New Photos

Finished all the blocks of squares for my afghan.  Now all I have to do is sew them together.  It's tedious work, but I want to get it done.  I have to stay motivated.

We had spring-like weather this Sunday.  It got close to 70 degrees.  Pretty purple and orange flowers bloomed in my front yard.  It's supposed to freeze tonight.  I hope they don't die.  Lots of neighbors were outside and I had a chance to meet and chat.  It's a very friendly neighborhood.  I feel like I fit right in.

I've been trying to get healthier.  I need to lose a lot of weight.  I've been eating better and going for walks around my neighborhood.  It's fairly hilly and I'm really out of shape - a perfect combination for a good workout.  After about 15 minutes I'm ready to die.  That's my limit.  I plan on increasing about five minutes a week until I can walk comfortably for at least half an hour.  I'm also going to join the YMCA.  The extra weight is hell on my joints and I find that I have a lot more stamina in the pool.  I took photos of the lovely homes on one of my recent walks.  Creighton Ave is very close to my place and it has lots of historic homes.

I'm going to my first meet-up in Pittsburgh this Thurs.  It's at a jazz club.  Here are the details:

...networking along with lively jazz/blues performed by vocalist Jessica Lee, Mark Strickland (guitar), Jay Willis (sax), Dave Pellow (bass) along with other musicians, including a special Chinese erhu performance by Mimi Jong.

"Spring in the City" panelists include:

-- Jeremy Waldrup, President and CEO, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership

-- Renee Piechocki, Office of Public Art/Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

-- Andy Kirtland, Associate Artistic Director, Unseam'd Shakespeare

-- Mimi Jong, Music Programming Manager, Silk Screen Asian Arts & Cultural Organization

--Connie Brinda, Co-Founder/Finance Director, Prime Stage Theatre

It seems like a good introduction to what's happening in the arts here in Pittsburgh.  Plus I can meet locals who share my interests.

Afghan & Remodeling Progress

My afghan is growing and renovations are finished in my second floor laundry room.

You can see my bird pillow on my bed. I brought it back in my suitcase from SF the last time I was there. I think it fits right in and adds some color variety. Without it, there's too much orange and blue. I'm planning to remove the wallpaper and paint the walls a medium charcoal grey. It's a good neutral that should balance all the color and pattern in the room.  And it will go well with other color schemes if I ever want to change things up.

For the past two years in SF we've had to go to the laundromat.  Because our place is set back from the street we had to walk about half a block with bags of laundry just to get to the little community laundromat where we'd often have to wait to use the (only four) machines. Or, we had to walk about a block to get to the car to go to the bigger laundromat in the plaza. I had my own washer and dryer in the garage when we lived in Redwood City.  While convenient, they were right next to the pet door to the yard so the floor was never clean. God forbid you dropped a piece of wet clothing on the floor.  In my Crafton home at the end of the hall on the second floor there is a small room about the size of a large walk-in closet. It shares a wall with bathroom making it the ideal spot for a laundry room. Thanks to the work of Jim and his assistants from Matt Mertz Plumbing the transformation to laundry room is complete. I am in heaven. I did three loads of laundry the night it was finished. So easy.  No more stairs. No more laundromat. No more dirty garage. More than any other renovation I'll do on this house, I'm going to love this one the most. I'll bet if I ever sell this place the fact that it has a second floor laundry room will seal the deal for any woman (or man who does the laundry) who sees the place.

Running the various lines for the washer and dryer entailed opening up the walls in my kitchen. Not a problem because I will be remodeling that next. I've met with five different contractors and got two bids. Luckily, the bids were from the two contractors I liked the best. Even though I used to work for a home remodeling company, it still is a shock to see what it will cost to do what I want.  I've scaled back a bit and have chosen a contractor.  It's very different to be on the client side of things. I have to remember the total cost of the house and all the renovations is less than half what you'd pay for a 2 bdr, 1 ba fixer upper in San Francisco. And people wonder why I moved.

I had the bathtub faucets fixed. There was nothing where the tub spigot is now. According to the plumber that round white cap on the wall of the tub was where the spigot once was. It had been capped off years ago. The only way to fill the tub was to run the shower. Now I can take a bath or a shower. There are a lot of little things that need to be done to finish this bathroom including some minor tile repair and then painting the trim and the radiator which are now a brilliant Kelly Green.  I was told that modern subway tile won't work in my bathroom because the old tile didn't have a beveled edge.  I was ready to hunt down old tile at Construction Junction, but the tile Gods were with me.  I found a stack of the original subway tile in my basement.  My contractor is thrilled.  Other than that there's a bunch of stuff left to install:

• new faucets for the pedestal sink
• a shower curtain rod 
• towel bars and shelving
• ceiling light fixture
• hand-held shower head

I can't wait until it's all finished and I can post pictures.  It really is a special room.  Subway tile covers every inch of all four walls and the ceiling.  There's unglazed hexagonal porcelain tile on the floor and an incredible stained glass window.  It must have been the equivalent of a modern luxury spa style bathroom in its day.