Day 177 - 1/22/12

Happy Chinese New Year!  We had our first official house party since the work finished.  My husband cleaned my entire basement!  It was crazy.  He ran up and down the stairs about a hundred times moving things into the garage, our new storage area, etc.

We tested our smoke alarms by accident...  :)  I tried to start a fire in the basement fireplace, but something was up either with the flue or the wood and it got really smoky.  The basement smoke alarm went off, which set off the smoke alarms everywhere else in the house.  We opened up a couple windows and cleared things out, but it made for an interesting beginning to the festivities. 

My kitchen got a major workout - my mom taught me how to make lo mein (Chinese noodles) over the phone and it worked out really well!  We had dumplings, Korean beef (compliments of our friends), cookies and other Asian desserts (the good ones), oranges (cuz they're lucky), and Asian fruit salad with lychee and Mandarin oranges.  I discovered that steaming things is actually ridiculously easy.  :)

Set up the little round table in our "breakfast nook" and taught everyone how to play mah jong.  We had one person who knew how already, two people who knew the Jewish way of playing, and a couple of newbies.  So fun!

Day 175 - 1/20/12

The smoke alarms, railing, and GFI outlets were all installed today - apparently we are now up to code!  The sewage inspection is going to happen Wednesday, and then I guess we try the final inspection again.  On a good note, you can't even tell they did work today so I don't have to do any extra cleaning!  I guess the work wasn't as complicated as it sounded.

Day 173 - 1/18/12

We made the deadline!  It's my husband's birthday today and we showered in our new bathroom for the very first time!  I was very proud of myself - I installed the toilet tissue holder, towel bars, and towel ring last night.  I'm getting pretty handy with a power drill and level!  The temperature adjusts fine, and the raingall-style shower head is kind of interesting.  Lots of water volume, which is good, but the direction is always straight down, which is different. 

Our final inspection was today too.  Not bad - we didn't pass, but nothing outrageous.  The big issue is the smoke detectors.  Now that we've added an addition, we have to follow the new code, which says that we need one smoke alarm in each bedroom, the upstairs hallway, and the kitchen.  I think that's overkill, but better safe than sorry, I guess.  Here's the catch - the smoke alarms have to be connected to the electricity (not just powered by a battery) AND they have to be connected to each other, so if one alarm goes off, they all go off!  I just cleaned my house of all drywall dust and now they have to tear apart my ceilings!!!  Argh.  Sigh. 

Day 172 - 1/17/12

Our subcontractor came and fixed the shower temperature today - he switched the shower and tub handles.  Not sure why that made a difference, but we'll see how it all feels tomorrow!

Day 170 - 1/15/12

Sigh.  I knew it was too good to be true.  Our shower isn't regulating temperature right.  It's either full-on hot or full-on cold.  There's no middle.  Our subcontractor is coming in tomorrow morning to try to fix it before final inspection.  Sigh.

Day 168 - 1/13/12

Two steps forward, one step back.  Nothing catastrophic happened even though it is Friday the 13th.  :)  Our shower's done!  We just have to wait 24 hours for the epoxy stuff to dry and cure before we can use it.  It's gorgeous!!!

The electricity has been mostly fixed.  There were issues.  Apparently the original electrician just didn't connect the last four sockets.  And then he stood us up three times in the last two weeks.  So our subcontractor did it instead.  But now my house is messy again...

Day 165 - 1/10/12

It seems "prepping" the backyard includes throwing down some temporary seed and straw.  This is supposed to prevent silt from running off our yard into the drainage system.  I don't think it will actually work, but it is required for final inspection.  We're going to have to mess it all up when we redo our backyard anyway.  :P

Day 163 - 1/8/12

Nothing's happened on our house for a couple days, but today I hosted an omelet brunch!  A couple of my friends and their significant others came over and we cut up a bunch of veggies, shredded some cheese, and set up an awesome omelet bar.  Plus they got the grand tour of the new addition!

Day 159 - 1/4/12

Interestingly, I came home to our subcontractor crew ice picking apart the gravel mountain left by the previous subcontrator when the whole parging snafu occurred. And no, I don't know why the gravel is being spread all over the lawn. Apparently, they have to clean up the whole backyard and make sure it's all draining properly before the final inspection.  Luckily, it's not going to be below freezing temps the whole week! 

Shower glass guy came today and quite efficiently measured out our door and wall.  Unfortunately, the fastest they can get the glass in will be next Friday.  I'm not changing the deadline yet - we can still make my husband's birthday!

Backsplash for the sink was also glued on - looks good!

Day 157 - 1/2/12

The new year kicked off with more work, which is much better than no work!  The tiling edge was installed and it really improves the aesthetics. 

We also dealt with a couple minor details - straightened the faucet handle on one of the sinks, stopped a strange leak in the toilet, and fixed two of the pot lights.

We are waiting for the shower glass guy and the electrician to come and finish off the bathroom.

Day 156 - 1/1/12

Happy 2012!

Day 155 - 12/31/11

Happy New Year's Eve!  My friend had a potluck "Not-Going-To-Make-It-To-Midnight" New Year's party.  :)  Teachers and especially teachers with babies just don't have midnight stamina anymore!  But hey, we got to celebrate New Year's with Europe!