and then there was the bathroom

I don't have very good before pictures of the bathroom, but let me try to describe it.
The main bathroom is VERY small ... oddly we still bought the house. We were spoiled with our last house in that even tho we only had 1.5 baths, our main bath was rather roomy for an older house.

This bath is typical of the cape style houses found here at the beach. Almost every cape we went into had a similar layout. And actually one of the reasons we liked this little brick house by the marsh is that on either side of this bathroom were decent sized closets for each bedroom. The lack of closet space in houses by the water is astounding. Well...not the houses right on the water - I bet they have loads of closet space, or at least I would hope so. It would really piss me off to pay a million bucks for a house and have my clothes jammed into makeshift closets in the eves.

Anyway... back to the bathroom -

The previous owners had recently remodeled this tiny bathroom to include a really cheap plastic spa tub.
It may look ok in this picture - but the thing warped when you got in. And as we have already established, the previous owners idea of clean and my idea of clean could not be farther apart. I would NEVER be able to bathe in this tub. Just thinking of it now is making me shiver...

And ..yes... it is surrounded by black, fake-marbly tile. Even the ceiling was black tile. Really, what do people think about?

On the other side of the room they installed the largest vanity they could find - perfect for the tiny space.


Clearly ALL this had to go...



We had a new cast iron tub installed.

My artistic-wife picked out delicious tile for the floor - since it was such a small space we spoiled ourselves with marble. It feels amazing under bare feet.


She brightened up the shower area using white and some playful blues.



Then we went to Ikea - who shines at clever ideas for small spaces and got this small vanity and very cool sink/faucet.


Please note: that while currently functional, this room is still under construction. A leak (we now say "yet another leak") was discovered in the wall mounted bathroom fan... this leaking... is a whole 'nother story.

The House on Elm - don't sweat the small stuff

Very shortly after we moved in we needed to do some quick, nothing fancy fixes.

For one - we foolishly assumed the hideous blue tile looking stuff around the shower was in fact actual tile. Ah.. rookie mistake.
So that had to all come out.
Ok. new bathroom ..check.

When we bought our three bedroom home we asked our oldest child, then 8, to pick out her room - she chose the attic. The unfinished attic.
Slightly too short to be legal living space - but perfect for a child, we forged ahead with sheetrock and skylights. We didn't do any creative, atticy stuff like you see now in all the remodeling magazines. We just finished the room added a blue carpet (of her choice) and moved her in.
She loved that room at the top of the house. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. But a child's paradise none-the-less.
In the beginning - the only access to the attic was through our room... the so called master bedroom. Which was perfect for an 8 year old. Years later we would reconfigure the hallway to allow our teen a private entrance to her space at the top of the house.


We planted a vegetable garden and a some trees in the vast backyard... but those piddly projects never made us work hard, sweat, bandage up, or cry... and certainly did not involve a sledgehammer.

The House on Elm - let the demo begin

Below you can clearly see a snapshot into the daily lives of a happy family raising children.
There, my still-big-haired-in-the-80s-wife and our little imp have just finished planting flowers by the walkway. Ferris used to love to water flowers. Or more accurately he just loved to play with the hose.

Life was quiet and flowing.

Notice behind my adorable family the last remaining aluminum awning, being held up by rusted iron scroll work, resting on a cracked cement stoop.

...
It was a clear sunny day when I pulled into the driveway and found a sledgehammer leaning against the house in a pile of rubble that was once our cement stoop.
Huh.

I crawled up into the house to find my motherly-wife in the kitchen spooning pasta into Ferris.

"Um... we have a sledge hammer?"

She excitedly told me about how proud she was for removing the whole thing and taking down that hideous awning and now all that cracked mess is gone.
Although that would depend on how you define 'gone'.

"Um yeah...true... tho how will we get into the house now?"

blank stare.

Let's recap. Cement steps, awning and ironwork are all demo'ed into a pile of rubble conveniently mounded near the kitchen door. We have no idea how to get rid of this stuff. We have no idea of how to make new steps.

ok... this is going well.

Later that week I came home to find a long haired guy driving away in my resourceful-wife's very used Chrysler Laser. She was smiling proudly - standing on our brand new steps.

I still wonder where she got that sledge hammer.

The House on Elm - ready for baby and beyond

The first years included some renovations taken on with reckless abandon. Luckily we both had a sense of humour, and were still able to drink hard liquor.

For starters, understand that we didn't take pictures of our early --hmm... I am cautious to call them home improvement projects... But I have found old shots around the house and yard that can help with the details in some cases.

For example - in this shot, which I have posted before, you can see there were striped aluminum awnings on the front and sides of the house.

These were to be removed.
Immediately.
With no knowledge of how they were attached, how to take them down - or what to do with them after.. we forcefully ripped them off the house.

My ever-round wife only able to call out advice from a safe distance.

We stood scratching our heads at the holes, and old caulk left behind. And after some requisite scratching and staring - we just walked away.

Later that spring we 'fixed' the problem by painting the door and hanging some planters.

There. Ok. Moving on.

Inside the house the nesting seemed complete with the nursery ready to go, with a crib and changing table and handmade bumpers.

By the time Ferris arrived we had finally covered the unfinished wood in the living room with a new area rug.

Another great fix. It kept us from getting splinters in our feet and gave us a place to play with the new baby.

But while it was a nice rug - the dark blue was hard to keep looking good. I spent much of that summer vacuuming.

This turned out not to be a long term problem because soon after Ferris began crawling my safety-conscience wife had us install new carpeting including the stairs. This turned out to be a wise idea. As Ferris was a rather active lad during the learning to crawl, walk, fall and bounce years.

What I didn't know of course was just how often we would redecorate.
Rugs installed, and ripped out. Wallpaper applied and removed. Paint colors changed like the seasons, we've had more sofas than most, and learned to not only set tile - but take it up as well... but I am getting ahead of myself.

I have much to cover - like where did she find that sledge hammer, and who else moves doors and windows like they are furniture....

The House on Elm - this old house

With remarkable speed and very little dexterity we painted the entire house...
dreary in its offwhiteness, but clean.

As we started to get settled and make changes we began to understand that our new house was anything but new.
It was built in the early thirties by the parents of our elderly neighbor, she actually grew up in this house.

She and her husband then built the house she is in now, right next door. In fact, our house was the farm house that owned and managed the land on much of our street. Our busy double-yellow-lined road was once dirt and our neighbor, as a young girl, used to walk the cows up the hill to the north pastures. These pastures long ago sold off to build new neighborhoods.

While this is all very quaint and New Englandy we were young and stupid and knew nothing of updating or maintaining a house - let alone an OLD house.

Imagine our surprise when we ripped up the living room rug to find the entire center of the floor was unfinished wood. Unfinished 70 year old wood. Huh.
Apparently - back in the day, they only shellacked around where the edges of the area rug. Why waste good shellac under a rug.

Well - there was no way we were going to embark upon refinishing wood floors with a baby due any moment. Thank goodness for that sage moment...
So we simply measured the unfinished area, and bought a rug of optimal size.
There... problem solved.
We were feeling pretty good about ourselves during those first few weeks.
We focused much of our attention on preparing ourselves for the baby to arrive - I was reading every baby book I could find, and was pretty much ready to deliver the baby myself if the need presented.

It wasn't until several months later that I learned to hide the sledge hammer...

what would weese do?

freak little storm blew threw here last night and limbed this pear tree.



The answer that is poised on your lips is... she would go get her chainsaw and have that taken care of by lunch time.

But you know what?
weese is tired.
We have dozens of trees and have had many limbs come down over the 22 years we've been here.
It's heavy work.

Meh.

All this butchy yard work was fun at one time.
It's getting old now.
Or wait... maybe that's me.

I think instead of picking up my saw, I'll pick up the phone.

how to make weese happy

The technician who came to diagnose our heating problems this week has been to our house several times over the years for parts replacements and general service. He is familiar with our system and our old house. He often notices changes we've made and will compliments us on our choices. He seems wise and considerate in his care.

After he had a good look at the problem and fiddled with some parts and made some adjustments, he stood and looked thoughtfully at our 30 year old system.

He placed his hand tenderly on the boiler and told me it might just be time to replace the whole thing now.
I gulped.
He gently showed me all the different issues we were dealing with and how if we were to fix many of these we would most likely have to do all that work again when the unit finally stopped working. And that day was inevitable.

He turned and panned the room and said - "You know, really - its not that hard of a job, maybe 4 or 5 hours. The biggest concern of mine would be ...your basement floor is so clean."

It's only money

My frugal wife and I were discussing an important matter over email yesterday.
After much back and forth, a little research, and some calculating, we had come to a decision... she replies:

"We've been fortunate.

Although, a cruise would have been fun..."


So, rather than a cruise with foofy cocktails and warm beaches, we'll instead warm our souls... or the living room as it were -

We expect her on Thursday. We are busily preparing for her arrival.

...and you thought I married for love

Last winter we were horrified to find that a dank little crawl space in our near century old home had been taken over by rodents.
While simply moving was our top choice, packing seemed daunting so we decided to 'urge' the critters to relocate.

We started the project on our own but quickly saw that we were outmatched and brought in professionals.
After our guests had permanently left the premisis, we had the crawl space cleaned out and sanitized. All that was left was to re-insulate and close up the openings so no future happy families could move in. We had already dumped quite a bit of money into this little creepy hole in the wall (most likely a coal access or some such thing),

so when I got further estimates to finish the job - my fearless wife stepped in...literally.

We went to our local big box store and purchased insulation, and the cutest little hazmat suit.

We added gloves, goggles and a mask - and she was ready to go.










Clever gal that she is - she suggested we use the halogen work light to make it bright and cheery in there. See how good lighting can dramatically improve your space.

The work went quickly with me on the outside cutting lengths to size and handing them in. There were times when she was pretty far in there... so I pushed them in with a broom handle. heh.

Can you see why she is such a catch?

let the sun shine in

Ok... well if there were sun. It would be able to shine in after today.

We hired someone to raise the canopy on a big maple tree right behind our house.
You can see the tree in the picture below.
We started to notice an increase in moss and mold because there was just not enough light and air.



The only way to do this is to have someone climb the tree because its not accessible with a bucket.
From my office window here in the attic I am at eye level with this fellow as he begins the job.


Then there is this other guy down on the ground.


They have to lower the branches because of the patio and plantings below the tree.
They are being very careful.


Whaddya think Sara?

Opposites may attract, but...

My companionable wife and I do most things together. We truly enjoy each others company and generally make a good time doing the most mundane of errands.

That said – there are things we not only do on our own because we enjoy our individuality ….but frankly there are just some things that the other doesn’t want to do.
For example – I am not a good craft store pal. I get impatient and grumpy. I just don’t understand the laboring over subtle shades of blue beads.

My creative wife on the other hand is not really a great Home Depot buddy. While she is perfectly happy going with me – she tends to wander off …which then takes quite some time roaming around the store to find her once again (often with a cart full).

This past weekend my adorable, wandering wife accompanied me to said Home Depot where… included on our list would be some considerable contemplation in the toilet repair aisle.
Before we left home I assessed the dire toilet situation – took some measurements, poked around and was fairly prepared to look for the items I thought I might need.

So there we are in the plumbing aisle. My somewhat disinterested wife next to me while I pondered washers and hosing and such. After a short time of me wondering whether I could get away with the 9” tubing since the 8” was not available, or perhaps I should go longer to make a loop…but not too long… – she declares –

“Wait… this fixes 90% of toilet problems”

I turn… in disbelief… to see her holding a brightly colored box… a kit if you will.
A kit.
Really…
90% of the problems.
As I hold my handful of little washers and bolts.

“Lemme see that…”

So we took the brightly colored kit home (along with a couple of the individual parts…just in case).

Worked like a charm.

Somehow I doubt I’ll ever be able to reciprocate in the bead aisle at Michael’s.

First time homeowners

I am a little behind in posting this - mostly because we have been so ridiculously busy.

We are so excited and proud for our daughter and her handsome beau on the purchase of their
very
first
home.


couple other shots





So you know where my energetic wife and I will be for the next several weekends.

I have a vagina, not a brain disorder

(warning... this is an unusually sexist post. please do not generalize my sexism. the sexism blatantly alluded to in this post is a direct result of a specific incident and is not a true reflection on my actual feelings toward anyone of any gender)


When I called regarding my broken tractor I was mindful not to sound cocky and certainly not to sound like a 'know it all' - so I carefully explained in great detail the symptoms of my tractors demise to the penis'ed mechanic.

After a polite silence he asked me if I would like them to come pick it up.
Um... yes please.

After some poking around initial diagnostics - apparently with complete disregard for the details I provided - they put in a new fuse and charged it up and sent it right back home to me.

Where the exact same set of problems happened.

This time I asserted myself on the phone.
A part has been ordered... on my description alone.

It's a tractor people, not a moon rocket.

watts that you say

An update on the kill-o-watt research. Sorry no charts or graphs yet, but I am pressed for time to do a proper presentation. Someday I will quit my day job to do full time environmental research. I could start now if y’all wanted to make substantial donations - let me know, I take paypal.

I will tell you this so far...
Where the online calculator told me that our dinosaur-fridge cost us $152 a year to run - my figures show it to be only about $125.
That's still a whole-heck-of-a-lot more than the new model we want, which will bring the annual cost down to a little over 40 bucks. This alone makes me pretty happy with this little device.

During my research I have found one drawback of the meter is its two decimal limitation. When you're being billed at .000000 - more granular data would be helpful

This constraint could taint my findings on cell phone chargers. I had read that the chargers draw power even when there is no cell phone attached. Knowing the limitations of the device I left the charger plugged into the kill-o-watt for three days.
It still reported 0 watts used over all that time. While this still may not be completely accurate – can I consider its draw insignificant? Perhaps I need to leave it plugged in longer and add a projection calculation to my spreadsheet to be sure.

This is where we are so far. Maybe a pie chart next. Or maybe just some pie.

It's a good thing I peed

On my way home from work last night I was pulling through an intersection in my very busy office complex when my Cabrio decided to stop... all systems shut down... in the middle of the intersection. Just my luck a Semi was headed directly for me. There was a brief moment of panic after I switched on the hazard lights and tried to jump out to wave at the driver of the really big truck hurtling at me... only to be stopped by my seat belt (hmm, safety first?).

The driver was a pro - he had noticed immediately that my car was in distress and even parked his truck across the lanes so no on-coming traffic would plow into me.
He got out and pushed my car neatly to the side of the road and went on his way. The world is filled with nice people.
It was a busy time of evening so I ended up waiting in the car for about an hour for a tow. I had plenty of time to think... it was quiet and really quite nice, except a little chilly. But I was thankful it was not below freezing, I was very thankful I had remember my gloves that morning, and even more thankful I peed before I left work.
Always-- ladies, always pee before you go.

So I am working from my home today. And you know what that means.
Yup... distractions.

I tossed in a load of laundry - thinking this would not really take me away from my day job too much. But then I remember that the dryer seemed to be taking too long, so I stepped outside to peek at the vent on the roof.

Hmm.
Looked clogged.

Ok - welp, in order to get my work done, I clearly need to dry this load of clothes, and in order to do that I clearly need to clean out this vent.

The problem really lies in the fact that its on the roof.

weese doesn't do roofs.

So I needed to devise a tool. Won't take long I figured, I'll be back to my day job in no time at all.
Down to the workshop to gather some supplies.











(the hammer? ...well you never know)








I made this.









Put up a ladder.


Then, using a second pole to keep the weather flap open - I was able to clean out a good bit of lint.


And... no injuries. I was back at my day job in less than an hour. The drying is purring away right now.

Ok... really, now I have to get back to work... right after I...

Because old dogs don't always learn very much at all

And by dogs... I am referring to myself.

We got the new 'Laundry Center' this weekend.
I spent some time sitting on a small stool just watching it wash.


I was riveted.
Do you have a front loader?
Have you ever watched it? I highly recommend it.



Alas, I was not completly satisfied with the installation by the trained, washer-installer professionals.
Not a problem.
There is not much weese can't fix... or should I say 'attempt' to fix.

After about 20 minutes, 4 bandaids and several trips to the basement for more tools.
I found my anywhere-but-in-the-same-room-with-me wife and said
"Sometimes you should just tell me to leave well enough alone."

Saturday Delivery

Sadly... no tax credit.
But the water savings alone will make for a very happy weese.

Msabu, thes water lives at Mombasa

This weekend we had some big rain here in the Northeast. Big enough that we found ourselves with a leak in the laundry room. It was night time and torrential rain with some ice - so the best thing we could do was to get a bucket and a couple of cocktails.

The next morning, after my handy wife tidied up the leak area - I went outside to investigate. There is a dryer vent that pokes out of the roof right there. So my assumption was that something had gone wrong around the flashing. I needed a closer look.

Would you be surprised to know we have several ladders?
My favorite is a 7 foot green fiberglass step ladder. But we also have two extension ladders. One is around 20', the other may be as tall as 30'.
I got out the seven foot ladder and put it on the back steps... hmm... not tall enough.
I went back for the 20' extension ladder. Since this was placed at ground level I extended it up about halfway, placing it in a secure, level location and testing its sturdiness.
Up I went.
I got to the top and placed my hands on the roof... and froze.
I was paralyzed.
There was no way I could get myself off the ladder and onto the roof.

I knew this before I even took the ladder out of the garage. I have tried several times to climb up onto this roof over the 20 years we have lived in this house.
Each time I greet the chance enthusiastically. Certain that this time I can do it. Positive that saving all that money on hiring someone else to do a job I am perfectly capable of will be all the reinforcement I need.

I climb the ladder each time happily and full of confidence.
And each time, I climb back down.
Defeated.

Luckily the basement was also leaking. So my graceful wife sent me down there to play.

winter projects

We are making great progress on our bedroom redecorating project, in fact we are ahead of schedule. The walls and ceilings are painted, leaving only the trim to finish up.
My hard-working wife put the final coat of poly on the newly stripped wood floor on Sunday.

We were sitting in the living room enjoying a cocktail after our days work on the project when Ferris yells down the stairs...
"Mom, why is this floor all sticky?"

casualty

good as new by noon