Garage repair take 2…?

Apr 30, 2010

We had our meeting with David, it went ok. I am not 100% convinced that our worries are over but at least there is a plan to move forward. I still feel stressed but I have a little more faith in having it done before the shower. The city is requiring us to build a *fire wall* on the side of the garage roof. David said we have to pay for the materials which will be stucco *lame*. The crew worked inside the garage all day and will be in there again tomorrow. They should start the posts on Saturday and the city inspector should be here again on Monday. Once he gets an approval stamp they can go into overdrive. He is now anticipating the completion date will be Monday May 10th. I have heard this so many times I’ll believe it when it happens. So another day filled with drama in the soap opera of our house. The fireplace screen was delivered today. The stupid UPS guy again didn’t ring my buzzer but the gate was open today from the workers so he just left it on the porch. I am a wee bit bummed that the screen is smaller than the one we had before.

Antz still needs to cement the loose tile and scrub the brick. I need to figure out a DIY-project for the mantel. We have the new Mod frames but I want them to be displayed outside. Actually after a convo with Antz, it’s better to put the frames on the mantel. We are using one of the *amazing spray painted* frames for the gift table and the dessert table.

Hopefully this will give the guests a little hint to use their moustaches. Antz put up our new wreath so I can see how it looks on our red door. Pretty swank!

We measured the backyard and it *appears* everything will fit but I’ll only know when the tables are delivered the day before the shower *eep* Today Antz got the last of our friends rsvp, our friend’s Dave & Sam. Now there are 11 more people who haven’t rsvped, so I have to call them on Saturday *grrr*. Tonight Antz is going to print some of our maternity photos.

Back to Work!

Apr 29, 2010

I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that this morning the crew showed up and started framing. I am totally stressed out and nervous about how much David is going to say the iron will cost us. Last night we went to Alcapulcos for dinner to discuss our options *not like we have any*. If he says it will be under $400, I can live with that *although it will cut our savings and my itouch*. I know it will be well over $500 maybe even $1000! I can’t think of any compromises at the moment. David hasn’t called us so that bothers me as well. This morning we had our prenatal appt. It was nice because we had a student doc who was really nice. She check Olivia’s heartbeat *149* and I measured 35cm. I let her know how stressed I’ve been and she said Liv is meauring perfect, next appt in May Dr. Teng will give us an ultrasound so we can see how big she is. After the appt. I went to Target and picked up some chalk. I want to practice my handwriting for the menu.

I haven’t been sleeping so well. I am not waking up for long periods but I can’t get comfortable and I wake up really groggy, not refreshed as before. I know its the stress from this project. Sigh! The fireplace screen should be coming today and hopefully the Mod frames will come too. Tomorrow I am meeting Aimee and we are going to Sprinkles. I would normally be super stoked about it but I am too bummed out to get excited. I still have so many things to buy for Olivia *baby wrap, stroller, her Uggs, her Tiffany’s brush and whatever we don’t get from our registry*

Grrr, David told Antz it’s $45 per post and we need 19 which is ….$855!!
I knew it would be closer to $1000 than $400. I am hoping we can negotiate that price. Antz is at the point where he wants to just pay it and be done but it is really taking money out of Olivia’s stroller savings *the stroller comes out on May 1st* and to me it’s unacceptable. We are meeting with him at 5:30 today, hopefully we’ll get things moving and they will be done by Friday of next week *not going hold my breath on this one*. Even if we pay the money *rolls eyes*, the inspection could take too long or not get approved for another *unnecessary* reason that costs more money.

Win-esday!

Apr 28, 2010

Today I woke up with a fire under me, a jump in my step and a smile on my face. I was happily greeted by my lovely husband outside spray painting the menu mat, 2 frames and an old planter. He’s so rad!

What a difference a $6 can of spray paint makes! We plan to buy cream peonies for the planter.

We can’t wait to print our gorgeous maternity photos and put them in the frames. Tonight Antz will support the back of the mat with wood and cut the foam board to paint with chalkboard paint.

We did a test sample of the paint, it will definitely need 2 or 3 coats. The foam board is pretty absorbant. I’m going to Target tomorrow after our prenatal appt and I’ll buy some chalk.
My Mom called me and we were on the phone for over 3 hours! We had a really interesting, fun conversation. She is in town this week and will stop by our house this Saturday. Fed Ex delivered our wreath from Etsy 🙂

Isn’t it FAB! I love it so much, I need to find a protectant spray so it doesn’t get dirty.
We also got a gift from our registry from Gilli, my acupuncturist

I love it but I have no idea where we will keep it. I am thinking we will use it at the Grandmother’s houses.
Today David and the architect are supposed to come over to discuss the blueprints, I guess it’s small progress. I really hope they start work tomorrow at least Friday. I was bummed about the glider not being delivered in time for the shower so I sent some emails to the company and they responded that I should get it no later than May 12th. I will be so relieved once I get the glider and the bassinet.
**BREAKING NEWS**
David came by today to update me about the roof. Turns out the city is requiring more materials *irons posts* and more work to be done to get approval. This means more money from us. He is getting an iron estimate and wants to meet with us on Saturday but I want to meet sooner to get the work started. At this point I feel drained, extorted and blindsided. I can argue that the contractor should be responsible for permits and he isn’t holding up his end on getting the project finished in a week. Me making these arguments doesn’t get the work finished though. I can’t take him to court and I am beyond stressed out *my poor husband is too* and I feel really helpless. I have no clue how much more it will cost or even how much longer it will take to finish. We are both regretting the choice to start this project. I am back on the bummer bus and it’s taking all the fun out of our DIY projects and moving forward. My greatest fear is our roof won’t be finished in time for the party. My Mom keeps telling me to get the roof done without the railing and finish the railing in a few months. It would make our house look awful, we wouldn’t be able to put back our floodlight and the railing for the stairs wouldn’t have anything to anchor to. This is neverending, everytime I get my hopes up that we have tackles a hurdle, 3 more pop up. This is the least of my worries at this point. I need to be relaxed and preparing for the birth of our daughter. I have cried my eyes out twice about it, now I am ambivalent. MAJOR SUCK!

Were we better off with this? Than this?

Worst day ever has now become best day ever!

Apr 28, 2010

I was super bummed earlier today but now I am MEGA STOKED!! Antz spoke to David and he has promised us the blueprints would be done tomorrow and permits drawn and the crew will be back to work by Thursday so all is well *I hope*. So that of course immediately cheered me up. Then on the way home Antz had more junk to drop off to Goodwill and he picked up a couple of frames for the shower. We are going to paint them tomorrow. We went to our last Labor & Birth class and it was super fun. I really like the instructor, Carolyn.

I am totally freaked out about the labor but I am better prepared. I really hope Gilli will be there because she is my only hope to make it through the delivery drug-free. So when we got home from class I had an email from Sarah with our maternity pics. OMG!!! I was expecting greatness but these photos look FANTASTIC!! I love them so much, here are my favorites. Sarah is a genius. I can’t wait to see her again for Olivia’s newborn shoot.

I think they look amazing, Sarah has a really great eye and made the shoot fun. It totally fits our personality. I wish she was in LA more often, I want to recommend her to everyone!!! Nighty Night

Just when you think everything is fine…BAM!

Apr 27, 2010

We must have used up our good luck last month because now we are on a bad luck streak. I was so excited to get our garage roof repaired and now I regret we even decided to do the work. Our contractor told us it would take 5 days and he added 2 additional days just in case. They started the work on Tuesday April 13th *bad luck already I know* and said he would be finished Tuesday April 20th. Today is exactly 2 weeks later and they haven’t done any work to the garage since Thursday April 15th. David told us last week he was having blueprints drawn to get city permits and we should have them by Friday April 23rd or Monday April 26th. We didn’t hear anything from David until Antz sent him a text message at 5pm last night. This morning the architech came by to take measurements and told Antz he should have something by NEXT WEEK!! I haven’t been sleeping well ever since Friday April 16th and now I have the stress of this project. I don’t even want to think about what if they don’t finish the job by our shower. Seriously, doing construction when you are pregnant is the worst idea ever. I worry everyday that I will go into early labor and having a baby and dealing with this garage nightmare is something I am unprepared to deal with. I was much more worried about shower issues a month ago than a 3 week garage roof repair. The only reason we hired David is because he completely re-did my neighbor Carol’s house roof in 2 quick weeks. I was really impressed with how quickly and respectful the crew worked I wanted them to do ours. Our roof is a fraction of the size of Carol’s house and so much drama! The worst part is David isn’t keeping us updated, we feel like we have to call him to remind him about our project. He knows I’m having a shower on the 15th but he can’t work up until the 14th. This whole thing is making me have a knot in my stomach. 🙁

It’s a new week!

Apr 27, 2010

I was hoping this last week of April will be a productive one. It’s already lagging because no work has been done on the garage for 2 weeks and I am just now getting a call from the architect asking to come by tomorrow morning to look inside the garage. That means the blueprints aren’t finished and David doesn’t have the permit so it could possibly push our completion date a few days. Ugh!! I am over construction projects 🙁 This is really becoming a nightmare and it’s such a small job. It holds us up from organizing and cleaning our house because all the holiday decorations are in the trunks of our cars *we had to move most of the stuff from the garage* and Antz tools, and things we store in the garage are in the living room and hallway. It’s really lame.

Today I went to acupuncture and had a really peaceful session. Gilli talked to me about labor options and getting prepared for the birth. She still is saying if she is in town she’ll be my doula. She gave me a number to call to have my placenta made into pills for me to take after the birth. Sounds gross but it’s going to help me replenish my blood and help battle post-partum depression. After seeing her, I went to a fabric store to look for matching thread for my baby shower dress.

I also wanted to buy black linens for the shower tables but the least expensive they carried wasn’t the right size. Purchasing and having to sew the fabric to make it fit the 5ft x 30″ tables would be more expensive than renting the linens. Again, lame to the max! I had a $25 budget for black fabric and if I rent them I will spend almost $60!! I even went to Smart & Final to look for inexpensive table linens and they only had 40″ x 100″ plastic tablecloths for $14.99 each. Tacky city! Antz and I are going to look in the fabric district of downtown LA this weekend but I know they won’t have the right size. So far the only thing I can cross off the list for today is Antz is presently priming the door mat for the pink spray paint. If it dries before dark maybe he’ll spray it tonight. He also got 2 more rsvps today at work and asked his friend to print our baby shower posters. He is doing much better than I am. 🙂
Tomorrow is the second half of our Labor & Delivery class. I don’t have much I can work on during the day since Antz has all the shower designs on his laptop and I don’t know how to use Flash so I’m feeling a bit useless. Waah. I did order the frames for our pregnancy portraits today.

I love the color and ornate style of these frames but I worry that 4 x 6 is a tad too small. The wall space in our house is pretty much maximized at the moment so I’m not sure where they will end up but we are putting them on the gift table at the shower.

Sunset Blvd. for a Sunday night

Apr 26, 2010

OMG William Holden is super cute! Antz and I are watching Sunset Blvd. *such a great classic* and trying to relax from a busy weekend. Today we didn’t do as much as I hoped; we finished decorating the scrapbook and we did go to Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Antz sister ordered our fireplace screen online and got us 20% discount and free expedited shipping. We also bought an umbrella for the backyard. This was totally an unplanned purchase but it was $79 and we got 20% off so I had to get it for the shower. We already have an umbrella but it’s the kind that goes through a hole in a table and since we’re renting the round table with no hole I was bummed that there would be no shade for the *older peeps table*. The umbrella we bought today is the kind where the umbrella stand cantilevers to the left. The umbrella is 9ft so that will cover the table completely.

We also mentioned to Clinnie *Antz sister* that we were using a boring frame for our menu and she had a bright idea to use a rubber door mat instead. We bought it using her discount and figured out a way to make it look like the one I want for only $20! Antz will work his DIY-magic this week.

So surprisingly, I just got an rsvp from 2 of my friends from my old job who I thought wouldn’t be able to make it. I am happy they are coming but it really messes up my seating chart. 🙁

My ridiculous rendering of the backyard and seating chart *lol*!! The backyard looks huge but it is nowhere near to scale so it will be a tight fit. The worst part is I will have no idea if everything will even fit until the Friday before when the tables and chairs are delivered. I am also concerned about the tight fit of the food and dessert/drink table for all the guests to line up on the patio. The orange tree is really bigger than I drew and Antz keeps telling me the only solution is to trim the tree but there are 3 bird’s nests in that tree and it breaks my heart to evict any of our birdies 🙁

Last weekend before the chaos begins

Apr 25, 2010

This weekend is officially the last weekend we have to fuck around and do whatever we wish at our leisure. I STILL haven’t finished the celeb baby match game *I need to pin the photos to the foam board*. Our list for things-to-do for the shower is shrinking but the worst part is waiting for the rsvps to trickle in so we can print the name stickers for the takeout boxes. I haven’t found a table for the caricaturist but hopefully I can borrow a table from Antz Mom tomorrow which means I need to buy a black linen for it. Today I took back my Sam Edelman sandals at Nordstrom. I didn’t find anything to replace them with so I will either wear my Steve Madden gladiators or my black flip flops *most comfortable option*

We browsed around the mall, I tried to get Antz to try a pair of Tom’s shoes but he wasn’t int to them. He did like this awesome Fedora.

We went to Build-a-Bear and looked at infant clothes but I was too tired to walk around. We went to West LA to look at Thrift shops. We found a great one on Fairfax *in Little Ethopia* that had a ton of huge frames with the look we are searching for but the prices were pretty steep. The one we liked most was $95 but the owner was willing to negotiate. We really didn’t want to pay more than $25 for a frame and we have looked for long enough. I decided to use a frame we already had *we were about to donate it to Goodwill* although it’s not at all ornate, Antz could use clay and make it pretty. We went to Home Depot to look for supplies for repairing the crown molding in the living room, the chalkboard paint and the pink spray paint. We are trying to figure out the best option to make the fireplace look better, the tile is loose and the grout and cement are cracked.

The biggest problem is anything Antz does can’t be permanent because our house still moves from the foundation problem so if he cements anything in place it will crack. He may use a flat piece of wood to cover the exisiting tiles and level the hearth and grout new tile to the wood. Not sure how much time and money we want to put into this project but I do want to buy the fireplace screen from Bed, Bath & Beyond tomorrow.

We are going to pick up Antz Mom tomorrow to sneak peek the nursery and have spaghetti *I’m cooking*. She’s also going to tailor my shower dress but I haven’t found the right thread to match.

Best Day Ever!

Apr 24, 2010

I am such a spazz! I totally had nothing to worry about for our photo shoot. Sarah was so INCREDIBLE! She was really friendly, she is 5 months preggo with her 3rd child and so gorgeous! We met at the beach but unfortunately there was a beached whale over-tanned old guy in a speedo *yes an actual speedo* laying next to our palm tree. Other than a few people and a dog peeing on Sarah’s backpack, the beach was pretty much all ours. We were so excited we forgot to take pics with our camera for us but here are a few we did take before the shoot. You can see what a beautiful day it was.

We took a great variety of shots, we got Olivia’s banner in most of them, Antz did his jumping and I used my parasol. Sarah said we should get the pics in a week so I am counting down the hours. She is so creative and talented, I felt like we were in the best of hands. Everything went perfect but I am super bummed I left my week 34 sign at home. Lame! We grabbed lunch *I had Emerald’s Thai, so yum* and we stopped off at Antz Mom’s house. She gave me the bad news his sister Reva is going to be in Vegas the weekend of our shower. I’m glad she let me know but I am annoyed Reva hasn’t called me to let me know. Seriously, when I say RSVP I mean it! So after hanging with her for a while we went to downtown LA and found the christening store *like finding a needle in a haystack* and bought the Baptism set but it wasn’t the same one I saw online. It’s totally cheap but it’s cute and has everything we need for her.

It doesn’t have the shell for the water but we have our own from the wedding. Then we scurried off to the Glendale Galleria so I could return my Sam Edelman sandals * I tried them on this morning and they are waaay too tight to wear to the shower, tears *
Goodbye adorable shoes 🙁

However 15 minutes on the way to the mall I realized the time and was like OMG! We have a prenatal class at 6:30 tonight and it’s 5:45!! Wow, I am so glad my brain kicked me and we rushed home to change and got the the class with 10 minutes to spare. This class was ok, I was seriously tired from such a long day *3 hours is much too long for me* and the instructor was kinda lame but we learned alot about infant care and we swaddled doll babies so that was fun. The first half was pretty nightmarish as our instructor told us about the severe bleeding I will have for 6 weeks, the swelling and burning from the episiotomy and the boob leakage. I left our camera at home so we had to use our iphones.

Piles of evil babies

Seriously creepy!

My husband, king of the swaddlers.

Demonstrating the football hold technique.

Me shhing the baby, it’s not a very happy baby.

We watched a video showing the Happiest Baby on the Block technique and although it seems to work, I am highly suspicious of the *doctor’s* methods. He was shh-ing loudly in the babies ears and I hated that. I would totally swaddle our baby but not as tightly as he did. I am using a swing Gilli, my acupuncturist just bought us this swing from our registry last Wednesday.

The guy recommends swaddling the baby and then putting her in a swing on fast. Many of the couples were laughing at his methods, the guy came off as a quack! So we have one half of our classes done and next week we finish. Then May 3rd I have breastfeeding which is the most important class. Our car seat was delivered today but we are much too tired to open it and play with it. I am so happy with the day. Tomorrow I have to return the sandals *hopefully find new ones that fit* and finally finish all the baby shower projects!

DIY is the name of my game

Apr 22, 2010

I did the glitter for the letters and I am quite pleased with my craftiness.

Now we need to string the letters together and Ta-dah, we’ll have a lovely banner to use for tomorrow’s photo shoot. I need to go to the grocery store now. I wish I could figure out how to wear my hair tomorrow.

I can’t believe I’m nervous for tomorrow. I have been looking nonstop for cute maternity photo ideas but everything is the same. I also feel so uninspired by my look, my insomnia has given me the deepest bags under my eyes, I am in need of a pedicure and my hair is limp as a noodle.
So to put my mind at ease, I decided to have a dress rehearsal of our photo shoot tonight. Antz bought a new shirt from American Eagle and decided to go with jeans over shorts. I have 3 outfit options but 1 of the 3 require a strapless bra. Please ignore my non-makeup face and rollers.

I am sleeping with the heat rollers in my hair to hold the curl since the second I hit the beach my hair will pouf up worse than Snooki from Jersey Shore. Exhibit A: