Here's our House

Thanks Elizabeth for this great picture of the house! You can see the new sidewalk and the red barn. You can also see that this was taken in the winter, before the black eyed Susans bloomed.

Yet Another Blog

http://BananaP.blogspot.com

He's arrived. Read all about it.

Door Knob Update

You will be thrilled to know that Nick has completed his door knob S.E.P.R program (Survey, Evaluate, Procure, and Re-install).

After surveying all upstairs doors and evaluating the door knob needs, he voted for door knobs that could be easily and affordably procured at Home Depot. He brought home and installed a variety of knobs - "crystal", brass, and his least favorite, cheap white metal.

I voted for white porcelain door knobs to match those already in existence in our home. Having a bit of time on my hands, I did some internet research and the cheapest porcelain knobs I found were just under $60.00.

Given the price, not including shipping, Nick rejected this option.

I adamantly rejected the crystal knobs. Lovely, yes. Affordable, of course. However, they did not go with the house. For those of you who have been here, it's a pretty simple old country house (I'm sure that's not the correct architectural description). The crystal knobs just looked too fancy for our humble abode.

This past weekend, our dear friend Elizabeth came to visit from Massachusetts. In my only non-medical outing since January 8th, we took her for a quick spin through our town. We made a brief stop at the Tomato Factory, a local antiques "mall." As we were wandering through the dozens of rooms, Elizabeth looked down and in a surprised voice said "Oh, there are your door knobs."

And, she was right. At our feet was a bucket filled to the brim with antique door knobs. Crystal knobs, wooden knobs, and our beloved porcelain knobs. We bought 2 pairs, for less than one set of new knobs would have cost us.

Nick spent the rest of the day installing knobs, planing uneven doors, and rehanging all upstair doors.

Amazingly, all upstairs doors now close and reopen easily. All have lovely antique porcelain knobs. And, our bathroom door even locks.

Thanks Nick!!

The Great Door Knob Survey

I am fortunate to be married to such a handy guy. Not only handy, but methodical. These two qualities are lovely in a spouse when the two of you own an old house.

The other night Nick was going around the house with a pad of paper, pen in hand, evaluating our door knob situation. Who knew we even had a door knob situation? Nick was concerned that some doors didn't close; others only had mismatched knobs; and that the door to our guest room - if closed - could not be opened from the inside.* (This, of course, is not very hospitable to our guest... but a tricky way for us to keep our guests visiting longer.)

The next night, Nick asked me in a very concerned voice "Did you take the door knob survey?" Door knob survey? I quickly envisioned a door knob survey:

Please rate how you like the following door knobs. Circle the appropriate number next to each knob.
5: I always like the doorknob
4: I mostly like the doorknob
3: I like the doorknob
2: I sometimes like the doorknob
1: I never like the doorknob
N/A

Downstairs Bathroom doorknob: 5 4 3 2 1 n/a
Upstairs Bathroom doorknob: 5 4 3 2 1 n/a
Bedroom doorknob: 5 4 3 2 1 n/a
Guest Room doorknob: 5 4 3 2 1 n/a
_________________________________________________________________

Well, you get the idea. I got very excited and wanted to take such a survey (anything to make bedrest more exciting). However, upon further explanation - Nick did not create an actual survey for his spouse to take - he was referring the list he made, evaluating the doorknobs. Drats.

But the project is keeping him busy. After trial and error with a few Home Depot knobs, we've realized that only porcelain knobs (see picture above) will do. Sadly, they are about $56 more than the $3 knobs from Home Depot.

So, if anyone has come across any old white porcelain knobs in their attics, we'd be very interested in taking them off your hands.



*Amy Cooper came to visit this summer and got locked in her room. Crafty Amy used her credit card to "break out" of said guest room.

Another Blog

For those who are interested in my most recent pregnancy adventures, please visit:

http://feelingincompetent.blogspot.com

My Excuse for Not Blogging Sooner

I am sure you have all been wondering what happened to my blogging.

"Did that backhoe run over Susan?"

"Did the jughandles and stripmalls of New Jersey finally get to her?"

Oh no.

Instead of producing blog posts, I've been a little preoccupied producing something else.

You see, I'm 14.5 weeks pregnant. Yup, that's right, Susan and Nick are procreating.

So, if you get your caluculators, calendars, and charts out - you'll see that once we produced a new sidewalk in front of our house -- we produced a little something for the inside of the house.

For those of you who have gone through this first trimester pregnancy thing, you'll understand just how abosolutely, bone numbing tired you are. I was sleeping from 8:30 at night to 7:30 in the morning. I was sneaking out to my car during my lunch break and catching a quick nap.
And once (please don't read this if you are my boss) even fell asleep for a moment on a conference call.

But now, in the glow of the second trimester, I am wide awake enough to realize that none of my pants fit me anymore, that I have gone up (at least) one bra size, and that I haven't posted a blog entry in, oh, about a trimester.

The good news is that after 14.5 weeks, the signs are all pointing to a baby without Downs Syndrome or trisomy 21. Apparently, after the medical professionals "ran the numbers" I have the same risk as a 20 year old has for the above problems.

We've seen 2 arms, 2 legs, and even the start of little fingers. We've heard a strong heartbeat, and we've begun to tell the world. Actually, we told our family and close friends, and our family is taking care of telling the world. Even maybe the universe. Because, not only is this the first grandchild for my mother, by the way my parents are reacting, you would think it's the first baby ever born in this universe!

The bad news is that I am starting to REALLY learn about how this baby is going to get born. YIKES. Pretty scary stuff!

So, aside from being extremely superstitious (I'll go into that another time) we are very happy.

Please keep your fingers crossed that a healthy, happy, Baby Pollara arrives safely, soundly, quickly, and painlessly on or near May 23rd.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hey Honey, there's a Back Hoe in Our Front Yard

So, as you will recall from a previous post, our insurance company sent out a secret spy to our lovely abodes. This secret spy then identified a number of hazards (a very large number of hazards) that needed to be fixed, or they would cut us off.

Nick, my super amazing husband, has the ability to fix anything. This I did not realize when I married him. I knew he was smart and very funny, kind and creative, and good at tinkering with sandblasters and gardens. I did not realize that all of these skills (especially the sense of humor) are essential when it comes to owning an old house or two. So far, Nick fixed our plumbing mishaps; engineered a very elegant washing machine drainage system; hooked up a dehumidifier to a pump on a timer so he wouldn't have to empty the bucket anymore; fixed steps; painted exteriors; graded dirt away from the foundation to promote good drainage; re-roofed the barn; chopped down trees too close to the foundation; and taught himself to re-mortar bricks.

The one thing Nick couldn't quite tackle on his own (must to his annoyance) was our pesky sidewalk issue. We had tried to get the sellers to pay to fix it. They scoffed. We bought the house anyway. Hopewell Boro, you should know, is a "Tree City USA", which means that the town scoffed when we asked if we could cut down the maple tree that was pushing up the sidewalk. The maple tree lives on the tiny strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. Our land, Not our tree. Hopewell's tree. Hopewell practically laughed in our faces when we asked if the town took responsibility for fixing the public sidewalks. Nope. If it's in front of your house, you need to deal with it.

So, after meeting with 5 different contractors, we finally decided to go with the guy who could do it the soonest. We debated trying to "save the slate" which original to the house.Which, by the way* George Washington walked over to get to the Princeton Battlefield. However, we weighed the pros (oh, it's so old and pretty) against the cons (we need to make our mortgage, we need to eat) and decided to go with all cement. But we wanted to move the slate to the side of the house as a sort of patio area. Glen (see previous post) and Nick decided to try and move it on their own. Here's another con. Slate from the 1700 or 1800s weighs a freakin' ton. A FREAKIN' ton**. Glen and Nick lifted one corner up, realized that if they got anymore up they would probably get crushed by it when it fell on to them, and put it back down.

Henry and his team arrived this morning - and by 5:30, had most of it dug up. The back hoe is parked right in front of our house. Henry says they'll be done tomorrow, just 3 days shy of the secret insurance spy's deadline.

*Nick's words
** Also Nick's words

Look at Our Barn Now!

Just look at our beautiful barn!! We hired Glen, our most wonderful next door neighbor who conveniently owns a home improvement company and is a sculptor, to paint our sad, sagging, garage. After much debate on the color, we settled on classic red. Then, of course, it poured. And poured. And poured. Which meant, our garage stayed old and yellow. Then, one day, the sun came out. When we got home from work the entire job was done. From ugly garage to beautiful barn in less than 10 hours. It was as if the painting fairies arrived, did their magic, and vanished into thin air.

Our backyard has been transformed. You should come see it for yourself.