As of a few hours ago, we have the green light to move back into Casa McGlinchey.
Mind you, we don't have a certificate of occupancy . . . not per se. There was an issue with our engineer not stamping a report, and the defect was not discovered until after he had retired and allowed his license to lapse, which is exactly the type of thing that you would expect to happen, given the track record of our restoration/renovation project, you know? Luckily, an easy fix was proposed by the City, except that our now-retired, aged and kinda crotchety engineer was not inclined to fix anything, because apparently he didn't think the type of report that he was asked to provide was a necessary precondition to issuance of a certificate of occupancy, or some such, and he had believed that this was the case for years (decades, probably), so he decided to use our house to draw a line in the sand. (Figuratively; he didn't turn it upside down and . . . well, you understand.) So, basically, he refused to cooperate. Yada, yada . . . the mayor's office got involved, and according to our inspector he was getting a couple of calls per week from higher-ups asking if our problem had been resolved (because they cared enough about our situation to call, but not enough to waive the requirement - because, apparently, the City was using our house to draw sand lines as well).
Long story short, we got another engineer to issue the report (WITH a stamp), and our inspector - who is now practically part of our family - was, I think, ITCHING to give us a C.O., but he couldn't, not TECHNICALLY, because Engineer #2 failed to include certain magic language in his report. So we phoned Engineer #2 on the spot, he promised to revise the report and mail it out today, and the inspector gave us the go-ahead to move in, and he'll come by to confirm that the magic language has magically appeared later in the week. (I should point out that every other house in our neighborhood is under some sort of construction, so the city inspectors just sort of camp out.)
Plan is to start carrying over stuff from the apartment tonight. First thing I'm setting up is my new craft closet. Before you say, "That's totally frivolous," allow me to explain:
Craft supplies abound at the apartment; and
I packed them first, because I figured that we won't be needing them while we are moving; and
The craft closet is totally self-contained and in a hallway; so
Moving that stuff first will free up more space (and boxes) at the apartment, and not create an obstruction with respect to the bigger move to come.
By the way, this is the same logic that led me to set up the cocktail tool/canape spreader drawer over the weekend. I don't THINK that I will be throwing a cocktail party between now and when we are moved in (but if I do, it will have to be at the new house, because that is where the cocktail tools and canape spreaders are). So, to me, it makes sense to move the non-essential stuff first. If the outward appearance is that I am all about glue-gunning things with a martini in my hand, well, I guess I'll just have to own that as well.
Problem with the craft closet (formerly known as the pantry) is that the worker bees used it to store a variety of junk, like air duct covers and loose nails and screws (which made some sense because, again, the space is self-contained and centrally located). Because that stuff was in there, they didn't paint the interior when they were touching up the other closets, nor did the cleaning crew attempt to clean it. This creates a dilemma:
Do I:
A) Add it to the punch list and wait to move in my craft supplies? Survey says: X. This presumes that I am a patient person. Incorrect presumption.
B) Paint it myself? No. Not in the mood for tarps and brushes and TWO types of paint (one for the walls and one for the shelves). With my luck, I would blemish my brand new floors.
C) Wing it? You bet. When in doubt, wing it is always the best answer.
Plus . . . I really, REALLY want to trick out my craft closet "Mormon mommy blogger" style. Have you noticed that the coolest, hippest lifestyle bloggers/mega-Pinterest-pinners are LDS followers? Well, they are, and they all have fabulous craft closets. And pantries, too, like the one above (from The House of Smiths' blog).
(That's not wallpaper in the photo, by the way. SHE STENCILED HER PANTRY. I bow down in tribute.)
I had already decided that I would line my craft closet shelves with a heavy Tiffany blue-ish matte-finished and flannel-backed tablecloth-y sort-of-vinyl (how's that for a description?) that I bought at Garden Ridge. Only needed a little bit of it for Tiffany's- and Alice-in-Wonderland-themed luncheon table toppers, and it seemed like such a shame to get rid of what was left.
You know what would also be a shame? Lining a newly painted shelf. I mean, what's the point of painting something if you're going to immediately cover it up? I told myself if I was going to go with the shelf liners, I should just ditch the fresh paint idea and (1) stencil or wallpaper the interior of the closet and (2) trim out the edges of the shelves.
Once I committed to winging it, my car kinda steered to see my friend Joann, where I lucked into two rolls of adhesive decorative . . . something. It's not really wallpaper, and it's not really shelf liner, but it looks to be a product intended for exactly this kind of project. AND IT'S A CHEVRON PATTERN. What is up with me and chevrons these days? Both boys' rooms are getting the chevron treatment in varying doses. And now the craft closet is getting a (black/white) chevron treatment of its own. Shelf fronts are going to be trimmed with black seam binding tape, and I've got a little sumpin'-sumpin' planned to finish those off. The black will look great with the chalkboard labels that I have attached to all of my bins and boxes.
Hence, I have a date with an Xacto knife and some industrial-strength double-sided adhesive tape. Can't wait to actually accomplish something. Yes, I know that (almost) getting a C.O. after nine-plus months of hell is an accomplishment. Designing a kitchen and bathroom totally on the fly: also an accomplishment. Not getting divorced during a double-whammy restoration project/mega-insurance battle: DEFINITELY an accomplishment. But I haven't accomplished much with my own two hands. It's nice to have people build things for you and paint things for you. It's also very frustrating, if you happen to be me.
Thus, people who know me will get the fact that it makes perfect sense to me to Mormon-ize my craft closet with a major move looming on the horizon. That little bit of creativity will sustain me over the next couple of days.
And then, after we are all settled in, I am acquiring a miter box. My mom thinks that she has one that she doesn't use. (God, I love my mother. And, yes, the apple did not fall far from the tree.) I want a miter box because I want to try this thing that I saw on Pinterest where you put picture rail molding under your crown molding, leaving some space in between, and you paint the space as well as the molding white, so it looks like one HUGE (and expensive) piece of molding when you are done. I want to experiment with molding, and this will involve a miter box. Lowe's will cut your wood for you, but they don't miter. (This is one of the MANY flaws in the Lowe's system. Don't get me started.)
I'm sure that I will find a great many other things to miter. But, first things first - crafting supply order must be achieved . . . .
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