On How I Went From Mucus Green to Baking Stone

"Mucus Green?" you ask. No, its not germs, colds or phlegm. I'm talking bathroom remodel! Which is finally nearing its completion!

For the most part the "hands-on" stuff, such as gutting the room and replacing everything...that kinda stuff...was accomplished by Doug the "Plmber" (as his personalized license plate calls him) and Roger the Handyman (aka as cabinet-maker). My role, of course, was to stand back and make countless suggestions and changes as they worked. (Doug and Roger are patient fellows!)

That interval of time between gutting and reinstallation seemed the perfect time to paint. So I went over the handfull huge stack of paint chips from the paint store and picked out what seemed like a safe, neutral, medium shade of "sand".

It's so difficult to choose color! In the light from the window brown turns to green. And under a flourescent, green turns to gray. And with an incandescant bulb, all turn to mush. So I took a flying leap, picked what seemed "safe", brought home a $22 gallon of paint and slapped a sample up on the wall....a sample large enough that in the light of day, when dry, would give us a "preview" of our new bathroom color!

My sandy color should have been named "Mucus Green!" Can you believe it took days for me to decide that, no, we're not going to use this...we are going to toss give away this $22 can of paint. My frugal nature just about gave in, but in the end good sense prevailed.That can of paint is out of the house. A friend will be using it to paint closets in his rental house...I think.

Since mucus green was not my ideal of bathroom decor, I decided to try a safe "off-white". The idea was to finish the painting before Roger installed the cabinets. Makes it a whole lot easier if you can slap that stuff on the walls without worrying about the edges of cabinets, countertops, mirror, etc. So paint away I did...just in time. The cabinets went in...the vanity in place...all was well.

Or so I thought. It seemed quite lovely...except that we needed sunglasses to enter the dazzling brilliance of that room. Squinting in radiant beams of light while trying to put on makeup just didn't work. We kept two pair of sunglasses on the sink...one for him, one for me. But it just wasn't working!

So here I am...trying a third time. With a paint called "baking stone". You may or may not be aware that color has "value". The value of a color measures its darkness or lightness. I'm certain there is a Murphy's Law that states something like this...."The value of a color will be directly proportional to the area covered." In other words, a little paint chip will appear much lighter than the same color painted on a large wall. I didn't know that. When I slapped paint on the wall I realized that "Hmmm, this is darker than I thought. "

You know what! I'm liking it. And I can leave my sunglasses in my purse for "out-of-door" adventures.

.

During Which I Switch Topics: At Least for Now

You know what! It's difficult to follow such disturbing posts as those I wrote on Sunday and Tuesday. It's difficult to go from writing about the death of 7-year-old Lydia Schatz at the hands of her parents and then, the next day, to move on to other topics.

It's not that I have already, in a few days time, forgotten Lydia Schatz. Nor am I soon to forget how she died even though her death has not yet hit national news (Where are you, Oh, Great News People!) I'm certain it will. And if it doesnt? Well, then, maybe I'll be blogging again as the parents move through the justice system. According to the Oroville news (click here) they currently reside in the Butte County Jail, Oroville, California, on bail placed at $2 million dollars. God help us all as we see the depth of man's inhumanity to man. God help us to recoil at the horror of sin.

Now...I must switch topics. Bear with me.

What's happening at our house today? We're doing some minor finishing touches on our "new" bathroom. Roger the Handyman will be here to put in place a panel that will "disguise" the opening to the plumbing at the end of the tub. He also needs to place a strip on the floor where the vinyl meets the hallway carpet.

As soon as Roger the Handyman is out of the house and down the road, I'll be grabbing a paint brush. If my Mom reads this, I can hear her say, "I thought you painted it already!" Yes, we did. A lovely creamy white. But after living with it a couple weeks we've decided we prefer a bit of color. Not a lot. A sandy, tan color. It's still "quiet" but a muted quiet, so to speak.

Gotta run. Coffee awaits.

Don't forget Lydia.

On Why Our Bathroom Remodel Is Behind Schedule

Oh, I'm not certain there ever was a schedule. Timing depended upon arrival of new tub and toilet (six weeks of waiting), upon completion of another job by Roger our carpenter/cabinet maker (whose work was delayed by various snowstorms and other minor inconveniences), and trying to work around holidays and company.

Doug the plumber had the new tub installed before Thanksgiving. One thing and another contributed to delay. We had a new tub and we had walls where tile had been peeled, cabinets had been pulled off the wall and 2x4 studs stood exposed to view. But, Hey! Everything worked. A functioning bathroom is a good bathroom.

Monday this week was supposed to be the "big" day of "beginning of completion". But Sunday night the heavy snowfall brought an awning crashing down from Roger's storefront. Roger had to meet with insurance people but managed to get to our house on Tuesday and he and his crew of one have been working busily. They are trying to have things ready today for Doug to come in and install the toilet. Doug, who will be wrestling a ton of porcelain, is heading for Colorado next week for back surgery. I haven't a clue as to why he took on this job with that kind of a back problem. But I suppose he knows how to wrestle fixtures using dollies and such to take the load off his back. But still!!!

Today I have to be away from home. Hubby will be here to answer any questions and to mostly shut himself up in his computer room, away from the noise and dust.

You can click on Roger's storefront for a closer view. Funny thing...where the awning used to be is now revealed some antique stained glass. I hope he is able to restore the glass as part of the "new" store front. In the photo the awning has already been removed from the sidewalk...I wasn't able to get a photo quicker than I did.

Gotta run! I'm headed to the Big City to see my oncologist.


.

We're Saving 95.5 Percent on Our Heat and Cooling Bills!

Hmmmm...that title may be a bit overstated...but read on.

We've packed just about everything into this year that you can imagine. Early in the year we made it through two hospital stays, six chemo sessions, loss of hair (mine, not my hubby's, although his is a good deal whiter than it was before my cancer diagnosis). And finally, after chemo, a couple months of "normal". And hair again!

During that "normal" time we've put a new roof on the house and moved our laundry area from the basement to the kitchen. No, we didn't do the work ourselves. Although we're both fairly handy at do-it-yourself stuff, we're getting a bit long in the tooth. (For those of you who haven't a clue..."long in the tooth" is a phrase that was once used to indicate an aged horse. And since you probably drive a nifty Volkswagon or Chevy or Ford and may never have owned a horse, you've probably never contemplated the mystery of determining the age of a horse by his teeth. But I digress.)

As I said, two construction jobs done. Roof. Laundry. But we're not done yet. Today Doug the "Plmber" (as his personalized license plate reads) made a pretty nasty mess of our bathroom. The old cast-iron tub went out the door in pieces. Along with the tub went tile and sheet-rock. The new larger tub is in place but not yet hooked up. Doug the "Plmber" will be back tomorrow (and perhaps Wednesday) to finish the tub installation.

Once that is done, we'll have Roger the Handyman come in to finish removing tile, take out the old vanity, install the new vinyl floor and the new vanity and put in cupboard storage along one wall. Somewhere in there Doug the Plmber will remove and re-set the toilet.

But, hey, we're not done yet!

We've just about winterized this house enough to save 95.5 percent on our fuel bills (I exaggerate slightly, ever so slightly). We have decided to enhance that a bit (perhaps to 98.5) by removing the 45-year-old single-pane windows and having them replaced with new ones produced by Gerkin. Gerkin's windows are manufactured less than 40 miles from our house...the Green People will love us!

Jeff the Window Installer will be here the first of December. We're figuring with the addition of these energy-conserving windows we'll be able to heat this place with body heat alone. And if either of us runs a fever (God forbid!), we'll have to open the windows a bit to dissipate the heat. (I do tend to exaggerate, don't I !)

I told Hubby that "someday some new family is going to move into an awfully nice house". After all, we're not spring chickens, so it's not like we're going to live in this nicely renovated house for another 50 years. (Maybe 49, though. I have high hopes. Said with a silly grin.)

Perhaps next year will be "easy" time. This year was a whopper. But this I do know...we've been blessed this past year. God is good. No matter what.

Today's Verse? Psalm 146:2 "I will praise the LORD while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being". And again in in Psalm 146:5-6 "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;"

On my good days I will praise God. And in my days of suffering (should they come again), I will continue to praise Him for the sure salvation He provides for His people.

.

A New Covering For the House and Appreciation for Men In Our Lives

A friend and I were talking via email this morning about men. No, not maliciously. In fact we were appreciating the fact that men are "doers" in the sense that they like fixing, putting together, taking apart, inventing, etc. I'm highly appreciative of men. What sparked the topic was watching my 13-yr-old grandson this past weekend do the "man" thing of using an electric drill/screwdriver to take apart an old computer desk and help construct the new one. He was fully intent upon his task and wanted absolutely no help. "Help" is translated "Interference" by a man intent upon doing his job. So I backed off and went off to run the vacuum instead. No man would touch a vacuum unless under extreme duress. I'm hoping this grandson continues to learn and do.

My own man is a doer...he pays close attention to the lawn, the cars, the watering of the garden. And, yes, he also pays close attention to the garbage. We've been married a long time and in all those years I'll bet he's forgotten garbage night only once or twice. He also knows how to cook a pretty decent meal but he pretends ignorance in the kitchen. Sneaky guy, that man. (I say that very kindly...after all, he did save me a slice of that peach pie!)

Today's photo shows four young men who are currently atop our house. They are removing three layers of old shingles in prep for new ones. Fortunately for them the day is lovely, neither too hot nor too cold.

Our old shingles were getting a few curled up edges...well, a LOT of curled up edges. By the end of the week these four will have a new roof in place.

I'm glad it's them doing the job and not me. However, I do know how to apply shingles...I helped do that once on an old steep-roofed house...in a past life. I did that in spite of the fact that I was three months pregnant. Oh, Foolish Woman! Climbing up the ladder to access the roof wasn't too bad, but it took a bit of nerve to step OFF the roof and onto the ladder to go down. Somehow that freaked me a bit and I moved slowly and carefully every time.

Then, to continue in my Foolish Woman phase, we went canoeing. In Canada. Canoeing out wasn't so bad. Canoeing back we were met with high winds and heavy waves. My poor baby survived both roof and canoe! For which I am extremely grateful. I bet she didn't know she was atop a roof and paddling across a wind-tossed lake before she was born. She does now. Or at least as soon as she reads this.
.