Day 12

August 4, 2010

Guess what happened today? We actually have some new shingles on our roof! Woo hoo!


New shingles on top of our deck... not to mention the crazy circus type ladder the roofers have set up here


Close up on the new shingles


More new shingles! Don't mind the peeling paint job on the actual house.


Old shingles falling off


Lots of shingle trash


Our mosquito infested back yard is now a scrap metal lot

Our roofers have been working now for a little over a week and have made great progress in tearing off those six layers of shingles (yes, 6 in some areas) and rotting boards. The most exciting part is that one part of the mold room is now properly covered. That being said, for today I pretended like it didn't exist and failed to go up and check out the damage. If you ignore mold it goes away, right?

We also called Peters today to set up our gutter installation and were told there are 20 colors of gutters. This should be a simple decision since you should match the gutters to the trim color. The issue is that the house is in desperate need of painting and we don't know what colors we're going for yet. We didn't expect to make that decision so soon. The color combos that we're coming up with on the Sherwin-Williams website just isn't cutting it for now (Alok thought blue, maroon, and white.... then we decided it would be like an American flag.... he liked green and red.... which I thought looked like Christmas, and so on). Ideally, we'd figure out what colors this house was originally. I can't imagine that hunter green was in the color combo originally. Any suggestions? Ideas?

In addition to all of the exciting-ness on the outside of the house, my aunt, Marsha came by to clean the kitchen and help wash walls.


Marsha cleaning the kitchen


As clean as it's going to be for now.... Yes, we're keeping those lovely hunter green counter tops and old appliances. We figure a roof/mold abatement has to be our monetary priority for now.


Marsha washing walls. I asked her if she knew I had a blog. Then, I asked her if she knew what a blog was. She had just gotten her hair done so I thought maybe it was to look nice online. Needless to say, she didn't know what I was talking about ;-)

Again, washing walls was soooo much fun that Avni came back!


Avni washing walls.... although we can't reach behind the random built in heater on the floor. Hmmmm........


Alex looking about as thrilled as I am with wall washing.

After washing walls for a few hours, Avni did Ganesh Puja ceremony. Basically, puja's (pronounced pooja and spelled the same way sometimes) are a Hindu ceremony that is performed before/after every major event.... weddings, engagements, after weddings, babies, new houses, graduations, etc. My understanding is (correct me if I'm wrong) that for a new house, the house is then blessed and all obstacles are removed. Here is the description that we used for a Ganesh Puja in our wedding program:

The initiation of ceremonies occurs with prayers and offerings to Lord Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles, for an auspicious start and wisdom in the ceremonies to follow.

I'm sure it's not the exact same for a house, but that wording was approved by someone at some point so that may be the best simple explanation. My father-in-law also emailed us these three websites that explain some of the significance, so feel free to check them out (http://www.hinduwebsite.com/symbolisminpuja.asp;
http://www.hindu-blog.com/2008/08/symbolic-meaning-of-acts-performed.html; http://www.scribd.com/doc/70254/Rituals-and-symbolism-in-Hinduism)


Avni setting up


Avni questioning her set up and calling her mom for guidance


The set up


Avni lighting the candle


Final set-up. It's interesting to check out, but also leaves Avni open for critiquing if it was not a proper setup ;-)

Avni leaves tomorrow, so I'll be back to washing walls by myself. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Oh, I have made previous pleas for help and have promised pizza and drinks. I was told by some of my roller derby girls that they saw the request too late. It's pretty safe to say that if you want pizza/drinks over the next few years, stop by and help and the offer will still stand.

That's it for today!

Jessica