That Didn't Take Long

If you've been following my posts, you know I've been looking for a piano for Cassidy ever since we hired a teacher who plays. I happened to be talking to my mom and grandmother today and told them about this blog...they were reading it while we were talking.

It just so happens that my mom has been wanting to make more room in her place, but didn't know what to do with the piano...yep, the same one I grew up with and the same one I was trying to copy for Cassidy. I can't even believe it. The problem is getting it from Albuquerque to Santa Monica, but to have that history in our school is priceless.

My great-grandfather bought it new in 1921 and my grandmother played in a quartet with him as a teenager. It's been passed through the family for years...and now it's going to be at Cassidy. If you didn't know, we're naming the 4 classrooms after our grandmothers, so the Piano will obviously be going in Sally's Room. She just sent me this photo from 1956. I'm on Cloud 9.

Beaming

No pun intended, but I'm talking about my face...well, both mine and Crys'. I walked into the building today just beaming. Beams were placed, walls were going up, and it's starting to look like our vision. Finally, we can see where the actual walls, doorways, windows, bathrooms, and hallways will be.

They were measuring our new operable windows today so we can get the beach breeze coming through, while the old AC's are being craned off and replaced with new units.

We've been documenting the progress periodically, but I loved this shot of Crys taking it all in.

For the Best

Last week I noticed the framers had put up a door frame in a different place than I had expected... yes, I had been changing things around. Today I went to go actually see it. What at first I thought was going to create more lost space for an activity area, has ended up opening up the room a bit more. I love when things work out like that.

Today, they were installing support beams in the East classrooms and I have to say, it looks unbelievable. They had also covered the entire floor with a new sub-flooring, so the rooms looked fresh and clean.

We made a few decisions on electrical matters, some wall placements, door frames, office ceiling heights, and windows. All in all, it was a productive day.

Is "rusticize" a word?

Playing music has always been a big part of my life, so when we hired our newest teacher (who happens to play piano), I took it upon myself to promise her some ivory to tickle. I guess it's all really just an excuse to have a piano again.

If you know pianos at all, you might know there's lots to go wrong on with the insides. I started looking on Craigslist, but started getting bad feelings about buying something so major without knowing the history. So, I'm putting it out there. If any of you know of a piano for sale within our little community, please let me know. I don't really have a budget in mind yet, so ideas are welcomed. I'm thinking I'd like to have what I had growing up, which was an upright...not to be confused with the console guy. We for sure don't need anything overly fancy because Crys is just going to "rusticize" it anyway, but I'd rather be getting one with a solid background check.

You can contact me through email at jbiltz@cassidypreschool.com. Thanks so much.

Rainy Day Saturday...

...perfect for tile shopping. We went to a store we heard about a couple of weeks ago, but didn't see much we liked. That was our 6th tile store in 2 weeks. As we were driving off, we passed a very small tile store on the same block...hardly noticeable...I kept driving. Two blocks down, my gut said to turn around and check it out. I listened.

We saw a few that were just okay and got some new ideas, but nothing fit and I was losing faith in my gut. As we were about to walk out, Crys looked down at a small stack of tile on clearance because he only had 460sqft left...we need 450sqft. We laid our paint and floor samples down beside it and wondered how we had missed it walking around the store for 30 minutes...it was perfect.

Classroom flooring? Check. Bathroom tile? Now check.

Clarity

Yesterday Crys decided on what plants she wanted along the East wall outside. We're a little limited on the front because of codes and such. We both had a meeting with Planning and Building & Safety that went very well. It's nice to know that City Hall is 100% behind you. Even the City Manager knows who we are and is helping.

On a side note, I think I might lose sight sometimes of how personal this experience is for everyone involved. Day-to-day, I get caught up in structural this, measurement that, wall goes here, and the lights go there. Yesterday those thoughts were interrupted by moments of clarity as our close friend came to see the building for the first time (she's also putting our 2 month old goddaughter in the Itty Bitty program, so if there's bias to be had, she had it). For the first time, I got to see a Cassidy Mom take a walk through what will soon be our school. Her eyes lit up around every turn and pride filled up my heart thinking about little Taylor running around everywhere.

Just an Idea

Today was a big day. We finalized the bid for our flooring throughout the school and in the bathrooms, switched up our lighting, got a great contact for appliances, framing started in the West classrooms, and I have a meeting with the head cheeses of City Hall in about 30 minutes.

It hit me again last night of how amazing this all is. Crys and I were looking over the plans getting ideas for electrical outlet placements (I know, romantic), and I just started to smile. Two years ago this was an idea.