A seasonal Chanukah party

The kids were adorable; the performance was beautiful; and the mothers surreptitiously shed a few tears.

But nevertheless, in many respects, the recent gan Chanukah party was rather disappointing.

I mean, consider the following flagrant breaches of gan Chanukah party protocol:

1) In stark contrast to last year’s paean to pyromania, this year’s party was surprisingly free of fire hazards. The requisite purple lights and their electrical cords were well out of the kids’ reach, and the gannenets lit the chanukiyah themselves. Moreover, they used tea lights rather than glass jars filled with olive oil, and they blew out the flames a minute or two later. (More on this chanukiyah below.)

2) Although the gannenets dutifully obeyed the edict from on high that gan must be dismissed early on the day of the Chanukah party, the kids were sent home at the relatively civilized hour of 12:00 – rather than at the more typical but highly inconvenient 11:00.

3) The party actually started more or less on time and ended a mere 1¼ hours after it started.

4) Many of the classic elements were missing, including the Giant Dreidel Piñata, the Building a Chanukiyah Out of Wooden Blocks, and the Joint Parent-Child Arts & Crafts Project.

5) Very few of the kids are eldest children. Thus, there was only one (1) pushy mother blocking everyone else as she attempted to video her precious offspring from every. single. angle.

And yet, in spite of these egregious lapses, the Gan Party of 5770 does have one claim to fame.

In years to come, it will surely be remembered as the only Chanukah celebration to feature a… tinsel-festooned chanukiyah:

“We wish you a merry, er, Chanukah…”

From the Our Shiputzim mailbag

Hellooooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

We recently received the following letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

I’ve been a loyal reader from the very start of this blog. In fact, I haven’t missed a single post.

But I do have one complaint: Now that you’ve moved on to other topics, you’ve left some of us in suspense. For instance, what ever happened to that closet you were building in AMG’s room? How about the light in the attic? Do you still just have one light up there? I’m sure there are more open issues as well.

As a favor to your long-time fans, please consider posting an update on these and other matters.

Thank you.

Sincerely, Wondering-on-the-Web

Well, “Wondering”, we do appreciate that you took the time to write. However, please rest assured that the renovations remain our primary focus. Yes, we have expanded this blog’s purview. But we have not abandoned our original mission, which was – and is – to record all the fascinating (and otherwise) minutiae of our renovations.

And so, to answer your specific questions:

1. AMG’s closet: When I last posted about this closet, it looked like this. Today, it still looks like this. In other words, the carpenter has not been back since then – although he keeps insisting that he’s coming “tomorrow”. (Apparently, in his world, tomorrow=tomorrow+1.) But don’t worry. Our intrepid reporters are closely monitoring this story, and we will, of course, bring you any late-breaking developments as soon as they come in.

2. Attic lights: As you will no doubt recall from our last tour of the attic, there was only one fluorescent light fixture up there. This was fine before we started bringing stuff up. But once we added all the shelves, the attic was just too dark. And so, YZG and his talented team of assistants headed up the stairs, opened the hatch, and got to work. First, they spent some time caulking up a few more holes. And then, they installed two additional lights.

Here is new attic light #1:

And here is new attic light #2:

“Wondering”,  I hope that answers your questions.

Meanwhile, those of you who fell asleep during the course of this post can wake up now, but I have to say that I’m shocked – shocked! – that you weren’t enthralled by our light bulbs. I mean, after all, does it get more exciting than that?! (Don’t answer that!)

And on that note, we wish you all a good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

The end of an era

Helloooo, Our Shiputzim fans!

Before we get to this evening’s post, the Our Shiputzim management has asked me to convey their sincere appreciation of the loyal readers who continue to frequent – and, even more so, comment on - this site despite the relative lack of posts. Thank you.

And, now, here’s what’s happening:

Last week, YZG put the light bulbs in the upstairs bathroom mirror, as you can see here:

And here:

And also here:

Meanwhile, everyone finished emptying out the upstairs rooms.

Here’s ASG’s room all emptied out:

And here’s AMG’s room just about emptied out:

And so, the stage was all set for the kablan to make his final appearance…

{Cue: Dramatic music}

He arrived yesterday morning, and by the evening, the two rooms had been painted (including the various coats).

Here’s ASG’s room:

And here’s a close-up of the corner – now all patched up:

Here’s AMG’s room:

So that’s it for the kablan. And to make it all official, he came this morning, picked up all his stuff and walked off into the sunset bright morning light.

The kablan exits – stage left. The violins soar to a crescendo, and the audience rises to its collective feet in an outpouring of emotion…

Okay, fine… So that didn’t exactly happen… In fact, to be perfectly honest, the kablan isn’t completely finished yet either. For one thing, he’s going to come back in about a month to touch up the paint in the downstairs bathroom… And if you really must know, he’ll also be back to help YZG install some more lights in the attic… And I’m not even talking about the fact that we see the kablan all the time – due to the whole “he’s our neighbor” thing…

But, you have to admit, the poetic licence version was more interesting, no?

In any event, the Our Shiputzim editorial board – in their infinite wisdom (and profound modesty) – have ruled that we are now officially in the “post kablan era”. (No, there’s no nafka mina. I just needed a title for this post, and that was the only thing that came to mind. )

We should note that the end of the kablan era does not signify the end of the renovations. For instance, the carpenter’s blog debut is set - according to my sources – to occur some time in the coming days.

So please continue to watch this space for further developments, and don’t forget to leave a comment.

Good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

Shine a little light

Good evening and welcome to another riveting edition of “Our Shiputzim”.

As you will, of course, recall, when we last met, we were waiting for “Our Stairs: The Sequel” to be installed. To that end, we had hoped that the masger would come today and do his thing.

However, as it turned out, he had to go to the dentist today, and so the kablan came by himself and worked some more on the attic insulation.

That’s right. We’re about to show another three boring excitement-challenged pictures of the attic. We’ll wake you up when it’s over…

Insulation view #1:

Insulation view #2:

And insulation view #3:

Okay. We’re finished with the attic views. You can start reading again.

In completely unrelated news, YZG installed a light above the milchig sink, as you can see here:

And here’s a close-up of the light switch:

The Our Shiputzim editorial board, the writing and blogging department, and the milchig dishwashers union wish to thank YZG for his fine work and to express our appreciation for the improved lighting conditions.

That’s it for now.

Be sure to join us tomorrow for yet another spellbinding episode of…. Our Shiputzim.

Hakarat HaTov

Just a quick post to thank the "anonymous" electrician who switched our bathroom light switch to a double switch.

Here's a picture:

Let's zoom out a bit, shall we, in order to get a feel for the bigger picture:

Thanks again for all your help.

In addition, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who joined us at this evening's festivities. [Insert: A special shout-out to SET for taking a break from studying and for driving some of our other guests.]

Good night from the entire Our Shiputzim staff.

Hidden under the floorboards?

Good evening.

The kablan spent today working on the "finish". [Mah?! Zeh gam milah b'Anglit?!]

Among other things, he put up all the doors.

Here's ASG's room:

Here's AMG's room:

And here's the bathroom:

He also did some more touching up in the attic:

And:

In addition, he removed a floor tile:

But, as it turned out, there was no buried treasure underneath:

He must have misread the treasure map.

In any event, in case you're wondering how he got the tile up, the answer is: suction, of course.

Here's a picture of the suction tool he used:

Finally, we conclude tonight's post with a close-up of one of the new-age light bulbs in our new dining room light fixture:

Does it get any cooler than that? (Okay, don't answer that...)

That's all for now.

Good night, and see y'all back here tomorrow.

Water, water everywhere

Hi.

We have several major developments to report, and so let's not waste any further time with the pleasantries.

Here's what's happening:

We begin with a picture of the paint for the railing's second coat:

Next, we turn our attention to the attic, where the insulation (bidud for the Hebraically-oriented among you) is basically up. There are still some spots that need to be taped, but most of it is finished, as you can see here:

And here:

And also here:

And, lastly, here:

In related news, YZG and the kablan spent a good deal of time hosing down the attic (hence the title). Unfortunately, however, we don't have an underwater photographer on our team, and so pictures are not available. You'll have to use your imagination for this one.

Meanwhile, the kablan finished painting the attic wall over the porch, as you can see here:

Now, I'm sure you'll agree that all of the above is quite fascinating. However, I've saved the best for last. Today's top story is that YZG put up four lights today:

1) In the downstairs bathroom

[Ed. - Due to presumed lack of interest, no pictures of this particular light will be published. Please note that this light fixture is identical to the one in the upstairs bathroom. Our readers can find a picture of the upstairs bathroom light here.]

2) Over the couch, as you can see here:

And here's a close-up:

3) Over the dining room table:

And here's a close-up of one of the glass bowls:

Please note that the lights are currently way too low. YZG hopes to I"YH raise them closer to the ceiling when he has time.

4) On the wall over the stairs leading to the second floor:

That's about it for now.

Watch this space for any and all future developments.

Mystery solved: Lag BaOmer edition

Happy Lag BaOmer.

By a show of hands, how many of you spent the night tossing and turning, because you just could not figure out what they did with yesterday's leftover red cement?

I thought as much, and trust me, I feel your pain. And so without further ado, here's the answer to your question:

Meanwhile, the kablan began painting the wall over the porch, as you can see here:

He also put the first coat of paint on the railing. Unfortunately, however, there seems to have been some sort of misunderstanding with respect to the color. He used "silver", which is not at all what I wanted. Hopefully, we'll be able to work something out. In any event, here's what it looks like now:

Finally, we bring you the following late breaking newsflash:

This morning, YZG (together with his able assistants ASG and ESG) put up the new light fixture in the kitchen:

We at the Our Shiputzim writing department would like to take this opportunity to thank YZG and his talented team and also to commend them for their nice work.

That's all for now.

Shabbat Shalom to all.

Hail to the Chief

First, a word from our sponsor:

We would like to reiterate the sentiments expressed here. We had a great time on Shabbat as well. May the parents, grandparents and entire family continue to enjoy much nachat from the bar mitzvah boy and all his siblings.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled renovations:

The kablan put up the bathroom light fixture above the mirror and ran two more wires.

If you look carefully, you can see the Chief of Photography's arm and shirt reflected in the mirror.

The stair guy (actually, he's just the metal guy or the masger, for the Hebraically-oriented among you) attached the brackets to the stairs:

And then put the steps down just to get a feel for how it will look:

Note that neither the metal nor the steps themselves are painted/stained/varnished/shellacked yet. Also, the railing is not up yet.

Finally, they began closing up the side of the attic. Note the scaffolding:

Here, the roof guy is working on the cement boards:

That's it for now. Please continue to watch this space for further updates as they become available. Your visits and comments are important to us.

See ya soon...