Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Day 9 of 35668542389235441

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, although there still isn't a light in the bathroom. The floor is done and grouted, and the walls are ALMOST done. See, everything is up except for about 15 bullnose tiles. I went to Tile for Less on Saturday to get more. They were out. The good news was, they were getting more in today. I pre-paid for 16 more tile. Tileman, John, went today to get them. Guess what? Tile for Less always gets 8" bullnose. Always. Except for today. The manufacturer sent 6". So now we have to wait for the right size to come in. Whatever, a toilet is in sight. I hope that John can grout the rest of the tile without the bullnose tomorrow. If so, we will be back in business by Friday.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Tiles Away!

Day 6. They shower area is as good as done. The floor started too. Tomorrow is an off day for John. We did some counting of remaining days (John did not like when I started saying bwahahaha like the Count), and it will most likely be done by Friday. ugh. Six more days of showering at work and holding my pee.

Friday, January 26, 2007

so. tired. (and we are not even doing the work)

Bathroom progress.......

Day 3, new tub.

Day 4, walls go back up.

Day 5, Tile starts, thank god.

We also got the new cabinet delivered from Restoration Hardware. The mirror is back ordered until the middle of February :(

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Snowflakes and Pee

To prove that it is cold enough for wearing gloves and scarves and hats, I present snow. Sunday night it snowed at least an inch. We didn't notice because we were watching the second playoff football game. WE were only clued in by a break in the game by the weather man. We went out Sunday night so Rey could play in the snow. Here he is making a dog angel.

And smelling a snowman in the park. Notice the real carrot nose. Those were some crafty snowman building people.

The next morning it was neat to see the snow on the palm trees in the park.

While all of that was going on outside, the bathroom was getting demolished inside. Day 1, John did demo. Notice the hole in the wall where a medicine cabinet had been. The people who were selling the house didn't even patch it. They just GLUED a mirror over it.

He also called at about 2:30 and said "So what do you think about a new tub?" Our cast iron one needed help, and we were going to get it reglazed, until he discovered that it had been painted with latex paint (similar to some of the pink tiles). What is wrong with people? Anyway, since we are down to the studs, we might as well replace the tub. A quick meeting with a plumber, and we were running and calling all over town to find a left draining tub. Pain in the ass. Wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to have it by tomorrow. Steve was able to get one this afternoon, so we are good, but it was touch and go for a while. Now after Day 2, we are officially without a sink, toilet, or tub. For days. Looks like I will have to inaugerate the 5-gallon bucket later.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Holy Shit!

First off, GO BEARS! Chicago is going to the Superbowl! Last time, I think I was 9 years old. I can still remember Jim McMahon wearing his sunglasses and singing the Superbowl Shuffle. Awesome.

Ok, now that that is out of my system, on to other, less exciting things. First, geological. Last Sunday after the Bears game, Joan and I went to Sabino Canyon to check out the debris flows from last summer's monsoons. Really spectacular, but my butt hust for a while after hiking 8 miles. These pictures do not do it justice. The forest service has cleared most of the debris flows.

But at about tram stop 7......

And then at stop 9. That bit of brick in the middle was the bathroom. We are standing on about 8 feet of debris.

Housewise, here are some before and afters. The hall closet before.

The hall closet after.

I painted it a very bright caribbean blue. I can't remember the color right now, but I got the pain at Ace. It isn't the best paint in the world (although I bought the best that Ace had), but Ace is close and was open, so there. This weekend we got a piece of particle board from Lowe's that Steve cut and painted white, and put it in as a shelf. Now I just need to get some containers to store hats and gloves and scarves. Yes. It does get that cold here.

The big news is that tomorrow the bathroom starts. Now for those of you who are in communication with my mom, PLEASE do not tell her that this is happeneing so soon. She is going to be in Phoenix in March, and wanted to come down here after. We told her she couldn't because the bathroom was being done that week, and that we would go up there for the day. The real truth is that she is bringing her husband with her. He takes up too much bathroom time for four people to share a single bathroom, plus we would rather that he not come here for some other personal reasons. Anyway, mum's the word. Here is what things look like today. Tomorrow will be another story.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Finally!

So I finally got around to taking some pictures of things I have done around the house. First off, pillows. I made some pillows for the sun room/tv room.......

The front room.....
And the bedroom. This was supposed to be for the bed, but Rey claimed it. It is WAY too big for the bed, so we are better off this way. Plus it didn't cost to much because it is just a slipcover over a crappy Target body pillow.
It is funny how everything looks so much nicer and less hairy in photographs than in real life. If you were here, you would see that everything has hair and grass seeds from the park all over it. What isn't hairy is snagged to hell from the cats using it as a scratching post.

The other thing that I did to liven up the place was make some wall art for the bedroom. I got an old crappy painting from Goodwill for $10.
Then I primed it and glued on a green hand made paper. I then took a blue with brown polkadot paper and cut out a bird shillouette that I lifted from a "Do It Yourself" magazine from Lowe's. Or maybe it was Domino. Anyway, the finished product is pretty good. I want to get some side table lamps for the bedroom that have a chocolate lampshade to tie it all in.

Until tomorow......I have been working on a hall closet transformation that I will share once it's done.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Bathroom wishes and soap scum free dreams......

My artist (and I use that term loosely) rendering of what I *think* the bathroom will end up looking like. We shall see. Granted, I think it will look slightly different in real life rather than a modified Excel spreadsheet, but you get the picture.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Weekend fun.

This weekend was actually quite busy. Saturday morning I went to two tile stores and ordered the last of the bathroom tile: the floor tile and the glass accent tile. Then we went to Lowe's and got the shower fixtures and some stuff for Steve to fix the gutters. More money. Ugh. Today I ordered the new cabitent thingy for the bathroom from Restoration Hardware. I am hoping that this bathroom comes out ok. We have been saving for a while, and it needs to be done. At least we are not doing it ourselves. Once the rest of the tile comes in, we will be ready to get going! New bathroom = awesome. New bathroom when you only have one to begin with and have to pee in a bucket in the backyard and shower at work = not awesome (but necessary evil for previously stated awesomeness).

Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend, Lian, and went to the zoo. She had never been, even though she has lived here for a while. She is a kooky kind of gal that I met because she is a Monkey, and I am a Dragon, and she needed a Dragon friend. Well, at least according to Tai Chi John who does Tai Chi (what else?) in the park. More on that later. Anyway, a frolicking polar bear.


Saturday night, there was a benefit concert at the Rialto featuring Calexico and some local mariachi bands. Awesome. Really awesome.

Sunday was early yoga, coffee with Joan, grocery shopping, a little knitting on the socks (they are taking FOREVER!), and a nap that wasn't supposed to be a nap. I'm still tired.

Friday, January 05, 2007

My apologies to Kali.......

but I have to share this! Our friends, Kali and Shawn, went to Spain and Morocco instead of spending Christmas here (lucky buggers). While in Gibraltar, Kali was accosted by a monkey. It is on her head. On. her. head. Her look of annoyance is more towards Shawn, who decided to take a picture of the incident rather than help his wife. Tough call, but I think I would have done the same thing. I can't wait to see the rest of their pictures when they come for the Gem and Mineral show at the end of the month. Hopefully there are some more animal action shots.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Happy Holidays

Our Christmas vacation started out forlorn, but ended up being fun. We were supposed to go home the Thursday before Christmas and spend the night downtown, go shopping, eat at Frontera Grill, and take the train home. Instead our flight was cancelled, we couldn't get out until Saturday, and ended up taking our extra day in Tucson comparing and contrasting the two rival casinos south of town: Desert Diamond (Tohono O'odham) and Casino del Sol/Casino of the Sun (Pasqua Yaqi). Let me tell you, the commercials are true. Desert Diamond really does have it all. Plus there were Tohono police SUVs out front, which confirmed by assertation to Steve that the Nation has its own government. Awesome. I win.

When we got in Saturday, Steve's parents and Katie picked us up. We went out to eat and then, because we were ready to rumble, to the Bulls game.

Christmas Eve was good. First we ate meat (beef tenderloin) at home, then we went to my mom's side and had more meat (meatballs, sausage, sopresatta, braciolle). I was also able to visit my Uncle Johnny's schnoggle, Missy.

The next morning we had the traditional breakfast at Steve's parents house. Bacon was the only meat consumed. Good thing dad then made lamb chops for dinner later that day. My colon was worried.

Jake liked his jumping jack that we got him for Christmas. Here is an action shot. It took 5 of us to blow the stupid thing up in their basement at the house in Michigan. I really want to go to Michigan in the summer. St. Joe's is really cute and they are about a 5 minute walk to the beach.

When we got back to Tucson, all the animals were safe and sound. The girls stayed at the house with a sitter. Rey stayed at our friend's house. He has fun there, but loves to be in his bed at home.

Knitting wise, I made a scarf for Katie and Karen, both of which I didn't take pictures. I forgot my camera in Tucson, hence all of the crazy camera phone pictures. I have also been working on the Hedera socks from Knitty. Slow going, but they fit, and that is all that matters.