Catching Up - Bathroom Renovation

It was 95% done and completely functional by last Thanksgiving (thanks, Tim!), but we didn't put on the finishing touches until our party last Friday. So without further delay, I present: The Downstairs Bathroom Project - Before, During, and After.



Our friend Tim completely dismantled and rebuilt our lower bathroom last fall. Goodbye old fixtures, cracked tiles, rusty pipes, ugly crusty dirt and grime, and torn up door. Hello marble tile, custom built shower stall, low-flow toilet, built-in shelves, wainscoting, and pedestal sink. Much nicer!

Whazziz?

Moxy and Silvio check out the destruction.

The shower walls and tile floors, along with a lot of drywall, are now in the dumpster in our driveway. We'll be shopping for a sink and toilet this weekend. In the "good timing" department, this weekend is a statewide tax holiday for energy efficient and water saving appliances. So we won't be paying any sales tax for the toilet. Somehow this does not make me excited about toilet shopping. Never done it before. Not really looking forward to it. I'll probably have a hard time getting through the experience without making a lot of sophomoric jokes.

And speaking of sophomoric jokes, we'll be tailgating early for the Georgia Tech vs. Duke game on Saturday. The early start means two things: mimosas and sausage balls. Guess what happens when I drink a few mimosas and am around sausage balls? That's right! Raunchy sophomoric "ball jokes". I've got a million of 'em! PDM is already practicing rolling his eyes in advance. He does not share this aspect of my sense of humor. He's not a fan of ball jokes, salty or not.

Here We Go Again

Starting another home improvement project tomorrow. We're not so stupid as to think we could do this ourselves. Someone who knows what he is doing will be performing the work. This time it is the downstairs bathroom. Totally gutting it and starting over. No, we never learn. And yes, we think this will be complete in time for the family invasion over Thanksgiving. Here we go again!

Moxy In The Sun

Moxy loves her a sunny spot.

The photo is ten days old, and a lot of work has been done on the porch since then. Paint, eaves, gutters, electrical work - four outlets plus flood lights and a light/ceiling fan. They worked on the floor this week - installed the cement backer board and sealed it against moisture in preparation for the tile floor that is going in tomorrow. It should all be finished next week!

Work is still kicking my ass. If you don't see me around your blogs much, that is why. I come home exhausted and the last thing I want to do is spend more hours in front of a computer. There is something else that is going to demand a lot of my spare time from now until August. I'll leave that as a post for another day.

Happy Friday, everyone.

Progress

The porch has come a long way since I last blogged about it. The permit issues are all settled and it has passed the foundation and rough electrical inspections. Work proceeds apace and we come home to more progress every day. We've made all the many decisions that needed to be made - tile color and pattern, how to hang the doors, shingles, and paint color. Now we just watch the thing take shape day after day, looking forward to having it complete and ready to enjoy. As always, new photos get added every few days to this Flickr set.

I'm also making progress on a big project at work. Change is painful at times, and there are so many ramifications to think about when you work in healthcare and need/want to change the way you are doing things, but we are getting somewhere for our efforts. After some of the changes that we put in place today (a long, exhausting day), I am prepared to deal with no small amount of resistance from others tomorrow. It won't be fun, but if I can manage to bring a sense of humor to work, maybe I can get through it and make it more bearable for others.

Actias Luna

So, what's new with you? I continue to feel unsettled. Not sure why, exactly. There are all kinds of excuses, like the pollen, or the changes at work, or the changing seasons, or the changes at home (work on the porch continues). Twice during the last week I have come home from work exhausted, and gone to bed absurdly early. I hope this is just a transient thing, and not me coming down with something or slowly losing my mind.

Maybe I will feel better after we have had Big Daddy's celebration on Saturday, and his interment on Monday. In addition to the obituary on Sunday, there was an article in the Atlanta newspaper about him in Monday's Metro section. I'm still putting together the photo slide show for the reception.

The porch construction is coming along. The contractors were the ones who first saw the luna moth in the photo. I would have completely missed it. It was clinging to the brick near the downspout on the corner of our home. At first, its wings were folded, and it looked like a leaf. They pointed it out and I went in to get my camera. I think giant Saturnid moths are beautiful, and took several photos of it. My regular readers know how I love the Latin names for things. Thus the post title. If you've never seen a giant Saturnid moth in person, they are impressive. They have a 4-5" wingspan, and all have vivid, distinctly marked coloring - most with "eyes" like this one. They tend to hide in unobtrusive locations and are easy to miss. I once shot a whole roll of film of a polyphemus moth that I found on my windowsill one Saturday morning in Massachusetts. Beautiful!

In other news, I was well positioned to win the office NCAA tourney pool, but Memphis blew it for me, so I came in tied for 5th. Hmpf. Oh well. I did way better than last year, when Georgia Tech was in there warping my otherwise good judgment. Memphis was doomed from the moment I inked them in the top spot on my bracket. I have notoriously bad luck with sports wagers. Once I was spotted 50 points on a game, and my team lost 51-0. 'Nuff said.

"Booze and hookers."

That is PDM's standard answer when I ask him what he is going to do while I am away from home on a trip without him. I think he will probably enjoy a few days to himself. Privacy is hard to get when you are married. Sometimes a short time apart can be refreshing to both.

I am leaving tomorrow for another business trip. Going to La Jolla, CA on a site visit to UCSD. I'm staying a few extra days because I love the San Diego area, and know it well. Besides, if you are going to fly all the way across the country, why wouldn't you want to stay a few extra days? I will be able to visit my sister in Encinitas on Saturday, in between her trips (she is a flight attendant, recently returned from furlough). She tells me that the desert is blooming this time of year and it is lovely. I'm bringing my camera! And I am looking forward to (a)what I will learn from the site visit, (b)the beautiful scenery, (c)seeing my sister and her family, and (d)some California downtime. I am planning to return to Torrey Pines State Reserve to hike the trails by the sea.

As usual, the worst part of traveling is packing for the trip. I hate packing and then some. Always worried that I will forget something crucial. Sure, I guess I can always buy something if I need it and didn't bring it, but what a hassle. I also don't like to commit days in advance, in an unfamiliar climate, to what I will wear. And there is the shoe thing-- trying to minimize the number of pairs needed. *SIGH* Hate it. Mixing business travel with pleasure just makes it worse. Business travel is easy -- no question about what to wear. It is the pleasure part that has no rules and cannot easily be figured out. Aside from knowing that I will hike, I have no idea what kind of "going out" I will do. Makes it damn hard to plan ahead.

Progress on our screened-in porch is sure to go on without me. I am leaving my crappy old digital camera for PDM to use to document each day's changes. Today's photos have been added to the Flickr "porch construction" set. We ran into a snag in the permit process with our county. They sure don't encourage compliance by putting stupid obstacles in place. Makes us just want to say "screw dat" and do it without a permit. Do they want our money, or not? This is a simple change, and they are asking for a ridiculous amount of documentation. I am wondering if it is worth it. They should not make it so hard to do the right thing.

I'll be gone until Sunday. Posting between now and then depends on my locating some free wireless internet access and having something to say. (Ditto for reading and commenting on your blogs.) I'm not paying $9.95 per day to get it at the hotel. "Screw dat!"

CatBlogging included at no extra charge...

PorchPhotoBlogging!

The contractors started working on our new porch late last week. Moxy and Zima have already explored every new nook and cranny. More photos here.

I finished "construction" on the blog. What do you think of the new look? PDM said it was "too purple", so I toned that down a little. The colors look tasteful on my notebook's monitor, but slightly garish on his... I'm thinking we have the saturation levels set differently. I remember Natalie having similar troubles last year with her background color not looking the same for everyone. And go ahead and laugh, but I enlarged the font size because I am tired of squinting at my monitor. No "old" jokes, please. This means you, LL!

Not much else going on this weekend. We did lots of yardwork yesterday, but we are already losing our battle with weeds. Ever since the watering ban, the weeds have taken over - they have no trouble growing when the grass is struggling. We've even got several new varieties that I cannot identify, and I've been pulling weeds for a long time! Stupid weeds. But it isn't all bad news. The catnip is coming back in very healthy. You can't kill mint, although Zima tries her best to love it to death.