This little turtle definitely has a spirit worthy of our fun loving “Zippy”. Zippy had a great personality and did this with both our cat and our iguana. The pecking order had nothing to do with size and everything to do with hutzpah.
How we shower
While not 100% the way it is, this is close enough to be worthy of a good belly laugh.
Woo-Woo!
Shak and Jill’s blog gives my renos a nod
I got a nice little mention on Shak & Jill‘s blog. Check out the May 11 entry entitled “Money Pit or Great Project?” . Her blog is focused largely on real-estate apects of homes – Buying, Improving, Selling.
Renovation update 05/17/2007
Things are coming to a head now.
The counter folks picked up the sinks, hopefully that means they are actually working on creating the counter now.
Here is the master bedroom with the window knocked out
That’s Tommy doing the knocking..
They had to pull away a bunch of the vinyl siding to get to the wood
Then cut away the exterior wall within the frame that had been built
Outside view of that hole
The three of us carried the window and placed it into the opening to be shimmed plumbed
WOW! is it ever much brighter in the room now
Then some replacing of the siding and the window looks great from the outside. I’m seriously thinking about doing the same thing on the other spare bedroom wall.
And the frame is primed and painted inside.
It looks hotter than it was today. A good day to be doing hard work!
(Tommy and Larry)
Christopher Hitchens on the death of Jerry Falwell
You certainly can’t say that Mr. Hitchens is shy about his opinion…
He’s a bit boorish but I think his points are important.
Renovation chronology
If you are interested in just stepping through the renovation entries to see the progression of pictures, you can click on the “On the Home Front” category on the sidebar.
You “can” use the search bar at the top right – it’s powered by Google’s search engine and is VERY useful for finding stuff on this site – but it will bring back summaries of each blog entry (no pictures until you click on them) where the category will bring back the entire entries immediately.
Renovation update 05/16/2007
Today saw much of the framing for the new bedroom window completed with proper support being put in place (see the patch work going down either side of the wall).
Hopefully we’ll get the actual window installed tomorrow (Thursday).
The counter folks called and will be picking up the bathroom sinks tomorrow to mount as part of the counter construction.
Here is our new “air assist” Gerber Toilet (as recommended by Consumers Reports). It’s a Gerber EF-21-312 (elongated) with a Toto SS114 (softclose) seat. That’s the top part of the seat in mid-close.
The master bathroom window has been trimmed and painted. We’re pretty much playing a waiting game on this front until the counter arrives. You can see one of the medicine cabinets to the left of the window with the outlets installed in it. We want to get most of those rechargable items off of the counter and out of the way.
The bathroom fixtures were also installed. Pretty much all that’s left to do is install the shower door. I need to verify that the caulking has been sealed but I’m pretty sure all is well in there.
Phoebe is remaining relatively unaffected by all of this activity. She’s pretty laid back anyway.
Mav has taken to hiding in the morning so that he won’t be forced to stay in a big, airy room with plenty of food, water and a litter box. Preferring instead to cower under a bed or piece of furniture in some room right next to where the construction is going on.
He’s fine in the evenings but I can’t figure out what drives him to disappear each morning. It’s a little funny when he does this on days when Tommy and Larry aren’t coming over…
Hotmail Member notices- take it or leave it
I had to laugh when I received this message from “Hotmail Member Services”.
As with any reputable newsletter sender, they provide a way to opt out of their communications:
“If you do not wish to receive these letters you may discontinue your participation in the service and close your account.”
It’s good to know you’ve always got a choice 🙂
Renovation update 05/15/2007
Today, in addition to cleaning up the tiles to prepare for sealing, the electrician came and finished up the switches in the water closet and the outlets in the medicine cabinets. Also we’re playing with the accent lighting in the living room to make sure it nicely highlights the pictures over the buffet and the mantel.
The counter guy came to make a template,
He probably uses more glue in a week than I will in a lifetime 🙂
Also prep work began to replace the bedroom window,
It turns out that the window that was already there was not quite properly installed. The header was shaky and there were no real supports on the sides. Also, there was very little insulation around the window. This will all be corrected with the new window.
Renovation update 05/14/2007
Today the grouting was done,
and showing the bathtub
You can see a few more washes will be required before the grout can be sealed.
Also the side window was removed,
From the outside,
Here is the old window,
It looks like all that sawdust, grout and paint has become too much for Larry!
Also, the vanity cabinets were installed,
and front view.
the casement window was installed