HELP!!!!!

I am taking color suggestions for the front door to the school (anything but orange or saffron). I photoshopped some options that i don't necessarily like. Please send me any and all ideas to match (or contrast) the puke green building.

guess which makes me smile....

We're Floored!

Ah, the feeling of a new foundation, sealed with new smooth floor and no more excavation-like dirt. Flashback to the month of May, when construction started along with our delusions of "a little rouge & mascara" -- just a coat of paint and we'll be ready to go. HA! It's been a journey, a practice in itself to reach this precious point of the remodel. We survived one nightmare contractor, a small earthquake while the building was finely "braced", re-permitting and the city planning office, and arguments too numerous to mention. City life for these country mice has been quite the adventure! I've never celebrated a floor before, but this one was worth the bottle of bubbly we shared Wednesday night!

Radiant!

With JW on the job, along with our new guy Tony, things are finally moving. And although they retied re-bar several times one sweaty Saturday to meet my very Virgo's very high standards, the last bit was twisted and the radiant heat tubings were laid this week for an eventual warm and cozy concrete floor (if that's at all possible). Above see the "finishing room" through the slats...a staircase will eventually lead up to and down from it.

Tree Time

With a lot of help from FUF -- Friends of the Urban Forest -- and Farmer John, of course, Page Street is sprouting new greens: two Olives and two Primrose, planted last week (in the midst of a Pacific Gas & Electric sidewalk mess).

Dog Day Afternoon

The Dig

When I was 18, I spent the summer on an archeological dig in Israel. Now, this here ain't no Promised Land, I realize, but as I stomp through the sandy floor of the school-to-be, and John presents an old blue Bromo Seltzer bottle that the guys uncovered, the Tel d'Or dig comes to mind.

If the foundation issues weren't enough, we also discovered that the main sewer drain pipe was completely corroded. I don't have to describe what was flowing out of the cracks and into the dirt.

I got into it with Michael's Pit Stop this morning, a patient, sweet older man who calls me yalla,an endearing arabic term, I hope. Anyone? We inappropriately invaded his toilet, which is sitting on rotten wood and has pipes we needed to relocate. oops! He, like we, is less than happy.

But today is a good day, after all, as we finally let go of the contractor -- YIPPEEEEE!! and have an honest, hard-working guy to finish this endless and relentlessly painful job.