Going upstairs, Terry calls out from the bottom of the stairs "check this out!"

Now, it's not that we've never seen them before, but towards the end of avacado season, these guys have never been so" well-fed". Also, I've never had the chance to catch them on camera.





I grabbed the camera and followed them upstairs as Terry made too much noise and they retreated up the tree.

After a few unsuccessful photos through the window with the flash, I caught their curiosity as I opened the window.
This tree is about 10 ft. from the window. This guy sat on the branch and watched me take photos with curiosity, even going so far as to lie down and cross his paws, as if posing!




Then, the partner's curiosity was aroused and came down for a look!

After a few moments, they were bored with me, went down the tree looking for fallen avacadoes I presume.

SATURDAY:

We're in Italy again for our cooking class!
Stuffed pasta shells! Aunt Dorothy and Pat get busy perfecting their stuffing skills with the ricotta cheese mixture!








Wow! That's alot of shells! We stuffed the freezer with the shells, for future dinners!














Mom shows off her perfectly stuffed shells! Beautiful!












They are co-ordinated again in their outfits! How do they do that!












They checked out my pictures of the kitchen and then went on to reminisce for the evening about boyfriends, dancing, early careers and proposals. Their laughter filled the house as they remembered precious memories.
As we were leaving, they all marveled at how much more energy they had, "I feel so geat", "I feel like I took a nap!", and "I haven't felt this great in a long time!"
The healing power of laughter and friendship!

FRIDAY:



I took a day for myself!

Cut. . .











. . . caffeine










color.

Aaah. . .

THURSDAY:

The counters arrived! That's my Quartzite!













Installation and fine tuning the peninsula goin' on here.

That guy is free hand blade sawing!












Results. . . beautiful!












More results! I love it!















And. . . my soapstone on the hutch! So nice!

Kesha is making a music video. . . on our street! Well, this is Hollywood! And. . I had a little too much time on my hands between coats of paint. . . so. . .

It wasn't long and the street was filling up with filming trucks and equipment. That is Sean's truck in front of our house at the corner.









Across the street, the trailer was set up and a small crew was busy. They look busy, huh.













Taylor had a dentist appointment, so my car was boxed into the garage here. A woman under this tent radioed the "production crew member" and soon the truck was moved. No problem. Was this her job here under the tent?

There is so much "down time" I'm noticing.








This house around the corner was the house where the video was filmed. Apparently, the crew went house to house asking to use the property for the video and came in to check out if the "look" would work. Apparently, this one did.
The picket fence and bicycles were added for filming. The look-sort of a "typical family".






Taylor was a little miffed they used a TransAm! Eew, instead of a mustang! for the video.

Kesha was apparently the "bad seed" child.











The car port across the street was the commissary for the caterer. I heard there was salmon and filet mignon for lunch!



Who is Kesha you ask? I did. This is her first video apparently and this is her. Her music? Well, while aimed at teeny boppers, there should be a parental advisory for the R-rated material. "An up and coming", apparently, I hear.

And he's still the one!


Happy Anniversary Terry!

Last weekend I went back to work after 3 weeks off. I came home Monday morning and no one was here! I sat there with Terry thinking where was everyone?

I walked outside and checked out the progress on the decking that Kevin has been hard at work repairing termite and wood rot damage. Looking good!

And before I knew it. . .








The plumbing supplies arrived! Oh, the jewelry of the kitchen, my faucets, hand crafted in Italy. It's like Christmas!
Oh, the sinks are beautiful, and the rest of the stuff.








The rough top goes on for the counter top. Look at all that counter top! Lots of room for the wine tasting parties, Christmas dinners, ooh!












The wood floors are going in and repaired! Beautiful.















The tile was set and grouted in the laundry area, I love it, too!


Next, counter tops are measured for. About a week later, they go on followed by backsplash.

Outside the windows are being stucco finished. Yeah!

The installer has been here for 2 days now installing cabinets.

Here in the dining room, he set them up. You can see the wide open space we now have looking into what used to be the breakfast nook, now the kitchen!

Slowly, the kitchen was taking shape!




Terry and Taylor are inspecting the laundry room. Notice the new back door!




The cabinets fit the area so perfectly. It feels bigger without the over sized cabinets we had before boxing in the window. We moved the window up to accommodate the height of the counter top that will go over the W/D and sink area.


This is a closeup of the cooktop area. Three drawers below it (one missing due to gas valve) and spice/condiment pull-out cabinet flanking.

There will be 2 ft of counter top on each side.










Backing up, here is a wide shot of the area. New corner windows. The prep sink will be under the window closest to us.
(There is the top drawer)


Peninsula is now coming where that hole is. . .







Here is the back of the peninsula. I think we'll get three bar stools for a breakfast bar here. ON the other side is the wine cooler and beverage cooler under the counter. Oh, and also a pull out trash cabinet.

Check out my legs!








The appliances arrived as soon as Chris (installer) got the cabinets up and we filled the room up again!

He'll come back later for finishing the hutch, hardware and more trim.








This is looking down from the cooktop to the back door.

The hutch area on the left is waiting for countertop before the corbels can be added and then the top cabinets. See how nicely is fits as a built in and now two people can easily walk by each other! That hole in the cabinet (whats left of the cabinet) is where my Viking oven will go. Dishwashers on each side of the sink.




Love that detail on the crown and light rail!


It is hard to see the detail of the finish in these photos.











So, I took a close up of the glaze. Vintage look!

We've cleaned up, swept. . .













and painted everything! Thanks for the great job helping out, Taylor!

And now, as I write this, the Cabinets are being installed ! Yeah!

Our windows are in, the drywall is up and we finished priming the windows and walls last night! Hopefully, stucco today. The fire blocked the stucco guys on Sat. But, we are still basically on schedule!










Terry's enjoying the view he'll be having out where his prep sink will eventually be placed!









The corbels!

I got these corbels to add to my hutch. I ordered some paint to match the cabinets. Simple, huh? No! We spent 5 hrs of prep, 6-7 hrs of painting. We had primer, enamel. . all with reducers and catalysts that had to be sprayed. We had Taylor's RC car airbrush! Might work. The paint dried before it hit the corbel! Oh well, I sanded them down and I reprimed for next option, regular paint color matched to the cabinets! We'll see how that goes. . .

Saturday morning and I'm outside painting our New Windows! A helicopter is circling over my house! People are hurrying up the hill in front of my house.

I look up the hill and this is what I see three doors down from me!

There are no fire engines, no sirens, just smoke and a helicopter circling. Then, LAPD cruisers show up.




Ten minutes, yes, the longest ten minutes it seems I have ever felt, before the engines show up. The firefighters were brilliant! The hoses hooked up before they even reached the house.

I never knew there were so many connection to hook up the those fire hydrants! And three onto the truck (pumps the water, I found out later)







Close up action! The house on fire is right behind the yellow one up the hill.

Soon, they were on the roof cutting the vent hole with chain saw and axes.









There was a lot of smoke. We found out, the owners were on vacation. Cause: smoldering electrical fire.

My windows were going to have to wait. The whole neighborhood was on my corner.






In front of my house, command central. Within minutes, there were seven, yes, seven hook and ladders, paramedics, command response team, 4 police cruisers, even parking enforcement. The yellow tape sectioned off the whole hill, leaving us trapped.
Rehab and air control arrived by the time the fire was out with gatorade and oxygen for the firefighters. Next, the news van arrived and then the insurance vultures! Yes, "public adjusters" they call themselves snooping around, lingering, trying to get information from every and any one around. Then, it was back to painting. . .