A New Year, A New House...Eventually

By now, you're probably wondering when we'll finish this damn house already. So are we! As you know, we went to Colorado and Mexico, and were gone for a month. That didn't speed things up. So, about half of these pictures are from early December, and the other half are from early January. Still, nothing's really been done recently, but we're getting back into the swing of things, and we're hoping for a final push to finsh the house within a few weeks. We'll see! Until then, hope you enjoy these pictures:

Here I am putting some primer on the outside of the house in December. Unfortunately it rained later that day, and a good deal of the sealer below knee level was washed away. You know what's even more depressing than that? My hairline in this picture.
But now that we're finally entering into the dry season, that kind of crap should be a thing of the past, and now we'll get to focus on the matter at hand: upcoming droughts.
And hair replacement solutions.

My brother-in-law Arnoldo, painting the outside of the garage. We were surprised how fast, dedicated, and good Angela's brothers were at painting. We had tried to avoid contracting family members, in case there were any sort of disputes, but we caved and let them paint. And we're glad we did.

My other brother-in-law, Ronald.

November 29, 2008, amid painting.

Our bathroom nearing its completion, with a tub and everything. One of the two final, major steps before we move in (besides kitchen cabinets and counters) is getting shower doors.

Looking nicer: January 11, 2009

Angela in the garage.

The small bathroom. If you come visit us, you are more than welcome to use the facilities (again, once we get those shower doors).

The view into the living and dining room, from the entry hall. This time of year in Berlín almost makes you forget how crappy the weather is a good 8 or 9 months of the year.

This picture makes me just want to walk into the frame, lay down on the floor, and wrap some of that paint-covered newspaper around me for a wonderful little catnap.

Angela demonstrating one of the big-ass doors/panels in our house. This one is to separate the TV/guest room from the living room. It's gigantic--remember, Angela isn't short--and I love it!

The other big panel/door, this one separating our bedroom from our bathroom. It's not as cool, but we are pretty sure that we now have the biggest mirror in Berlín, by a factor of about 10.

Oh crack! We think that the recent earthquake caused this crack in a window outside the dining room. Or it could have just been shoddily done. Nice out, boys! Either way, though, if it was the earthquake, we were lucky, since that seems to be the brunt of the damage. Many people lost much, much more.

A nice view from behind (and also the back of the house--he he). Hopefully by the time I get the next post ready, we'll be living in this beast. Stay tuned to see...Until then, thanks for reading and looking!

Almost Done...Or IS It?

The house on November 22, 2008. The only major change is that now we have some little lamps near the sides of the garage door and the house. I guess the only other change that'll be noticeable on the "Poor Man's Time-Lapse" Picture Show will be the painting, whenever that gets done. And any eventual landscaping.

The dining area, which leads out to the back porch.

A partial view of our master bathroom with...wait a minute! Is that a bidet? Damn right, son. If you come to visit the Sitzman/Jimenez Mora de Sitzman house, you can bet your ass that you'll leave with a clean ass!

The sliding doors in the living room, finally installed. Complete with a spectacular view of the Crappy Casita. Hmm, we're gonna have to do something about that. Angela, Honey? If you're going into town, could you pick up a few sticks of dynamite? Thanks, dear!

A blurry picture taken from our future room.

The dining room (left) and the kitchen area (right).

The tub hole, sans tub.

The door to our future room, inviting us in...Soon enough, dear house. Soon enough.

A Busy Week

This week was very productive in terms of getting some of the details done on our house. Angela had talked with her brothers to see if they could get one of their brothers-in-law to varnish the ceilings, since that's something her brothers' brothers-in-law do, evidently. So on Saturday morning at 6:30, the painters showed up at our house. But the painters were her brothers.

I like my brothers-in-law very much, which is why I didn't really want them to varnish the ceiling: it's basically just a really tedious, crappy job. But they said they wanted to do it, and they convinced us to let them. And they did a great, efficient job. Here are some pictures of the painting, and some of the other stuff that was done this week:

Angela's brothers and a friend of theirs, hard at work.

Using screws to attach the paintbrushes to a stick?? Dammit, why didn't we think of that?!

Freddy installed some of the outlets.

Me and Angela's room, with the circuit breaker looking like some sort of gutted bionic animal.

The workers also put in these steps in the back...

...and these steps in the front.

The master bathroom, nearing completion.

These guys were good.

Freddy (right) and Carney--yes, I think that's his real name--installing some of the sockets.

So, that's it for this week. I'll try to get some more pictures up as soon as possible, since things are advancing so quickly now. Thanks for reading!