Quick Update

I've got a lot to talk about, and I have photos and videos that I need to upload and share. Unfortunately, I don't have time to do any of it. It'll probably have to wait until either later this weekend or next week. Right now, I'm posting on borrowed time as I wait for some files to transfer on my work computer.

Thursday morning, I fully expected to be stood up by our contractor again. In fact, I didn't even get out of bed right away Thursday since Nora was doing okay without me. I think it was a little after 7 a.m. (moments after Willis left for work) that I rolled out of bed, looked out the window, and then about peed myself because I saw the contractor's truck sitting out front. I proceeded to have a very serious, scrambled morning after that. I was quite stressed.

So, they worked yesterday! Things are going as well as I could've expected. We had a feeling they might find some scary things when they pulled up the wall paper (and dug around into the plumbing of our bath tub to make it into a shower). It turns out: the drain of the bath tub was completely rusted and had a huge, inch-wide hole in it. Every time I've used the bath tub (which has actually been a lot of times), it has apparently been draining part of the water directly onto the ceiling below. Isn't that lovely? There's a crack in our ceiling in the living room, and I have a feeling that's what it is from. We can tell that there obviously was a toilet issue (when they ripped up the carpet): part of the bathroom floor was replaced by plywood under the toilet. Plus, there was a weird stain on the ceiling downstairs below where the toilet sits (when we moved in—we've since painted it). Mmm. Yummy.

Under the nasty wall paper, there's a weird paneling (and I think it's actually just plaster) behind it. It looks like a brick-type of tile (I have a feeling that was really hot back in the day—1913—because Mom and Dad's house in Monticello has this same pattern going on in one of the bathrooms). Unfortunately, that paneling is all gross and beat up (and they can't paint over it). So, I had to make a decision yesterday.

I had to choose between tiling over that whole area that's below the chair rail or replacing that whole area with drywall. I had originally planned to paint below the chair rail with a nice gray/blue color, and the tile I had chosen for the shower area was an off-white color. In the end, I finally decided to do the drywall. I realized I couldn't handle off-white tile taking over most of the bathroom. I also realized I couldn't have my gray/blue paint above that white tile and have it look okay. We're actually having two walls done with the tile, and two walls are getting the drywall. So, I kind-of compromised a tad. I'll show you what I'm talking about with photos when it's done.

So . . . our job was more expensive than we originally thought. We figured that would probably happen. Luckily, I don't foresee any crazy surprises in the downstairs bathroom since that's only about 50 years old or so (and I think the plumbing is all PVC—or at least newer stuff). We already had planned for the downstairs bathroom to be a major job, so there shouldn't be any scary surprises down there (let's hope).

They're here again, and they're working away. I have faith that they're going to do a good job. We've already got a shower head! So, that's exciting. Floyd tried to talk me into getting rid of our bath tub so that he could get underneath it to the other plumbing (he fears that there "could" be other issues under there), and I was like, "No . . . I love it. I'm not getting a new, crappy bath tub."

That bath tub is sweet. I'd be sick if I got rid of it.

Nora is currently napping in my lap. Apparently, she won't nap anywhere else while these guys are working. So, that's both sweet and not-so-sweet at the same time. I am finding it challenging to get any work done.

Yesterday was nuts (hence me being stressed): I had a major project to finish for work and the contractors came (and needed a lot of my attention). Thank God my mother-in-law came to visit with Nora. She was the reason I was able to get things accomplished without any major disasters. She didn't get to stay long, though. She was there at about 8 a.m., and she had to leave by about 11 a.m. because a snow storm was coming. It's a good thing she left when she did: it got really crazy here. We ended up with about 6 inches of snow, I think, but it was really windy on top of that (the roads were apparently very bad). We're in a winter wonderland over here, today! The sun is shining on it, and it's really, really bright. It's actually kind-of nice since it's always dark this time of year. I guess south of us didn't get anything. Oh, La Porte. You silly, lake-effect-loving town, you.

Consider yourselves updated! I need to get some stuff done. If I realize I've forgotten something, I'll post more later. In the meantime, you kids have a good weekend. We'll be headin' down to my cousin's wedding on Saturday, so I think we'll have a good time. Dilly out!