French apartment renovations, Day 610: The ceiling is (re)built!

4,566 steps

We did it! The finish carpentry on the ceiling is done!! Never mind that we have loads of sanding, caulking, priming, and painting left. It's time to celebrate!

Now we can get rid of the air compressor. By next week, we should also be able to get rid of the cement mixer.

Eric started priming one area with Zinsser BIN (a shellac-based primer, necessary because the old wood leaches tannins like crazy). Don't worry--it's mint green only because we thought we'd pre-tint the primer. However, the entire tube of pigment only turned it a pale pastel green. So it essentially did nothing except look like the 1950s threw up on the ceiling.

My mom had the idea to do a two-toned ceiling: the big beams and moldings (light wood) painted in one color and the smaller beams inside each square (dark wood) painted in another color. I hadn't thought of that, but it's a good idea.

Eric was gone to soccer practice with Ivy, and then he went straight to his own soccer practice. Zari has been up late tonight studying for a big test (all things having to do with sounds, sound waves, musical noteshearing, the parts of the brain involved in interpeting sound). I'm helping her study which means I've had to learn a lot in order to help her. Some stuff is familiar and a lot is new, especially all of the formulas she has to learn.

I had a breech webinar tonight with Kathy Fray of IIMHCO.

It's been a full day! Tomorrow will be half day of renovations, afternoon of soccer, and then more breech work in the evening.

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French apartment renovations, Day 609: A day of many verbs

3,715 steps

Today's renovation work was varied and very, very messy. We hammered, chiseled, mitered, scored wood with a sawzall, cut stone and concrete, ripped boards, drilled pilot holes, countersunk the pilot holes, reinforced joints with backing blocks, caulked, sanded, sprayed woodworm treatment, and boxed in more beams. And at the very end of the day...vacuumed and showered.

I think we'll be done with all of the ceiling carpentry by this Wednesday (which means we can give the air compressor back to Comrade!). Half of the ceiling is sanded and ready to prime. The other half still needs sanding, caulking, and woodworm treatment.

We have a few spots on the floor near the periphery of the room that need concrete poured. We got the floors prepped today, chiseling down any high spots. Our goal is to do the concrete next week before school vacation. Then we can get rid of our cement mixer!

I was so busy working that I realized I hadn't eaten anything all day at 4 pm. I usually fast until lunch or later anyway, but 4 pm is definitely later than my normal meal time.

Dinner was Swedish meatballs on noodles and steamed broccoli.

I gave Dio a haircut this evening.

We had to give the kids (yet another) lesson on not putting their clothes into the wash unless they're actually dirty. Sock and underwear, yes. Soccer clothes after practice (especially shirts), yes. But other things, not necessarily.

Inga got a personal soccer training with Eric while Dio was at practice. They do that most Mondays. He made her work hard!

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French apartment renovations, Days 607-608: Hikes, prickles, swims

I laid down on my bed last evening to read...not really intending to go to sleep. And then I fell asleep.

We had a fun afternoon yesterday doing an urban hike to the Park du Vinagrier, a big terraced area above Nice that used to be a major agricultural and dairy site. Zari was at a soccer game in Hyeres, Eric was spearfishing, and Dio and Inga were in Marseille at an activity. So it was me, Ivy, and my parents.

This afternoon Ivy came with me and my parents to pick prickly pear cactus fruit. Despite our best efforts, we still got some of those pesky hairs on us! We have a big bowl of fruit that my mom is making jam with.

After we got home from harvesting fruit, we met Eric at the beach for some Vitamin D therapy. Ivy wore her swimsuit and jumped in at the very end.

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French apartment renovations, Day 606: Ceiling, volunteer help, and a trip to the home improvement store

6,732 steps

I need a fitness tracker that counts how many times I pounded on a chisel with a hammer. Today was another productive day, including transforming 3 warped beams into (mostly) straight beams. They needed to be straightened out because the decorative molding attaches to them. We found a good solution using a reciprocating saw to score lines every 6 cm to the correct depth, then chiseling it out until the beam was straight.



We had some helping this afternoon from two young men, one from the US and one from Scotland. They sanded down the old beams, removing a powdery layer of some sort of centuries-old finish. It's not paint and it comes off fairly easily. When they finished, they looked like coal miners emerging from a hard day's labor.

My dad and I dropped Dio off at soccer this evening, then made a quick trip to Leroy Merlin, the huge home improvement store. I have never seen it so empty! It's normally Black Friday every day, but tonight it was calm and quiet. Who knew that Friday nights are the best time to get renovating supplies?

We had several large, long boards that we barely managed to stuff into the car. They completely blocked my line of sight to the passenger side of the car, so my dad had to be my navigator/side view mirror.

My mom has been working on her baguette technique. Today's were particularly lovely.

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French apartment renovations, Day 605: A mummy in my ceiling

9,511 steps

I found a mummified mouse in one of the rim joists. I carefully placed it on a scrap of wood so I could show the kids.

We got two more squares completely finished and started boxing in the last big beam. It's really happening!

I ordered 6 paint samples in various shades of green. Here, the paint stores can't just mix up the samples right then. No, that would be too simple. You have to walk to the paint store, order the samples, then they call you several days later when they are ready so you can walk back to the store and pick them up.

I made a stencil pattern based off the Renaissance desk we purchased a while back. I did a rubbing of the wood inlay, traced it, scanned it, and then converted it via Photoshop into a black & white graphic. Then for fun a did a mockup of the colors we would like on our ceiling.

The stencil itself will be more elongated, with a fancy design in the center, then long parallel lines with lots of "empty" space in the middle, and the final design with the fleur de lys at the end. (See, for example, a historic ceiling done in red & white or another historic ceiling in pale blue-green and gold.)

There was a big event at Cavigal that Eric and the girls all went to--and it turned out to be chaotic and not very interesting for the kids. Inga came home stressed about a test she hadn't yet studied for. I finally sent her to bed and told her we'd get up a few minutes early to finish studying.

My breech books (EU edition) arrived this morning! I now have 100 books that I have to store (60) or ship (40). I hope to sell lots more because there's not a lot of space in the apartment!

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French apartment renovations, Day 604: Baseboards, soccer, books

6,950 steps

We got all but one piece of trim up in the middle squares (of the first type of trim, which we are calling "baseboards" because they resemble a baseboard profile). Not bad for a half day of work.

The afternoon was soccer as usual. Ivy stayed at home with my dad after her practice was done, and my mom came with the rest of us. After we had dropped everyone off, we went to the two big used furniture stores that I visit every week. We didn't find anything in particular this time, but it's always fun to look.

My dad gets his new tooth installed tomorrow. I'm going to purchase 4 or 5 sample pots of paint for the ceiling. Oh, and the EU edition of "A Guide to Physiological Breech Birth" will be arriving here tomorrow!

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French apartment renovations, Day 603: Beams and toes

6,389 steps

Another big workday with good progress. We boxed in the smaller side and central beams and put the first trim pieces in one of the squares. It's a bit slower now that one of us has to be on the scaffolding, but also faster because we have done it all before and have less of a learning curve.

While my dad and I were doing carpentry, Eric was sanding down all of the old original beams. They actually look quite lovely once you sand off the outer black layer. I'm so sad that the original ceiling was torn out in the first place! WHY??!!??

Inga has a broken toenail that has been bothering her, so I took her to a "Pédicure Podologue", aka a podiatrist. She gave some helpful suggestions, reassured Inga that children's nails do break more easily, and filed down the broken parts so they wouldn't get caught on things. We also got a prescription for a hardening treatment. So interesting to see how things get done over here.

I then had a lot of breech work to catch up on and I'm still not done! But it's almost 11 pm and I need to stop working.

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French apartment renovations, Day 602: Flooring, beam boxes, fatigue

4,094 steps

The flooring for the downstairs part of the apartment (kitchen, living room, dining room, WC) arrived this morning. This time the delivery truck had a pallet loader so they were able to drop the pallet off right at our front door.

From there we carried it up in two stages: first into the entry hall, and then later up 2 flights of stairs (with a lot of help from two young men who kindly helped out).

We got the next big beam all boxed in by the end of the day, including the writing for the two chandelier lights. Exactly what we were hoping to accomplish!

I had a 2-hour long breech meeting right after dinner and then a few hours of breech-related work and emails.

I also couldn't get to sleep last night until well after 3 am, so I'm REALLY tired. I'm still feeling a bit unwell. I can't point to anything specific but definitely feel off.

Can I express yet again how thankful I am to have my parents here? My mom has been taking care of shopping and cooking and my dad works alongside me every day. I cooked dinner tonight (with some chopping help from my mom) and of course she got all the ingredients from the grocery store. It has freed up so much time for us to focus on getting this apartment done. We ate Tuscan Butter Gnocchi, a regular favorite, with leftover Streusel Kuchen for dessert.

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French apartment renovations, Day 601: Slow Sunday

663 steps

I took it easy today and I think I'll be back to normal tomorrow. It was very cold (for Nice) today and none of us wanted to go outside in the afternoon. We read books, played games, watched another episode of Poldark, and ate delicious food (Peruvian chicken soup and Streusel Kuchen). That's about it!

Eric found ski boots for Dio--one less thing to think about.

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French apartment renovations, Day 600: Skis, soccer, & sickness

9,154 steps

I went running this morning and then something hit me by mid-afternoon. I headed out the door to watch Zari's and Ivy's soccer games...and as soon as I got out the door, I realized I was not feeling well at all. I turned around, went back home, and tucked in with a hot water bottle and a blanket.

I just need to be in form by Monday! That's my goal.

Zari's game was 0-0, Ivy's was 7-0.

My dad found ski equipment, but my mom and Dio are still looking for theirs. Eric took them to a sports store that has a big secondhand section.

Yet another Poldark episode to finish off the evening.

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French apartment renovations, Day 599: Crown moldings done in boxes #1 & 2

3,917 steps

We finished all of the decorative 2-part moldings in the first two boxes (of six total). So exciting to see it coming together! I got most of it caulked, too. There are a few parts left that have big gaps that still need to be back-filled with spray foam, then caulked.



I printed out a crown molding miter table, as well as a diagram of left- and right-side cuts, which was extremely helpful.

At the end of the day, I sprayed the next set of beams with Xylophene (wood worm treatment). It's really stinky so I had everyone else clear out. I suited up and covered myself head to toe: long sleeve shirt, another long sleeve shirt, bandanna, goggles, cartridge respirator, rubber gloves. As soon as I was done, I stripped everything off and washed anything that could go in a washing machine.

Eric and my dad loaded up all the old windows and a huge pile of wood scraps and took them to the garbage station (déchetterie). It's so satisfying to start cleaning things out!

Our wood flooring arrives on Monday. We decided to buy more of the same merbau that we installed in Le Catamaran. Not quite the intricate Versailles parquet that we were hoping for, but this was a good compromise. Amazing quality, beautiful, good price, and we've already installed it once before so there's no learning curve.

As soon as I got out of the shower, I had to bring Dio to soccer practice because Eric had a meeting. I went to that consignment store but alas, both rugs were already sold! I'm so mad at myself that I didn't buy them when I saw them. Then, I discovered another amazing furniture consignment store that's even better--a bit more selective. Prices are still quite reasonable for comparable items but there's a lot less junk to wade through.

Every time I bring Dio to soccer, I'll swing by those two stores (less than 2 km from his soccer field) to keep an eye on what's new. I chatted with the store owner for a long time and showed him pictures of our renovations, including the moldings that we had installed today. His daughter mostly runs the store as well as an attached bead shop, which has an amazing selection.

As soon as I came home, Eric left to play soccer. It's cold out! The rest of us finished off the tiramisu, played card games, and watched another episode of Poldark.

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French apartment renovations, Day 598: Carpentry

We worked on cutting and installing moldings (piece #1 of 2) that make up an elaborate crown molding inside each square of the ceiling. The entire room is divided into 6 squares (2 wide and 3 deep).

It will make a lot more sense once I show pictures, trust me!

Not much else to report today. There's a huge strike all over France to protest raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. Our kids had several teachers missing, no "cantine" for Ivy, no trams or busses. Zari rode her bike to soccer practice. I was going to go with her, but we couldn't get our bike pump to work because the ball needle adapter snapped off when still inside the pump tube.

Ivy is helping my mom with French lessons. It's so cute to hear her be the teacher.

I should have gone running but was too eager to get renovating and a bit wimpy due to the cooler temperatures. It was 2C (37 F) this morning and that's cold for my running gear (capris, t-shirt, and a very light jacket). Honestly, that's more of an excuse than anything else because I'm sure I would warm up once I got going!

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French apartment renovations, Day 597: Moldings, carpets, and of course soccer

We put up the first piece of decorative molding today! Only one, because we were still waiting for our angle gauge to arrive and this was the only angle in the whole room that was actually 90°!

The decorative molding will be 2 pieces put together to look like one big piece; they are copies (with slight modifications) of the few existing pieces we found on the ceiling.

This afternoon was our normal soccer marathon. After I dropped Dio off, I went to the big furniture consignment store and found two gorgous carpets, one to replace ours that had been burned by our last tenants and the other to replace the small carpet in Zari's bedroom (an old, shabby carpet we got for almost nothing 9 years ago with a big rip).

I also saw two other huge, gorgeous wool rugs and I might go back tomorrow and buy them before they disappear.

My mom made fajitas tonight, which is no small feat in France. Mexican ingredients aren't easy to find, but she succeeded. As usual, the kids were over-the-top enthusiastic about her cooking. I made tiramisu, to be eaten tomorrow night.

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French apartment renovations, Day 596: So many errands

>16,000 steps before my battery died

Besides working on the Communist apartment, I had lots of errands to run today.

1) Dentist appointment with my dad (to take an impression and prep his tooth for the new crown)
2) Paint store (where the person gave me advice that conflicted 100% with the person at another paint store)
3) Police station (to testify regarding a crime I witnessed recently)
4) Book store (to help Inga choose a new journal)

So much coming and going! Tomorrow will be another partial work day due to our soccer afternoon. I am so eager to get stuff done and I think about it all the time when I'm not working on it.

My mom made a delicious Moroccan dish with chickpeas, squash, spinach. It was spicy and hot and sour and bursting with flavor. We had enough time to watch one episode of "Poldark," complete with running commentary from the entire Freeze family.

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French apartment renovations, Day 595: Leroy Merlin, doors that fell through, more beam boxes

7,110 steps

We didn't get quite as much done as we were hoping, but what we did get done worked out well. Eric and I had errands to run most of the afternoon, so that also shortened our workday. By the end of the day, Eric had cut all of the remaining angled pieces that were missing. My dad and I had boxed in 2/3 of the big beam over the mezzanine.



We had two appointments to look at various doors today, but none of them worked out. Ah well...that is the downside of using online classifieds. We also had to take another trip to the home improvement store (primer, caulk, screws, etc) and to pick up an order of tile.

Right before dinner we had a breech Zoom meeting. Eric joined this one since he's hoping to help our organization as a grant writer.

We have big waves crashing onto the shore today. For Ivy's sake, I hope the sea calms down tomorrow, otherwise she won't be able to do her sailing class.

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French apartment renovations, Day 594: Sick Sunday, dreaming of doors

5,285 steps

I stayed home with Inga today. She wasn't puking any more, but she had a fever and looked very pale. I got honey-lemon tea and chicken broth into her later in the morning. She's looking a bit better this evening.

We've been trying to figure out what to do for the front door and lower WC door in the Communist apartment. Both of the openings are non-standard sizes, so we can't just go out and buy something. (Plus what's the fun in that?)

We have a temporary front door installed, but it's a cheap hollow core that we bought used, and we had to trim almost 20 cm off the bottom, which both weakened it and made it look funny.

So our options were:
a) have something custom made ($$$$)
b) make something ourselves, or
c) buy something used and modify it

But what style? What kind of wood? hmmm...

Well, yesterday I was browsing some wrought iron supply sites, looking for balcony railings, when I saw these hand-forged iron nails mounted on a simple door. "That's it!"

Eric loved it too, so now we're on the hunt for a used solid wood door with simple paneling, either vertical or horizontal. If we can find something the right sizes, we can cut them to size, install new hinges and hardware, strip or paint depending on what's on the door, and then decorate it with these hand-forged nails.

And today, on FB marketplace, I found two doors from the same seller, exactly what we were looking for! One is smaller and would fit the WC opening and the other is plenty big for our front door. We're going to take a look at them tomorrow evening.

(These pictures are from the wrought iron website. The doors we're looking at tomorrow aren't very pretty right now but they have great potential.)

We've had a relaxing day at home. We watched two more episodes of Poldark, ate ham-cheese-egg crepes for dinner, and played card games afterwards.

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French apartment renovations, Day 593: Le gastro vs. soccer

7,283 steps

Eric and I slept in this morning until 9 am. Such luxury! I remember hearing Ivy up with my Dad but it wasn't quite enough to wake me up and get me out of bed. I had a nice run this morning. I couldn't convince Zari to come with me but she did go out later and run to the Negresco and back.

We had the morning together and then the big soccer marathan started. Ivy had a game near Cannes, which my parents went to along with Eric. They got home and then Eric, Inga, and my dad left right away for her game (local). Inga's stomach was hurting so badly during the game that she wasn't able to play much. She came home looking very despondent.

I made Thai curry for dinner tonight with chicken, bell peppers, cauliflower, and green beans.

I had 2 1/2 hours of breech meetings: first a live session and then a consultation. During that time, Dio left for an activity with some friends. When I came out from my meetings, the rest of the family was watching a new series: "Poldark." Pretty fun. We watched the first two episodes.

Inga's stomach was hurting more and more, and finally she said, "I need a puke bowl!!!!" I ran and got one. Soon after, the vomiting began. Lots and lots. Poor girl. She's going to sleep on the daybed in the living room since she's still spitting and gagging. "Le gastro" is the phrase for a stomach bug.

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French apartment renovations, Day 592: Lumberjacking at 11 pm

5,491 steps

We've been hearing chainsaws, jackhammers, and drills going all evening, right outside our windows. It's 11 pm and still going strongly. I finally stuck my head outside to see what was going on. There are several work trucks parked right below us, and workers all over the scaffolding on the building next door.

Someone was cutting huge sheets of plywood with a chainsaw and handing them up to the workers on the scaffolding.



But at 11 at night? What's going on? I saw someone on the scaffolding at our level and asked him. "On ferme les fenêtres. Il y avait des squats." (We're closing the windows. There were squatters.)

Therere were police earlier in the day, so I'm guessing they evicted all the squatters and called over an emergency night crew to close everything up. The building has been closed and locked, but somehow people were still getting in.

We had an excellent work day today, with me, my dad, and Eric. My dad and I boxed in the first beam, the one that goes over the shower, WC, and bedroom wall. We're rebuilding what was originally there when the apartment was built 500 or so years ago. We will box in all the big beams, then create a series of shallower boxes going perpendicularly, one in the middle and ones along each side. Then we install two different kinds of molding and voila! We have recreated the orignal wooden ceiling.

Everything worked out wonderfully, and we were able to get things fitted exactly as they should be. Whenever we were aiming to get things level or plumb, they were spot on with less than a millimeter of variation. So satisfying!

During this time, Eric was up on the scaffolding putting in all of the missing pieces of wood (everything that is light is what he's put back from pieces that had been taken out at some point; everything that is dark is original).



After dinner, we went out to the coulée verte to try out these new LED helicopters that my mom bought. You launch them with a slingshot. Lots of fun. Then we watched Ocean's 8.

My mom made bolani for lunch (stuffed flatbread from Afghanistan). It was amazing! For dinner, I made spicy crab sushi. I made close to 20 rolls and it was all gone except for 2 rolls, which we set aside for Eric. (He's off playing soccer tonight.)

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French apartment renovations, Day 590: A very expensive baguette

13,314 steps

The air was crisp this morning. I kept my light jacket on during my entire run. It usually comes off at some point and I am left in just a t-shirt.

Lots more great progress today on the Communist apartment. Now that Eric's new textbook is submitted to the publisher, he can help us out! We worked on the ceiling most of the day, putting up missing pieces of woodwork, filling in the rim joists with spray foam, and doing lots of other odds and ends. I'm feeling confident that we'll actually get this ceiling rebuilt and restored!

When my dad was eating lunch today, he built himself a delicious baguette sandwich. He bit down....and broke off an entire tooth! My dentist is closed today, so we brought him to a big detail office on Jean Medecin that does urgent care dentistry as well as all of the normal stuff. He will need a crown for the tooth (still relatively expensive even here in France, but less than in the US).

He was impressed by the speed of our visit, by the quality of the machinery and equipment, and the low price for the consultation (2 x-rays and a visit with a dentist = 23 Euros).

Eric and I were able to go on a walk this evening. Zari is at a soccer practice and Dio is finishing up a virtual class. I'm excited to get back to renovation work tomorrow!

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French apartment renovations, Day 589: Ivy meets Brigitte Macron, mayor Christian Estrosi, and Didier Deschamps

4,428 steps

Ivy's soccer team got invited to a big event in Nice today. The main guest/speaker was Didier Deschamps. Also present were Nice's mayor Christian Estrosi and the president's wife, Brigitte Macron.

Ivy was RIGHT next to all three of them! No big deal, just hanging out with the president's wife, the mayor, and a super famous French soccer coach. She didn't even realize who Brigitte was until after it was done.

The other kids were jealous that they weren't invited!

My dad and I installed the other three windows this morning, one in the kitchen and two in the bedroom (on the mezzanine). I applied the spray foam and then had to call it a day since I had some breech work to catch up on before our busy soccer afternoon.

Here's how our afternoons work: first, Ivy and Eric go to practice, which starts at noon. As soon as they come back, we load up into the car. I drop Eric and the girls off at Cavigal and continue on to Dio's club, about 10 minutes further from Cavigal. I wait 2 hours until Dio has finished practice, then drive back to Cavigal and pick everyone up.

Because my parents are here, Ivy didn't have to come with me. While I was waiting for Dio, I went to a big furniture consignment store. Then I sat in the car and read a book ("Disloyal" by Michael Cohen) and found myself nodding off a few times.

My mom made goulash for dinner. Yum!

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