Saturday, February 13, 2010

And the story continues...

January 14, 2008
The weekend was very productive for the bathroom construction! Darryl put the plastic covering on the plywood walls (the stuff that the siding goes over) on Saturday afternoon. He started to install the windows but found that the manufacturer apparently made them about ¾ of an inch smaller than was ordered.
On Sunday Darryl got materials to adapt the window openings to the window size. He was very successful and installed the two small side windows. Now it is starting to look more like an actual room!
In the meantime, Kramer continues to claim the living room based tub as his play space. He has discovered that it is great fun to shove his paws through the ‘Mickey Mouse’ looking faucet holes in the tub, reaching for whatever is on the other side (even the things that are only apparent in his mind). He has also discovered that the tub is a great place to lie around and relax. I hear there may be some sort of territorial scuffle once the tub is installed between Kramer and me (I can see it now-Cat vs. Kim for tub custody).
Now as simple and productive as this entire weekend of bathroom construction sounds it was not without some prodding on my part. Darryl seemed quite comfortable relaxing in the tub Sunday afternoon watching the football game. I reminded him that there was work to be done on the bathroom yet he continued to relax in the tub. After several more reminders his obvious need to escape my prompts prevailed (Ok let’s call it what it is-nagging) and he finally went outside to work accomplishing the window installation! Yay!

January 22, 2008
It’s been a while since I have updated the bathtub diaries. Well let’s see, that is because NOTHING HAS HAPPENED! Ugh! The next few steps are fairly simple. Put up the vinyl siding, shingle the roof, and install the last window. Oh but wait, I suppose in order to put up siding and shingle the roof one would in fact need to have the siding (and the shingles too for that matter). I asked Darryl last night when he planned on ordering these items. His response was that it would only take a day for them to come in. Apparently it takes several weeks for the order to be placed! After all, what’s the rush, right? The cat is definitely enjoying the tub as his playground in the middle of the living room floor. I am once again inviting friends over for tea-I don’t even seem to notice the tub in the middle of the living room floor anymore. It has become a fixture there. (If you haven’t noticed my patience is beginning to run ever-so-slightly thinJ). Granted the weather has been somewhat cold and damp the past week or two. This is why we started this project back in October-so it could be complete before the winter weather set in. (Notice the huge burst of laughter that is rattling my walls as I type). Darryl mentioned a week long trip that he hopes to take in July with his quartet members. I reiterated what I told him a few weeks ago (yes you know me well enough to know that I actually said this) that he could take NO trips until the bathroom is complete. His response was that hopefully by July it would be done. Of course, in my most loving manner, I responded that one would hope so. Then again, it was supposed to be done by the end of October! So here we are in January with a tub in the living room, an empty shell of a bathroom addition, piles of inspection papers, fixtures, lights, and other accoutrements, and a very frustrated woman awaiting the simple task of soaking in a tub!

January 25, 2008
Kramer continues to enjoy the playground with the big roll top sides…
No sign of siding or shingles.

January 28, 2008
Well it’s Monday morning. The most significant progress regarding the bathroom was a humorous email sent to me by a good friend. Ironically, the section about people born under my astrological sign (in this email it was a crawfish) stated that we prefer to relax in a bathtub as opposed to the living room. Hmmm. I wonder what it means when the bathtub is IN the living room! No wonder I am such a confused person-my bathtub is in the wrong place. I believe the only cure for such a displacement is to move the bathtub from the living room to the bathroom. Maybe I should start a contest to see who can guess closest to the date that the bathroom is actually completed. The winner will get the first soak in the tub. Each entry will cost five dollars. Maybe I could make enough money to pay someone to make it happen. Not likely. (I will probably get the ‘you threw me under the bus again’ speech from my beloved husband and bathroom contractor once he reads these updates). Perhaps instead of my sign being a crawfish it should have been a crab because I’m startin’ to get a bit crabby about this whole thing!!!

WHAT'S YOUR SOUTHERN SIGN?
Some of us Southerners are pretty skeptical of horoscopes and the people that read them. If we are to ever fully understand all the star signs and the people they represent, we need symbols that all true Southerners understand: See the list below...y'all. CRAWFISH (May 22 - June 21) Crawfish is a water sign. If you work in an office, you're hanging around the water cooler. Crawfish prefer the beach to the mountains, the pool to the golf course, and the bathtub to the living room. You tend not to be particularly attractive physically, but you have very, very good heads.

I believe that this description needs a little bit of tweaking for my situation. Let’s see if I can’t improve this a bit.
Crawfish is a water sign. If you work in an office (or a school) you are daydreaming obsessively about soaking in a bathtub. Crawfish prefer the bath to the shower, shopping to the golf course (shopping for bathroom luxuries of course), and to have their bathtub in the bathroom instead of the living room. You tend to be extraordinarily attractive with a good head on your shoulders (or should I say pinchers?).
Oh did I mention that there is no ‘sign’ of shingles or siding?

January 30, 2008
While at the shop today I spoke with Pauly (plumber) who offered once again to help with the bathroom construction. This time I said YES! It’s time that I take this tub by the faucet and get this project done! I explained that the siding and the shingles needed to be put up next. When Darryl arrived a short time later I explained the plans I had made with Pauly to help with the installation of the siding and shingles. Darryl told me that he had yet to order the shingles and siding. I said then order them tomorrow for Saturday. No can do-they wouldn’t be in on a Saturday. Hmmm. Another stumbling block? I think not! Then it occurred to me-if Darryl had not ordered the siding and the shingles then what exactly had he planned to do on the bathroom over the entire weekend (for which the weather forecast is beautiful, warm weather). I had been told that the shingles and siding were the next step in the process. So I said ‘enough is enough-I’m taking over as Project Manager! I informed Darryl that Pauly would be out on Saturday to work on the bathroom.
‘Doing what’, he asked.
‘Removing the vanity, toilet, and removing the wall between the new and old sections of the bathroom’, I responded.
‘I was going to do that’ was his response.
‘Well now it will go faster because there will be two of you working on it’, I said.
Darryl could cut the hole in the wall while Pauly took out the vanity and the toilet. (It seems that accepting help is as difficult for a man as asking for directions). At this point Darryl realized that there was no arguing the point and to go with the new project manager’s decision.J (stop saying ‘poor Darryl’-I know that you are saying that right now!)
Now mind you the changing of the project manager was not the only change taking place. Remember that white cabinet I purchased from the antique mall a few months ago that was now in the shop being used to display china while awaiting completion of the bathroom? Well a beautiful, yet slightly smaller, china cabinet came into the antique shop. Wow, it sure was pretty. It was smaller than the white one with what appeared to be more storage space. And the price was right. But alas I had already purchased the white cabinet. (Yeah, you know what’s coming don’t you)? Lisa knew where it was heading too so she got the tape measure and we started measuring the dimensions of both pieces. We chatted about it further and came to the conclusion that the best solution would be to put a price tag on the white cabinet , sell it, and buy the smaller china cabinet (even though we still didn’t know at this point whether either would fit in the bathroom)! So the price tag went on the white cabinet and a sold tag went on the slightly smaller china cabinet.
In addition to all of this, Lisa and I discussed the bathroom layout. I told her that I was still unsure as to whether a cabinet would even fit in the bathroom. I drew the layout for her and she offered a wonderful solution. She suggested that we move the vanity to the opposite wall thus freeing up the wall to the right of the toilet where the china cabinet would fit. I liked the idea being that the current location of the vanity was tight when the bathroom door is open. I shared the idea with Darryl later and we decided to ask Pauly when he arrived on Saturday if it would work.

1 comment:

  1. The saga continues! :) I REALLY want an old iron clawfoot tub! The flimsy acrylic tub we have now is not comfy and doesn't hold the heat. Just one more thing on my long Wish List!

    I love The Bathtub Diaries!

    -Pam

    ReplyDelete