After 8 years together, 7 of which we’ve been married (Ask any of our amazing friends and family who were at the awesome Sonoma wine country party that was our wedding.), and 4 of which we’ve spent restoring a house we own together, the state of California has made our commitment official and legal.
We got married today. Go us!
Every once in awhile, a public agency gets it right, and the collective agency at Stopwaste.org of Alameda County Waste Management Authority and Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board is a great example of this. Please forgive my public love letter to my garbage collection guys and gals.
As part of the Garage Cleanup 2008 Project: Phase I, Merideth and I took four years’ worth of toxic materials (paint, wood stripper chemicals, what have you) over to the Household Hazardous Waste Center on Saturday, and it was a fantastic facility. We just loaded up the back of the truck (oh, how we love the truck), and went through a drive-through where hazmat-suited men emptied everything out and sent us on our way. We didn’t even have to get out of the cab. The best part is that we can be sure that all of those chemicals will be disposed of properly and reused when they can.
I know that when hazardous disposal isn’t easy, people take shortcuts, so I appreciate that the folks at Stopwaste.org have created such a streamlined process. I could actually go on and on about how much I love this agency and how thoughtful their weekly collection process has made me about what I throw away, but let’s just leave it at this: I hope other U.S. cities/counties look toward Alameda County as a shining (not literally, as it’s waste disposal and all) example.
More to come this week that isn’t about garbage when I remember to download the pictures.
No, I’m?not talking about hatred for the street sweeping. Nuh-uh. I’m talking about hatred for the *#!%$!%$ FIFTY dollar ticket we got last week because, randomly, the truck decided not to start which, therefore, kept me from moving it out of the street sweeping zone. The truck. Truck discussion counts as house blog stuff right? It IS the truck that hauls all the stuff for the house projects. Right? Right. P.S. do you know how frustrating it is to know you’re going to get a $50 ticket and not be able to do anything about it? Pisses you right off.
I was pretty sure the battery had just given up any desire to hold a charge. It was pretty old and I did leave the lights on all day a couple of weeks ago. Turns out 1980 trucks don’t ding at you when you try to exit the car with lights a-blazin’. (Ok yeah, here comes the “start small” portion of our story.) So I thought, we’ve done a helluva lot of stuff to this house successfully. Changing a battery can’t possibly be harder than, say, installing a toilet, drilling post-holes with a gas powered auger, moving electrical outlets, or putting in an insinkerator. If we could do that, we could swap the old truck’s ticker. Turns out yes, that is a task that is well within the ole skill-set. And that small step has effectively determined what the post-house project will be: restoring the truck. Bring it.
Note: Because I’m now used to the random weird stuff you find when working on an old house, I was not suprised AT ALL to find similar weirdness in the old truck. Turns out the battery hold-down bracket which should keep the battery snugly in place was missing. The battery had been bouncing around the inside of the truck like a big electrified, acid-filled lego block. Nice.
Looks like we should have a little break in the weather starting tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. All this inactivity has us itching to get to some projects. In the meantime, as promised, here’s beth, the guitar hero prodigy, playing gh in her jammies. Cuz that’s how we roll.
But here are some photos to tide you over until the crazy storms stop trying to wash us all into the bay.
I’ll try to take one of beth rockin’ to Guitar Hero to add to these.
Don’t get Guitar Hero for xmas. That’s pretty much it.
Also the washing machine does this: blue, blue, yellow, green, blue.
And “The Story of My Life” by Social D is always in my head.
Also Beth is a Guitar prodigy.
Enjoy your productive lives.
There was an article in Newsweek yesterday with more details for those of you who are curious (Lisa).
Beth here.
What? You were promised a Richard Scarry book of pictures of our completed dining room? And you believed us? Hahahahaha!
See, here at House Made, we try to give our readers a clear feeling of what it’s like to work on an old house, including the interaction one might have with various handy-people. They say it will cost one thing and take so much time, but it ends up costing way more and taking forever. And they don’t even seem to care, even if they put on sorry faces and tell you they care. The best part is that regardless of how many times this happens, no matter how often you have your trust and faith dashed like so much glass in the window you’re attempting to refurbish, you believe them when they tell you, once more, that pictures are imminent.
To console your weeping selves, here are some pictures of our mutt, Dixie, stealing a nap in the newly upholstered chairs that were originally purchased at the salvage yard a while back. With the price of fabric and upholstery, the chairs ended up costing us a little less than new chairs from Crate & Barrel, so we’re pretty content with the whole experience.
Note that Dixie is not allowed in these chairs. Also note how much she cares.
Beth here.
Merideth and I have been hassled by various loving friends and family members because there hasn’t been an update in a couple weeks. (My sweet sister said, “Your hand is crampy. Got it. Move on. Make something up if you have to.”)
So, for the ones of concerned readers, we’re fine. We’ve been doing lots of non-house-blog-documentable things like regular house maintenance, and I just didn’t think anyone wanted to read about how I mowed the lawn this weekend. We’ve also been doing more fun stuff like going to our 6-year-old niece’s baseball game, re-reading Harry Potter in preparation for new and improved Harry Potters, and sitting in the hammock. Merideth and her tools have been mildly sidetracked with building patio furniture, which I’m sure she’ll share if it comes out cool.
During this non-posting period, we’ve been discussing how best to tackle the next projects. It’s the calm before the storm! Or rather, the calm before the slight fog or misting rain.
Peter Gallagher eyebrows. With no mirror in which to look at myself closely, things got a little, as Beth says “grinchy.” Fortunately as of last night we have not only the new, improved, huger, over-the sink mirror installed, but a vintage-style pull-out shaving-mirror as well. Let me tell you, this thing is a must-have for those of us who can be a little…um…eyebrow-focused. (That was a lot of hyphens.)
As if to prove that my time spent with the new mirrors was well-spent, Beth later, while talking to me of other things, said “Wow, your eyebrows look great.” So take that Sandy Cohen!
