It happened....I got sick

I guess my body can only take so much....I went to my grandma's memorial and I'm glad that I did even though it took 10 hours to drive there and back! So I left Saturday in the morning and got back home around 10:30pm same day. The drive was long!

I just keep going and now, finally my body is making me take a break....my body had put the breaks on and wants to sleep...I'm so tired soar throat and soar, achey body. Sleep is the only answer for today...I'm hoping tomorrow will be better.

I’m exhausted

A few things have really worn me down to the bones in this last month. First the Huge, huge bathroom remodel project, my job (both of them), the recent passing of my grandma (dad’s mom), my dog’s possibly having flea’s (at least they are scratching) and my vertigo. I just want to sleep, I am so exhausted.

Tuesday I think tipped me over the exhausted edge. I went to work and was running from meeting to meeting (normal, but busy) then I run to the gym for 1 hour and some of Personal training (which I became over heated and my body didn’t feel well) I come home only to find that my dog is scratching….Oh god not flea’s….I couldn’t find any on my dog but I flipped out anyway.

I changed out of my exercise clothes which were still wet from sweat and put on my grass cutting cloths and shoes. It has rained that night so my grass that I have let grow while was still wet. And anyone who has tried to cut wet grass that is over 12” tall knows it is not a fun process. So out in the humidity I go and attempt to cut my back yard so that I could put pesticide on my lawn.

It normally takes me about 45 minutes to cut the back yard…this time it took over an hour and my lawnmower, after choking on wet grass for the last time, would not start again. I still had most of the back to cut….oh well, I about pasted out 15 minute prior so I decided that my body couldn’t take much more so I put the lawn mower up and got out the pesticide spreader. I had two bags of pesticides and decided to put both bags in my back yard (normally one would cover it!). I covered my yard twice!

Then, for my dogs, I used the last of my once a month flea medicine and now need to go back to the vet to purchase some more. Next I am going to spray the inside of my house with some insect / flea killer stuff that I have. Then to top it off I am going to wash every piece of fabric in my house to eliminate any possibility that a flea could survive. Yes, I think I have released a huge arsenal of flea killing stuff that, I figure, if I see a flea in my house in the next couple of weeks….it deserves to be there.

The funny thing is, I swear my dogs were sitting there with a huge grin humming this song.




My weeks are inevitably scheduled full and I barely have a moment to myself….which right this moment I am needing fairly bad. I wish there was a mind shut off switch that would allow me to calm my thoughts and just be able to relax.

I wanted this weekend to be relaxing but once again I am over booked…I know it seems like I am ranting about being busy, well I am but I’m not…I love being busy and I love being around people however when you start double booking and feeling like you are being pulled in every direction…it becomes overwhelming.

Greeat Land of Florida

Great land of Florida here we come….OK, I have group of friends who love to travel just as much as I do. So we normally take one big trip over seas and that is it, at least for me…however this year we are looking at doing a quick “weekend” trip to Florida. Leaving on a Thursday and coming back on a Sunday. I’m not a huge fan of Florida but I have never really then there for vacation….so I am hoping that this trip will change my mind.

Here is the catcher….Money…isn’t money always a problem. With my bathroom remodel project behind me I have to figure out how I can save money for both my savings for this trip. I’m sucking it in and going to have to say it “I need to stop shopping!” Ugh, there it is out in the open. I am a self diagnosed shopaholic. This could be difficult. Oh, well...I'll figure it out.

We will be going in November and I'm hoping it will still be warm , haven't had time to look at the Florida's weather history yet. I will do that soon...I can't wait..I am planning on being lazy and relax the entire time. I'm going to grab my book and grab a beach chair and sit on the beach and relax. I'm sure I will have other activities that I will want to do..but I don't want to plan anything..I just want to spend 4 days not worring about work, photogarphy, my dogs, my life....just escape and relax....oh maybe a massage will be ideal.

2008 Trips
Mediterranean trip
New York
Pittsburgh
South Dakota (August)
Florida (November)

I am hoping next year will be just as full of travel and fun.....I love the idea if making memories with friends and family and traveling is the best way to do that.

The Books I've Read - New addition to the Side Bar

I decided to add a new side bar column. Books I've Read. I'm not liking the looks of it at this moment but it is a good start....I'm thinking I will change it up a bit later tonight...I saw some other creative side bar slide show and I am going to see if I can steal their idea's....I like my blog to be fun:)

I've never really been one to read books however after my divorce I joined a fantastic little book club...The great thing about a book club is that you have a chance to read books that you normally would over look. There have been a couple of books that I have rolled my eyes at but by the time I got through them I was surprise at how much I enjoyed reading them.

Anyway, my current book is The Host (this is the first book outside of the book club that I am reading, excluding photography books!).....I'm not to far into it however it definately has my attention. I'm hoping it will keep my attention until the end.

I will have to do my only littel review on the blog once I get done with it:)

Stupid People Report

I normally don’t do this but I have a stupid person report. This is more at venting because there are some people in this world who should not be allowed to step out of their house. After I ran into 2 stupid people in one day I have decided that every time I run into or witness a stupid person I will have to blog it. I’m not talking about mentally challenged people, I am talking about people who are what society would consider “normal”. I think it is more for laughs than anything.

Stupid person # one
I stopped off at a small corner store to pick up a few items. Now this is a very small store maybe 1100 SQ…complete guess but it seems to be close to the size of my house. Any way parking can be a bit tight because you only have one line of parking spaces and then there is incoming traffic from the main road…and this little place getts pretty crowded after 5:00pm.

I walk out of the store with my bag at the same time as the woman parked next to me. I am in no hurry so I get into my car about the same time the other woman get into hers. However she starts her car up first and quickly reverses out of the parking spot and pulls out behind my car. At this time I am ready to back out but have to wait.

And wait I did…I couldn’t understand why this woman was not going…so I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that she was looking in her purse for a few seconds and pulled out some lipstick and proceeded to put it on!!!! Are you kidding me, you pulled your car out as quick as you could only to stop, blocking me and two incoming cars so you can make sure you have lipstick on. You should have put that on while you are in the parking space…but NO! you were in such a rush that you had to get out of your parking space to put on some lipstick.

Now I am getting hot under the collar because she then pulls out her brush….Oh no you didn’t just start to brush your hair…..so I go ahead and start to back out…not like she can’t see my break light sitting there waiting….so I kept backing up, granted slowly but enough that her eyes about popped out of her head when the back of my car was heading straight for her passenger side door. I think I light the fire under her bottom because she seemed to exit the parking lot rather quickly. Stupid people drive me nuts.

Stupid person #2
The second one of the day was a male cyclist…..For all those cyclist out there please remember to follow the stop lights….red means stop!!!

I but you can guess what he did. I was coming up to a GREEN light and as I was crossing the intersection a cyclist came speeding across the road from the right and crossed infront of my car. I was probably eight feet from him but still “what was he thinking”? It was closer than I ever want to be to a cyclist. I had green he had red, he should have stopped at the light.

I have to say that these two people should really win the stupid award. If I run into any that top these two I will be sure to write about it.

Final tally is in!

I was sitting here at my desk, staring down my receipts. All 30 some receipts and finally with a huge sigh I opened up the excel sheet that I have been tracking all my expenses. Yep it is that time....to do the finally tally!

So one by one I keyed in each entry and then placed a small description of each purchase. I just kept sweating, knowing I am going to be over by at least $2000. ugh! I am going to have to slash my spending for the next 6 month to make up for this.

I grunted and groaned and cursed wondering if this whole thing was worth all of pain, sweat, money and countless runs to the hardware store, miles on the car with the gas prices as high as they are. With each click of the numbers the bottom dollar kept increase...first it added to a hundred then another hundred ....then five...... then 800...next it moved into the thousands. I started to swallow hard because the numbers never stopped increasing and receipts just seemed to keep multipling.

Then there it was; the grand total of grand totals. All receipt accounted for (except for the ones stolen with my wallet, however I did try to estimate those) all items that needed to be returned were subtracted....and with one swift look I saw the shocking number.....

$4283.48

I was shocked because I was not over as much as I thought....only by $783.48 . I think I did fairly well. So it will only take me a few month to make that amount up so for X-mas I should be fine.

Was it worth it....yep...as I soak in my new tub and feel the pleasure of the hot water surrounding my body...and the water is HOT and stays HOT! Oh I love my new water heater. Yes it was completly and totally worth all the stress and pain and some tears (OK so I hid my tears because I didn't want anyone to know how stressed I was) But it was worth it all, every bit, every inch, every decision it was worth it.

I'm already planning next year's home improvement project.... a stone patio in my backyard....this time I'm calling in the professionals, unless my BF wants to jump in...LOL, and they can deal with all the runs to the hardware store and sweat, the achy muscles...I will sit back and enjoy my air conditioning and cold glass of soda while I watch my patio being installed...I've learned my lesson, but has my BF?!!! If you only knew our latest conversation:)

Adventure of the Laundry Mat - ACT 2

OK the story about the crazy lady with the loud mouth….she was the most interesting.

So I am standing that the dryers waiting for my cloths to dry when this rather loud, dark haired woman walks in…I have to say she came straight out of SNL. Her hair was long and kinda ratty looking, with only part of it pulled back and most of it falling in her face…now at a laundry mat I really don’t expect people to look there best, because believe me I wasn’t looking to hot my self.

At this time the laundry mat was getting a little busy and the single load washers were almost all claimed. However there were several 2 and 3 load washers available. So this woman walks in the door and stand there for a second the proceeds to yell out in a voice that could carry for miles… “what!? there are no washers for me?” This other lady, one the looked more normal, looked over at her and said in a lower tone….there are two available right here…so the lady walks over, almost knocking things over and says “I thought I would get her early to miss the crowd but it looks like I didn’t miss the crowd”and looks down in the washers and say “good”. Then goes outside to get her laundry.

OK laundry mat is open from 7am – 10 pm 7 days a week. It was close to 11:00am when this lady walks in…..somewhere in my book “early” is not 11:00am…even for a Sunday. I was thinking to myself, EARLY! If she would have gotten here at 8:00am that would have been early! But hey, what ever.

A few minutes pass and she was back in the laundry mat in hysterics. “Has anyone seen my keys…I just had them..had anyone seen my keys” and repeats this over and over until a few of the people there gave a half hearted attempt to look for her keys. She yells out “ I just had them, I just went out to the car, I just had them…..has anyone seen my keys” And she walks around circling a line washers…not really looking for her keys just walking around looking at people asking if anyone had seen her key. I almost felt sorry for her…she seemed like she was out of her mind…lost in world that was to big for her. But I think she eventually found her keys because she stopped circling the wash machines and sat down a few minutes before I left.

I tell you what, if my life ever slows down and I don’t have anything to blog about I might just travel to the laundry mat and sit and observe people…what a great people watching place!

Adventure of the Laundry Mat - ACT 1

I had to go to the laundry mat Sunday because my washer and dryer was not installed yet and let me tell you, just spending an hour or so there I have some funny stories. The characters at the local laundry mat are hysterical. Why did I ever think that normal people do their cloths at a laundry mat is beyond me.

First, I am going to start off with the old guy sitting in the chair. So I get there at about 9:00 am in the morning, only because I needed to get come work cloths washed and I know that I would not have a washer and dryer installed yet. So I walk in and there is this guy that is sitting in a chair facing the washers. Obviously he was waiting for his clothes to be completed.

So, I began to put my clothes in the scary looking washers and then proceeded to put my quarter in.(Did you know that it is $1.50 to do one load? I remember when it was .50, yep I’m that old!) Well, as I was chatting on the phone and trying to shove the quarter in the machine and it was obvious that I didn’t know what I was doing. The old guy gets up and asks me if there was a problem. I told him I couldn’t get the quarter to go in…so he starts to count the quarters and informs me that I am missing one. There it was, a single dark slot left empty because I failed count my quarters…all 6 of them.

So I stuck it in the machine and it started. I moved to the next one and couldn’t get that to slide in….what the hell!...so the old guy gets up again and smiles so nicely at my…I’m sure he was wondering if I was truly a blonde. He counts the quarters…which I knew I put in enough…and says huuummm….you have enough quarter. And he tries to push it in and after his second try they slide in. Are you kidding me, why can’t I do this right. So I looked at him and smiled, tell him thank you and told me that it’s been a while since I’ve been at a laundry mat…he just smiled and said your welcome.

So now my clothes are done, which only took 15minutes…it was insanely fast…but I don’t think I got my clothes that clean…oh, well, clean enough not to smell when I go into work.

I move over the dryers and of course the old man is looking at me…you know one of those looks, like, I really just want to talk. So I get off the phone with my BF and start to add the quarters (1 quarter = 7 minutes) in the empty belly of the huge dryer…which didn’t dry worth a darn. He begins to talk to me and asks me some basic questions, where do you work, do you live near here and do you have kids. I answered the questions…some much more vague than other’s but it kept the conversation going. He talked about his kids and things that go on in his live….like gambling, every night, winning a lot some nights and loosing more the next. Then he proceeds to tell me that he has a washer and dryer at his house….puzzled I asked if they worked…he said, yep – they are brand new, but he prefers to come to the laundry mat to do his laundry.

OK, in my mind that is crazy but he seemed happy with his weekly travels to the laundry mat and the gross expense of doing your laundry there as well.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the crazy lady with the loud voice…she was very interesting and kept me entertained for almost 30 minutes.

It's time to compare

OK, so it's not completely finished. There are a few things that need to be done, such as, the doors still need to be hung (in the process of being painted), Wall hangings need to be purchased, base boards need to be painted and nail holes filled and transition strips need to be installed. I also need to find some type of cabinet to put over my toilet (which I am working on). And the whole bathroom needs a good cleaning. However I couldn't resist to compare the before and afters.

I JUST LOVE MY NEW BATHROOM!!!!

Bathroom

BEFORE and AFTER

Laundry Room

BEFORE and AFTER

OK, so I still need to paint the cabinets white and change out the hard where. I am planning on doing that this weekend.

My first Shower!!!

I am proud to announce that I have a fully functioning bathtub…..yes this long awaited arrival came to me at 11:00pm last night, however I am sad to say I did not have a chance to take a bath in it…it was late and I was extremely tired.

This morning I hopped out of bed ready to take a shower…and a shower I took! 25 intoxicating minutes in my heavenly bathtub. I just stood there and let the hot water bead off my skin as I took in every inch of perfection. The space that I have in my tub is unexplainable. This has now become my most cherished room in my house.

I don’t think my BF really understands what he just gave me. He gave me my sanctuary. A place I can run to when I’m stressed or had a bad day. I place where I can shut my self off from the world and have peace and serenity. My house is now complete!

I am now happy with every inch of my house. There is no reason for me to be embarrassed about the way my house looks…I can start inviting company over and hold my head high. Now I really don’t care if someone doesn’t like something about my house because I am now happy with it the way that is stands. It is a perfect house for me! Party at my house this weekend….OK maybe next weekend! I need time to clean up everything.

BIG, HUGE THANK YOU to my wonderfully talented BF. He worked his A$$ off and never complained once about it…although I know that it has been a huge pain in his life, there is not enough that I can do to let him know I really appreciate everything he has done. Just to give everyone a little scope of what he had done….for 2 ½ weeks he has worked 12-14 hour days (weekends included) to get this done for me.

OK off to work now, I will have all the before and after pictures once some of the small things are completed....I will probably post some of the pics tonight just because I can’t wait to see the difference!

A few hang ups

Wow, let me tell you this bathroom remodel was over my head…yep, I’m saying it loud and clear…..I bit off more than I could chew. Thank God my BF has been there the whole time. I don’t know what I would have done with out him.

My one week project had taking about 2 ½ weeks. It’s been a lot of work and the unfortunate thing is that my BF has been doing most of the work….there wasn’t much I could help out on once the demolition was completed and that really sucked. I really wanted to help a lot more, since it was my project, however most of the time I just felt like I was in the way. Anyway we are almost done.

Yesterday we ran into some problems with the plumbing and I had to run to the store several times. I’ve actually decided to invest in Menards plastic bags…with as many trips as we have made to that store in the last 2 weeks I’m sure their stock in plastic bags has went through the roof.

Anyway, it was not enough before the stores closed. If it weren’t a Sunday we would have had the tub up and running but on Sunday all the stores close early….that would be 8:00pm. So I tried to find some items at the local Meijer however they wouldn’t work. My poor BF was under my house for over 3 hours yesterday trying to get things fixed but it just wasn’t in the stars for the bathroom to be completed on Sunday.

I can’t wait for everything to be done, especially the tub…the other day I found the perfect book to read in the tub (The Host by Stephanie Meyer) it’s a kinda sci-fi book and it’s about 600 pages but I already started it and so far I am enjoying it…plus I have the lavender bubble bath liquid ready to go…I just need to get the candles and then I will be set. Oh, and a bottle of wine!

Today my BF is working on the drains and the doors and trim. I will be responsible for painting the doors and trim….not a big deal. While I am painting all of that I will also paint the cabinets above the washer and dryer and go ahead and change out the hard where….then everything will be completed!

Crazy busy

This will be short and sweat because I am ready for bed!

We got the water heater in.......YEAH! And let me tell you....that sucker is HOT. I only have it turned up half way and it almost burns my hand.....clean and sterilized dishes here I come. Believe me the minute that the water was hot I ran my dishwasher.

All the walls are painted....I love the color....my neighbor described it best "warm yet relaxing and energizing at the same time" I have to agree.

The sink is in and almost hooked up....the drain is the last thing to get set up.

Switches and outlets are all installed and working!

It is all down hill from here! OK off to bed....I am exhausted and need a good night sleep.

I will post pictures when everything it pulled together...so it may be another couple of days.

Tub is done!!!!!

Not much to say so......... drum roll please....brrbrrbrrbrr!!!

I know this is what everyone has been waiting for and it has finally arrived....the tub tile is complete and let me tell you I am in love with my tub....we are so close...so so close.

The tiles still have grout dusk on them but I will get them cleaned off tonight.

Where are we at now?

I know you are all dieing to see photo, but not yet....maybe tomorrow:)

So what did I get done yesterday? Not much – I did purchase all the stuff that I needed, minus the medicine cabinet. I can pick that up when we get the water heater…even with out the medicine cabinet I spend over $250. OK not a lot in the grand scheme of things but it seemed like a lot yesterday. However they are what I wanted! And that is what is important.

I also got the grout sealed!

“Oh! Lavender bubble bath I do smell you!” In fact I am so excited about my bathroom getting close to being done that I actually went through the two huge tubs of bathroom supplies, that are currently being stored in my exercise room, and pulled out the bubble bath. Which is now placed just outside my bathroom. And yes, I did open it to smell the lavender.

OK for painting, I didn’t get that done, but it will get done either tonight or tomorrow. My BF was stuck at the tire shop (nail in tire) for 3 hours so he called me up around 11:30 and said that I will probably make it back to the house before he does. This is sad because I am leaving work at 2:00. I think he had to go one more place before he could go to my house.

Anyway, I do believe we will get my bathroom done by the end of this weekend, of course I need to confirm that with my BF, because as we can all see, my timelines are a little off.

One more day closer

Well today is Thursday and I am quit pleased with progress. My BF completed the tub tile last night and we have wait 24 hours to grout it. So even thought I am rather excited about the completion of the tile I am holding off putting up a picture because of two reasons…my BF asked that I not show the tub to my mom until it is grouted, which she reads this blog so that means I can not put a picture up. The other reason is because I want to post the completed tub….really the pictures of the tub, with out the grout ,doesn’t look as good. So there you go, no pictures of the tub until it is grouted.

Today my BF can not work on the bathroom because he had another project scheduled and is working on that. I however will continue to do what I can…so here is the run down of what I need to get accomplished today when I get home from work.

Paint the rest of the walls
Finish sealing the grout on the tiles
Go shopping for accessories (now this is the fun part, I am a self diagnosed shopaholic!)

What accessories does Jenni need to purchase?
Plastic (to cover the floor before painting)
Tape (to hold the plastic down)
Possible more grout sealer
TP holder
Double towel rack
Hand towel holder
Shower curtain rod ( the rounded one like that one in a heavenly bath at a Westin, my fav hotel)
Plastic shower curtain – I will purchase the real shower curtain once everything is done.
Shelf for the back of the shower ( I had one picked out but I’m thinking it will be to big, so I need to look around a little bit)
Medicine cabinet
Dimmer switches

So the rest of the night will go something like this.
Jenni runs out of work to race to the store(s) to purchase all items listed above
Gets home, stumbles over dogs as I try to rush in the door caring all the bags I can.
Releases bag, spends a minute petting dogs (this is a must). Goes back to car to get rest of items purchased.

Runs back in,once again stumbling and falling over all of the dogs. Race to the bed room jump out of work cloths into my smelly, going on 5 days unwashed cloths that have successfully had paint, putty, dry wall dust and chips of tile stuck to them. Give them a good shake before putting them on. Give the bathroom floor one last sweep and begin to seal the grout (this is where my BF’s knee pad come in handy). Jump up from that, once completed and grab the plastic and start taping it to the floor in the laundry room. So why do I take this extra step…because I am the world’s messiest painter and I know that I will inevitably spill the paint on my new tile…..I would be rather upset…so plastic is normally my friend.

Then I start my tedious task of cutting in the edges…which I am not good at either but try my best. After the cutting I can slap on the first layer of paint. Then move to the bathroom, lay plastic and start to cut in as much as I can…I want to stay away from the tile in the tub because I don’t want to mess up anything, so I will probably wait until the grout is actually in to try to paint…we will see how I feel at that point. Then back to the laundry for a second coat and then again to the bathroom. Them I am done with painting…then it’s time to clean up. I’m sure by the time I get all of this done it will be close to 10:00pm and without dinner, once again, I will head over to my moms, take a shower and go home and go to bed.

Just to try to wake up as early as I can, to get to work as early as possible so I can leave early to help work on the bathroom. I’ve gone 2 weeks without taking a bath (OK before you silly people make that “UGH, that is gross” statement, I do take showers every night). I normally take a shower in the morning and a bath at night (the bath at least 4-5 nights out of the week) So I am truly looking forward to dimming the lights and relaxing in my tub….that is my addiction…I am addicted to soaking in the tub.

That is it for now.

I have a toilet!!!

Yep it's in, I have the white porcelain goddess installed and the best things is it works! How could you not like the sight of a working toilet in your bathroom...its a dream come true....no more bucket for me! Tile is also grouted on the floor and it is looking great!

Next up is the bath tub tile, which is really starting to look great.

You can't really tell but the area in the tub wall that looks a little different is a cubby hole where I can set my shampoo and conditioner and any other little thing that I want to hold there. I love it. It was a great idea that my BF suggested to me.

My BF said that if I went out and bought a dimmer switch that he would swap them out and place in the dimmer switch.....AAhhhhhh, I can see it now...dim the lights and take time to relax in the tub...and after a long day...so relaxing.

Yes I know I keep going on about the tub and how much I like it and want to take a relaxing bath...and guess what I will keep talking about it because that is what I want so badly is a relaxing bath in my own home.

OK time for before and after pics....I just love comparing things:)

BEFORE

AFTER (Present)

Well off to bed for another day of wild things to do, like - work for as many hours as possible then take some personal time and get my drivers license, get extra tile, purchase a water heater and go look for a cabinet and sink.....hopefully we can get the water heater in soon...for now I will have to do my dish's by hand and by heating water up in a pot. I went out purchases some paper plates and bowls this should help cut down on the dishes I have to wash.

OK, now really off to bed to get some sleep.

Still going!!!

My bathroom remodel is like the energizer bunny...it just keeps going!

Well things are moving forward and it looks like I will get a toilet in today. I’m very excited. Everything is starting to seem like an adventure with this project.

I learned how to grout. Granted my BF’s job was much better than mine but I think I still did a pretty good job considering I have never grouted before. The worst part was wiping down the tile. No matter how many times we wiped it down there was still some film on it….I finally got 90% off the bathroom tile and tonight when I get home from work I will start on the laundry room.

So yesterday was exhausting for me. The worst part of the day was that my wallet was stolen from my desk. Yes, right out from under my nose. I was going to a meeting with my TL and my wallet was on the edge of my desk so I grabbed it and throw it under the monitor…out of site unless you walk into my cube. So I left went to my meeting, came back to my desk, sent out few email, closed down for the day.

I grabbed my day planner and cell phone and throw it into my purse. I had so much on my mind I didn’t think about the wallet. I headed over to the bank (which is inside the company’s main building) and withdrew some money, using my work badge as id. Headed home and was on the phone and reached over to get my wallet out. That is when I noticed it was gone. So I headed back to work, which is where I knew that I left it. And when I got there it was gone. Retracted my steps back to the bank and then back to my desk again. Still not there, not in any draws, under the desk, in my cabinet were I keep my purse. No were to be found.

So I immediately called my credit card companies and canceled all my credit cards. Luckily I think someone just wanted the cash or the wallet (Coach, Xmas gift), which I only had $5 because I don’t carry cash on me. All credit cards said that there was no activity on my cards.

Now I don’t have any way of paying for anything. My credit cards and driver license is gone…..and I was going to purchase a toilet that night. My mom ended up saving the day and she sacrificed watching the final finally of bachalorette . After we got down grouting the floor I called my mom up and took her up on her offer to use her credit card for the toilet. So at 9:00pm at night we are running to the store to purchase a toilet. Well the first store we went to didn’t have the toilet brand I was looking for. So we went to the other store that was 15 minutes away.

We get to the store, go to the toilet section and there it was. The white goddess of toilets. It was perfect for my bathroom. It has everything that I wanted. Elongated bowl, slightly higher seat, white and in my price range. It was also a space saver. It was designed to fit into the same space as a rounded toilet. It was perfect…”I want that one”. However, as luck would have it, the only one that was in stock was a bone color. So this lady comes over to help us and I tell her I want that toilet in white. She said that she can look to see if they have any more in the store.

My mom proceeds to tell me that I need to look for a second choice…..nope, not gonna!. I want that toilet and I don’t want to look at any others. So the lady goes away and then comes back a few minutes later and looks up and there they were. Eight white goddesses all wrapped up calling my name….” Jenny! we are up here, come take one of us home with you” and that is exactly what I did. I now have a brand new white, elongated, higher seated toilet that will hopefully be installed today!!!!

Even with my wallet being stolen someone upstairs was looking down on my and smiling…my wallet may have been stolen but nothing was charged on my card and I got my toilet and didn’t have to settle for something else.

Over all stressful day but it worked out for the best.

Deadline is Today

Yeap, missed my deadline. My remodel project did not mysteriously finish its self. There is still a lot of things that need to be finished. I have to admit that my BF was right! Ouch, that was tough to say but it is so true...he warned me that this project would take longer than a week and he was right...we (mostly him) have been working our butts off.

So where are we with it right now....well, half the floor is down, which is just that much closer for me to get my toilet back....hum, well, I still need to go purchase one.

I have to go into work tomorrow so my BF is going to come over and see what he can get done. He is also going to see if his dad can help him get things finished. Which I think is great. Two hands are better than one.



Here is the tile selection for the floor.

And what it looks like on the floor:)

I love the way it is starting to look. I can just see myself with a glass of wine, candles and some soft music sitting and relaxing in my newly remodeled bathroom....I am so close I can smell the bubble bath.

I also can't wait to get my house cleaned. Because of all the sanding we did on the drywall my house is now covered in wonderful white dust. It's on every thing...I tryed to get some stuff cleaned off and realized that this is going to take a good day and half to get the house cleaned again. I figure if I can do a little here and a little here I won't have so much to do when the project is completed.

I can tell right now it will definitely be worth my pain and stress. Shall I start to count my bruises and scrapes....naaaa, just know that I have several and still counting.

OK off to bed, the day is over and my mind is shutting down.

I just have to do a quick before and after....just to see were we started.

Day "Neverending"

Will this project ever end? We are making great progress however it is Sunday and we are still some time away from the finished product. yesterday I was hoping to have the floor down however we were only able to finish the walls and get the primer on them.

Did I mention I really dislike drywall? It takes forever to sand. But outside of a few little nail hole touch ups were are done with that crappy job:)

Did I also mention that I changed my mind on, yet, another thing....the Paint color. Yep, a day ago I was looking at the color I had chosen and started to wonder if the color on my hallway would clash with the color I chose for the bathroom....its important to me that the colors flow from one room to another in my house. I know call me crazy.

Anyway, I decided, Oh well I'm sure it will be fine. Then as I was walking out the door to go get the paint my BF asked me if the colors worked together. I just sighed because we both know the answer. I just wanted to cry, it took me over three weeks to select "Certain Peach" color, now we are down to purchasing the paint and the colors don't work.

So he gave me a few suggestions and I went with "afterglow" It's a nice mustard yellow color...very warm...because I want my bathroom to have a warm feel to it and it will work with blue accents.

I'm sure this will be worth it in the end. My BF said that we would be able to get the floor down today....That will be exciting. The bad thing is I have to go back to work tomorrow so this may take a extra week....I just want my toilet back!

Day Five and Six "Completed"

Well things are finally moving along. We have completed so many things in just a short time. I just want to add - God love all those people who do this for a living. I couldn't do it. My body hurts and my allergies are running all over the place and worst of all my skin and hair are so dry....yuck!

It's been a hard couple of days. We have both been working until 7 -8 at night just to get this thing done. And of course I keep changing my mind on some things. Like tile. I have change my mind so many times I don't even know. I have walked up and down every isle in every store in the state of Indiana until I was completely exhausted and tired of looking at tile. I have finally chosen both floor and wall tile and just in time.

My BF said to me yesterday "now you see why it is important to select all your design items before you start a remodel" I have to honestly say, yup I can see why. It can hold up things and it also takes out so much energy that you need for the actually remodel.

What was completed these last two day.
Honestly I don't remember everything but the biggest things are the plumbing was completed.
The ceiling is up
The bathtub is in (Ahhhh! I even got a chance to just sit in it for a minute, I am going to love my tub)
And the Drywall is up (drywall alone took about 6 hours to complete!)

Now that doesn't seem like a lot in two days but believe me it is. I definitely underestimated the time that it would take to complete this job.

Funny Moment - my mom came over yesterday to check out the progress of the project. She walks into the bath room and turns around and looks at me with panicked eyes and said "you bought a blue tub?!" I just laughed, I couldn't help it.

OK for those of you who don't know the bathtub comes with a protective blue film so that while you are working around the tub you won't scratch it or damage it. So yes the tub looks blue but the film will be removed once everything is done.

I official don't have a toilet. It was removed last night. All there is left is a drain with a towel stuck in it. Remember my house only has one bathroom in it....I know you are probably wondering where do I go....lets just say I am living a very primitive life right now:)

So here is Jenni's tip when doing a large remodel project.

Pay for a professional to do the job!!!! It is well worth the money. As I am going through this project I was lucky because my BF is extremely talented, knowledgeable and experienced of everything. From plumbing and electric to drywall and tile. We ran into a couple of things that I looked and thought "how in the heck are we going to fix that" and he stood there coming up with solutions and then fixed it. I know that if I was doing this my self I would be in trouble and with out a bathroom for a very long time.

Next make sure you don't have ADHD. I have to say I seem to have a slight case of it from time to time and with this remodel project I keep changing my mind and that doesn't help things. Have your products selected and purchased prior to the start of the remodel. Some things that I fell in love with were special order so I won't get them for 5-7 days. Doesn't work for this project so I had to compromise. Don't do that to yourself.

Also Estimate your budget and then increase it by about 25%. That is what I will probably be over. It's the little things that add to the budget. For example, I decided I wanted to replace my doors to the bathroom. Which I'm glad that I decided to do that but that will add an additional 120 to my budget. I also forgot to include trim when figuring my budget.....yup a couple hundred more. So with a small budget it will add up.

What is a remodel project without a trip to the emergency room! Just joking however I did hurt myself. We were moving drywall into the house because I was raining when we picked it up and we needed it to be dry. So we were in a hurry to get it out of the rain....well at least I was. Anyway on the last piece of dry wall I didn't realize my fingers were so close to the ground under the drywall and I dropped the drywall which in turn smashed two of my fingers.....OMG! did that hurt...I wanted to cry but sucked it up. For the rest of the day my fingers ached. Luckily today my fingers are fine, still a little tiny bit sore but they are fine!

We are getting close to the end. I can't wait to see the tile get put in....I'm not sure what we are doing today....probably finish the drywall to prepare it for primer and maybe get started on the bath tile. We also got the toilet up yesterday and the floor around the drain needs to be patched....I little leak for a really long time has damage the floor. But my BF doesn't think it will be that big of a deal.

Who knows...I just wait for him to tell me what to do next.

Beginning Day Five

Things are going a little slower than anticpated. I figured that we would have all the electric and plumbing completed for today however we only have the electric ran. And let me tell you that was a whole lot of work. It took us over 5 hours to get all the electric ran not including the time it took us to get the ceiling fan and PVC pipe ran.

Now I see why those DIY show, the people always run over the projected timeline.....you think somethings will take only a few hours when it actually takes a whole day! Who would have known. Now I understand why my BF said this job normally takes 3 weeks to complete....of course it doesn't help that I keep wanting to change and add things:)

We ran two new switches only to find out that we had the wrong ones.....off to the store today to get the correct ones. My BF will add two outlets, one by the sink and one in the center of the wall. The recessed lights will be on one switch. The light bar over the sink will be on its own switch and the ceiling fan will be on it's own switch.

We did get the recessed light installed and working. Yeah! I have light in my bathroom and a lot of it:)

The ceiling fan was installed along with a PVC pipe to direct the moisture outside. Yeah that took about 2 hours to get all that completed.

Today my BF will redue the plumbing for the tub fixtures. Reinforce the floor under the tub and hopefully install the tub. I think he is going to finish all the stuff that needs to be done under the house. We are getting started a little late today so I'm sure this will be all that gets done.

It sucks because I don't have a whole lot of stuff to do. Anyway time to get moveing....I have some things that I can clean up, which should help out:)

Day Three / entering Day Four

Well day three was a little slower than expected. Mainly because we got started late and were both exhausted and tired. We ended up going shopping for electical and plumbing items in the morning. That little venture took about 2 1/2 hours. I realy didn't realize how much stuff was needed. However I think Menards considers me one of their best customers.

We did get the tub removed....over all it came out smoothly and in one piece. We thought we might have to cut the thing in half but we didn't. Great success! We did however has a small problem with the drain and because it was so old it didn't want to come apart. So my BF has to crawl under my house, which is only a crawl space and he has to lay on his belly because it is only about 3ft height under the house. Yahh, Jenni is not going under the house ever! He ended up busting the drain, which is not that big of a deal but it is one more thing that needs to be done.

We also got the exhaust fan hole ready for installation. The problem we ran into with this one is that one of the beams ran straight in the center of where we wanted the fan to go. So he had to cut the beam and reinforce it so that the fan will be center of the tub. So now we have room to install the exhaust fan. Yeah!

The worst part is at this point I pretty much just stand around and run after tools for my BF. He is doing all to work and to be quit honest I am happy he is. I can do a lot of stuff my self but when it comes to electric and plumbing I have to call in the specialist:) So I have a feeling that today will be just as boring as yesterday for me. He is planning on finishing up the electical and plumbing to day and hoping to at least get started on drywall.

It is getting closer! I can just feel it! One step at a time. I will have a great bathroom soon and all this mess will be put behind me and I will look back and think....."that wasn't so bad"!

OK off to have a bowl of cereal and get into my work cloths and start day number four of the bathroom / laundry room remodel.