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Just wanted to post some photos… Sorry if you thought this was a “real” post. I was goofing around trying to make the photos into an animation, and accidentally posted it!

 

mathew ordered 30 lbs of new screws from mcfeely’s. they use a special square drive bit. they arrived today. i’m looking forward to working with these.

it still hasn’t really sunk in that this house is ours. walking or driving up to the house is strange. sometimes when i’ve been working on the computer for awhile, when i get up to walk around i’ve forgotten where i am.

as mathew walked home wednesday night he forgot to turn right onto our street and discovered a bakery that makes yummy bread pudding and walnut bread.

today is the day of the dead, a mexican holiday to honor and celebrate the deceased. there is an annual procession that walks down 24th and 25th streets and this year for some reason it came down our street. we watched from our steps as hundreds of people walked past our house carrying candles, wearing costumes, dancing, chanting and playing drums. there were bands, children, bicycles, strollers and even a float. there are altars set up at garfield park where people are encouraged to add flowers and photos of loved ones who have died.

here is the altar i put together to celebrate friends and family we have lost.

from left to right: adam and gisela bittleston – mathew’s grandparents; paul chisholm – a childhood friend of mathew; phillis and jim skellam – mathew’s grandparents; rick skellam – mathew’s uncle; winfred jang – janeen’s grandfather; ‘gung-gung’ andy chan – janeen’s grandfather; debbie kim – a high school friend of janeen; wil mckissock – a high school friend of janeen and mathew; yuen c.m. jang – janeen’s ‘bau-po’ great aunt, and the reason janeen’s father was able to move to the united states as a child; david kessler – a high school friend of janeen and mathew; greg gize – a childhood friend of janeen.

we finally got to visit urban ore in berkeley and it was pretty amazing. and overwhelming. our plan was to go take a look around to see what we could get there, before buying new. if you have time and want to save stuff from landfill, you can sell your old stuff or buy something discounted here. they have everything. we didn’t try selling old things yet (though we are building up a collection).

so many toilets. we’ll be back for one eventually. a field of tubs. even fancy ones with claw feet.

sinks that reminded me of easter eggs. and the one sink we almost bought. but in the end realized it wasn’t really us.

windows, windows and more windows!

doors! and fancy doors.

glass victorian doorknobs that i love (we might need some more of those) and really old antique ones.

even an industrial espresso machine that mathew had to get a closer look at. and an original built-in cabinet (hiding behind something) that we might go back for. (i’m crazy about built-ins.)

funky old lamps. cool antique vanities. they even sell clothing, books, records, golf clubs… it’s amazing how much people throw “away.”

after all that we bought a plain white kohler sink and a small, glass, pendant lampshade. as we were leaving i found this vanity sink (above, left) i think i have to have (last night i checked the measurements and it’s exactly the size we need downstairs.) we stopped to have dinner at breads of india.

returning to our city, with the smallest sliver of a moon i’ve ever seen (do you see it to the left?) next stop: lowe’s, where they seemed to be out of everything we wanted… where the employees are nice, but know nothing…

“two dads moving company”

left: daniel and mathew moving the blue chair. right: pre-lunch snacks provided by mom.

mae and stef arrived just in time for lunch. and they brought homemade curry noodles and spring rolls! they even helped move a carload full of stuff. aren’t we supposed to provide the food? our volunteers are too good to us.

after lunch we had a quick visit from mike (visiting from spain) and chris. (sorry, no photos.)

when the 3 cars were unloaded everyone but my parents were set free to enjoy the rest of their sunday. alex showed up at the old apartment to help with the final load (again, sorry, no photos, but he was wearing neon green and his hair was very enthusiastic…)

homeowners.

this is what exhaustion looks like.

we’ve moved. everything is in boxes.

big hugs and thanks to all of our amazing moving helpers: dad-daniel, daddy-john, mom-judy, mae, stef and special guest appearance from alex. we couldn’t have done it all today without all of your help. and thank you to mae and stef for the yummy home cooked lunch.
our dsl won’t be activated till tomorrow afternoon. i’m at the apartment and the camera cable is at the house, so photos soon…

we’re moving in this weekend!

it feels like craziness: we’ll be moving into the rooms on the main floor, while we continue to work on upstairs. on top of that, we have a visit to popo (janeen’s grandmother) today (saturday) and next week the whole family is going on a week-long vacation. nice timing, eh?