when it rains, it pours

The row of blue tile went up yesterday. First the first row of the pencil tile and then the blue tile. I had pre-marked the miter for the corner pieces of the pencil tile which was great except I had marked the wrong side resulting in a miter that didn't work. Fortunately Rocky wanted to check in situ before proceeding and we discovered my error. So, I marked the tile, he cut it and set it in place. This was as far as he wanted to go until the adhesive had set. The next row is pencil and then 6" of wall tile. Crucial where the collar for the shower rod falls. We checked the measurement today, fingers crossed. We could increase the 6" to 7" but I'd rather not.

Yesterday was the first day I got a glimpse of my design, what I came up with with the things available I liked best. Rocky had the first row of pencil tile up and two 12" sections of the blue tile and I chuckled. That sounds like somebody who's happy with what they see says Rocky. And yes I was happy with what I saw. Seeing the samples, seeing the drawing, visualizing it in my head is all well and good but the moment of truth is when it all starts to come together in real life, seeing that your idea and the solutions to problems actually work.

But of course something had to balance that out and last night when the kids came to take showers, Sarah reported that the the water never did get hot and Mike had to take a quick cold shower. Checked the hot water heater and the pilot was out and would not relight. This hot water heater is only 3 1/2 years old (and still under warranty) so when Rocky showed up this morning he pulled out the burner/pilot/clicker thing and discovered that the burner was completely covered in soot, cleaned that up and vacuumed everything up, checked the gas supply, and still the the pilot wouldn't work. More investigating and blah blah blah everyone says if we have to replace that part we might as well just replace the whole water heater, that's how expensive the part is. So we finally called the expensive plumber who sold us the water heater and installed it and the guy looked at the part, thinks he can fix it, disconnected it and took it with him. We should find out in the morning if he could. If not then it's wrangling with the manufacturer to honor the warranty.

And because that's not headache enough, the kitchen sink is stopped up and the 8' snake did not clear the problem so tomorrow we try with a longer snake. In the meantime I'm heating water with which to wash dishes in a basin so I can throw the dirty water out in the yard (same for rinsing) and I took a shower at my neighbor's house (Marc just suffered through a cold water shower).

Sigh.

Tomorrow is the last watercolor class so Rocky won't be back til Friday to finish up the tile (he's using today and tomorrow to finish up one of his other jobs while we get the water heater and sink straightened out).

But, once the tile is done the rest should go pretty quickly.

some progress is being made

The tiling is going slow. Those of you that followed me through the rebuilding and remodeling of the half the house that flooded after Harvey may remember how crazy this house is built with rooms added on at a weird angle and other head scratching shit. Well, this bathroom is no different. The bathtub itself slants down from one end to the other by about a half inch over 5' and as it would happen, we started on the high end with the tile so now there is a half inch gap between the top of the tub and the bottom of the bottom piece of tile at the other end. Great. Not only that but the walls on the two ends aren't plumb. The wall with the spouts and handles bows out a bit in the middle. Rocky's doing his best to make all the joins flush but it's an impossible job given the walls. Yesterday afternoon I had him remove the last piece he put on Wednesday to make a slight change and then he had to remove two pieces he added yesterday because they weren't following the pattern. Plus he didn't get here til noon yesterday because he's working two jobs, mine and the one before me that put him on hold for two weeks. So at this point, he has to finish the fourth row of big tile and then the fancy stuff starts...the pencil tiles, the row of blue tiles, another row of pencil tile, a 6” row of wall tile, then another row of pencil tile, the flower border, and the last row of pencil tile.

As it happened, nothing got done today. Rocky showed up late and started working on the window molding which has to go up before he can finish the last bit of wall tile but his miter/chop saw started burning wood as it attempted to cut and so after tinkering with it, putting on a new blade which didn't help, he determined something was broke and he needed a new saw and I had to run out to Lowe's to get another piece of baseboard trim and samples of different stains for the upper cabinets to test to see which one will come closest to the vanity. Of course, two of the three that we picked from the little brochure at the paint store here, which doesn't sell the sample sizes, are no longer available so I just winged it and picked two others I thought might do.

I have yet to pick out the molding for the two doors because it needs to be 2 3/4” wide because...reasons (crazy built house), even 3” would do, except I can get all kinds of 2 1/2 or 3 1/4” or 3 1/2” but no 2 3/4” wide molding at Lowe's. One style of 3” which I didn't like so tomorrow I'll try the two building supply places in El Campo but if they don't have anything then we might have to use the old trim which Rocky saved which I'm not wild about but it's around all the other doors in the upper house.

On the upside, I did make good progress on my water lily during the watercolor class Wednesday but I still didn't finish, have two more petals to paint. One more day for the class so I hope I can get it finished.

definitely spring

It was overcast all day Sunday, warm enough but the cloudy sky did not inspire me. I did finally empty the garden cart onto the burn pile of the weeds and yard trash that it's been full of for weeks! so that I could put Saturday's weeds and yard trash in it. Did I empty that onto the burn pile? I did not. Saturday I weeded an entire flower bed, the one from which I have been trying to get rid of the mexican petunias. There was some of that coming back but mostly it was dayflower that had colonized it last summer. The mini flood we had last February in which the entire yard was under water creeping at the threshold of the door to the little backyard brought untold number of weed seeds. Clover. I have clover all over the big backyard. I have never had clover back there. All kinds of other spring weeds but not clover.

Sunday I was back to pulling clover and cleaver and hay grass out of the big backyard. That task is overwhelming in the front, well, it's overwhelming in the back too, and the ditch and the easement. We're not getting as many bluebonnets this year as in previous years because, I think, the county mowed the easement and ditch before they had completely gone to seed. The county never mows in front of our house but last year for whatever reason, they did when they mowed the deep ditch in front of the shop property. That and we haven't gotten much rain this winter. But! We tossed some seed at the back of the big backyard several years ago and that patch has grown and expanded and this is what I saw when I wandered back there Sunday...

bluebonnets blooming in early February. This is so wrong.

More pictures of some of what's blooming in the big backyard/meadow...

the ten petal anemones which have completely colonized the yard

and the very rare pink version

henbit

dandelions, of course

and the woodland violets still

the woodland petal pink is putting out it's first blooms

The other thing I did Sunday was alter a dress for grandgirl Robin who was home this weekend. She's spending the weeks in the city staying with friends until they get the electricity hooked up which is probably still several weeks away.

Yesterday, another overcast but comfortable day, I took the long handled nippers and cut back everything...the other confederate rose, the morning glory bushes, the penta, the plumbago, the hibiscus, the cinco de mayo rose, the sprawling orange lantana, the firespike, the yellow trumpet flower and pulled up more cleaver and clover. I'm not sure I'm going to cut back the knockout roses. I usually cut them back every other year and I did cut them back last spring but they didn't do well last year so I probably should cut them back and then fertilize them. And I still need to trim away all the dead leaves on the banana trees and plant the camellia but it turned cold today.

On the bathroom remodel front, second coat of paint went on yesterday and the flooring got installed today.

before and after

   

Next the tile goes up.

The Camel Dances

When the kids were young I bought a slim volume titled FABLES written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. It was a favorite of the kids at bedtime. They're short, all of them one page with a moral at the bottom. Just for fun I thought I would post them now and then. I'll start with this one. As I recall it was a favorite of the kids.

The Camel had her heart set on being a ballet dancer.

“To make every movement a thing of grace and beauty,” said the Camel. “That is my one and only desire.”

Again and again she practiced her pirouettes, her releves, and her arabesques. She repeated the five basic positions a hundred times each day. She worked for long months under the hot desert sun. Her feet were blistered, and her body ached with fatigue, but not once did she think of stopping.

At last the Camel said, “Now I am a dancer.” She announced a recital and danced before an invited group of camel friends and critics. When her dance was over she made a deep bow.

There was no applause.

“I must tell you frankly,” said a member of the audience, “as a critic and a spokesman for this group, that you are lumpy and humpy. You are baggy and bumpy. You are, like the rest of us, simply a camel. You are not and never will be a ballet dancer!”

Chuckling and laughing, the audience moved away across the sand.

“How very wrong they are!” said the Camel. "I have worked hard. There can be no doubt that I am a splendid dancer. I will dance and dance just for myself.”

That is what she did. It gave her many years of pleasure.

Satisfaction will come to those who please themselves.

(not too) easy (to) come, (not too) easy (to) go

Yesterday was one of the least favorite days of my life. Not this day particularly but this type of day. And by that I mean the kind where I spend a lot of money. That's not completely true of course but I am frugal by nature and even as a kid I tended to save my allowance instead of spend it and living hand to mouth for most of my adult life has reinforced my natural tendency so when I do spend money it tends to be in large sums. If I'm going to do something I'm going to want something nice. With an eye to the expense vs pleasure ratio, I don't throw caution to the wind but I don't pare it down to the bare minimum either. This is one of the reasons it normally takes me a lot of time to decide on things, like tile and flooring and paint color and vanities. Will the idea that appeals to me today appeal to me tomorrow or next week? Because I'll be living with the results of my decisions. So I feel a bit under pressure since I have to commit now! And commit I did yesterday.

I bought the light fixture, the glass shades, light bulbs, the baseboard trim, the 1” x 4”s for the window trim (couldn't decide on the door trim), 1/4 round for the baseboard at Lowe's then it was off to Floor and Decor to get the tile for the shower, the pencil tiles (which involved the difference between polished and unpolished and the price difference), the blue glass accent tiles, the marble flower accent tiles, grout for one and grout for another, spacers, special adhesive for the glass tiles (holy crap!), and sealer for the stone.

I had to get someone to help with the pencil tiles and the flower tiles as there weren't any on the shelf so I found the woman who had helped me on my first visit. She did find me what I wanted, having to go to the back and root around, but she and I had a different perspective on what would look good. She thought my design was 'outdated', I don't care I told her. And she didn't like my idea of using a darker grout in the flower border tile, you won't like it she said, I've done it before and it looked fine, I told her. She thought I needed five boxes of tiles for the shower when I thought four would be more than enough (I had already figured up my square footage). I can always buy one or two extra if need be but at four boxes, I think I will be returning some.

Anyway, it was nearly four before I got home with all that material loaded in my truck cleverly disguised as a car and we got everything unloaded , 

it doesn't look like much for the amount of money it represents

I fed the dog and took her outside, then sat down at my computer and realized I should have left 10 minutes ago to go get my sister for the yoga class that night and rushed my way out and we barely made it in time. It was a large class last night and thankfully it was a gentle, restorative class (they alternate on Thursday evening between gentle and active).

I was a few minutes late to watercolor class Wednesday because Rocky showed up just as I was leaving and we had to have our morning confab. The last project that we will work on the the last three days of the class (she added an extra day) is a water scene with a water lily. We transferred the waterlily to our paper but we had to draw the rest ourselves and I took far too much time on my composition (you may not be able to see the faint pencil lines in this pic) and consequently got the least amount of painting done of anyone in the class. Here's mine...

group shot...

you can see how little progress I made compared to everyone else so it's a good thing I have two more days to work on it.

Well, Rocky might start tiling the shower today or he might install the light fixture first. We'll see when he shows up.

more progress and a different houseguest

Monday dawned with a clear blue sky and I planned to do some work outside but by the time I got my errands for the day done...garbage to my sister's house (because we don't have garbage pick up here in the county, you have to pay extra so I just bag it up and take it to Pam's), recycling to the drop off station, and accumulated newspaper to the vet... and got out there to do some weeding in the afternoon it had clouded over and it was overcast yesterday as well though it's still warm, was supposed to rain but hasn't really. Cold front came in last night a little early since it wasn't supposed to get here til today and it's overcast today.

Rocky got the last of the sheetrock work done and sprayed the texture yesterday so next on the agenda was selecting a paint color (white to pick up the white dots on the 'flower' trim tile – done, though I still have to buy the paint) and buying the tile/grout/spacers (planned for Thursday). Also needed to decide finally on the flooring (done – going with the roll vinyl). 

Now it's just incidentals...light fixture, glass shades, faucets, grab bars, soap dish, baseboards (which I'm thinking might be stained to match the vanity and cabinets), and door and window trim (maybe the door and window trim too).

It looks like the kids may not be moving in after all, at least not right away. Their septic system was put in Monday (yay!) and they are concerned about the two dogs and three cats being left to adjust to a new place all by themselves and since they now have a flushing toilet and a battery powered light they're going to camp out for a few days and see how it goes. Plus s-i-l Mike is working nights for a few shifts and needs a quiet place to sleep during the day which won't be here until the bathroom is finished. Their bearded dragon Gypsy, though, did move in since she has to have electricity for her warming lights and hot rock.

Today is the 5^th of the 6 watercolor classes and I have no idea what she plans for us today. And yoga tonight. If I don't forget like last week and if it's not pouring down rain.

moving along, moving, and moving in the future

I drew up the other idea for the accent borders in the tile and while it would have saved me about $150 it also created two other problems, one concerning the height of the tile on the wall and and the other running afoul of the shower head. And besides I think I like my first choice better after all.

     

We also moved the boxes off the pallet and into the back bedroom where we opened the box the vanity is in just enough to see it (and by that I mean we tore the front side off) and check that nothing was damaged, opened the box with the marble top and it matched the tile really well so I'm happy though the color of the vanity is a little redder than I would like but I'm sure I'll get used to it and it is pretty.

I hate buying things sight unseen.

It finally cleared up and warmed up some so yesterday I got a little weeding done in one of the flower beds. I haven't been very diligent this year about pulling up my handful or two of clover a day out front where the bluebonnets are and the big back yard is looking more and more like a meadow the spring weeds are so thick. Do we even have any grass left? But I do like seeing it dotted with flowers...10 petal anemones, dandelions, and woodland violets.

shrimp plant blooming

Also Sunday I drew up the floor plan for two of the manufactured houses my sister and I looked at week before last from 1/8” = 1' to 1/2” = 1' so she can make cut outs of her furniture footprints and see what will fit where while she decides what to keep and what to get rid of. It surprised me how much I enjoyed doing that, drawing something up to precise dimensions, something I haven't done since we retired from the etched glass.

So here's what's happening. We're going to put a manufactured home on the shop property for my sister to move in to. Her situation is such that she cannot stay in her house longer than about another year and a half. Neither of her daughters have taken her situation seriously (one lives in New Mexico and the other about an hour away) and after weighing her options she decided to take us up on our offer which makes me happy as I did not want her moving away and makes my daughter happy for the same reason. We're still in the beginning stages, have to find the best house for the best price. We'll have to have a septic system put in though the shop has one but it is so old we have no idea what kind of system it is or if there's a tank involved or just a field line or even where it is and I'm pretty sure the county will insist on a new one. Fortunately we already have water and electricity on the property.

Back to the issue at hand though, Rocky is here today (and I guess til he finishes though you never know) having reached an understanding with the guy on the other job. And the kids didn't finish their move yesterday. One more day, they'll be here tonight so the sooner Rocky gets the bathroom done the better. Or at least gets the toilet and shower functional.

I'd settle for just the toilet.