Clone

Look closely. This may be Tyler's exact spot and pose... But don't be fooled, this is Tylers clone-gone-awry...

His nemesis.

Mocking him.



Happy Monday.

Flashback: 2006

Three years ago today, Aug 28:

The back and roof to my house was ripped off

Our pool was bright green

We were living in the 650 sq ft 'cabana' in our backyard

At least half of that space was completely inaccessible, stacked to the ceiling with boxes and furniture

Mr. Price was one week out from massive jaw surgery: his mouth was wired shut, we was on a liquid diet and he was HEAVILY medicated (and decided at some point in the day that pureed pizza and milk would make a nice snack. mention it today and he'll still shiver at the thought)

Our two cats who were terrified of each other were co-existing in this space with us -- which means I woke up approximately 6 times the night before to separate the cat fight before finally locking on in the bathroom only to hear him cry for the rest of the night

Thinking that we had about a month to go before moving into the house, we had not turned on cable or internet in the cabana - so I set up the TV and DVD player so he'd have something to watch in between medications

...And I had my first day of work at this job.


See-- things could always be worse. ;)

Freeze Frame

Excellent progress on the casa in the past few weeks: Marble and tile has been cleaned and sealed, the wood floors are finished and gleaming, just a few quick tasks left before move-in!

Not so fast. This is a home renovation, remember?

Please note today and the fact that approximately 3.5 days of work remain. And that is stacking the work end-to-end; workers *could* actually show up at the same time and take less than 3.5 days. Hmmm... that's less than a week! Wow. Breakdown goes like this:

-1.5 days of trim work, 2 workers (crown molding, floor molding and shoe trim, windows and doors trimmed) this includes the final painting of the trim-- it has already been primed. And hanging the medicine cabinets
-.5 day of 'setting' the tub, sinks and toilet, 1 worker
-.5 day of electrical finish out (connecting the switches, screwing on the face plates, installing the canister lights and hanging the fan), 1 worker
-.5 day of plumber completing final connection of supply/drain lines to hardware, 1-2 workers
-2 hours or removing the existing exterior french doors and installing the new ones (that's a whole other story), 2 workers
-1 hour to install frameless shower doors, 2 workers
-1 hour of total jacking around

**this doesn't include closet installation - which we realized last night we haven't bid out yet. OPPS! but rest assured, that although it will be a tad sad, it won't keep me from moving up there and soaking in my new tubbbbbbbb....

So, given that the floors were finished last Wednesday, that gave the renovation 2 weekdays to 'rest' even. Technically, we could have been done today!?

Although they knew Monday was the day to finish:

-The trim guys called on Monday and can't arrive until next week.
-Electrical guy can't show up until middle of next week.
-New french doors are being special ordered - available in 2 weeks at the earliest
-Shower doors are being special ordered - available in 1.5 weeks at the earliest

Which means..... besides sealing the marble/tile which took 2 hours: NOTHING PROGRESSED THIS WEEK!

So in summary, my friends... we are officially at the point in the renovation where everything comes to a painful, obnoxious, taunting crawl.

Picture Perfect

We had a lovely time in New Canaan last weekend and NYC late last week. Kristin was a beautiful bride and the Stanwich Congressional Church was perfectly New England, the Rehearsal Dinner at Waveny Park was picturesque and the New Canaan Country Club was just as I'd remembered it.


Now comes the heart breaking news (well, for me at least): after what should have been a 15 minute bus ride full of guests heading to the church but ended up an hour of winding roads and getting lost - I partially recover from my motion sickness, settle into our pew of the breathtaking church and ask Mr. Price to take a picture of Chad (the groom). I checked to make sure the flash was off (there was plenty of light from the tall windows surrounding the two story sanctuary) and the camera wouldn't take a picture.... Yes, team: my battery was dead. The catch: in a hurry to make it downstairs for a 3pm bus departure, I had him switch out the batteries since I thought the other one might be running low. And dammit if the 'other' battery wasn't worse off.

And so it was. One of the absolute most beautiful weddings and receptions I've ever seen --seriously, the light was amazing-- and I have not a single picture to show.

*sigh*

My sweet brother-in-law took a bunch of pictures and emailed me today to say that even though "they weren't very good" he is going to send me a CD of high-res pics. Thanks, Ted!!

Pampered Flooring

The reason we're running the new upstairs A/C?? To make sure that
wood feels right at home before being nailed to the ground, of course!

Bits & Pieces

Slowly progressing...

Something seems different here... can't quite put my finger on it

So I walk in the door tonight around 9:30, flip on the light and see... hmmm. This is strange? This looks different than it has in the past 3 & 1/2 years I've been walking through this door.

[Quick mental scan] Nope, I didn't do that. Did Mr. Price take to redecorating the house today? ...Wait a second. Where the hell is the thing that's usually there??? [Eyes scan to the floor] DAMNIT!!!

First day in a while I haven't worked from home while the workers are in and out... and *somehow* something gets jacked. Strange how that happens. Funny the coincidence.

Can you find the slight difference?

BEFORE (the new look):

AFTER (reverting to what WAS there when I left this morning)

Guess the workers decided they'd take a turn at redecorating for me. So -ahem- sweet.

The frame got fairly beat up - which makes me growl a bit. But at least the glass isn't broken.

On a not-so-irritated note: the floor has been prepped for the marble to be laid tomorrow and though it is currently 96 degrees outside (yep, at 9:45 at night) it is 71 degrees upstairs. Brrrrr. It's like a freezing blizzard up there.

The Best of the Worst

Once again, I worked through lunch today. In order to counterbalance the resulting bitterness, I decided I would go to Zorba's for some baba ghanoush and hummus (among other things) for my 3:30 lunch. Pulled up and ...that cracking sound you heard about an hour ago was my heard... because they close at 2:15, which I never realized before today. Heart wrenching, I know.

Despair not, dear reader - I made lemonade! (Figuratively, obviously, since it was late in the afternoon and I was sans any food in sight). I did not panic. Nearby was a handy selection of fast food restaurants I usually don't even see for the fact that I rarely -if ever- eat there.

I quickly determined to gather my favorites as a consolation prize. And with each stop, I was tempted to just finish out my list and head back to the office, but ultimately, I stayed the course.

(1)Driving though first at Chick-fil-a for an 'Original' chicken sandwich
(2)Next driving through McDonald (yes, I went to McD's!) and got my since-high-school favorite combo of fries and their hot mustard sauce --got to give props to Sarah's mom for teaching me that little gem.
(3)Pulling into Sonic for a Cherry Limeade.

Chipotle!!

This was too much fun to not share. www.chipotlefan.com lets you descirbe what you order at Chipotle (I always get the same thing) and it gives you this handy dandy Nutritional label!

Anyway, this was my lunch today.

Clever, huh?

Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving
Calories 1000	Cal from Fat 570
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 62g	95%
Saturated Fat 19g 93% Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 70mg	23%
Sodium 2550mg	106%
Total Carbs 91g	30%
Dietary Fiber 22g 88% Sugars 25g
Protein 26g
Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 0% • Iron 0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
INGREDIENTS: Sour Cream,Guacamole (4oz),Fajita Veggies,Corn Salsa,Tomato Salsa,Rice,Black Beans,Cheese,Chipotle Vinaigrette

Click'>http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php?nutritionId=17:18:7:13:12:4:5:16:21:">Click Here to view

Don't know what all that really means, but it's fun to see things add up as you click items.

What it doesn't reflect is the "extra sour cream" I always get. Mmmmmmmmmm.........

Motivation & Marble

Clearly blogging makes me a better version of myself: apparently griping about my own inadequacies works as a call-to-action. (Oh, wait, only on occasion. See any references to 'excercising') After seeing in black-and-white text yesterday and realizing that "my lack of decision making with regard to the flooring was soon to become the bottleneck" (I believe those were my exact words... at least, that's what is blazoned in my mind) ... I actually did something about it.

In fact, not only did I MAKE a decision on the flooring, I already located and purchased the lovely carerra marble which will be picked up this weekend and installed starting next Wednesday. Whoo-hoo!

Meanwhile, the wood will be placed upstairs Monday so that it can 'acclimate' to the room for at least a week prior to them starting installation. Who knew?

For those always asking for pictures... here's a visual, albeit a not-very-good one (from my phone) Don't know why the center of this picture turned out reddish. Maybe that's a special feature of the camera. =) Anyway, it is a white & grey marble. ta-da!