No Train...Yet

Busy day at the house...Chris and Jason got most of the bathroom done. The toilet seat is amazing--it's a "Whisper Drop" or something like that--what that means is that it has a dampener that keeps the lid from dropping! Cool, huh?This is my new vanity. Isn't it pretty? I love it!The kitchen cabinets are in. Granite will be ordered next week.The laminate flooring is going in tonight--in fact, Chris called to complain that I didn't get enough underlayment. I thought I did.

I spent most of today at the duplex. A young family looked at the duplex and want to rent it, and I told them that I needed to hire a couple of guys from Labor Ready to get things done. Juan Carlo, the husband, came back a few minutes later and asked if I would let him do the work. I said yes--they have a 14-month-old daughter and he's unemployed. He was there, waiting for me this morning, and he and his buddy knocked themselves out ripping out the tile floor and tearing down the shed. I actually had to tell them to take a break! Now, I wish I had a business--those are the kind of guys I'd like to hire. I hope that I can help him get a job somewhere--He'll get a fantastic reference from me.

Tomorrow is crunch day--I need to finish packing, because the movers will be here at 8:30a Saturday morning. I also need to exchange the medicine cabinet, which was damaged on arrival, and buy a dishwasher. BUT, guess what happens after that?

NOTHING!!!! And I can't wait! :-)

Be sure to leave a comment--do you like the progress and the design choices?

Rolling on the Floors...ROFL???

Trish & I went to Home Depot a few days ago so that I could pick out vinyl for the rentals. I knew that a roll of vinyl was going to be a nightmare, since there was a really good chance that I'd be installing it myself. I considered industrial vinyl tiles, but they involved glue and a mess.

We saw a vinyl wood-like product, and decided that it would be the best, easiest way to go. Like laminate, it creates a "floating floor," so there's NO glue involved. The vinyl sheets stick together with a press-together adhesive system. See the dark edge below? That's the "under" glue. The next piece has a matching "over" glue on the bottom side of the sheet--lay it down tight, press together and it's almost impossible to take apart after a minute or two (thank goodness for that minute or two for mistake-rectification!). It cuts with a box cutter, so no special tools or heavy lifting are required.

I got to the duplex around 2:30p, and it was off to the races!

This stuff goes down quick!Wow, 3 hours later, I was DONE!
I still need to run a line of caulk around the edges, and replace the quarter-round, but that's it. I'm almost done! Thursday's projects include buying and installing a new washer/dryer and refrigerator.

And the exciting news of the day? A young couple with a baby filled out a rental application today!

Um, no....

Remember Glamour Magazine's column "Glamour Do's and Don'ts?" This is definitely a "Glamour Don't."This was at Sushi Wow. Yes, those are short shorts. And it was still snowing outside.

The guys are hard at work, trying to finish everything before Friday, since I'm moving in on Saturday.Jason is almost done with tiling the bathroom--isn't it fantastic? They let me set some tile, too.Well, one tile. One teeny tiny tile...but I TILED!

Today is grout day, and kitchen cabinet installation day. I chose the granite yesterday; it's called "Butterfly Verde." It's a dark green with lots of mica for sparkle, and garnet. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I picked up boxes for packing, and will get started on that on Wednesday. There's not much to pack, since I didn't unpack much when I moved into this apartment.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Gettin' there....slowly....

Still wondering what that light at the end of the tunnel might be...but things are happening. Chris & Jason have been going great guns on the bathroom. This was right before they started the shower tile.The floor tile is down, the new tub installed, the drywall is up and the shower is tiled about halfway up the wall--right up the the 4" accent pieces. No, the red isn't a nod to the former owner--it's the tile board. The bathroom should be done by Monday.In fact, I bought a new toilet on faith today--and it matches the new vanity! Who knew that Kohler made coordinating vanities and toilets? The coolest thing I bought today was the toilet seat--it's called a "Whisper Shut," which means that it has a dampener that slows the fall of the seat, shutting it quietly! NO MORE BANGING TOILET SEATS! How COOL is that!?!

Speaking of the new vanity, here it is on display at Home Depot. Remember the two vanity choices I posted a few weeks ago? This is a blend of everything I liked about each! The wicker drawer actually goes right under the sink, but they had it out, sitting on top of the shelf. There is a second drawer at the bottom of the vanity so there is plenty of storage. This model has brushed silver faucets; I will have chrome.The guys started refinishing the hardwood floors in my house today. The hoses are for the dustless sander--what a great invention! I had nightmares of having to wash the walls to get rid of the dust, but there isn't a single mote when they are done. My floors are red oak, and will be beautiful when finished.It's hard work, but they blow through it like it's nothing! He's applying the wood filler.Some of the other things I accomplished this week included painting the kitchen ceiling and upper walls, which will be exposed by the cabinets. I started to install the new kitchen light fixture, but things started sparking--and they shouldn't have, so I'll leave that to Norm since he's not afraid of electricity. The new kitchen cabinets arrived, too.They will be installed on Monday or Tuesday, depending on when the bathroom is completed. I'll have a makeshift counter until the granite arrives. I don't mind, as long as I can brew coffee!

This was pretty scary--that truck on the left was through the intersection. The safety arm was on top of the truck--notice how is isn't even with the arm on the right? The train was only about 12" from the cab. Idiot...I definitely won't ever use Roadway to move! I was on my way to get x-rays of my back and neck when this happened. Things still hurt. I have another appointment on Wednesday to get the x-rays read.I stopped by to see the boys on Easter morning. Just as I pulled into the driveway, the local herd of does jumped in front of my car. They were over the fence before I got my camera, but I was totally surrounded for a few minutes. There are about 10-15 more does just out of the viewfinder.This was the view from my office yesterday morning--that's Bellingham Bay at sunrise. Pretty, isn't it? This is the view from my apartment today...That white blob is my car.At least you can still see the Obama stickers. I thought spring was here...well, as everyone says, we need the moisture!

I discovered a cool product today--Angel Bites Cookie Company. She makes horse cookies--and they are all natural, and her prices are very reasonable. You might want to try some for your favourite equine! Dogs like them, too! http://www.angelbitescookiecompany.com/

Is the light at the end of the tunnel a TRAIN?

Remember my little slip on the ice? I went back to work on Friday night, after a week off on OJI. I spent a lot of that week on the couch, and sure paid for it when I didn't. Unfortunately, things need to get done. They aren't getting done from the couch, so ouch, off I go!

This was the view from the behind my steering wheel in my truck when I got home Saturday morning after a very short overnight in El Paso. We had a blizzard with freezing drizzle.That's almost a half-inch of ice. I couldn't chip it off, so I fired up the truck, turned the defroster to high and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited. It took almost 20 minutes to get this much of a view out of the front!

Then it was back to work on the house. Norm was already there when I arrived, working on the electrical wiring in the kitchen.

I started pulling up the carpets while Trish smashed out the bathroom tile. Look at those hardwood floors! They are red oak, and they are going to be beautiful when they are refinished.

The living room doesn't have hardwood. Someone tore it up and replaced it with plywood. I bought laminate so that I can have wood throughout.

Remember this lovely light fixture? Now you see it....

Now you see the new one! Nice, isn't it?

I don't know if I told you that the jetted tub turned out to be part of the bathroom disaster. Tubs that are used in shower applications need a lip on the edge that goes behind the drywall, so that if there is any water leakage, it's directed back into the tub. My tub didn't have that, thus it was contributing to the mold problem since you can't apply enough caulk to keep the flat, straight edge from leaking. Bill took the tub out. Trish did SUCH a good job taking out the tile, but you can see that the surface behind it isn't what you'd expect.Nope, that's about 3" of drywall mud to try to get the wall close to the tub. Needless to say, this is a disaster.

I hired a contractor to finish the bathroom. It's beyond anything I can do. So, the old tub is gone. The contractors, Jason and Chris, made short work of the glass block window, too.They had the window out, and the new one framed in by the end of the day! WOW!Today, Chris and I made a $1000 Home Depot run. Among other things, we bought a new tub.Yup, I decided to get another jetted tub--but one that is designed for use as a shower, too. I'm so sore right now, and can't wait to sit in it with bubbles going full blast!

This was the view from inside of my truck this morning! Frost makes amazingly beautiful patterns, doesn't it?Tuesday morning in Chicago....I closed on the duplex on Tuesday afternoon, and we got started first thing in the morning yesterday (Wednesday). That's Andreas, the glazier, replacing the broken windows on the east unit. You can see the concrete step for the west unit behind him. He's working on the living room window; the other big window is also a living room window. The units are really sunny and bright! Anyway, I'm concentrating on the east unit right now. It needs less work, so should be ready to rent within a week or so. I've already had interest from people in the neighborhood.Bill was there, too. I bought him a roller extension, and he got started painting the ceilings. He also got the plumbing fixed and a bunch of other "honey-do's."I am a really lucky woman. Several friends came over to help--Shavon, Matt and Peter (below--This is the Good Peter--not Peter Weiss, the sick twisted ex-boyfriend who made up a murder, but Peter whom I know through my longtime friend Joe). Peter did a great job on the ceilings. We hadn't gotten to the hallway yet, and you can still see the coral colour behind him. That broken light above him is now a nice hallway light.

The hardwood refinishers started in the duplex today. They sanded, then put down the sealer. It's sort of "pink," almost the same colour as the walls were yesterday! They will refinish the floors in my house on the 17th.

I painted the bathroom and the kitchen today, including the kitchen cabinets. The linoleum is going to be ripped out and replaced this week, then the place will be ready to rent. Then, it's time to move on to the west unit, which has huge holes in the walls from the burst pipes.

What are you doing for the rest of the month? Wanna help? :-)