Sunday, October 21, 2007

Sneak Preview


Friday was absolutely crazy. We got a bit of a late start and then were stuck in traffic almost all the way to the kitchen, I realized we forgot a whole bag of tools and supplies in our other car. John dropped me off and went back home to pick it up, but on the way out of the parking lot, he scratched the tire on a big tractor that was doing some ditch digging and it popped. He grabbed our painter's truck and gave me the motor club card so I could call for a tow. Meanwhile, i tried to pick up the space, but kept getting interrupted by the electrician calling, followed by credit card companies and such. As soon as the tow truck driver arrived, and we were out looking for the special tool to get the spare tire from under our "fancy european but now trashed minivan", the gentle rain became a torrential downpour, and I ran back to the kitchen to grab another sweatshirt to try to stay somewhat dry. Puddles were forming all around us as I ran back and forth signing this and helping with this. I ran back into the bakery and took a deep breath, had a good laugh with our painter about all hell breaking loose. He's such a mellow guy he just continued to paint while I tried to clear the floor so we could lay some tile.

I tried sweeping, but that just kicked up the dust. The brush attachment from the vacuum that we brought to the kitchen especially to vacuum the floor was unfortunately in the car with the flat tire on its way to Les Schwab to get fixed. We had also forgot to buy a mop for the bakery the previous night, so I ran over to Bartell and grabbed two of their biggest mops, tried to mop with them, but they proved to be completely ineffective on the concrete covered with layers of glue and such. I decided to hose the place down, and try to sweep the water out, but quickly learned our floor had a slope in the wrong direction, and was fighting an uphill battle with the water. I pulled out the shop vac to suck up the rest of the puddles, but then noticed the paper and glue from the linoleum was peeling up. So then we were back on our hands and knees (with cheep kneepads no less) stripping the floor of any loose material to begin the sweeping all over again. Phew.

Time was ticking and if we wanted to get the tile dry by the time equipment started arriving on Tuesday, we'd have to get some sort of heater, so John rented one, and when he got back, we went to lunch and took a deep breath.

We started tiling late into the afternoon, and by the time we were done with 1/3 of the space, we were losing it, our cuts were coming out just completely wonky, we were losing tools left and right. It was time to quit for the day.

Suprisingly, the next day worked out fabulous, and once we got over our sore limbs, we were back in business and getting into a groove. The tile went into the bathroom in like 20 minutes flat! Today we do the grout, which will hopefully be dry by tuesday. We're definitely going to cover that floor up to protect it though!

Today is grout day, and once that's done we're down to a few last minute details on our part f the construction. We're still waiting on a permit for the hood, and plumbing needs to finish up and electrical needs to start, but it's coming together.

Our target date? We're going to stop predicting. We're opening as soon as we can. It's going to be worth the wait, I promise!

4 comments:

Kirsten said...

Steph - the walls look so good! I can't wait for you guys to open the bakery - YUM!

Anonymous said...

What a mind blower. Friday just wasn't your day. Hopefully next week will get started with everything falling in place. It's looking great, from what I can see.
Things will jell soon, i'm sure.
Love,
Kathy (mom)

Stephanie Crocker said...

thanks Sarah for your interest. We've just secured an artist for our opening. We'll keep you posted for future shows.

Charlene said...

I can hardly wait for you to open. Every Tuesday I have to go to the Medical Center for an injection. I need a nice treat afterward to keep my sweet disposition or else I turn into Britney Spears, ahem!