turtle goes to new york and other adventures…

a couple weeks ago mathew flew to new york to visit his brother misha and to attend a party celebrating misha and aja’s birthdays.

siblings! (left) misha, mathew and leo, visiting from harvard. (right) leo and mathew.

(left) misha and aja. (right) misha and mathew.

(left) pretty snow covered trees. (right) a snowy, mathew-made eight two.

eight two and misha. (misha, you can download the original photos by clicking these photos. xoxo)

(left) someone putting up a lost puppy, eight two, music flyer.

(left) mathew and misha. (right) aja, misha and mathew’s hat.

(left) when mathew returned home late one night, bella was so excited she jumped onto a shelf then up above the closets! but she needed mathew’s help to get down. (right) the girls playing with our organic delivery box. can you see bella peeking out?

(left) bella loves to jump onto us, climb onto our shoulders and try to get onto doors! ack. she’s extremely ambitious. before mathew left for new york he made the mistake (?) of helping bella get on top of a door then letting her explore an overhead bedroom cabinet. ever since then, whenever she has the chance she will jump onto our shoulders, chests and heads in the hope that she will be allowed to explore that cabinet again. unless we’re wearing sweaters, it can be quite painful!

and the work continued that weekend. here we are priming steps that will become our new side entrance stairs. the weekend before going to new york, mathew and my dad cut these together.

the following weekend mathew decided to try out a crazy plan for getting a new rain water collection barrel into the back yard. it’s bigger than our other barrels and didn’t fit through the door leading to the backyard. so the obvious solution? hoist it over the fence! (left) here’s the ladder ready for me. (right) mathew on the other side of the fence with the barrel. fortunately no one was parked in that spot that afternoon.

(left) my view from the ladder. (right) can you see me in the shadows? i’m holding that huge barrel up with rope! of course there are no photos showing how the barrel got into that position… if there were photos, they would show mathew on the ladder pulling the ropes up while i held them tight. after he took this photo he carried the ladder around the block to the other side of the fence where he pushed the barrel up and over the fence while i gently let the barrel down into our yard.

(left) the last bit wasn’t so gentle as it landed with a thud onto some plants… my dad and our neighbor thought we were nuts for attempting this! but it worked! (right) clothes line poles!

we decided to swap out my grandmother’s daybed with this very modern and comfortable convertible sofa bed. we got it at a local furniture store, the box called it “click clack sofa bed.” it clicks up to form a sofa and clicks down to form a bed.

and over the last few weeks mathew has been finishing a box to hold my dad’s tile saw.  the wood box replaces a cardboard one and also supports the tile saw when in use. we’re gotten some good use out of this tool over the years. mathew had me design the top. only after he finished routing and carving it did he tell me that originally he was thinking it would just have some simple letters or words. of course mathew is always up for a challenge! my parents were really pleased with the end result.

now who’s the turtle?

progress has been happening on the house, i just haven’t been very fast about documenting it. all i can say is: the kittens sure take a lot of my time!

in january before mathew’s mom left, she helped mathew paint his workbench ORANGE. sue also did some planting in our garden.

we’ve been working on lots of miscellaneous things around the house. but finally it was time for the NEW DOOR! i think we’ve had it sitting in our garage for 12 months. mathew was intimidated by the idea of working on it, getting it to fit into the existing door frame, making sure it seals well, attaching the new hardware, staining and polyurethaning it… the whole process took about three weekends and some week days.

(above left) it started with carrying it upstairs. (it’s HEAVY.) then taking off the old door and pushing the new one into place, planing sides to make it fit and checking the fit, over and over again.

(above right) after that was done mathew chiseled out spaces for the hinges.

once the door fit into place, the hardware (pretty!) was attached and then the door frame was reworked, sanded and repainted.

next the door was taken back down to the garage, sanded, stained and polyurethaned. i think mathew said the exterior side got 6 coats of poly!

ta-da! (right) mathew even installed this automatic weather strip on the bottom of the door. it involved cutting out a groove and inserting this metal contraption that when you close the door, it actually pushes down on the floor. mathew had to plane down the hardwood floor threshold because it was interfering with the weather strip. of course, that involved sanding and re-polyurethaning that section of the floor…

since mathew is self-employed again, it leaves some weekday afternoons to do things like… tear up the sidewalk! the city of san francisco has been going around tagging sidewalk squares, encouraging homeowners to repair cracks themselves. if they choose not to do the work, the city will do it and charge something like $80 per square! (i thought sidewalks were public, not private property.) we had quite a few tagged with white paint dots. mathew repaired the cracks and even went to the effort of renting a jackhammer and chipping out and refilling some squares. a lot of the dots are gone now and it makes us wonder, will the city approve of his work? will they even know which squares were once tagged?

meanwhile inside the house, the kittens are growing fast! here they are “helping” mathew change the fish tank water.

they get along the best when they’re asleep…

(right) arwen has now learned how to play fetch too! her toys of choice are bones i knit for her.

these little girls get into plenty of trouble! (left) we had this plastic film on our living room window, to act as a double pane until we install the new window. one day arwen figured out how to cut into it and step into a see-thru tunnel… (right) bella has proudly learned how to jump up onto the handrail above the stairs…

(left) and that also means she can jump onto counters and the fireplace. the big orchid had a bad fall but is recovering well. (right) bags and boxes are endless fun. and one night while we were watching a movie they even figured out how to push the chair cushions around to make forts and tunnels!

hope everyone is having a fun february!

10.26.10

mathew’s actual birthday was on 10.26.10. he took the day off from work and guess where he was first thing in the morning…

filling the gaps on the front of the house with bondo!

later we drove down to fremont to visit popo and she and sue had a nice time catching up.

we went to lunch at “uncle chong” and popo treated! the restaurant made a big deal out of mathew’s birthday, they played a special birthday song, everyone sang and we had a dessert of fried bananas and fortune cookies.

back at aegis gardens sue walked with popo and we thought they looked so cute talking and walking together.

as soon as we got home, guess where mathew went?! and he stayed there till the sun went down. he sanded the bondo’d areas…

…and delayed his falafel birthday dinner to stand out in the dark and paint primer on the house.

the day before, sue and i took a long walk up and over the top of san francisco (i’m not sure if it was the absolute “top” but it felt like it!) we got some nice views and some nice photos.

as i am writing this sue is sitting in our back yard “garden.” hope everyone is enjoying this autumn sunshine and warmth.

what’s new?

last friday mathew spent some time cleaning and refinishing some exterior parts of the house. (right) his ladder set-up made me a bit nervous… but it all went fine.

after removing some material that the previous owners used incorrectly to fill large gaps in the front of the house, mathew filled, sanded and preserved the old, exposed wood. this ladder set-up made me less nervous…

the wood preserver STINKS! mathew paints it on and it supposedly pulls any moisture out of the wood and hardens, sort of like artificially petrifying the wood. it turns black in the process. often this concern for exposed wood comes just before the rainy season, but it needed to be done. sadly it makes the front of the house just a little uglier. it’s currently covered in plastic and once the rain stops we can get out there and paint it.

we spent the rest of the weekend pulling up the floor covering, cleaning and moving into the office. here’s what it looks like at night. mathew says it shines like a beacon when he’s coming home (we just received our blinds and haven’t installed them yet.) the neighbors have all been watching the room’s progress and it’s gotten rave reviews.

(left) during the week i saw this car being taken away. it must have come out of one of our neighbor’s garages and i thought it was cool. i wish i could see it refinished! (right) and mathew’s mum, sue is visiting from england! she’s staying in popo’s downstairs unit and it’s nice to see her and have the space used again.

yesterday we proudly attended eva’s graduation from the samuel merritt university accelerated nursing program. and when they say “accelerated” they aren’t kidding. eva studied her butt off and is becoming an RN in only 12 months! eva is one of the sweetest, most caring and conscientious people we know; we know she will be an amazing nurse.

(left) sue, mathew, me. (right) me and eva.

mathew, daniel and eva.

it’s a big weekend/week for mathew. stay tuned for a BIG, birthday post!

finishing the office

This weekend, the office was finished enough to start using it: Only a nine month project. I vacuumed the walls, and all surfaces, then we started taking up the plastic and paper that’s been protecting the floors.

Underneath the layer of plastic is a layer of craft paper. Of course, we need to recycle everything we can, so we took all the tape off the paper as we took it up.

Sun in San Francisco? I guess there’s enough in the Mission to bleach the protective paper on the floor. It started out a mauve color and became a very pale pink (left.) The floors held up nicely, and still look fine.

Janeen took some close-ups of the ceiling, lamp, and the crystals that she had cleaned up.

After a couple of passes with caulk, and paint, the medallion melds well with the tin ceiling.

Dad, Elijah, and Eva came to visit this weekend. We all went out to one of our new favorite restaurants: Gracias Madre.

My ‘baby’ brother is now standing a good few inches taller than me. Dad, on the left, is trying to pull him down to size.

Janeen had the camera, most of the time, so she took a photo of the goofiest person in the restaurant (right).

We finished up the weekend starting to move things back into the office. Boxes that have been sitting down in our garage for almost a year. Maybe we don’t need that stuff??

Since winter is on its way, and I can’t see my finding time to get the outside of the house completely painted, I’ve decided to just touch up the bad spots. We’ll do the full repaint in spring. (left) Dumpy is really loving his smooth, clean runway.(right)

the saga continues…

happy 2010 everyone! how did turtle + mole celebrate the new year? by making a homemade ravioli dinner, going to bed early and getting up the next morning and working on the stairs! well, maybe just turtle worked on the stairs, mole was probably inside knitting.

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mathew happily showing off his giant can of bondo. if you keep buying small cans over and over again, it means you need a larger quantity!

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popo told everyone she didn’t want a big birthday party this year and that she wanted everyone to visit individually. i guess when you’re 86 you can tell people what to do and they do it. my aunt laura and uncle mike came over for lunch a couple weekends ago.

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and the following night my aunt linda, uncle joel, cousins lynne, jarrett and serena and their sons timothy and benjamin came over for their family birthday celebration. (above) the boys playing with all the noisy, scary christmas toys i “love” so much… so glad christmas is over!

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(left) aunt linda and popo. (right) popo and her fancy birthday cake.

the following weekend my parents and uncle gilbert and aunt pauline celebrated popo’s birthday again. my mom made cream puffs for dessert and popo had 3 of them! and she celebrated on her actual birth-day with uncle winston and aunt karen. i stopped taking photos because the blog was becoming all about popo and not about our remodel!

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last weekend i found mathew painting the stairs. i quickly suited up and went outside to help with the primer. it was sunny and warm while i was out there. but as we finished the primer, clouds covered the sky and rain threatened…

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…but that didn’t stop us from putting on a first coat of color! it’s looking a little smurfy right now. i think the color will improve with more coats. (it should be a medium periwinkle. and for all you non-graphic designers, that’s a blue-ish purple.) just not sure when that will happen since rain is forecast for the next 10 days… but at least this part is done and mathew can get some rest and stop worrying about the stairs rotting with every storm that comes.

we’re using a special outdoor step and patio paint that supposedly isn’t slippery when it rains.

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and we added a peephole to the door so that popo can look out when people ring the bell. we had her stand there so we could get the height just right. she is tiny! that hole was drilled at 4 feet 4.5 inches. we’re about to order a new door tomorrow, but when it comes we can drill a new hole and use this same peephole.

hope everyone is having a nice new year!

a peaceful christmas

okay, i’ll admit, this has nothing to do with the house. well, maybe a little bit, at the very end.

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my mom’s chan family christmas is always held at my aunt and uncle’s house in hercules. (left) uncle jay, popo, uncle winston, uncle mike. (right) my mom, aunt linda, aunt jackie.

uncle jay and aunt jackie stayed downstairs in popo’s unit on christmas eve and had lunch with my immediate family on christmas morning. unfortunately i forgot to take photos. 🙁

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(left to right) catching up: najia, tanya, ronny, justin.

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(left) me and mathew. mathew actually looks relaxed! (right) cousins playing “apples to apples.” i want that game!

our christmas traditions have been streamlined quite a bit over the years. my immediate family no longer has a gift exchange, so christmas morning we come together, talk and enjoy each other’s company free of gifts and waste. and with my cousins on my mom’s side we have a big white elephant game instead of a pile of presents. some of the gifts made special repeat appearances from last year. the most popular items in the game were movie tickets and chocolate.

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aunt laura, popo, aunt jackie, my mom, aunt em (hostess), aunt linda.

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my dad and uncles playing along with me. (left to right) my dad, uncle jay, uncle winston, uncle joel.

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my cousin larry loves visiting our neighborhood and often would donate his time to help us with the house. he’s recently become quite a chocolate and chocolate cake connoisseur, and although i was intimidated by his high chocolate standards, as a gift i decided to bake him a vegan chocolate cake. to my surprise, he awarded me with his 2009 “perfect” chocolate cake award! (click to read more)

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you probably wouldn’t guess it, but it was a small gathering this year. my cousins with little kids alternate attending thanksgiving and christmas so there were no little ones running around. it was a relaxing and rather peaceful day with lots of interesting conversations and laughter. if everyone had attended there would be 19 more people in this photo!

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and the day after christmas? mathew was up early and working on those stairs!

hope everyone had a peaceful and relaxing christmas.

have a safe and festive new year’s eve!

turtle + mole wishes everyone a happy and healthy 2010.
see you online,
janeen

’twas the night before christmas…

…or the day before christmas.

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there was a break in the rain and mathew was outside again working on those steps! i joke that it’s “mathew vs. mother nature” and mother nature is winning, but mathew is making good progress despite too-short breaks from the rain.

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that night we had our annual bittleston christmas eve gathering. (left to right) jim, reirin, daniel, dan, leonora and mathew. i should have had someone take a photo of me and evamarie.

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after dinner, lots of laughs.

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(left to right) eva and reirin, leo and dan.

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taking a group photo was like a comedy of errors. and all of it secretly captured on dan’s video camera…

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knit 3, purl 2, stitch 4

Janeen decided to make curtains for a friend of hers. They went out and bought hundreds of dollars worth of fabric and Janeen had the sewing machine running all weekend, dawn to dusk. [that is not true! since when do i even get up at dawn? -mole] ok, noon to night…

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Meanwhile, I went shopping… well, I got a Zephyr hood for the kitchen. The old fan was the fan that came with the house. I cleaned it and reinstalled it last year, but it had two problems: Most annoying is that it had no damper, so we basically had an open hole in our kitchen ceiling letting all the heat out; and it made a racket. I was planning to get a fan with more power, but then this one was on sale at half price. Couldn’t resist saving $200. So, finally we have a working hood in our kitchen that doesn’t sound like a ‘plane taking off.

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I am a little disappointed in the lower than expected power (the spec sheet and the store said it was 400cfm, but it feels more like 200) and the cheap feeling controls, but it works, and the lights and damper are great. The photo above left is after I’d taken out the old fan. Janeen says it makes our kitchen look like a “Real Kitchen” (above right). To test it out, I made a really spicy Indian inspired lentil dish for dinner.

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Oh, and I started working on the front steps. Bad timing, really, because rain is coming. I managed to strip the loose paint on most of the steps, but now they have no paint on them and it’s going to rain for a couple of weeks straight. Oops. Hope it doesn’t ruin the wood… Janeen says the photos look like I fell asleep on the steps.

the money pit

many years ago when we first started shopping for a house, a co-worker of mathew’s recommended we see the movie, “the money pit,” staring tom hanks and shelley long. i think she meant it as a cautionary tale. of course we never saw it. and now i keep thinking about that movie…

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(above, left.) we’ve got major plumbing drama this week. on saturday we had plumbers tear up our sidewalk, dig down to our sewer line and repair the broken pipe and connection, only to return today to test it with high pressure water and find that the clay pipe is broken further up the line… this means we need to tear up the driveway concrete leading all the way up to the house and replace all the clay pipe with cast iron. $$$$. the upside: we shouldn’t have to replace the sewer line again.

(above, right.) check me out in my super-cool accessories! respirator, goggles and ear protection: makes me feel like a star wars character. this weekend as mathew got closer to completing the upstairs bathroom plumbing, i did more scraping, sanding, moulding removal and paint stripping. have you ever tried sanding a ceiling? hard work!

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and i had my first try at plaster (with lots of help from mathew.) paint is coming soon! exciting. guess that means i should finally decide on a color.

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mathew’s work hasn’t been too photogenic, but here’s a nice shot of him removing superfluous pipe outside.