100-year-old houses and Lead Safety

One of the joys of living in an old house is the layers of history which turn the simplest tasks into interesting archival explorations. Unfortunately all too often those layers take the form of lead paint. So even though lead can be contained we decided to have Lili’s wiindows restored (along with 5 others in the house) and also took the additional step to have her windows made lead safe. The process is described below.

http://www.heritagerestoration.org/Window%20Restoration.htm

We couldn’t be happier with the results. The windows look great and we know that there will be no lead dust from the windows in her bedroom. Old windows can really be one of the joys of an old house, if they work properly.  The old float glass in the windows has bumps, ridges, waves and other imperfections that make them interesting and unique. So now we have windows that look brand new and work perfectly while still retaining the charm and character of house. The shiny silver rails you see in the picture are part of what makes the windows lead safe. With them in place there is no surface-to-surface friction of any component containing, or formerly containing lead.

WindowDetail Fireplace

 

Of course the windows weren’t all that we did to the house in the last 6 months. A simple chimney cleaning turned into a wood stove. A simple porch repair turned an essentially all new porch which looks faboulous. And one of the smartest things we did was to install new storm windows for the entire house, including storms for our giant heat sinks – er, I mean our bay windows. It’s made a huge difference in how warm the house feels. Between the wood stove insert and the new storm windows our living room has finally become a place you can relax in and not freeze your tuckus off. -t

A – 3 Days; L – 8 Days;

More of the room

The uproar over the lack new photos of the room has been tremendous, so succumbing to public pressure here are a few more detailed photos of the room.

BearFrodDoll

Is it me, or does the frog look a little nervous?

OttersSeater

Otters spend a lot of time in the cold water, so they of course need warm sweaters.

Maggie has been very nervous and clingy over the past few weeks. She knows something is up but isn’t sure what it is. Each time we brought something new in – crib, clothes, toys, shelves, – she had to sniff it completely checking it out. She’s been spending a lot of time in Lili’s room just hanging out and getting used to all the changes. I know Maggie can’t wait for Lili to get home, if only for the dropped food that’s in her future.

 MaggieBearFrog

 

It’s finally getting close: A – 4 days and L – 9 days.

-t

 

Sending out announcements in the digital age

It’s amazing how easy it is to send out an announcement via email. While we’ll still send out the traditional paper announcement via the post office, or what passes for traditional, when we return. It still amazes me how quickly I can send something to a group of people and I’ve been using email for over 18 years. Of course back in 1989 I had to call my friend Dave to tell him I sent him an email, but hey it still counts.

I notified my boss last week and he’s been great with the “short” notice considering everyone from him on up to the CEO has been asking since August of 2005 “when are we going to China” – yes the wait was roughly 2-3 times longer than we anticipated, but I guess we are lucky compared to families who are now  looking at a 2-year plus wait.

The amount of support we’ve had has been tremendous, especially once we told everyone we got our referral. It seems like 18 months of pent-up support has poured out all at once. From our friend painting the room (Sara Lee it looks better every single day and it looked phenomenal the first day) to baby showers in two states, to cribs and changing tables miraculously appearing from friends. Even our contractor is finishing up the remaining jobs quickly so we’ll be all ready to come home with our daughter.

Thank you all and be prepared for more pictures and some videos since we just bought another camera. I think this one is camera #11 but who’s counting. -t

A – 6 days; L – 11 days

Shower in Chicago(and my first blog entry)

It has been over a week since my friend Anne, sister Christine, sister-in-law Brett and my mother threw me a shower in Chicago.  I want to thank them for all their efforts.  It was a wonderful time.  Actually, I think it is the longest shower I have ever been to since it started at 1pm and the last guest left at 11pm.  My father and Uncle Bill came to eat and stayed until about 6pm.  I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures yet.  I did not bring my camera and I am waiting for someone to mail me pictures(Steve?).

The surprises started when I arrived at Anne’s apartment and found to my utter amazement that Sara Lee was there.  I had no idea that she was coming and she said she had a hard time not blowing it the weekend before when she was painting the mural.  She kept almost letting things slip.  Of course, I had brought a lot of pictures of the mural and so I could show off the room and the artist at the same time.  Then Anne arrived home from school with Brett in tow.  Another shocker.  Brett had apologized to me on the phone because she could not make the shower although she had done the invitation.  It never occurred to me that she was lying about not coming.  After successfully keeping those two secrets, my three friends were unable to continue secret keeping very well and hints kept coming my way in the things they said so that I knew one more surprise guest was coming although I still did not know who it was.  Diane arrived with Anna P a little while later having flown into from Minnesota.  Another fun surprise.  In the end, I had guests from Montana, Illinois, New York, Minnesota, Michigan and RI at my shower.

We went out for some Mexican tapas that night with Christine, my parents and Aunt Carol and Uncle Bill.  It was very good.  The next morning was an unusual experience for me since I am usually the one made to cook when I visit Chicago but I was taken to Anna P’s where Diane made scones like she does on the sailing trip.  I had nothing to do all morning except hang out with Diane and Anna P and put some handles on Anna P’s cabinets.  At 1:00pm we went to the shower. 

As I said the shower was a lot of fun.  The food was delicious.  My hosts made orange marinated pork tenderloin on garlic toast with a 5 spice dipping sauce, sticky chicken wings, a coleslaw like salad, sesame noodles, and lettuce wraps.  Dessert was cupcakes which Christine had investigated and so they were, of course, delicious.  Sara Lee, is not only a great artist, but she is someone you want on hand to help with the cooking and cleaning. Per everyone, give her a task and it will be done efficiently and quickly and she does dishes like no one can.  Christine gave a lovely toast.  Lili got a lot of great presents: towels with her name and a panda bear on them, clothes that make her more fashionable than I could ever dream of being, toys, a life preserver from Captain Emeritus, a frog pod, books, a bitty baby with Anne’s old doll cradle and quilt, books which I love and I hope she will too and many other great gifts.

On Sunday, we went to dim sum.  The food was great.  Then we walked around Chinatown and then took Brett and Sara Lee to the airport.  It was great to see everyone and I realize how lucky I am to have so many great friends and family and I can’t wait until Lili gets the chance to meet and know everyone.  Thanks again for a great shower!!

A – 9 days and L – 14 days -c