Ode to the one full bath

Oh bathroom, how do I hate thee?  Let me count the ways...

One is for ventilation or lack thereof

[caption id="attachment_523" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="1970s ceiling vent - yup broken!"][/caption]

Two is for the vice grips that fall off every morning

[caption id="attachment_524" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Vice Grips to turn on the water"][/caption]

Three is for the layout (aka where is the toilet?)

[caption id="attachment_526" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Yes that is a slanted wall (tub to the left and toilet tucked around the corner)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_528" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Toilet?"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_529" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Toilet!!!"][/caption]

Four is for the fabulous florescent lighting

[caption id="attachment_530" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Gorgeous florescent lights on sides of mirror"][/caption]

Five is for the undersize tub



Six is for the stellar plumbing

[caption id="attachment_531" align="alignnone" width="224" caption="Gray PVC? What pitch?"][/caption]

Seven is for the lack of a proper vent

[caption id="attachment_532" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Unvented toilets STINK!"][/caption]

Eight is for the cross contamination of hot water into cold...

(can you say lukewarm showers anyone?)

Nine is for the inconvenience of dealing with rigging up a temporary (outdoor?) shower while we renovate.  Hopefully in the WARM months

Ten is for the amount of time a project like this takes...

Disaster House

Okay so most of you who received an email from "Disaster House" might take offense.  Hey?!  Who are you calling a disaster?  Of course I am still giggling, wouldn't that be a hoot.

Check out this blog post comment...

Hi! My name is Mel Aman and I’m a producer for a show called “Disaster House” on the DIY network (link here: http://www.diynetwork.com/disaster-house/show/index.html). I’d love to chat with you about sharing your sinking house story for the show...

That showed up in my inbox today!  Can you imagine?  Tristan would feel vindicated I am sure.  Not sure if we will meet the "disaster" requirements, but they are interested in my basement saga...  I will keep you posted!

Party To Do

I remember when getting ready for a family party entailed decorating, planning the menu, food shopping, cooking and cleaning.  I could enlist the husband to assist, maybe buy a mum for the front steps...

Alas, living in a full-scale renovation (aka war zone) has added a few twists to things.  Here are the top three items from hubby's to-do list...

1. PULEEZE fix the gaping hole in Jack's closet floor.  I can only envision the fun game of "throw the cousin down the hole" that might ensue...


2. Two days before the party the kitchen faucet started squirting water out the side when turned on.  While running the dishwasher (drive portable dishwasher over to sink, attach to faucet and turn water on) I managed to soak the kitchen wall.  I suggested duct tape for its asthetic beauty alone, but hubby wanted to replace the faucet so I bought the cheapest one I could find at Grossman's.  Then went back to buy one with a sprayer (who knew they were a unit) and added replace the kitchen faucet to the "list".  This was a two night job as he put the faucet handle on backwards the first time.  That was an interesting look, but seriously impaired functionality so the next night he reversed it.


3. Insulation, insulation, insulation!  There are full-scale winds blowing through our bedroom wall and we are going to have to resort to stocking caps (or sleeping with our heads under the covers)!  Seriously, I know that the little boards have to be cut and nailed into place to keep that rotten squirrel out and then all the batts have to be cut to size because nothing is the same width...but enough already!

You will be happy to know that item 1 and 2 were completed in time.  Item 3 is still a work in progress.  Oh yeah and a nor'easter dropped about six inches of snow on party day which led to half the family canceling.  You diehards who traveled to and fro in the storm rock!  Jack will never forget his 10th birthday.

Progress Update...

There is nothing like the first bite of fall to add some pressure to timelines...  October has proven to be quite busy!

On Monday, October 17th Bup successfully connected the new baseboard and got the heat working!  Not a moment too soon, especially with those 40 degree nights.  The comment around the house was, "it's just like Papoose Pond", but that gets old after a weekend...

The shed is finally roofed!

The new kitchen slider went in on Tuesday.  I love it!  We will not miss the old one little bit.

The other big news is that we had the plumbing inspection for the vent and the roughed in fixtures so that is all set.  Now we have to do the wiring and the tiling and the walls and then a door and then the final inspection...

And Mick showed up and did some window juggling...  We had replaced the one window in the front bedroom, but when we ripped the wall out we realized that there actually used to be two windows.  So we decided to move that window over and put in the second one.  It looks so much better.  He also started replacing the siding on the front and it looks really nice.  It's primed and I was thinking of painting it white, but I really like the contrast between the tan and the white trim and the green door...

Here are some pictures to catch you up...

[slideshow]

Guess who is back...

[caption id="attachment_486" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Who ate that apple?"][/caption]

Guess who is back... Okay it's not the same one because that one is DEAD... Can you guess yet?

It's definitely fall at our house.  Some people tell fall by the chill in the air or the trees that start to turn color.  We can tell it is fall because once again there is a squirrel running around loose in the house.  It doesn't help that our bedroom wall is ripped apart and the chimney hole is a great big squirrel elevator.  Of course you might be wondering why we waited until now to address the problem.  The answer to that is complicated and comes down to priorities and distractions.  It might even involve a larger-than-normal sized shed.

Anyway, the other morning Jack said he saw something run up the wall.  The cat was acting rather strange and sure enough there was a beady-eyed rodent running through Cassie and Jack's room, bouncing off the windows as it looked for a way out.  It ran into Rory's room and according to the cat was under the bunk bed.  I started pulling drawers out and it darted out and ran circles around my bare feet (yes I was screaming) and then ran across the hall and back up the wall.

Unfortunately I don't think the cat or my screaming was enough of a deterrent.  The next afternoon Jack watched as it came down the squirrel shaft (aka where the chimney was) and ate part of an apple.  He yelled and chased it away only to have it come back a few hours later and snag the entire apple.  Sigh.

I am sure we have not seen the last of him.

Attack of the killer tomatoes...

Things are calming down now, but for a while there we were flooded with vegetables...

Despite two floods, the garden has triumphed with a bumper crop of squash and tomatoes.  I have canned salsa, made two pots of tomato sauce and still we are overwhelmed with the red fruit.  Not to mention that we eat squash at almost every meal (besides breakfast)...  So please feel free to stop by and share in the bounty.  If you find random veggies showing up on your doorstep -- it wasn't me!!!

[slideshow]

Our first egg.

While we were in Maine for the weekend, the ducks started laying eggs.  Jack had a huge grin on his face when he came in from his morning duck chores carrying the two orbs.  We have been getting almost an egg a day, but we are still not sure which one of the two female ducks is laying it.

They made a little nest in the corner of the duck house and lay the egg sometime after they go to bed for the night.  Jack insisted we cook them up and have a "taste test".  So I hard boiled some chicken and duck eggs and guess what...you can't tell them apart - well, at least we couldn't.  Our duck eggs are small (the mallard?) and were harder to peel, but otherwise it seems an egg is an egg...