Suggestive Planting

I've spent a decent amount of time on the yard/garden this spring. Not as much as many people we know, but a number of hours over a few weekends. Today I pulled out a couple of shrubs, did a bunch of weeding, fixed the backyard gate, and pruned a few trees. And I put some flowers - which I purchased on Friday - into the ground. (I may or may not whine about my gardening aches on Tuesday...)

I figure that you need to get plants in the ground within a few days of buying them. Kind of like how you're supposed to use or freeze chicken within a certain number of days after bringing it home from the grocery store.

Before Mother's Day, I had done a bunch of shopping, and most of those plants sat in the garage for about three days before being planted. Then, as I started getting them going, I put the pots around the yard so that I could get an eye for what I was doing before committing myself.

In its way, this suggests the future plantings and lets me know what I'm getting myself into. I say all this to explain that I understand the idea of putting the pots in place before planting.

One of our neighbors, however, seems to be taking this suggestive planting to the next level.

Each day this week when I've walked the dog, I've seen that there are new pots stationed around her yard and the boulevard along the sidewalk. It started as a single potted shrub. Then about three of them spaced around the yard. Those migrated to the boulevard on the third day.

Today, while the shrubs are still hanging out on the side of the house, a couple of pots of decorative grasses appeared along the front steps. I can't wait to see what will show up in a few weeks as annual plants start to go on sale.

I guess it does save on recycling if you never actually take them out of the pots, right?

Short Workweek Wednesday

(For the record, it took me two tries to spell the day. It's been that kind of day/week.)

There is something very strange - not bad, just strange - about only working the three middle days of the average workweek.

Having had Monday off for Memorial Day, and having this coming Friday off for my birthday (one of the strange perks of my company), that left me with only three work-days this week.

On the one hand, this is great. Two back-to-back long weekends and all.

On the other hand, it does kind of make it a challenge to get any work done. Especially on a week where I've got a huge project due that isn't part of my regular workload.

But I finished today feeling about on target for the week, so I figure I'm going to just go with that feeling, and treat tomorrow as a Friday.

I guess, then, that I'll have two Saturdays, since Sunday always includes that "I go back to work tomorrow" feeling.

I can deal with that.

Bac'n and Birthday Bargains

bac'n /bayk-n/ - the junkmail you get in your email inbox that you sort of asked for, but that isn't really personal, such as notices from stores you shop at, or coupons from restaurants.

I'm coming up on my birthday this week, and so my inbox is pretty much flooded with bargain-filled bac'n. This happens every year, and so it's not a surprise. In fact, I've kind of come to count on it.

This year I even plan to plan part of my birthday around some of that bac'n, because if people want to give me free stuff on my birthday, who am I to complain?

I've got emails offering me money off at some stores, and free food at a couple of restaurants (honestly, I'm considering hitting up one restaurant with a coupon that has to be used for "dine-in" and another for take-out - both for lunch).

Yes, I'm also hoping for cake that day, and probably some actual food, but - at least in a case like this - things really can be better with bac'n.

Obsessed Much?

As I sat down to write this, tonight, I found myself realizing that there hasn't been any change in the bathroom(s) since my last post. And that, because of that, I wasn't sure what I should write about.

Yeah... These renovations are kind of becoming an obsession. They've become one of the main things that I think about - and I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

Okay. That's a lie. I really want to stop thinking about them. In fact, I want them to be done so I don't ever have to think about them again.

But, until then, I suspect I need to start trying to think about something else.

Like, perhaps, painting the downstairs bedroom once the renovations are done.

Basement Bathroom Reno - Upstairs Version

I'm going to jump a bit ahead, today. 

You see, we have two bathrooms. Although the basement bathroom is getting a full redo, the upstairs bathroom is getting just some tweaking. 

For the most part, they're doing one at a time, so that we can actually... you know... live in the house. But there are a few things that need to be addressed at the same time. For instance, when the Duct Guy came to put in the downstairs vent, he put in the upstairs one, too. 

When the plumber came to deal with the downstairs shower, he also looked at the upstairs tub and checked our upstairs sink to see what he could do with the old piping when he puts in a new drain stopper. That... umm... went kind of wonky. So now our upstairs sink looks like this: 

Yep. That's a bowl in the sink to catch water so it doesn't go down the drain. Then we pour it into the toilet...

And, today, when the electrician came to rough-in the downstairs outlets, he also did some work upstairs - which we totally expected. 

What we didn't expect was that we'd be spending the next few weeks with this: 

We've gone from a 1980s four-bulb strip to one nice, single compact fluorescent suspended on a few wires. Snazzy, isn't it? 

I just keep telling myself that both bathrooms are going to look great when they're done...

Basement Bathroom Reno, Part 2 - Demolition

If you've watched any home renovation shows on TV, you know that the first day of activity is the most spectacular. That's how it was for us. In one day we went from our "before" status to... well... studs and concrete.

Basically, it looked like this:

The wall with the door and the light switches.

Exterior wall and the wall where the toilet and sink used to be.

Remember in the "before" pictures where I said that the ceiling came halfway down the window? Here's proof.  

There used to be a wall, here, with the sink and shower build-out in it. The washer and dryer are under the plastic sheeting in the laundry room.

This is the hole above which the shower used to sit. You know, the drain which the shower was never connected to.

Hmm... What do you think? Is this better or worse than the old floor tile?

The view from the laundry room back into the bathroom. 

The hole under the shower eventually extended...

...into the laundry room. We won't talk about how many times I almost stepped into this part of the hole while walking in to do laundry.

Basement Bathroom Reno, Part 1 - Before

Some of you have been hearing about this for a while, and I finally have some photos to share.

If you haven't heard, here's what's going on: Our house was built in the '50s, and at that time, we're guessing that the basement bathroom was simply "roughed in" to be completed later. When it was completed later on... well... it may not have been exactly to code.

You see, we've found over the past few years that when the shower drain backs up, it backs up under the shower pan and out across the bathroom floor. When we mentioned that to the contractor, we found out that in many homes of the same vintage the shower was never actually attached to the drain pipe. It just sits above the pipe, with the assumption that water will eventually flow into it.

That's when we decided that the shower needed to be torn out and replaced. Which eventually kind of had the domino effect of needing to replace the flooring, and - as long as that was going on - fixing the low ceiling, and (why not?) replacing the other fixtures.

We started shopping for this back in March. The demo happened about 3 weeks ago. We found out last week that some parts are back-ordered and may not be here until June. So... For now we're in the "during" stage. But the following photos are from the "before." (Please note that this is not the original before, when the room was "creamsicle" orange, with a darker orange below the rail and a light orange above it - with '80s gold/blue tile. It became peach to coordinate with the new floor tiles a few years back.)

Can you tell that the ceiling comes halfway down the window?

Apparently I was alert enough to take photos before my shower one morning. 

The wall to the right (which makes this entire space about 4 feet wide) is a drywall wall built to enclose the shower (see next photo).  

The shower stall was framed out to look "built-in" - but when the shower stopped working (luckily, just before the reno was to start), we realized that all of the plumbing is IN that wall. No way to fix it without ripping it out.

Current floor tile was peel-and-stick, but I kind of liked it. 

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting some during pictures and - hopefully soon - I'll post some after shots, as well. I have to admit that I'm really excited with how it should look when it's done. I think you'll like it.