Wandered Away

2008-04-04T21:22:00.002-04:00

Eh, what the heck. Chase's brain tumor has been vanquished, so I'm not needed there. I've started knitting (okay, a year ago) and might have some junk to post. Besides, Clay's new album is out soon - can a tour be far behind?

Let's see if this blogging stuff sticks.

Call me a rotten blogger

2006-10-08T23:52:00.000-04:00

Haven't had much to say lately, and probably won't for a while, at least on this blog. My 18 year old nephew's been diagnosed with a brain tumor, so the family's blogging over here.

I'm hoping all the news I have to post is good!

Yeah! My wallet's back!

2006-08-25T14:56:00.000-04:00

I mentioned at the bottom of this blog that I lost my wallet on the way to the Chicago airport back in July. It came back in today's mail! Well, not the actual wallet, but the contents. Okay, not all the contents, but some...like my license (which I replaced a month and a half ago), my credit card (cancelled a month and a half ago), and my parking ticket for the airport (I got my car out...a month and a half ago). The money? Gone. The actual wallet? Nope.

So while I feel I should write a thank you note, what do I say?

Dear friend,
Thank you so much for returning (the only bits of) my stuff (that are totally worthless)! You said you found it on the Number 66 bus, which is exactly where I lost it (back in July)! It means so much to me that there are honest people in the world! (but where's the cash?)
I hope you find the little wallet as useful as I did!

Other than that...I'm stuck. Where's Jemock when you need her?

Everyone has a purpose

2006-08-12T18:07:00.000-04:00

While Clay was starting his album promotion by posting this:

I was off in Arizona doing this:

1842 miles, 3 states (barely), and 2 countries (if you count walking across the Mexican border for 2 minutes). Why can't I have a normal vacation? Eh, this is fun too. Not that I had a choice! We three sisters and my mom spend this week together every year, and usually it involves a lot of wear and tear on some poor rental car.

The word for the week was VAST. Lots of different kinds of vast, of course, but wow. Big vistas everywhere.

Grand Canyon

Sedona

oops, that was last year...

Ahem. Sorry Judith, Karen made me do it. Why don't you believe me?

So we all had our purpose. Karen sat in front and navigated while I drove, and Judith sat in the back to keep Mom out of trouble. I'm not sure that was such a good pairing, since they're both a bit on the wild side, but we kept throwing tootsie pops back there to keep them quiet. I made good use of the brakes for all the quick cactus photo stops, and I only hit one curb, people! Shesh, you'd think I made a habit of it, as often as they brought it up. I can't help it if I saw a roadrunner and got corroboration (blows raspberries at Judith ;-).

I enjoyed Bisbee and the Queen copper mine, and the short side trip to Naco, Mexico was interesting, at least. The border fence just looked weird to me, and we saw the border patrol bring a few young Mexicans back into Mexico.

Sign heading into Arizona

We drove over the Hoover Dam on our way to spend a night in Vegas. We drove a different way back and went about 3 miles out of our way to touch California. There's a freakin' cattleguard on the border!

One day we took in the Biosphere 2, which is more interesting in retropect than I thought that day. I'm amazed my brain actually retained anything since all I could think of at the time was how hot and muggy it was inside. The 8 people who stayed in for two years grew their own food and didn't intend to allow anything in or out except a huge amount of electricity (which surprised and disappointed me). They did need oxygen pumped in once though; the microbes weren't doing their job. I would like to have seen it in its prime. Right now it looks like it's more or less dying, unless there's a large infusion of cash and enthusiasm.

We hit all the hot spots we wanted except, well, Phoenix itself. Mom's "Passport to Your National Parks" book got a lot of new stamps. At the rate she's going, she just may get them all stamped!

No National Parks next year, though. We're going to cover lots more miles and I won't even have to drive - we'll leave that to the Captain of the "Freedom of the Seas"!

My Kind of Town

2006-07-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry, bad cliche. But while I used to just fly through O'Hare, now I love to leave the abominably familiar airport for the less familiar but much more interesting city of Chicago.

It was a last minute 4 night trip that almost didn't happen. Flights were hard to come by, hotel space was tight, and we all but gave up. I worked out a celebratory birthday dinner with some friends on the last night, so we soldiered on. Vacations are such a chore ;-).

Four days using only public transportation - quite a change for this suburbanite. A couple of planes, a water taxi, a bunch of trains, too many buses, and a lot of stairs. No cars. It was hot. I think we dragged some NC weather with us. There was a thunderstorm our last night, so we when we left, the weather was much better. You're welcome.

We'd never noticed Buckingham Fountain on our previous visits, but we saw the 100+ foot vertical jet of water from the water taxi, and splashed through the spray on a later day. My camera never left the room, so I swiped this pic from a tourism site. We went to the Field Museum for our educational requirement - did you know we're still in an ice age? I didn't. Sue the dinosaur was smaller than I expected, but amazingly complete. The snack bar employees lacked the basics of competent service, but that's all I'm going to say about that.

While waiting for a bus back from the museum, we watched the participants stream into Soldier Field for the opening ceremonies of the gay games. The only thing that made it look different from any other sporting event were a few lame protesters. We did joke about a new version of drag racing (Oh! I broke a heel!)

We had two evening shows scheduled - Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, and Blue Man Group. People kept asking which we liked better, which was like comparing apples and basketballs. Both were great though! The Chicago run of Martin Short's show was just a brief warm up for Broadway, so if you get a chance, see it there. It's a musical loosely (quite loosely) based on his life, with much of it just made up for laughs. Irreverent, a bit bawdy, and fun! In many ways, he reminded me of Clay's recent tours. It had all the necessary elements - singing, a bit of dancing, some chatter, a little local humor, and audience participation, but I just can't see Clay singing the lyrics to the song that I kept hearing all weekend - "Big Titties" (it was set in the hospital nursery just after Martin was born, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds). However, this one? Maybe...

As my wife said to me,
just before she said no,
"If you need nightly stroking,
do a one man show!"

Click on the pic for some videos on the official site. It really was quite fun.

I don't have a performance bone in my body, but his quip about audiences being similar to Methadone struck me - They both make you feel good, but the audience members have their "judgement hats" on. It must be scary out there on that limb.

We'd seen Blue Man Group in Vegas where they were perhaps a bit more polished (and playing a much larger stage), but it was still very fun, and quite worth while. It's interesting that they can convey so much without moving their mouths. No talking, no smiles, no giggles. Just the tilt of a head, a deadpan glance, a pause. Very interesting. They have a good bit of audience participation (for the entire audience) and a couple individuals are brought up on stage. Shy folks should stay well away from the aisles!

One afternoon we did some shopping on Michigan Ave. Oh, who am I kidding; we were there for Ghirardelli's, but I did succumb to a Fossil purse. Marshall Field's gives out of towners (out of staters?) a 15% off coupon if you go to the 6th floor customer service and request it - nice!

Eli's Cheesecake was also on our "must do" list, although after our 1 1/2 hour public transportation debacle (original meaning) we weren't quite so thrilled (we missed the one daily public tour). We got tossed outside because of a fire alarm, and I chatted with one of the employees and got ourselved added to an afternoon group tour. Yeah!

The ChiPRoC is excellent at crashing manager's receptions! We hadn't had more than few drinks between us the previous few days, but...I think we made up for it that last night. We moved on to a deli around the corner and closed that place down as well.

I lost my little travel wallet on the bus to the airport (I hope whoever found it and didn't turn it in needed the money more than I do). No strip search required at the airport, but I did get patted down quite thoroughly. And we paid less for 5 days of airport parking than our friends did for one evening's parking in Chicago. Yeah, I enjoy visiting Chicago, but it's always good to be home.

Martin Short
Fame Becomes Me
Blue Man Group
Chicago

Growing up

2006-07-09T01:56:00.000-04:00

Beautiful (and not muggy) day here, so we headed back to the lake. Awwwww...the ugly duckli...I mean the cygnet is still around! He's matured a lot since I last saw him.

So...will it be September 19th when he finally becomes a Swan?

Not much other news, but next week, next week... Fingers crossed for some album news from Clay. His simple little contest at the fan club (that brought the fans out in droves) ends on Wednesday. Bring it, Clay!

cygnet
swan
Clay Aiken

Charmed flowers

2006-06-23T01:47:00.000-04:00

I just have a different way of showing off my garden. These photos are a couple years old, but I wanted to do some colorful charms, so I did a bit of 'shopping and charming.

Three guesses who that last photo is.

Okay, one guess. *g*

:: waves to YSRN ::

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Flowers
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Clay Aiken

Better than chocolate

2006-06-14T12:21:00.000-04:00

Now there's a button I proudly wear. I'm a chocoholic. My list of favorite people include both Ben and Jerry, and I'd sign a petition to cannonize the folks at Dove.

But there is a food that's better than chocolate.

Geographically limited, inexpensive when in season, and good for you, so I'm told. If you live outside of North Carlolina, you've probably never had any - North Carolina Sandhills peaches. Grocery store peaches, picked unripe, shipped, and warehoused, just can't compare. I walked through Harris Teeter recently and was tempted by the aroma of thier SC peaches on display. I bought a couple, hoping for some magic. While they had the wonderful aroma of ripe summer peaches and a bit of flavor, they had an astringent flesh that's just not good for eating out of hand.

My husband's from the Sandhills area, and he's related (distantly) to the Aumans mentioned in the above article. I've been to both those peach stands, of course, and more! There are dozens of varieties to sample, with names like Georgia Belle, White Lady, Biscoe, and Clayton (yes, Clayton). Tree ripe fresh peaches are incredibly good, but they have to be eaten within days, or peeled, sliced, and frozen. Then you thaw them out and eat them on toast for breakfast! Yup!

More traditionally, my mother-in-law used to make the most wonderful peach cobbler. Nothing but melted butter, milk, sugar, self rising flour and peaches. Lots of peaches. Melt the butter in the pan, mix up the batter, pour it in and dump the peaches on top. While it's baking the batter rises around the peaches and turns golden and yummy. I'm hungry for some peaches!

It's almost time to clear out some room in the freezer for this year's crop. Hmmm....didn't Clay say at one time that his favorite ice cream is Bryer's Peach?

Pssst! Call me, Clay. I have connections!

Spring!

2006-06-11T00:56:00.001-04:00

Okay, so it's almost summer, but we've had a wonderfully long spring. I think today was the first really muggy day this year. Glad I got out yesterday!

There's a pretty lake in a park near our house, and a 2 mile paved path encircles it. There are always enough people walking and biking to make it agreeable to walk alone. Yesterday I took my camera and went to check out the babies. Baby ducks, that is.

All the human traffic (with the obligatory bread) makes for some rather brave ducks. This little guy was quite forward, even though all I had to offer was a camera lens.

His momma stayed back a bit. Oh look - a swan! Last year there was one swan here, this year I've seen 2.

Make that three! My, that is an ugly duckling...

I'd been watching the ducks and swans while chatting with some other observers when the adult swans started hissing. We hadn't moved! Then we noticed the snake. The swans chased him off, while the cygnet bravely swam away...

If you think this is a poisonous snake, please don't tell me! I like to walk here!

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duckling
cygnet
swan
snake

Do stale smoke and beer create talent?

2006-06-07T23:04:00.000-04:00

"He didn't pay his dues playing dives and smoky bars".

I hear this all the time with regard to American Idol alums. But all I can say is so? What the heck does inhaling smoke and beer fumes have to do with being able to sing? If you perform in a lot of nasty places, do you collect talent points? Are these redeemable at your local record label? Do they make people notice you? I mean other than the stench wafting off your clothes, that is.

I say no.

Talent is something you have. It must be nurtured, honed, explored, challenged. But dives are not the only places you can become a seasoned performer, and bars don't infuse aptitude along with booze. Kelly, Ruben, Clay, et al, worked for years; they practiced, made demos, performed in groups, bands, or alone. They got experience, even if you never heard of them before their stint on American Idol. Even if they didn't (or weren't allowed to) talk about their past. Bars, shmars. Give me someone who can entertain me, and I'll plunk my money down.

Like this guy:

Or this guy:

Save your distaste for no talent, pro-tooled "stars" like Ashlee Simpson, Hillary Duff, or, heaven help us, Paris Hilton. I'll just enjoy the folks who can actually sang.

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Clay Aiken
American Idol

The Big Push

2006-06-01T00:13:00.000-04:00

Finally - the last bathroom remodel post!After he got the floor done, Bud had some other stuff to do for a week, so I had some time to paint, stain the trim, and install the lights.

When Bud came back, it all came together very quickly!

The cabinets, ordered through Lowe's, were from Insignia. They're not top of the line, but they look good and seem well constructed. I did have the nerve wracking job of drilling holes for the cabinet hardware, but they included an easy to use template.
Insignia also did a very quick job replacing a few parts that were damaged in shipment. The "secret drawer" front was a reworked damaged door, so that worked out nicely.

Click on the picture below for a better look at the glass tiles. I love the iridescence.

The window has the original wood trim. It's outside our usual "splash zone", but it's been double coated with polyurethane and sealed with a siliconized acrylic caulk, just in case.

Done!

Well, we're still missing the shower glass. Until we cough up three grand, it's a $5 shower rod matched with a $3 shower curtain for us. Hey, it works! It'll be a bit drafty in the winter, though.

I just love how the "secret" drawer came out! It's huge!

With all our starts and stops, waiting to get on the schedule of people I trusted, it took 9 months to "fix that leaky shower". I think it was well worth it!

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bathroom remodeling

Melancholy

2006-05-30T16:27:00.000-04:00

It's been an icky day and there's only so much ice cream one can eat.

I was going through old photos of our trip to Kauai last March and found this video I took of a harper playing a rather melancholy song. I wish I remembered the name.

Sorry about the scary eye, but I wanted to modify the video to protect the somewhat innocent, and this just fit. For me, anyway.

Related Tags: harp,
harper

Please, blogger, don't eat my post again

2006-05-29T22:33:00.000-04:00

Putting in the floor warming mats and tile!
I guess I whined enough about the "lack of facilities" that Bud put the shower on hold and started in on the floor. It wasn't level, of course, but with a healthy dose of thinset and the addition of cement backerboard, it was close enough for now.

To heat the floor, I picked Warmly Yours. They have a lot of positive mentions on the John Bridge tile forums and it's easy to get answers there, either from a Warmly Yours rep, or other tile experts who post. Their programmable thermostat will pre-warm the floor to our temperature choice mornings and evenings, and and turn off when we're not there. I also liked their interactive online project planner, which makes it simple to get an estimate of material cost. Well, it's simple if you don't have funny angles like we do, but with a bit of fiddling, I got the layout correct and got my quote.

They determine the length of the heat mat and send a diagram of where to snip, flip, and rotate so it covers the floor most effeciently. Bud, below, is transferring their template to the floor.

Here's a shot of the heat mat in place, before the next layer of thinset. You don't want it too close to the toilet's wax ring, and of course there's no reason to put it under the cabinets!

Bud brought out his levels again and put down another layer of thinset to cover. We've putzed around with the layout enough that he knows where to start the "hop scotch" tile pattern we wanted.

Things moved along right quickly - it's done! After the grout goes in, the pattern won't be nearly as noticible since we picked a grout color similar to the tile. It's....subtle. *g*

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bathroom remodeling
warm floor
Warmly Yours
Tile

Bunny, Take 2

2006-05-27T17:56:00.000-04:00

There! You happy? And yes, I need to mow the lawn, but you wouldn't want me to disturb the pretty woodland creature, would you?

Who's Kerdi?

2006-05-26T18:39:00.000-04:00

That was the answer I got when I asked local tile guys if they'd ever worked with Kerdi. Not the answer I was looking for. *g*

Kerdi is a relatively new product used to water proof showers. No more of that nasty drywall/rusty nail/mildew stew!Kerdi is a thin waterproof membrane that goes over drywall and just underneath the tile. It dries out quickly after each shower, cutting down on mildew which needs water to thrive.

In my reading on the John Bridge forums, I decided that this was what I wanted in our shower. It just seemed to make sense, and in a pinch, I could most likely do it myself. I didn't want to, but I wasn't having much luck finding anyone who'd worked with it (or wanted to try) until, as I mentioned before, I was put in touch with Bud. Yeah Bud!

First section of Kerdi up. The Corian seat was put on after the Kerdi, so the entire shower area is waterproof.

The Kerdi's done, and the tiles are starting to go up. The left wall wasn't flat, so Bud had to build it out with mud to keep the tiles from looking funny.

Only one more row before the bullnose cap. The glass tiles will eventually go in the gap. Bud has to build up the wall a bit because the glass isn't as thick as the field tile.

But that will have to wait. Everything in the shower - time to start the floor!

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bathroom remodeling
Kerdi

That's Clay Aiken???

2006-05-24T23:59:00.000-04:00

Boy, has he changed! I didn't recognize him when he first appeared in the finale of American Idol tonight, but the voice and the smile? Yup, that's him.

If you haven't followed his career since his "loss" on American Idol in 2003, check out this blog. Give yourself a few minutes because he's been busy.

In a nutshell, over 4 million CDs sold, 6 tours, including the American Idol tour, a co-headlining tour with Kelly Clarkson, 2 tours on his own, and 2 Christmas tours ($28 million in ticket sales), his Bubel/Aiken foundation, a UNICEF ambassadorship, a NY Times best seller, plus other TV and charity bits.

Congratulations to Taylor - may you follow in Kelly's footsteps! And Kat? Give Clay a call. He seems to have done just fine without the win.

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Why waste a good tantrum?

2006-05-23T18:53:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh, babies.

There are some "adults" I've heard about lately who have the same problem - throwing tantrums and trying their best to get your attention. Just quietly going about your business and not giving them attention is my favorite response.

I don't know how long it took for this toddler to quiet down, but I'll bet it wasn't 4 months.

Back to plumbing

2006-05-23T02:06:00.000-04:00

We finally got Bud in here after the holidays. I think the existing plumbing scared him, though, so he called in a new plumber. The new plumber was a bit scared too...

The shower valve and outlet weren't centered on the shower pan
The toilet flange was too far from the wall (the back of the toilet would be 4-5" from the wall
A drain joint under the shower pan had not been glued at all
There were 2 rather close ninty degree bends in the toilet drain pipe, a clog waiting to happen

Before

After - note metal plate

There were a couple spots where Bud and the plumber were worried that too many holes in the joists from all these changes would weaken the floor, so metal plate, and in some cases angle iron, was screwed into the joist for strength. Also note all the pretty purple primer - at least I had a good idea that the joints were actually being, you know, glued.

So the plumbing was done to Bud's (and our) satisfaction. The electrician got the new lights, outlets, warm floor thermostat conduit, and vent fan installed. We had blocking installed behind the walls for the shower door and in a couple of spots on the back wall in case we ever need grab bars. Time to button up the walls and floor and respray the ceiling. It's starting to look like a bathroom again!

Time to start tiling!

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bathroom remodeling
plumbing

We got rid of the kids - the cat was allergic

2006-05-21T21:17:00.000-04:00

We have a couple of teenagers in the house. They don't ask for the car keys, and we're not looking forward to grandkids 'cause they've been fixed.

Cassie's a pound kitty from our year in Texas in '91-'92. She's the softest cat I've ever felt, but she's pretty small and, as my nephew complained "There's not enough of her to pet!"

She's also quite agile:

Mikey, below, is an '88 model. Bossy, he's the "supreme commander" of the house. He's been told he's not allowed on the chaise, especially not on Auntie Jane's hand crocheted afghan.

Not that he listens:

But he puts up with us decorating him with glowsticks, so we let him live.

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cats

Dare you to move

2006-05-20T01:07:00.000-04:00

So yeah, a bit of a plumbing disaster. One of the new joints was leaking and it had dripped down and soaked a couple linear feet of the kitchen ceiling below. It also formed balloons of water behind the paint on the walls (stencils, not wallpaper, thank goodness). Once we got past the sinking "oh no" feeling, that part was pretty cool.

John knows a bit about plumbing, at least enough to cap off the leaky pipe. Because of a previous foray into the crawl space to fix a frozen pipe, we even had the tools. So he sat on the edge of what was left of bathroom floor to glue that cap on. It wasn't until he heard the "plink, plink" of the drywall nails giving way that he realized his feet were resting on the kitchen ceiling. I have to give him a hard time about being not only handy, but a little "footy" too!

We weren't too keen on inviting that plumber back (we found other, more serious problems later), and we still needed to find a tile guy, so we closed the door, took a bit of a breather over Christmas, and did some more searching.

Below is my favorite MsMia montage set to Switchfoot's "Dare You To Move", with video and photos of Clay Aiken. I'm not usually a fan of CCM, but I'm a fan of Clay, and this is a good song with a good message. You screw up, or things don't go right, you gotta deal with it and move on. We didn't need to "pick (ourselves) up off the floor", but we needed to get moving again, so there's my segue *g*.

Technorati tags:

Bathroom Remodeling

Clay Aiken

Switchfoot

Clearing out

2006-05-19T16:22:00.000-04:00

Moving right along with demolition.

The rest of the shower wall's down. The original shower tray was laid directly on the subfloor with no preslope, and no doubt the drain's weep holes were firmly encased in the original 3-4" thick mud (mortar) floor. That just seems to be the way it was done around here, and still often is.

The tub's gone too. No wonder our bathroom was cold in the winter - where's the insulation? There was none between the shower base and the ventilated attic space over the adjacent garage either. Brrrr!

The tub drain has to be removed and a drain line for the toilet has to be run aaaaallll the way over to the original location. To avoid a lot of noise below, it'll be wrapped in fiberglass batting. The rest of the roll will fill in the empty spaces in the walls!

That can't be good!

Not the thing you want to see on your kitchen ceiling on Friday at 2AM, just after your plumber has left on vacation.

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bathroom remodeling
plumbing

We putzed around for a year

2006-05-18T11:31:00.000-04:00

Our sticky point was layout. The bath was good sized, but... From left to right along the back wall, there was a large(ly unused) jetted tub under a pretty window, double vanity, toilet, and finally the rather small and leaking shower. The door from the bedroom came in at an angle in front of the vanity, so upon opening the door, you had a lovely view of...the toilet. At least if you were in a hurry, you had a straight shot!

Finally John had the brilliant idea of ditching the tub and moving the toilet there so:

a) the toilet would no longer be the, er, focal point

b) we could enlarge both the shower and the vanity

c) we'd be able to look out the window without crawling into the tub.

So finally we can get started!

We hired a guy who'd done some plumbing for us to do just the demo and plumbing (this was before I found the John Bridge forums and our eventual contractor). He talked us out of pulling permits, which wasn't a great idea. He was overconfident, and there was a disconnect between his confidence and his competence. At least he was good with a sledge hammer.

Down comes the shower!

Ewwww! The moisture barrier was behind the drywall instead of between the drywall and the water as it should be (if drywall is even needed). Add a decade or so of wicking up water from the shower floor and we had drywall/rusty nails/mildew stew.

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bathroom remodeling

Before demolition

2006-05-18T00:17:00.000-04:00

Pictures of the bath before we hauled out the sledge hammer.

The shower was behind the wall, about 2 1/2' x 3'.

Certainly not a bad bathroom, but it'll be better.

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bathroom remodeling

Wildlife

2006-05-17T13:54:00.000-04:00

I saw a bunny (yeah, I call 'em bunnies) in the back yard today, munching on the fresh pine bark mulch, right under the shortened Crepe Myrtle that was hacked off by a beaver (again).

Now I'm buying chew sticks for the entire neighborhood?

Why don't they snack on the Forsythia that's taking over instead?

Sorry, no pic of the flighty bunny, just beaver teeth marks.

Resources

2006-05-17T11:11:00.000-04:00

It took us 9 months to finish our master bath remodel (and that's after 3 years of wandering down the hall to shower). I'll get through posting about it in less time. I hope.

If you're considering remodeling, here's a list of my favorite haunts:

John Bridge Tile forum: Friendly, friendly folks who really know their stuff! They will walk you through every bit of a tile job, and educate you even if you just want to make sure yours is done right by a professional (air quotes optional).
Gardenweb's Bath forum: Although it looks like a gardening site, it's expanded with remodeling forums as well. There are separate forums for all areas of the home, but I hung out here, of course.
Terry Love's Toilet report: Afraid of low flow toilets? There really are some good ones out there!
Homeclick: I had good luck buying from them. YMMV
Warmly Yours: "He who must be obeyed" really, really, really wanted warm floors. He got them.
Corian: And I really wanted a Corian vanity top with integrated sinks. I got it. It's purdy.

I spent a lot of time perusing these sites, especially the tile forum, and especially when I thought I'd never find a decent tile guy. I got guys coming over to bid who thought using mastic (a water soluble glue) in the shower was just fine. Or the one who thought putting cardboard behind the glass listello in the shower would hold up okay. Or the one who just huffed out when I insisted on using our already purchased Swanstone base (another HWMBO warm foot requirement).

After some plumbing disasters and the above interviews, I posted on the John Bridge forum that I just might have to do this myself. I was quaking, but I knew I could do a better job (albeit much slower) than these bozos. Thankfully I caught the ear of a local guy who had just had a huge addition done by Bud Wilson of et al Enterprises in Raleigh. And he does tile! Well!

My knees were saved.

Technorati tags:

bathroom remodeling

Where'd that water spot come from?

2006-05-16T12:02:00.000-04:00

Or how we took three years and five figures to fix a leaky shower.

Fits and starts, blunders and all, it was worth it. Well, I think so. I'm not asking John.

:: hides the final tally::

Our house isn't new and it isn't old. It was built in '88, and while I love it and its location, it was built quickly. We couldn't expect perfection, because "Perfection takes time honey" (tm Clay Aiken). So it's time to pull out the checkbook and start fixing what's gone wrong.

Two years ago, long after we'd quit using the shower, we hired a bathroom designer. First mistake. She had a lot of ideas, few of them practical, and the only thing we got out of it was our first bill and these beautiful iridescent glass tiles:

I think I'm in love...

Technorati tags:

Bathroom Remodeling

Clay Aiken