Nom de Plume

Within 20 minutes of moving out of my office–and we’re talking about before my body heat even dissipated, Mr. Demo started his favorite thing.

of my home office.

I’ve had such fun saying that with a pregnant pause and watching the perplexity on people’s faces because I sound so happy about it.

He’s been making this push for a couple of months, and I’ve been resisting. About a month ago, we were sitting in the hot tub, and he brought it up again. I, as usual, resisted. But he was getting more and more frustrated. First, our house is small and he feels cramped, because he really doesn’t have a place of his own. Which is completely fair. Second, his Mr. Demo-ness has been thwarted, because more than anything, he wants to start tearing into the walls in the bedrooms–and he can’t when one is a bedroom and one is my office.

The thing is, 90 percent about what I like about working for myself is being here–being able to work, then futz around the house, work some more, run errands, go to the gym, whatever. He kept on saying that I need to get over that … and drive somewhere. That was a complete non-negotiable for me. If I had to drive somewhere, I’d still end up working from home–only much less comfortably.

What to do?

I was driving home one day and passed the shack right around the corner that’s been for rent for ages. A light bulb went off.

Long story short, the owner has rented it to me. He’s thrilled to get someone with good credit who won’t deface the walls. I’m thrilled that my commute now consists of walking down the alley. It’s a great solution all the way around. And while the house is nothing on the outside, it’s perfectly functional on the inside. Nothing special, but I’m feeling pretty spoiled that I’ve managed to get a 770 square foot house for about the cost of renting a decent office somewhere (if not less). It’s a great solution on a variety of fronts. First, it’s an office space. Second, it has two bedrooms. I can sublet one if I want, and anyone who comes to stay with us can stay down there. Third, it has a kitchen that I can devote to soaping.

I’m in the process of moving this week; should be completely set up next. Will post pix soon.

Mr Demo didn’t like the old windows he installed, so he put in new ones. It’s hard to tell from my pictures, but this is a huge improvement. I didn’t even mind the old ones, but then again, I didn’t have the vision. As I keep being reminded.

And while I’m uploading pictures, here’s a snap of Harry on Christmas. The ribbon traumatized him.

I loathe, despise, and abominate Seafair. You wouldn’t believe the noise of the planes. It seriously hurts your ears, it’s that loud.

The sad thing is, Seafair hasn’t even started yet. This is what we have in store:

Friday
11:00 a.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

1:00 p.m. American Family Insurance presents the Patriots Jet Demonstration Team

1:20 p.m. Fat Albert C-130 Demo

1:30 p.m. U.S. Navy Blue Angels Practice

2:40 p.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

Saturday

12:35 p.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

1:00 p.m. American Family Insurance presents the Patriots Jet Demonstration Team

1:20 p.m. Fat Albert C-130 Demo

1:30 p.m. U.S. Navy Blue Angels Demonstration

3:25 p.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

Sunday

10:00 a.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

11:20 a.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

1:00 p.m. American Family Insurance presents the Patriots Jet Demonstration Team

1:20 p.m. Fat Albert C-130 Demo

1:30 p.m. U.S. Navy Blue Angels Demonstration

2:55 p.m. KeyBank Air Show presented by Boeing

AHHHH.

My bleeding ears aside, isn’t this a tad excessive? Oh, no, not at all. Let’s burn through all those fossil fuels. So much for Seattle trying to be a green city.

Oh, not in any legal sense, though the only thing that would please my mother more is producing an anklebiter or two. It’s just that Steve did an amazing job framing in cabinets and such while I was in San Diego last week–and then he decided that we should really rip out the cabinets at the end of the kitchen.

I complained that I always had to do the crappy stuff, like clean up. So Steve handed me a huge hammer and a chisel. And while he did this:

I did this:

Then Steve and I both cleaned up.

Here’s the thing: Smashing into walls is the BEST.

Mr. Demo, that is. Not God.

Still no dishwaster. I had one, and it was wonderful. Now I’m washing dishes in the bathtub again.

Which really sucks.

We won’t even talk about the division of labor. Suffice it to say that I have descended to the level of leaving his dirty glasses in the bathtub so that when he comes home and wants to take a shower, he gets a little hint. The first day, he laughed. The second day he said, “Looks like you have some dishes to do.” Today’s the third day. What’s in store now?

I am afraid I have done Mr. Demo a disservice, making it seem as though more of our house is in complete construction mode than is the case. I had lunch with Pete and Marc last week. Pete asked just how much of our house is livable. The answer is: quite a lot. Don’t believe me?** Maribel just finished scrubbing from top to bottom, so I feel no compunctions in posting pictures.

Welcome to Chez Smunshi with our unabashedly over-the-top art wall.

Admittedly, the chairs are a little bright. I’ve vaguely thought about having them recovered but that’s a) too expensive and b) way too much hassle. I did finally manage to get the rugs in the living room cleaned, which I picked up this morning.

Obviously, this is my office. My wallet is open because I just paid that stupid parking ticket from when I got towed three weeks ago. One of these days, I may actually get a real desk. And the floors refinished. And the ceiling repatched from the skylight leaking …

**Well, we think it’s livable. Those who prefer, um, uncluttered homes will no doubt hate ours. And given the state of the kitchen (and how long we lived with the bathroom), we all know how low our standards are.

Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
Authority
Award
Best Choice
Big Bet
Big Red
Bloom
Cadillac
Companion
Demoulas Market Basket
Eukanuba
Food Lion
Giant Companion
Great Choice
Hannaford
Hill Country Fare
Hy-Vee
Iams
Laura Lynn
Loving Meals
Meijers Main Choice
Mighty Dog (The recall affects only 5.3 pouch products that were produced from Dec. 3, 2006 through March 14, 2007.)
Mixables
Natural Balance Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods and dog treats
Nutriplan
Nutro Max
Nutro Natural Choice
Nutro Ultra
Nutro
Ol’Roy Canada
Ol’Roy U.S.
Paws
Pet Essentials
Pet Pride – Good ’n Meaty
Presidents Choice
Price Chopper
Priority Canada
Priority U.S.
Publix
Roche Brothers
Save-A-Lot Choice Morsels
Schnucks
Shep Dog
Springfield Prize
Sprout
Stater Brothers
Stop & Shop Companion
Tops Companion
Wegmans Bruiser
Weis Total Pet
Western Family U.S.
White Rose
Winn Dixie
Your Pet

I have been reduced to roaming Seattle like a homeless person.

Steve burst into the bedroom at 7:30–far too early when one stayed up until two reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics–and shook me awake. “The electrician is coming in two hours. Can you clean up the basement?” Meanwhile, Dave was finishing framing the bank of windows we’re putting in over the freshly reporcelained old kitchen sink and the dog was whining that he hadn’t been fed in HOURS.

So I cleaned up the basement, ignored the fine dust on everything else in the house, got dressed, and started out the door. “Oh,” said Steve, “I forgot. Those carriage doors on Craig’s List? Can you go look at them?” (Yet another project–the garage. I remain hopeful that it will be turned into my office.) I went; they were a mess. Now, I’m sitting in All City Coffee in Georgetown. Right outside the window is a matched pair of pet goats on dog leashes.

I was going to post a bunch of demo-in-progress kitchen pictures, but really … why bother? This is what it looks like now:

The plans are:

1) All new appliances, for one.
2) A really funky farmhouse sink that we got at Re-store. It’s being reporcelained as we blog and is going approximately where the existing sink is–though at 51 inches will take up a considerably larger amount of space.
3) You see that taller window at the end? That’s going away, and the fridge is going there. But wait, you say! Getting rid of windows? Actually, we’re adding a bank of four windows over the sink instead.
4) The stove is staying where it is, but will be flanked by cabinets.
5) Steve’s brother is coming out next week to do some of the above, and will also tear out and replace the ceiling.

There are lots more ideas floating around Chez Smunshi, but we’re not terribly organized about the process. Some neighbors are also redoing their kitchen and we goggled at their beautifully rendered plans. Ours consist of some chicken scratch on graph paper.