me and one small blue heeler

studio sink

2008-06-29T22:03:00.004-04:00

i just bought this 1930's farm sink for the studio on eBay... for $10!!! now i just have to find someone(s) to go to fall river to pick it up with me. it's supposed to weigh about 300lbs, yikes.

genu-INE I-talian sink

2008-06-26T20:41:00.006-04:00

just picked myself up this sink i bought on eBay today, i drove very far to get it (because i am on a budget) the sink was very reasonable (read: cheap), but looks awesome and came straight from italy. and it must be italian, it says frah-gee-lay on the box. i also eBayed myself this nice little faucet for it that looks totally money (but wasn't). the whole shebang will look perfect-o with the fortunato (which isn't actually made in italy, but instead in china, oh well, who cares, it looks rockin').

hark...

2008-06-19T09:23:00.003-04:00

what is that which i spy through the woods?....

why it's ryan and justin, and they are building things!!!!!

still waiting

2008-06-10T10:25:00.010-04:00

in the meantime, i went over to the bay to try and find ryan and instead found a large box outside my door. i pushed it into the garage bay and started to open it. well, at first glance i thought i had indeed found ryan, and someone had encased him in a block of foam and shipped him to me in this box, so i was careful to cut the foam away....

but still no ryan, it's the fortunato though!

waiting

2008-06-06T12:23:00.009-04:00

so i have been trying to do what i can around the lot. i brought a load of gravel up from the hole to the driveway. i am collecting smooth rocks and bringing them up by hand to the driveway to create a cobblestone type area. i am doing the same right in front of the house, t try and ward off erosion. i have raked a bunch of the hill and spread erosion control seed there. and tried to spread some wild flowers in front of the neighbors septic pipes to block my view. don't forget the 16 hours of troweling that went into the foundation exterior.

the writing on the wall

2008-05-29T16:24:00.013-04:00

semper verus ad finem fidelis
always true and faithful to the end

ulula cum canis, cum quibus esse cupis
one who howls with dogs, is with whom one desires to be
original motto is lupis, not canis

sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc
we gladly feast on those who would subdue us
(motto of the addams family, which friday and i will be adopting,
and, did you all know that wednesday's middle name was friday?)

qui me amat, amat et canem meam
love me, love my dog

been a real shitty few weeks

2008-05-22T17:44:00.012-04:00

but i suppose it's about time i start to update this again. i half joked with ryan about how the property should be called heartbreak hill. he quickly corrected me and said no, call it 'new beginnings'. he has been through the ringer too, but at least he still can say things like that. so here's to new beginnings and ryan starting the whole shebang next week, we should be moving right along and have a lot of updates soon.

in the meantime, here are pics of some things that i have now, including the above pic of my very first set of keys to something that i (and fred) own. i am also posting a pic of the fancy I-talian toilet i just bought on ebay... where i am also trying to buy my hotwater heater, furnace and whatever i can get my hands on there.

below are my windows, my huge tracks of sliders, the front door you will pass through on your way into mi casa, and that crazy european commode. and as an aside, i am planning on getting the least expensive toilet out there for the downstairs studio, i have found it, and can you believe that american standard actually makes a toilet they call, you ready?, the plebe.

this is NOT the plebe

wall and roof panels

2008-04-24T15:03:00.001-04:00

earth day

2008-04-24T09:15:00.001-04:00

i completely forgot to mention that my green kit house arrived on earth day! how perfect!

good luck, sucker

2008-04-23T08:56:00.025-04:00

...the last words spoken to me (in jest, i hope) from noah on the phone as the kit rolled away from him and toward me.

ryan asked if i got a lot of 'action shots' of the unloading... and here you go.

the truck

the kit

the inspection (nice ink)

the unloading

a man

a machine

a man, a machine and my straw walls

and i got a boatload of crap (which i am sure is only the beginning) from both of them about being the g.c.
the thermasteel panels are en route and should be here tomorrow.

and finally...

jimmy is a good man. and ryan keeps me laughing.

go go gadget green

2008-04-19T10:52:00.008-04:00

i got an email this morning from noah saying...

Jen,
I spoke with a researcher who is looking for "green" projects around Boston for a new Discovery Channel show called Planet Green. They are interested in your house. They would highlight you and your in-progress house, with discussion of the green aspects to your home - everything, including the kitchen sink!

of course my first reaction was "if mike rowe is hosting it then i have already died and am on my way to heaven." well, it's steve thomas (aka this old house)... at least my domestic bliss won't be in jeopardy if this comes to be a reality.

the kit and stuff is coming, gulp!, on tuesday. here are some pics of part of my house sitting at their shop waiting to go on a truck to jimmy's shop.

rafters!

and, uh, stuff!

behold! the bible of noble

2008-04-12T08:46:00.002-04:00

...sent to me to by noah, to study and learn from. a second one also arrived, so that i might spread the teachings.

like glass!

2008-04-02T16:38:00.003-04:00

unfortunately i only had my cell phone with me, but here is my gleaming studio floor! i love it. i hope the upstairs floor looks this good!

thank you ainsley!

slab is beautiful

2008-03-28T12:37:00.004-04:00

these pics aren't so great because it was raining and the dude was cutting the scores, but i looked closely at it and it is GORGEOUS.

stupid mailbox

2008-03-27T07:56:00.002-04:00

i got my very first piece of mail in my new mailbox yesterday. it was a real estate tax bill.

anyway. today the slab is supposed to be poured. hooray. and i would be over there chronicling it if i didn't need to get my ass in gear and pack up more stuff to bring to storage, get my truck inspected, oil changed etc. and some painting done. i should be able to get over there at some point before dark.

so, here we are, half way through march

2008-03-19T15:18:00.006-04:00

i am getting an application for gas service in the mail. the plumbing inspector is due at the lot on friday, so anytime after that the slab can be poured. money is pretty much non-existent. i am completely convinced it will all fall into place though (i can't think otherwise or i would have a breakdown). the scheduled date for the kit's arrival is april 15th (i also owe a good chunk of change to the fed that day).

i met the former owner of the land the other day. she was so great. i loved her.

i am also in the process of trying to move all my stuff out of my current space by the end of march. thank god for my knight in shining armor, as shannon calls him. my temporary studio (and furniture storage) is in a very nice big and bright industrial bay in eastham that i am renting from raquel and jason. and lou, thanks for the moving help so far.

below is a pic of my kitchen sink. i bought it from a good good friend, for much less than it should have been. it's giant. it's an antique soapstone double bowl farm sink. and it weighs 250 lbs. um. help?

!!!!!

2008-03-14T14:23:00.000-04:00

let's put all this foundation business behind us

2008-03-11T12:06:00.010-04:00

this morning i met with kevin and ira... and they were very patient with the 'unconventional' plans. we'll make it all work, i'm sure. i also spoke to junior and he is gonna throw the two ground rods in sometime this week. so the slab should be able to happen next week.

things to look forward to...

2008-02-23T16:43:00.003-05:00

http://brengelmannoblehome.blogspot.com/
checking out their blog has me completed excited to move past all this foundation business and get this show on the road! ryan, you have to check this out because there are a lot of little tricks that they are discovering that will help down the road.

as of today

2008-02-23T13:21:00.007-05:00

i spoke to kenny about waterproofing. everyone on cape knows about my foundation. it has a bad rep. anyway, he is checking it out. i went over this morn and shoveled dirt away from the foundation. i also noticed that the gas lines were already marked on the far side of the street where we need to go for the electric. there's a pole directly across from the small cleared drive jimmy put in for utility trenches. still need to get ahold of the water dept. to see where the water main is. but the kit is ordered and unless the foundation is condemned i suppose we are moving forward. here's the pole for posterity, and the number.

the foundation fairy

2008-02-09T17:08:00.001-05:00

the one positive note

2008-02-08T12:23:00.001-05:00

in a complete reversal of her former self, friday is actually starting to like contractors.

the issues

2008-02-06T13:46:00.002-05:00

many things in the works

2008-01-31T14:11:00.000-05:00

well. the foundation is poured. the waterproofing is ordered and going on next week. the foundation survey is ordered. as soon as that stuff happens the foundation needs to get inspected, then the electric can get ordered. the footwork is under way to get a good price on moling under the street for electric. the plumbing pipe is supposed to be dug-in next week. and the joists and framing is about to begin (as soon as i get the as-built approved). i need to find out from ryan if he needs me to get the corrugated flooring that goes over the joists and takes the cement before backfilling takes place. still haven't ordered the kit (gulp!). here's what it looks like right now.

here's a close-up of the ICF's (insulated concrete forms). they look just like styrofoam packing material. because basically that's what it is.

so actually work did continue today...

2008-01-29T16:38:00.000-05:00