House Progress - February 5

Well, with bigger things out of the way we are now we are becoming increasingly annoyed that we still have no lights.  Well that's not entirely true. We are annoyed yes, but we actually have about half of them. The house has lots of built-in pot lights and we had the movers install our nicer fixtures from the apartment, however, we are still dining in the dark, by candle light or the beacon light from the patio for our dining ambiance.  We are s.l.o.w.l.y doing our field research. Did I mention slowly? :) Good thing spring is nearing and every evening we have a teensy bit more light. (Hehe).

We still have a ton of unpacked of boxes all squeezed in our dirty, overly hot and humid house.  We are figuring out the balance of heating zones.  And of course, we have some hang-over mover glitches (damages are not covered beyond 3 days... "buyer beware"!).  And we just discovered some some plumber problems with the laundry room modifications (we were charged about 3x too much) and me with no leg to stand on to fight it.  I was stupid and assumed it was rolled into the carpentry price (I got a verbal - nothing written. What a rookie)*. And still no utilities like tv, phone, internet. 

Without mentioning the daunting cash flow stuff, not having internet banking is really hampering my style. Need I mention the bills we had to pay?? So I end up paying them at the bank via an automated teller. 1 of 2.  Talk about ancient!!! It was oh so slow and painful with people waiting in line behind me huffing and puffing their frustration in my direction as I slowly chiseled through through my massive pile...  Truth be told I stopped two bills short of being finished (the later dated ones) hoping to spare the poor people in the line-up and my agony too of course.  Actually, I think now: "weird how many people were waiting in line for an antiquated way of paying bills..." 

*Sigh... Nothing an University education and a 10+ year career in the business could drill into my brain apparently... "Put it in writing!" My excuse(s): I was tired of the back-and-forth and felt like an ass writing yet another email to back-up verbal agreements that the carpenter so patiently entertained. That and "mommy brain". I'm such an idiot.  

Footnote: Mid-March, I negotiated a 15% reduction on my 300% overcharged bill. Win-win I suppose. 

House progress - January 31

It's been busy....

We altered our existing IKEA wardrobes into storage in our new laundry room.  The ceiling was too low to reuse our sliding doors (shame) so I got some new hinge doors instead and also had the carpenters cut a few centimeters off the bottom of the wardrobe compartments.  Even after trimming the bottoms off we still have a short skirt at the base (yay - for structure and aesthetics!) and the new doors doors fit just fine. We also cut one of the compartments in half vertically to maximize our reuse. In addition to the modifications to the wardrobes we added a counter top over the washer and drier to make a folding surface, added uppers above and updated the slop sink. We of course reused all the interior components (shelves, drawers, hangers and dressers).  I am very happy now. Being organized sure keeps the clutter and random mess in check! 

The laundry room is now finished now so that I can clean it up and start unpacking into it. Yay!!! 

Tomorrow we have an exterior door installed to enclose our outdoor storage space and as well, our new bed will be delivered. Oh and the internet and phone will be looked at as well since it's still not working. No TV either... Anyway... Oh yeah and tomorrow we get our new car! Yay! No more earrrrrly mornings with 3-trips-into-the-city-and-return days!!! 

It's been ...busy.

Only one side of the laundry room. With a glimpse of the new sink.

Sugar Daddy!

Im so nostalgic! This is still funny to me 5 years after I found it. "Sugar Daddy" a (normal sugar) brand in France. Surely the French know the expression right? Heeheehee!

The Jig is Up!

If you dare to check the integrity of your local (Swiss) painter, ask him to paint in colour.  Yes, "off-white" counts.

I've quite accidentally discovered how the profit margin is so significant in the painting industry. Price extra high and skimp.  I've seen it before in other ways but this is a National level of sophistication! The standard 2 coats are easily replaced by a single one when the wall paint code is a National standard one. Hummmmmm....

I can't decide if the next to lowest bidder would have been more honest (pricing for a proper 2 coats of paint) or if he would have been more dishonest than my low bidder. I'll never know. But at almost half the price* of my other two bidders, experience says I probably paid for my problems.  

But we forge on. Here's hoping they actually paint the second coat they have now promised me. Nothing like holding the entire payment hostage to keep contractors motivated before Christmas. Fingers crossed!

*Canadian pricing would have brought the quote in about 2,500.00 but Swiss prices are yes, double (for the low bid and in CHF). 

Pick Pockets

I've heard the story several times already.  Someone's wallet gets stolen from the stroller - or even with the whole stroller!! Maybe 6-7 time in 2 years this has affected a friend-of-a-friend or a direct friend of mine (twice for one lucky friend).

At any rate, I'm aware of some hotspots and fortunately have not been caught off guard myself. But I know I've been lucky.  

But this poster on the tram has a little card you can take with you with all the major credit and bank card emergency numbers. 

The Swiss are so organized! But I wish I knew what they were doing to prevent crime, not just mitigating it afterwards. I guess I better keep working on my German!!

We're Painting!

Last week we got our new house keys and this week we're painting! I'm having fun despite how this story might sound...

When I arrived at the house yesterday, in plain view from the door was a orangey-terra cotta splotch on the wall. I looked, I saw.  Without discipline, out of my mouth moaned a low pitched "Noooooo..." 

My painter said yeah, it looks a bit different than what we chose, but the code matches."

I was there to approve the colours (we are not Swiss so the standard whites won't do).  I got some flack from one of the painters: "Where are you from? Are you painting a hacienda? You are not from Switzerland are you? Ohhhhhhh... Canada! That explains it!" ("Really? It does?" I thought.) But seriously, how wild is off-white, beige accents, a brown accent in our family room and a blue accent in my sons' room I ask?  As wild as 50 different shades of white I suppose. Although I also like the clean white look, I'm going for something warmer in my home and these were unnecessary observations on the painters' part. My only reply was a double edged, passive agressive "I guess there is no accounting for personal taste is there?" 

But now the "hacienda" comment made sense.  

These painters are brave! They still had the gawl to ask if I want to use it!  Apparently I was labeled as a foreigner with whacked-out taste, so maybe I'd just go with it??

Turns out the numbers were switched when ordering and it's all sorted out now. 

Back to my ludacris off-white. 

Berrrrrrrrry

It's frosty out!! No chance of milder weather until... March??  I spotted this lone frosty strawberry today - you can barely see the frost on the back of it but it was there!

Only now did I think: "Ummm! I should have picked it! It would have been a nice iced treat!"