hooray!!! Will post pictures later this weekend.

Focus....focus

All right, all focus now goes toward getting ready for the AIA home tour on 10/01. We need to finish up about a thousand little details and hang about a hundred pieces of art. And clean a bunch of stuff. And figure out how to make our dust bowl of a backyard look pleasing (or at least not abhorrent).

We did manage to attend two lovely BBQs last weekend. Relaxation? Really? I almost forgot how to relax.

Oh, and we just realized today that we haven't yet started on the Xmas CD. That gives us from 10/2 to around 11/22 to do the entire thing. Uh...that's a bit of a problem.

Focus, people!

1.42857143

We got our appraisal back. The house is now worth 1.43 times what it was worth 1 year ago. We made it 43% better! The appraised value is on the low end of what we wanted, but it's within spitting distance. In this crappy market.

We did it. Winning!

Can I get a "who-hoo"?

House that's lived in

Here are a bunch of photos of the house with our belongings in it.

Dude, we live here!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25768433@N02/sets/72157627405103268/

Leedy home featured in AIA Design Matters 2011

Well, even if our appraisal tanks, we still have this victory: our house is featured in the upcoming AIA Fall Home Tour -- Design Matters: A Tour of Exceptional Portland Homes.

"Exceptional" -- I can dig it. Perhaps that's why the appraiser says it'll be difficult to appraise the house. It's exceptional. The exception.

We are not ordinary. We are extraordinary. (But despite this Mr. Appraiser, please, please represent us well with Mr. Banker.)

http://designmattershomestour.eventbrite.com/

Oh, and bonus points: check out the date of the home tour. Binary day!!!

I have to (ap)praise you

We've come a long, long way together

Through the hard times and the good

I have to celebrate you, baby

I have to (ap)praise you, like I should

We're having a bank appraisal today. It's possible that I will have a nervous breakdown before early afternoon.

I'm hoping that the power of positive thinking will get us through. Think good thoughts.

And if you want, you can sing this in your head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex1qzIggZnA

Glass barrier in stairwell

Safety is our top priority! (Well, cool design probably tops the list. But safety is top 5 or so.)

Panel success

Our vision becomes a reality--who hoo!

The stove, she is clean

Before and after

Back in the closet

Twins

Hope

1994-2011 RIP

No wait...it still works!

Everything, everything, everything, everything

Check out this giant set of pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25768433@N02/sets/72157627133354703/

Glass shower door

Who-hoo!

Something that we own is in the house

Day 190

Um...that is too many days of this. Growing weary.

But on the upside, so many things are looking incredible:

- The stairs and railing are amazing. I need to post pictures. I'm sorry; will do so soon.

- The entire house is incredibly open, airy, and white. Standing in it, it almost feels like I have passed away and am living in some dreamy afterlife. Oh, except for all of the work I need to slog through every day. I suppose this must be really happening.

- Betsy's carpet went in yesterday. The lower level officially looks like living space!

- Greg really did a great job on the lighting. All the Modern fixtures and the Lutron switches are fab.

Tomorrow I will strive to post some actual photos. For now, use your imaginations.

And remember, some girls do get weary wearing that same old shabby dress. I have confirmed that it is true.

Yellow and grey

The kids' new bath will be white, yellow, and grey. I just picked up the hand towels and shower curtain from Appetite. Tres chic!




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