Author Archives: cherethomas

Craziness at Sea!

Looks like somebody’s having fun.

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Sambora!

Alo at toddler class. “Sambora” is Arabic for penis. Of course Alo pointed that out – an advantage of being a multi lingual toddler. I didn’t even know they made dolls with “appendages.”

Here he is with some of his new friends.

A couple weeks ago Robb, Akuch & Alo met up with Robb’s friend Dwall and family.

My memory of Dwall is that he’s super nice and a really funny guy.

Bruce in his office (Bill’s garage).

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Catching up

Backtracking a little, here are some photos Jen sent me over the last couple weeks.

The weather’s been GREAT for a January. I’m sure glad we live where the weather generally stays nice year-round. Word has it we may be in for a little rain next week. In the meantime, Maya and Sparty enjoy some outdoor fun.

All great photos for my 2016 family calendar!

Sparty plays Peek-A-Boo.

Maya is a child after my own heart for sure – such a tomboy! This girl is fearless. She will do anything, and will stick with it until she gets the concept. In gymnastics they’re working on handstands where they put their hands on the floor, then walk their feet up the wall. At one point, she pushed her feet away from the wall and dropped backwards (a backbend from handstand!). She’s now also doing a backwards handstand/somersault, sliding over a large cushion – by herself! She will climb on the cushion, roll onto her back, slide her hands to the floor, then flip her legs/feet to the floor. I don’t carry my phone/camera during the class because it requires a lot of supervision, and I prefer to focus my attention on keeping Maya excited and motivated. You can take my word for it… she’s a little monkey. Fun, fun, fun.

After gymnastics, we had lunch at Nati’s with Papa Bill (sorry, no photo). I missed it last week because I had that stupid cold.

Bruce makes a rolling workbench his temporary office at 4754CM.

Here are “after” photos of the lifting of the floor at the front side of the living room. You can see where the concrete was poured for the new footings.

Bruce is working hard to get this job done. There’s still a LOT of work to do, but progress is being made. I’ll be heading there a little later to take more photos.

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Cluck Cluck

Alo’s already making friends in SF. He went to a birthday party for his friend Annie, and she has chickens!

He looks so much older and it’s only been three weeks since he’s been gone.

On a side note, Bruce found a DEAL on a shower/tub enclosure for 4754. He sent me these photos.

I suppose it’ll look better when it’s installed.

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Pure Sweetness

Last week Jen took the kids to the children’s museum & sent me these photos.

Beep Beep!

This morning Bruce and I spent 3+ hours at Home Depot working out the kitchen floor plan, cabinets and countertops for 4754 CM. With 15% off on all the cabinets and 10% off on the countertops, we saved a ton of $$ and came in under budget.

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4754 Progress Report #1

A lot of progress these last two weeks – Debri removal and demo, and today, finishing the righting of the floor in the living room where it had sunk at the front wall.

I realize these pictures don’t look as though progress is moving forward, but great strides have been made. Bruce has been working his behind off, leaving the house before 8am, and returning home after dark every day. He’s spent many hours supervising, researching online, calling contractors to schedule meetings to get bids on framing, plumbing, windows and siding, supervising, meetings at Home Depot and Lowe’s to get plans in place for the kitchen layout, cabinets and counter tops, and did I mention supervising?

Here are photos of the front wall area where the floor had to be lifted using hydrolic jacks. The big beam that runs across the front is the “new” beam.

On the outside:

On the inside:

Then there’s the bathroom. The floor had to be pulled up because of all the rot, and it was discovered the plumbing was so bad, it all had to be redone (the plumber is all done, by the way). Final plans include removing the window at the alley (1st photo below) and moving the tub/shower along the east wall where the existing window will remain (2nd photo below). It will make the room look bigger and will be more space wise.

It doesn’t look like a bathroom, but here are the “post plumber” photos:

Here’s what’s left of the bathroom floor.

And lastly, some of the old pipes.

Here’s outside the bathroom on the east side by the alley near Bill’s driveway.

Isn’t this all so exciting?

On another note, I found out today one of my long-time childhood friends, Jeanie Campbell, fka Jeanie Graham, has been diagnosed with Lymphoma. She’s been equipped with a “port” and will start chemo next week – every 3 weeks six times. The prognosis is good that she may be curable.

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Cheers!

… and piano lessons.

Actually, Akuch is the one taking piano lessons and giving Alo some instructions.

We Skyped Robb, Akuch & Alo Sunday night. They’re planning a drive to SD the 2nd week of February. Robb has a week off – his first of two Spring Breaks. It would be nice to get a family photo when they’re here if we can coordinate with everyone.

We have a port-a-potty!!

The crew worked all day yesterday cleaning out all the junk & some demo, and looks like they’ve got another day or so ahead of them to finish that task.

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Peppermint Patty!!

The best part of Nati’s with Papa Bill is having Peppermint Patties for dessert.

When we visited Friday, Maya was running around the house with her headlamp on. It was so cute, except when she was looking directly at me, blinding me …

Maya and Sparty play so nicely together. Maya just loves him.

… and who wouldn’t?

On a side note to Grandma, today marks the day an outhouse arrives and the demo guys show up to begin removing all the trash, junk & mess left behind from the previous tenants at 4754. Bruce thinks it could take a couple days to get it cleaned out & the walls demo’d for new electrical and insulation.

Out of respect, I won’t post any “before” photos, but rather will post ongoing photos of the cleaned up premises and work as it moves along so you can see the progress. We’ve made a couple decisions during your absence we think you’ll approve of (mostly to do with the kitchen), and hopefully by the time you return, we’ll have a close-to-finished product. It’s my understanding Cindi will begin work in the loft next week while work downstairs in the bathroom, etc. is going on. Bruce has been working hard pricing, getting estimates, interviewing workers, etc. I think he’s enjoying being a general contractor.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!