Our afternoon with Ezra

On Saturday afternoon, we got to spend a wonderful afternoon w/ our favorite nephew.  Click here for photos of our fun day with Ezra.

For those of you who are simply interested in our kitchen, the latest update is below (including photos).

What a week!

So we apologize for the lack of photographic updates to the blog.  It's been quite a week.  We survived the Great Israeli Countertop Scandal of 2008 and have suddenly found ourselves with a functioning kitchen!

The counters went in last Thursday.  The backsplash tile also went in last Thursday.  On Friday the plumber came to hook up the appliances. (Sadly, he had to come back on Saturday -- but that's neither here nor there.)  The plumber should be coming back on Monday to hook the water/ice line up for the fridge and to put our much-needed heat in.   At some point, the electrician needs to come back to finish the lights.  The hood also needs to be put up. We assume that's happening in the very near future.

But as you can see -- we've got a kitchen!  The pictures don't quite do it justice.

We have counters!

We apologize for the lack of pictures, but we are happy to report that we do in fact have countertops!

And, we love the last minute substitution more than the original one we picked out.

Fingers crossed that our appliances go in today. We will post pictures over the weekend!

Countergate

So hopefully, countergate is coming to an end. We met with Joe on Tuesday morning, to select new counters. Needless to say, we're sticking with non-Israeli counters, as apparently the counter top industry in Israel is in the middle of a crisis. Oy vey.

Anyhow -- we've moved onward to a coffee brown silestone, a material which which should match the kitchen quite well. Apparently, it's somewhat environmentally friendly quartz. The current plan is for the counters to be installed on Thursday, with the plumber coming on Friday to get us functional.

Why you should always buy American...

So if you've been keeping track, things have gone very smoothly with the kitchen, except for the countertops. The plot thickened today when we found out that the replacement for the original material had a similar streak in it as the first. Turns out, the material is fabricated in Israel. So if we want to wait for a fresh piece, we're talking 6 to 9 months. Thus, tomorrow we will pick out a new countertop.

Schlueter Strips

In an effort to avoid our continued posting about nothing in light of the delays... we can proudly report that we have received our schlueter strips. Yup. That's right. We have a set of schlueter strips in our living room, waiting to be installed.

What, you ask, are schlueter strips? They are apparently strips that will be the edge of the backsplash tile. Not very exciting. But we've got 'em!

Joe (the designer) was at the house this morning. Counters are now supposed to be installed either Monday or Tuesday, and then -- as soon as the plumber comes -- we'll hopefully have a functioning, though not finished, kitchen.

Not to sound like a broken record...

But we are really at a stand still now. The material for our counters was not up to snuff when the company received it so they are not going to fabricate the counters with it. Which means about another week. SO sad. But it's still been less stressful than we thought so we can't complain that much (Dan, who was the messenger of this news this morning, however, might disagree with the concept of me not complaining about it!).

Second in a series of...

...movie reviews.

Dan indulged my need to see Sex and the City this weekend and didn't even make fun of me for crying through the ENTIRE movie - through happy and sad, hysterical and dark. It was quite an emotional roller coaster if you had invested 5 or so years of your life (as had I) with Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. And I think that is what made it fabulous. If you hadn't invested those years, been through everything with them like they were your own best girlfriends, then it will probably fall short for you. But it is important to note that it is pretty dark - at one point Dan turned to me and used the word "depressing." They rally though, like only those girls can!

A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of saying that the bond between women goes "deeper" than the men they love - I am still atoning for that I think. And that's not what I meant... A movie like Sex and the City though does illustrate that very special bond between women and their friends that goes beyond the men they love. It's a different bond, but a powerful one nonetheless. (Hopefully, I won't get in trouble for that adjective!)

The acting was pretty good, the fashion was to die for (and I don't even like fashion), and the story a little long. All in all, worth it if you love Sex and the City. If you don't, you might want to skip it.

Update... Sort of.

So we've hit our first set back - the counters, which were supposed to go in yesterday (Monday), are delayed until Thursday, so we are really at a stand still now. That said, we are hoping the plumber can hook everything up Friday so that we are at least functional while other finish work takes place. There is a little more electrical to do, but we are close on that front as well.

Sorry for the lack of pics, but there really isn't much noticeable change to photograph. (BRAND NEW MOLDING just doesn't really come through the computer!) Stay tuned, but probably no updates until Thursday night.

Now no pictures... and no progress

We seem to have hit a standstill.

There is no news. We do not think anyone was here today. Except for Mr. or Ms. Verizon -- who fixed our phone service. Phew. If only Mr./Ms. Verizon could install countertops and finish the plumbing/electrical. Then we'd be golden.

Progress Without Pictures...

So in the sty that is our house right now we can't find our camera... and due - we think - to the storms that swept through the area yesterday, we don't have phone or internet.

Thus, we thought we'd pass along the progress the old fashion way... by word of mouth :-)

Our new refrigerator is plugged in (albeit without the water hooked up) and the old one has been taken away (may it rest in peace). The new microwave we bought over the weekend is sitting on it's own personal shelf, and both the dishwasher and range are in place, though not hooked up, as the plumber needs to do that. The new radiator is sitting in front of its assigned wall also awaiting the plumber.

Additionally, the dust wall and all the dust mats that were covering the floors are gone so cleaning can happen soon. The contractor thinks we may be done (with the exception of some minor fixes) by the end of next week (for those keeping track, that would be the end of week 4).

Hopefully, we will find our camera and Verizon will fix our service today (I think the former is more likely than the latter).

We're absolutely floored!!!!

Literally.

It truly is a historic day in America. The great divide has been bridged. It's amazing. No longer will anyone be able to look at our floor and see plywood. It's been tiled.

Actually, the kitchen really looks a lot like a kitchen. We've got the new flooring, the dishwasher is in place (though not hooked up), and most of the molding has been finished. The counters are in progress, and are supposed to be installed next Monday. There's still a lot to be done, but they seem to think we could be nearing completion by the end of next week!







But we still have 2 fridges in the living room... which should we use?!?!??!?!

Housing Crisis?!?!?!

Despite the fact that the WCPHD Honorary Kitchen Project continues, that doesn't hide the fact that there is still a crunch in the housing market these days. For an in-depth, hard-nosed interview with the CEO of Freddie Mac that aired on C-SPAN this weekend, click here. See if anyone looks familiar.

But back to our kitchen...
As of last night we had hardware on the cabinets, and we have been told that they measured for the counter yesterday (which takes about a week to fabricate).

And, we learned this morning that it's not a bunch of house elves that do the work, as we met one of the carpenters. We might have a floor later today!!

non sequitors

So it's been a quiet weekend on the kitchen front. But that doesn't mean we don't have lots of other news and exciting tidbits to share!

On Friday, the U.S. District Court in Washington ruled (and correctly so) in the voting case Dan worked on at Wilmer. Click here to read the story from Saturday's Washington Post about the case. Or, if you're really brave -- click here for the opinion. It's a bit of a long read!

On Saturday, we went to visit little Ezra. He's getting big! And after our visit with Ezra, well... it was just Manny being Manny. We went to the Sox/Orioles game, and saw Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run.

Stay tuned... we're hoping for more excitement this week!