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? :-)