What are YOU missing?

As is customary in the post-Pesach period (that's the PPP, for short), several kitchen implements seem to be missing. This year, we can't find our milk opener or the cover to our Tupperware flour container. (We have the canister itself; it's just the lid that's off in PPP-limbo.)

So, what are you missing? Points to the commenter who leaves the most exotic item.

Now, I can just hear some of our dear readers saying, "Yes. That's all very interesting. But isn't it a bit off-topic? Shouldn't you have put an 'OT' in the title?"

Extra credit points go to the first commenter who figures out what missing kitchen implements have to do with this blog.

Meanwhile, in other news, we decided that six of the roof tiles will be glass tiles. As some of you may recall, we currently have glass bricks over the stairs, and we don't want to block the light that shines through them.

Mystery solved

The kablan just arrived and brought tile samples. He said he picked out what he thought were the nicest they had, but we could think about it. As it so happens, I really like what he picked, and so we're going with it.

Here are some pictures. Please note that you probably can't really see the color correctly. (You're all invited to come see in person.)

Here's the floor:

And here's the wall tile:

In this next picture, the floor tile is on the left, and the wall tile is on right. There will be about five of the little diamonds scattered throughout the bathroom:

Meanwhile, he confirmed that he was the one who left the toilet in the front yard. I told him that it's good he told us that, because we were getting ready to post to the community email list, "Whoever left their toilet in front of our house is asked to please come and pick it up." :-)

He said that these days, no one really uses white fixtures anymore. "Off-vite" ("Mah?! Zeh gam milah b'Anglit?!") is the new white, and so he really wanted to give us off-vite fixtures. However, since the tub is white, the other fixtures have to be white as well. He said that's why he picked out off-vite tiles that also match white.

"Curiouser and curiouser!" cried Alice

The kablan came this morning to measure the door frames. He said he'd be back later to bring us some tiles etc. for the bathroom. Imagine, then, our surprise to find this sitting out front this afternoon:

We're not sure when it arrived, but there it is. ESG wondered if perhaps it belongs to someone else. So, if you hear of someone missing one of these, please tell them to get in touch with us. :-)

Meanwhile, back on the bathroom sink front, now it turns out that we are going for the berez perach after all.

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head

Strange as this may seem, some of us were less than enamored with the thought of birds and other livestock flying and crawling into our house via our newly-formed skylight. So, the kablan gave YZG some heavy plastic, and he taped it onto the ceiling:

Once again we take this opportunity to remind our dear readers to leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

Good night from the "Our Shiputzim" Staff.

We aim to please

We received a special request from one of our readers for a picture of the saw itself (and not just the blade).

We think this was it:

(Feel free to correct us if we're wrong.)

Meanwhile, the workers all left, after cleaning up. They even hosed down the front yard. Of course, they did leave a huge gaping hole in our roof.....

Hole-y ceiling, Batman

Here's a picture of the three blocks formerly known as our roof:

And here's the sky:

Finally, here are two closeups of the sides of the hole:

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Yes, that's right. There's a hole in our roof.



The workers finished and are now cleaning up.

Here's a picture of one of the guys carrying the saw blade away: (The tires are what they used to absorb the shock. Note all the white specks all over the ground and plants.)


And here's a drill:



Don't forget to watch this space for further updates.

Sorry, I can't hear you...

Hi.

I hope you can hear me over all the noise. I'll try and type loudly. :-)

The workers arrived this morning, plugged some stuff directly into our electric box, and went on the roof, where they began scraping away several layers from the roof:

Here's what it looked like from the inside:

Eventually, they sealed up the stairs:

Since then there has been a lot of noise, to say the least. The kablan had said that they do the hole in three parts, and so far, we heard what we believe was the first part crashing down. They have a "pool" sitting on a wooden platform on tires to catch the cement, and so the crash wasn't as loud as the drilling/sawing.

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Up to the wild blue yonder

The kablan came at around 10 am and sealed off the two bedrooms.

Here's AMG's room:

And here's ASG's room:

He also put plastic down on the playroom floor:

He then proceeded to drill several small holes in the ceiling so they'll know where to cut tomorrow morning:

In fact, if you look closely, you can see up to the sky:

The workers are supposed to I"YH arrive at around 7:15 am tomorrow and hope to start cutting by 8:00. (The kablan - who lives two doors away from us - will be davening with YZG at the 6:30 am minyan. :-) )

In other news, the toilet is going to be right under the window in the bathroom - i.e. in the middle of that wall (unlike where it is in the downstairs bathroom). Meanwhile, the kablan asked if we wanted to go with him today to look at tiles, but since the kids were going to be coming home soon, we couldn't leave then. So, he said he'll bring some samples for us to look at.

All clear

Everyone spent the day working hard emptying out the upstairs.

Here's what it looks like now:

This is the playroom. The stairs will be along the left wall.

Here's the bathroom:

And, last but not least, the bathtub (and no, we don't know what we'll be doing with the hamsters.... :-) )

Here we go...

The kablan said he's coming tomorrow to - in his words - "hermetically seal" everything. He said that he's doing that not just for the dust - but for the water from the drill as well. Apparently, they will be cutting three strips to make the hole. The slabs of concrete will then fall directly into a "pool" which will be resting on tires to absorb the impact.

The hole will be just past the door to AMG's room, and the stairs will slope down from there towards the back of the house. In other words, when ascending the stairs, one will be facing the front of the house.

Here is what the spot where the hole will be looks like now:

Tomorrow night, the kablan will drill a few holes in the ceiling so that the guys will know where to make the hole when they I"YH arrive on Tuesday morning. According to the kablan, he's getting a "bochur yeshiva" to come clean everything up by Tuesday evening.

The stairs guy is scheduled to come on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, after clearing out the bathroom, we discovered that the bathroom sink is not a berez perach after all, but the kablan said it isn't a problem to switch it. Here's what it looks like now: