Some Decorations

So yesterday we put up Luigi the Baker and the tree that I got from Eduardo for Christmas. Today I want to put up the instrument panel (thermometer, hygrometer and barometer) and the key cow. We also got a couple of gorgeous wooden bowls for fruits and veggies and a laundry basket and drawer pulls for the bathroom. The laundry basket is a huge improvement over the pile on the floor where the little froggies would like to hide.

But first on the list for today is making an apple pie. And then heading up to Chapada for a little bouldering. So we'll see if the instrument panel and the key cow happen... There's always tomorrow.

New Furniture

Yesterday was full of progress. Not only did Eduardo install the last of the inside lights, but the furniture we had ordered arrived and was mostly installed. They'll come back tomorrow to finish up the install. All in all it's kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, laundry sink cabinet, bedroom armoire, a window for the in-laws bathroom and a quick patch for their bathroom cabinet as well.



Yesterday they installed everything but the laundry sink here. But everything is still missing at least one piece. We decided to have more shelves put into the armoire to take advantage of the space (soooo much space), there was a drawer that was sticky in the bathroom, and two cabinet doors that were too big in the kitchen. So Saturday I'll take more photos, but here are a couple in the midterm.

terrible but true

How is it that only when a visitor is coming that I decide it's time to really get my butt in gear? Well -- my friend (and advisor) arrives tomorrow, which means that it's butt in gear time both work-wise and house-wise.

First off was some necessary storage space... Step 1: Move the tools and wires and sand-paper to one side of the pantry, etc, etc. I grabbed the extra armoire and wiped it down and had Eduardo finagle the missing pins for the shelves and put it in the pantry. This gives us at least a little non-counter storage space and allowed me to unpacked some of the plates, etc and wash all the pots and pans and glasses and put them away.



Eduardo also installed the rest of the lights today. And the towel rack in the bathroom was installed a couple of days ago. And the guy came today to take the measurements for the mirror and shower door. Even the fun ceramic lights on the back porch were installed. My favorite one has polka dots. And we moved the couch from the back porch into the living room and have a borrowed hammock and coffee table. It looks like a house, and all due to a visitor!

bits and pieces

Today a bunch of little things got done. The light in the hallway, the overhead light in the bathroom and the light in the kid's room were all installed. The towel bar for hand/face towels was also installed in the bathroom. And I put together the design for the pantry shelves. Now we just need to get the wood ready so that we can put in the shelves. The pantry is pretty much our only storage space, so it'll make a big difference. The cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom should also be ready at the beginning of the week. And Evelyn found a dvd rental place where they even have some different stuff. Currently, it's 'Bread and Roses'.

and here ends the moratorium...

Since Eduardo was in training Monday through Saturday this last week, and we ended up working somewhat late on the house monday night, I declared a moratorium on house work until the end of the class. Even with the moratorium, Thursday was a late night since the carpenters came to install the doors and I still did a fair amount of shopping. But today ended the moratorium, so Eduardo is back at it, with me as the faithful tool-passer.

So this morning the lights over the cool table that hang from the trunk were installed. This required drilling two holes through the trunk and making a channel along the top so that the wires wouldn't be visible from the ground. Since the long drill bit wasn't perfectly straight, the majority of the drilling hand to be done using a hand-drill after starting it with the electric. But it went smoothly, and was all done before lunch time.

Last of the Doors.

So in the end the marceneiros didn't show Wednesday, but they called Thursday morning and came in the afternoon. Amazingly enough they were able to get everything done, and stayed until about 8:30p to do so. All in all they installed the front storm door and the bathroom door, and then the handles and latches for the three other interior doors that Eduardo had installed.



The front door is especially important since we can now just close the doors when we go to bed and not spend an hour trying to convince Mimosa that she needs to sleep outside. It will also save the screen on that door from further damage. At this point it's pretty far gone, but we want to wait until Mimosa is better trained to change it. The problem is that she gets stuck inside. So yesterday morning she further ripped the screen in order to get out. So Evelyn and I stitched it up last night as a temporary fix.

Move in day!

So, I got back from Sao Paulo just over a week ago, and it´s been a pretty crazy week! Mimosa made it back from Sao Paulo fine, and has since made friends with Pirata (the australian cattle dog), is fine with Gigo (a boxer-looking mutt) and has only failed to win over Sisa (a 16 yr old aspiring lap dog). She´s also learned how to open the screen doors, and enjoys stealing flip flops -- but is otherwise well behaved, which is good since she´s probably about 45 pounds (and not even four months old!)



This week we: bought a bed (Tues -- delivered Friday), had the cabinet guys out to take measurements, talk details (Wed), ordered cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom and armoir for the bedroom (Fri), Eduardo finished installing the doors to the three bedrooms, acid washed the house to remove remnant cement and grout (Sat), cleaned all the donated furniture and moved it inside and assembled it (Sun), cleaned the veranda (Sun), installed the home theatre (Sun), purchased new sheets, lamps for the bathroom and bedroom, and installed most of the lighting. We also resolved the process at ProCon to get our money back for the tiles which took over two months to arrive from sao paulo. And Eduardo started job training! Today the last of the doors will be installed and all of the door handles.



And most importantly, we slept in the house Monday night for the first time! Most of our things are still at the other house but we're gradually moving over a few things to hold us over until the cabinets arrive. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets should be here in two weeks and our bedroom wardrobe and the laundry cabinet is set for delivery at the end of February (the 28th). Eventually we also want to have a bed frame built with drawers underneath, and another cabinet for the hallway, but that can wait.

And there's finally a ton more photos up on flickr. I still haven't figured out to get the cute collage without just making it manually in ppt or some other annoying thing. So I'll just suggest you head over to flickr and check out all the new lights, etc.