Dust, Dust, Everywhere

2019-11-17Us Standard

[Photos taken 17 – 30 November 2019, posted online 23 May 2020. Social restrictions will be withdrawn a whole bunch on Monday, up to 200 people in one space = I can go back to the office.]

Finnur remained in California until almost the end of November, while I began trying to de-dust now that the worst of the bathroom renovations were behind us.

Other events were a football/soccer and gymnastics meet for Emma, endless practices of various forms, a new phone for me, yule-lights began creeping up, hair was cut, and a birthday attended. (70-ish images total!)

Sunday 17 November 2019

Emma eating a snack between games at a football/soccer meet.
Yup, a big kiddie football meet was held in a sports hall up the road from us. We were there before the clock struck 9 am in the morning.
Before the economic crash of 2008, the town had cleverly built two indoor football halls. This morning, this full scale field had been transformed into 8 small fields.
Emma’s turn as goal keeper.
I got lucky and managed to video Emma scoring a really nice goal. She’s a pretty good forward! (Animated gif, wait for it to load.)
By 11:30 am the games had all been completed (some wins, some losses, some draws) and we then stood in line to pick up medals, and take photos by the photo wall. Due to privacy regulations, the meet-holders can no longer take photos of the teams, so it’s just a gaggle of parents asking for smiles.
Emma playing Jenga later in the day. She’s pretty good at it!
Solo parenting days are long. This is laundry sorting/folding at 10 in the evening.

Monday 18 November 2019

Groundhog day.
Bye bye door.
Lots of tiling progress!
How crookedly can one phone be held?!
The “decorative” stripe drying overnight.
Not much left.

Tuesday 19 November 2019

Emma being dropped off at football practice. I took the photo to send to her grandparents who would be picking her up as I had a coffee-house date with a girl-friend of mine.
Hello new “temporary” (hahahahaha!) doorframe.
Inside, the decorative stripe had been placed, and the insides of the windows were done.
Progress!
The door waiting patiently.
Doorstop attempt number 1. This is the color we’re contemplating switching to for the other doors as well, but we’re not ready to commit.
The next big question was the counter-top color. Initially I went with the middle small one, but when push came to shove, the store didn’t have it in stock, so we ended up with the underlying dark color, which was probably a better choice all along.

Wednesday 20 November 2019

Selfie with my new phone, as I’d dropped my Pixel 2XL, and smashed the screen (as happens). The new phone is a Samsung Galaxy S10+.
The big change of the day was that all the tiling gear was gone!!
The view inside the room. The pipes had been covered.
A bit of a jigsaw puzzle, aka large decorative tile area.
So neat!
Some remnants remained though.
“Ambition”, or “Result of mad Wednesday shuttling plan.”

Thursday 21 November 2019

Bjarki after a hair-cut.
Old door-handle installed.
Sealant applied in the corners.
For future reference.
Waiting for something to hold.
Meanwhile, in Emma’s room.

Friday 22 November 2019

At 8:30 am, these babies arrived! (Yes, I barely managed to send the kids off to school, and then drive like a maniac to the swimming pool for a shower, and drive back again, to make it there in time.)
The master drawing.
Emma’s turn for a haircut.
Showing off her skills while waiting for Bjarki’s practice to be over.
Bjarki in mid-air (red top, gray shorts).
Friday night dinner at Ikea.
I was contemplating something to hold all our extra/old/winter clothes in the garage, now that there was a chance we’d be reclaiming it from the workers. I ended up going with this ELVARLI line, the version that uses stilts for legs.
Ice-cream from the self-dispensing-ice-cream-machine.
Lower cabinets!!!! Thankfully our architect was there when they arrived, and she immediately noticed that the tilers/masons had made the pipe-box under the cabinets too tall, so the counter-top wouldn’t have fit into the space between the cabinets and the decorative tiles. She, being a pro, called the tilers in to fix their mistake, which they did!
Emma demo-ing the progress.
Meanwhile, in California…!

Saturday 23 November 2019

I kept scratching my head with regards to the newly non-trashed corner in the garage.
I was also plagued by the choice of a dark counter-top. I ended up putting black trash-bags on top of the cabinets to try to visualize the end result. I was only marginally successful.

Sunday 24 November 2019

Gorgeous morning view at 10 am, as I’d just dropped Bjarki off at gymnastics practice.
View from one of the cafes close to the gym.
It’s almost customary at this point for me to put up the outside yule-tide lights, while Finnur is on a work-trip. As he’d be arriving the following morning, this was my last chance!
Later that afternoon, Emma participated in a ‘practice gymnastics meet’.
The entry marching over.
Animated forwards-backwards gif created from a video, wait for it to load.
Looking over the hall.
With her medal!
Acknowledgement document.

Monday 25 November 2019

Finnur’s in the house, at 07:40 in the morning, after flying through the night from Seattle. The kids hugged hello, and then they went to school, and he went to bed!
Preparations were made for light-installation, and a painter showed up.
There were notches in the ceiling, where there were joints between boards. I asked the painter to smooth them over, and I’m very happy I did, as the open shower results in a lot more steam in the room, and droplets forming everywhere they can.

Tuesday 26 November 2019

Emma’s art corner, now with wall shelves.
My new phone has a panorama lens! Yes, the painter was busy that day.
The painter was young, so he balked at this crazy wall finish we have in our bedroom. He still agreed to try and “replicate” the finish so the ex-hole wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.
Emma’s wall looking smoother.
That evening (!) the cabinet creator stopped by for some final measurements, and pointed out a couple of things he needed fixed. Good times trying to remember details like that, and passing them on to our architect. 🙂

Wednesday 27 November 2019

Anna playing with make-up again.
Nice job!
The never-ending job. It’s nice when they align in time though.

Thursday 28 November 2019

The grass was gorgeously frosted when I arrived at work that morning.
Close-up.
The ceiling-box done.

Friday 29 November 2019

Whoa, a layer of paint!
Our fruitless search for a new coffee table continued. Finnur was sent to check one candidate out, but it turned out to be super low to the ground (shoe for reference!)

Saturday 30 November 2019

At a 50th birthday party in the west end of town.
Playing an exciting game!
Brand new babies!!
Yummy food!
Having a little too much fun with my panoramic lens!
Watching old family videos, the birthday-girl made a few appearances, but the really weird thing was that Finnur’s grandparents were in most shots, also around 50 years old at the time and they looked ancient!
One super-festive window I passed a little later in the day.
That evening we resumed playing the play-station puzzle game The Witness. We ended up finally completing it a few sessions later! Thus endeth November of 2019!!