Friday, January 29, 2010

Surviving on Cabbage Soup

I'm baaaaack! Sort of... Sometimes the motivation to sit and blog just escapes me, and this week it has escaped me a lot! Mark and I were inspired by a couple of friends to take on the cabbage soup cleansing diet. Crazy, I know. We have eaten nothing but fruits, vegetables and cabbage soup for 4+ days now. Today is day 5 of 7 and we finally get to weave protein back in, and I am stoked! We have gone to bed super early all week, which has helped us get through this insane diet. I can't say I'm really suffering. I feel fairly energized and I know that this is helping Mark and I prove to ourselves that we can eat healthy if we put our minds to it. After this week, we'll surely abandon some of the insanity of this diet, but I plan to keep loading up on fruits and veggies which I didn't do enough of before.

But the bigger more exciting news is we get our windows tomorrow!!! We actually already have them -they're all lined up in our garage- but tomorrow is installation day! The thought of not hearing distant sirens and nearby motorcycles as if they're right outside our window... ahhhhhhhhh.

I will definitely be including some before and afters, so stay tuned.

In other news, Tali and Cliff are working diligently on the nursery. Cliff did the painting while Tali was here a couple of weeks ago, and the bedding is well underway. You can see photos of the nursery-in-progress here.

They were kind enough to video tape the unveiling of the first baby room accessory received -the doxie lamp!



Happy Friday!!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

I'm still alive!

I know! It's hard to believe, but I'm alive and well and haven't floated off into the Pacific with this week's never-ending torrential downpour.

I promise there will be updates coming, I've just had too much going on to make the blog a priority.

To tide you over, I'll share one of many photos that Tali took while she was here visiting last weekend. Who knew Lola was so ticklish?! You can see a couple more from her shoot on her blog.

Stay dry Los Angeles...

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Behind these leaky pipes

-or rather 'behind that moldy wall'... I heard Kelly Clarkson's Behind These Hazel Eyes on the elevator this morning and it's been in my head ever since. Leaky pipes -well not anymore! As you may recall we had a few leaks fixed a week and a half ago and then discovered mold behind our guest bath mirror. What I haven't shared, was that there was yet another leak going on that we discovered in the wall. It's like in the cartoons when the character sticks his finger in a leak to stop it, the water just pops out somewhere else. -But no more! Our shower is back in working order, sans leaks!

In better news, Ryan, whom you may remember from the BoP eradication post not long ago, came back into town to stay with us and help us with the house. He and Mark took on another project last night but I'm not quite ready to share it. I'll give you a hint though...

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Lola learns a new trick!

In just a couple of weeks, Lola has mastered "sit" and has just caught on to "shake"!!!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

When I sago

...Oy... We spent the last couple of hours at the emergency vet with Lola. She got into a pile of our yard clippings that included some sago palm frawns which are highly poisonous to dogs (and people). I found a chewed up frawn on her outside doggie bed and called animal poison control. The vet said that since we don't know what she actually ingested, we had to take it seriously no matter what. The toxin in sago palms is known to cause liver failure. The vet induced vomit and gave her some active charcoal, which sucks up any lingering toxins. She was happy before and after and never showed any signs of sickness, but typical symptoms of liver problems may not show up for 2-3 days, so we'd rather not take any chances...***Update*** It's been four hours since we returned from the vet and Lola is doing great.

The morning was filled with Mark working on a second B.o.P. root bush, taking down our Hanukkah lights, weed wacking, and I worked on the guest bath. I had my protective gear on, just to be safe.

I first cut a 4"x 4" where the mold was at the top of the mirror. The back of the drywall was looking good and dry. I then realized that there was trouble at the bottom of the mirror, where we had seen just a tiny bit of mold. The drywall was wet all the way through. Mark helped me saw out the damaged goods which was another 4"x 10" or so.
I then stuck my camera in the opening to take some pictures and see if I could see more signs of trouble. It looks all clear. The stud that was backing the drywall is still damp, so we are leaving the opening for a few days to make sure the entire area can dry out before we seal it up.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

You've got mold...

Today we bid farewell to Allie, Ryan and Danika. Mark and Ryan successfully fixed three plumbing issues and ripped out the bird of paradise. My not feeling bad about ripping out the plant was reaffirmed when I was told that B.o.P's symbolize lingering dead spirits... Yeah, good riddance.

I decided today was a perfect day to attempt framing our guest bathroom mirror. I bought 21 linear feet of moulding at Home Depot and went to town with our mitre box saw. Ryan suggested Liquid Nails to attach the moulding since the pressure from hammering or nail gunning is likely to crack a mirror. He also explained that we should remove the little brackets from the mirror and if the mirror isn't affixed to the wall, to use the liquid nails to attach it.

I did this, only to discover...mold. Umm gross. We quickly took down the mirror and I began cleaning. After much discussion, research, and concern that the mold may be lingering deeper in the drywall, we have decided to cut out the drywall that has the mold on it (it's only a couple of square feet. Even though it looks like it's just on the surface and was probably caused by someone splashing/spraying the top of the mirror and it dripping behind, this is the only way we can be sure that it won't come back. Last thing we need is to put the mirror back up and not know that something's growing back there.

The drywall cutting/patching will begin tomorrow...