bathroom blog - shhh, don't tell the anti-child labour activists...

Anyway, we gutted the bathroom. Tore out the floor, threw out the toilet and vanity and ripped open the walls. The shower will be ripped out when we are ready for that part of the job. Campbell undertook the job of pulling out the nails! He did an amazing job and then swept it all up afterwards. He is a hard worker and he works for peanuts, or ice cream.

bathroom blog begins - the before pics

Our downstairs bathroom, which is off of the kitchen, was probably the ugliest room in the whole house when we moved in.  And that says a lot, because there was a whole lot of ugly going on.  It was pink, which doesn't bother me in itself, but with only a very small shaded window and really tacky brass lighting and an egyptian themed border it was awful.  The "wood-like" vanity with the "faux marble" (read as ugly greenish plastic) was even wobbly.  The toilet, was so badly stained when we moved in and to top it off, it is a two-flush toilet.  It is true that it is amazing what a little paint can do, especially when it's a smooth buttery yellow, but after 11 years of waiting, this bathroom has earned a real renovation.  SOOOOO, without further ado, here's my bathroom: 

Notice the temporary drywall panel.  There used to be a clever door into the dining room.  Clever dieting trick I'm thinking.  Do I need to explain?  Anyway we finished the dining room side, but left this side unfinished so that we could put the new plumbing in behind it.

Notice the strategic placement of the sink, in FRONT of the door.

Not the prettiest vanity, but I am shocked at how much better this looked after 15 coats of white oil-based paint.

See my microshower?  I think it's about 13 inches wide and 13 inches deep.  When we first moved into this house, this was our only bathroom.  I have fond memories of being very pregnant with Patrick and trying to shave my legs in there.  I ran a serious risk of being wedged if I moved the wrong way.  I even bathed 2 large dogs in there.  (2 of them at once, since George could not let Maddie have the pleasure of a private shower)  Imagine, all 3 of us in there, and me pregnant!   Ah the memories.

Now for the good stuff... 

Slate tiles, held up against the lovely peel-n-stick tiles that have been there since we bought the house.  The previous owners were kind enough to leave 1/2 of a box of replacement tiles in the basement.  I'm umm pleased to say we never had to use them.   As much as I hate those tiles (which once blessed the front hall and the kitchen!!!ACK!!!!!)  I do have to give them credit for holding up for so long!  See how fair I am?

I just battened down my hatches

I'm getting ready for Hurricane Katrina's remnants which are expected to hit tonight or tomorrow. Damon and Campbell are in a bit of a panic. I give them honest answers about what could happen, but probably won't. I tell them that I am sure we will be okay, but that we need to make sure that nothing in our yard can hit our house and damage it. It's a learning experience for them.

Since I live in Ontario, Canada, we aren't often affected by hurricanes. The last time a big hurricane passed by us, it was Hurricane Opal which had been downgraded by then. I was pregnant with Patrick and a tree fell on Patrick's nursery! It didn't do a lot of damage, only about $3,000 to the eavestrough and the balcony above. Now the house is a lot more finished, including a brand new roof, so I really hope nothing gets damaged this time.

My heart and prayers go out to those who were hit by this hurricane. The damage and devastation is awful. Images of looting sickened me. I'm hoping for some more touching rescue photos to help me regain my faith in humanity.

Playing around

The world is a cruel place

Last night we had a temper tantrum because the smallest of the nesting dolls had the audacity to NOT open. "Mommy MAKE it open! Make it open NOW! WAAAAAH!" I was tempted to go and cut the thing in half just to prove my point.

Tonight it was one of her babies. The darned baby won't close her pretty blue eyes the way the other one does. This went on for about 15 minutes. Finally we flung the demon doll across the room and that seemed to solve the problem for now.

If you go out to the dump today...

...You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go out to the dump today
You'd better go in disguise.


For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the dump bears have their picnic.

Chorus:
Picnic time for dump bears,
The big black bears are having a lovely time today.
Watch them, catch them unawares,
And see them snacking on bags of decay.
See them gaily shove their snout.
Into things we've thrown out.
And never have any cares.
At six o'clock their mommies and daddies
Will take them home to bed
Because they're tired big black bears.


If you go out to the dump today,
You'd better not go alone.
It's rancid out at the dump today,
And safer to stay at home.

For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the dump bears have their picnic

TO CHORUS

Every dump bear, that's been good
Is sure of a treat today
There's lots of wonderful things to eat
And wonderful games to play

Beneath the trees, where nobody sees
They'll hide and seek as long as they please
Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic


ANYWAY.That was one of the songs that the kids sang in the van. We went to the dump to look at bears. There were about 20 bears there during the time we were there! We were shocked to see people inside the dump, walking around. They offered to take our camera to get a closer shot, but as you can see it still doesn't look very close. So as they are taking pictures with our camera, Kookie's taxi pulls up. No joke, that's the local cab driver's name. She steps out and hitches up her pants, butts out her cigarette and she announces how stupid those people are, that dump bears are more dangerous than wild bears because they are used to people etc. We continue to discuss the lunacy of climbing through the fence to get closer to the bears, when the girl with our camera shouts out, "There's a bear behind you." We turned and looked and a HUGE bear was about 10 feet from us. Everybody flew to their cars, except for Damon who crouched down in front of FIL's car. He didn't want to miss this. When the bear saw that we saw him, he turned around and slowly walked up the road. It was great entertainment for the kids, but my MIL says that if the bear was any closer she would have fainted. Matt got the camera back and took a picture of him leaving.