First there was a new tub...

For reasons I'm not going to explain in detail, it looks like I'm about to get $2000 that I would be totally justified in using for play money, instead of taking my usual route with any unexpected bonus of socking it into savings, using it to pay down the mortgage or pay off Partner's remaining car loan, or using it to do something chokingly practical.

But I get to play with this. No, due to its source, I'm practically obligated to play with it. But I'm a wee bit too practical for that, so instead I'm going to use it for something I want so much that I pout about it regularly, but can't otherwise justify: I'm going to get a new bathtub.

I absolutely love soaking in a comfy tub, but right now all we have is a modern plastic shallow straight-sided ugly tub, and it's just not in the least bit comfortable for soaking.

And for $2k I could definitely get a comfy tub.

But of course the problem is I can't just get a bathtub.

If I get a new bathtub I'm going to need to take out the old one including the integrated surround.

If I'm taking out the surround, I'm going to want to put up tile in its place.

If I'm going to put up tile, I'm going to want to go ahead and get a window put into that room before I tile because right now there is no natural light.

While the room's being torn apart anyway, I'm going to want to finally get the cheapass sink base replaced with the old dresser that I plan to refinish and remodel into a sink base.

Which of course I can't do without first putting down new floor, unless the wood floor under the luan under the ugly vinyl is in good condition in which case it will be refinished.

But before I put in the new floor and sink I need to move the receptacle that's almost behind the sink over to the side wall, and move the wiring for the lights from the side wall to above the sink (their original plans show the sink on that side wall, so I presume this is why things are switched around like this), though the least desirable part about that is the substantial amount of drywall tearout and replacement required.

So while I'm tearing out so much drywall I probably should consider continuing the tile from around the shower to throughout the room, maybe a white subway tile with a single row of some color.

And it goes without saying that getting a new tub requires replacing the frequently-clogged almond colored toilet.

Then of course I'll need new lighting, new fixtures, mirrors, a cabinet...

All of this in a bathroom that's maybe 60sq ft. Maybe.

I think there's a chance that if I pursue this route, it will take me over my $2k budget by a few dollars... ya think?!?. But then I'll be justified in spending it because it's the only way for me to get my new tub, right?!?

Please help me gussy up my houseblog

I may be a computer geek, but that doesn't mean that I know squat about how to actually make something LOOK good. Let's face it: I got the overwhelming share of the math-related genetic material from my parents, while my sister got zilch for math and an overabundance of creative talent, since I kind of forgot to grab any on the way out.

Anyway, I'm seriously looking to pay someone who has a talent for such things who can help me to make this look a lot nicer. I don't CARE if only three people ever read it, I still want it to look so much nicer than it does, give it a little class, have it not scream "randomly chosen non-customized built-in template!!"

Any takers? Tell me the best way to reach you. Either post here or email me at tanama44 ataoldotcom.

Seriously. Help.

A present from my privet

I hate the privet that has grown to the size of huge trees that pollute our yard with all kinds of baby privets and nasty berries, but today it's worth it: Right now they're filled with hundreds of cedar waxwings all having a serious feast.



(Dara, if you read this, remind me again what you recommended we put in its place, in the area where it's grown up high enough to be a good privacy screen? I am SO ready to get rid of this damned privet!)

WHOOMP, there it is...

Well, finally the comment on the showerhead installation instructions that says "In the case where your installation of the mounted Delta In2ition shower requires it to be further away from the wall, please call toll-free ... for a free 8" shower arm" makes sense.

It looks just great when installed, but turn on the water and even with the head tilted forward as far as possible, the water is blasting high against the back wall, making it difficult to get in.

(ok, well "blasting" is perhaps a bit of wishful thinking, in this day of flow regulators and living in a town where many have complained about low pressure/low flow issues... I remember from the early '80's living in a 1920's era apartment building in Philly where the water would just blast you against the back wall, in a GOOD way; well, good when there was hot water, which was hit or miss. Yes, I know we need to conserve water and the power used to heat the water, but there is just something wonderful about being pummeled with hot water that is deliciously relaxing. But I digress...)

Anyway, the removable hand-held shower handle is too long to allow the head to tip down far enough, so I called and they're sending me a free extender.

I'm hoping that once it's tilted down further, that will address another issue: The water comes out with much greater force in the side fixed portions of the shower head than in the center hand-held portion. The result is a much more straight blast on each side, but a quickly falling flow in the middle. This kind of defeats the "rainshower" effect that was one of my primary reasons for getting this, since as it is right now, I can either get the sides of my head or the center of my head in the water, but not both at the same time. Customer Service did instruct me on how to remove the flow regulator from the hand-held part, which helped some but still not enough to get a nice even spray. I'm just hoping that once I can tilt the head down to the angle it needs to be, the difference will be negligible; otherwise, it will need to go back. ::sigh::

*and no, there's no special meaning to the title. It happens to be a friend's "ring tone" and I'd just called her before starting this post, so when I started typing this it somehow seemed to be related, as in "oh, that's why they said that..." Ok, can I blame it on the cold medicine?

Feed a fever, go to Lowes for a cold.

Despite this cold making me feel like creamed caca, I had no choice but to leave the house to pick up a "get it today or lose it" major freecycle score -- a Little Tykes kitchen set for BabyGrand, or at least for once she's a year or two older. Great condition, too.

So while I was out I treated myself to a stop at the nearby Lowes (after all, I had a coupon that was about to expire!) and got a new kitchen sink faucet, another door-mounted shelf unit for the pantry, and something that I've been hoping someone would make for years but never saw in an affordable line: A shower fixture that is a combination wide-rainshower head AND a hand-held shower massager. The regular wide-head hand-helds don't do the real rainshower effect since the water only comes out of a relatively small number of the holes in the head, plus they're too big and usually heavy to be convenient to use. This one is unique -- the majority of the rainshower head is fixed, while the hand-held portion is just a narrow wedge that lifts out from the center. It's hard to describe, and I'm too damned lazy to take a picture.

If I can find the teflon tape, then I'll install this today and treat myself to a nice long hot shower to help relieve these cold symptoms. If I can't, then I'm not up to mucking around in the garage to figure out where it was stashed, and it will just have to wait. Kitchen faucet installations have always been Partner's bailiwick*, so that will wait.

*I looked up the official definition for "bailiwick," being nervous at having discovered recently that I had always misused a certain word, and was amused to see that while it's primary definition is (as I thought) "A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority," it's secondary definition is "The office or district of a bailiff" which just happens to be Partner's profession.

Bummer to have to wait

As I'm reading to better educate myself about floor refinishing, I realize that it's really just not a good idea to refinish a floor in the winter, when you don't want to keep the windows open. I'm thinking we need to wait until May. Warmer weather is also good since we'll have to go out the front door, around the side of the house, through the gate, and back into the house through the back door in order to let the dogs in and out of the house. The kitchen will also be completely inaccessible while we can't walk through the dining room.

I'm also starting to lean towards attempting to refinish it ourselves. I think we can do it. I know a lot of my reluctance to do it has been simply from not wanting to work on that floor any more, after I've already done so much backbreaking work on it. But another big part has been just plain worry that we'll screw it up and it will look awful. My confidence is building, though...

I think I want to use a Waterlox finish but I'm still deciding.

Please help me justify my rationalization

This little cheapo thingy that was put (not by me) onto our bottom-of-the-line kitchen faucet to allow you to direct the water and also (supposedly) to select between a stream and a wider spray of water has just broken off.

I think this completely justifies my buying the nice gooseneck faucet that we need I want. Yes, I know we could replace that doohickey or just put the regular screen thingy back onto it (which we still have... somewhere; and yes there are technical names for these things but I'm far too undercaffeinated to imagine what they might be) but since clearly SOMEthing needs to be done, why shouldn't that something be that we put in a nice new faucet, yes?

If you agree, please let me know. And please share your own really stretched rationalization stories, like "the toilet paper holder broke off and so we completely remodeled the bathroom." That sort of thing. I need backup here, folks.

Maybe, in the spirit of "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission," I could just pick it up on my way into town to pick up the sushi and wine for tonight's dinner...

A rant about something not house related

(Does something count as house-related if it's preventing you from doing work on your house?)

Microsoft Office 2007 SUCKS.

Let me explain why I am qualified to make that assessment.

• My first five years of computing (in college) was on punched cards.
• I wrote 30+ page research papers in college using a basic electric typewriter.
• My first word processing was on a dedicated word processor that used 8" floppy disks.
• I've written hundreds of pages of software documentation using Emacs in place of a word processor.
• My first PC-based word processing program was FinalWord. It was DOS-based, and fit on a single 512k floppy disk.
• I then progressed to WordPerfect (again, on DOS), then WordPerfect in Windows (I'm talking the first Windows, Windows 3 era).
• Gradually, as Microsoft took over the world, I had no choice but to move to the Microsoft Office Suite and Word. I went through every Windows-based version provided, starting with the version for Windows 3.x and up through Word 2003, all without a hitch.
• I have taught advanced classes and provided many hours of help-desk support for every single one of these PC-based word processors; my full-time job since 1984 has been to teach and support PC and network operating systems and applications.

Now I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing in Word 2007, and there's just no question that it sucks beyond all language that I could justify using on my house blog.

Tasks that I could have told you how to do from memory, without a PC in front of me, are now hidden, moved to some place that is completely inconsistent with decades of prior word processing usage and totally counter-intuitive.

Features that have been no-brainers for decades are relocated or missing, from both the menus -- Oh! Wait! No! there AREN'T any menus!! -- and from the Help system. Features that used to take a simply right-mouseclick or keyboard shortcut now require five minutes to locate... is it on this tab? This one? Maybe if I clicked here...

GAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

The first person who can tell me why something as basic as a checkbox isn't working (the checkboxes which took me forever to figure out how to get into the document in the first place, because Oh!! The tab that has those commands on it isn't SHOWN by default! You have to go here then there then this other place to SAY that you want to see that tab in order to get those commands) will get a very special prize: A long, thick-handled stripped screwdriver with a dog-gnawed handle, indicative of exactly what I feel that Microsoft has done to the world by releasing this monstrosity. "Threads" my big fat behind; the only "threads" are on the screw that MS has decided to shove up our collective butts with this disaster -- a disaster that we will have no choice but to accept.

Resistance is futile.

What really scares me is that I've only really started looking at Word, but I don't TEACH Word this upcoming semester: I teach Excel and Access.

God help me when we have to start teaching Vista. The only thing that will keep my head from exploding at that point will be my Linux classes.

[/rant]

2008 To-Do List

I can't call this a list of "resolutions" but I can call it a to-do list. Failure to accomplish a resolution comes across to me as exactly that: Failure. But a to-do list is a more fluid thing. A to-do list has plenty of wiggle room for changes in plans, life getting in the way, getting sidetracked by a project that suddenly just seems a lot more exciting than the other projects you had planned, unexpected illness, grandchildren, heat waves, cold snaps, or roof cave-ins. Well, hopefully not that last one but you know what I man.

That rationalization out of the way, I will create my overall to-do list for 2008:

Greening it up:

• Build compost bin and find container to keep inside for compostable materials
• Start recycling office papers
• Increase commitment to locavorism: Join CSA, plant veggies to freeze, buy at least 50% local meat, eggs, dairy.
• Insulate the attic room on the 3rd floor.
• Finish making and installing the rainbarrels (requires installing gutters on garden shed and far side of garage)

Getting Organized:

• Get the #!%^@ garage organized (a project that's been ongoing since I've moved here)
• Organize the garden shed (mostly just get some shelves in there, and get rid of things we don't need)

Making it Pretty:

• Get dining room floor refinished
• Make new baseboard trim for dining room, living room.
• Put up wainscoting in the downstairs hallway
• Paint (or rather, scrape, treat, prime, paint) the garage and shed
• Paint porch floor
• Refinish/rebuild old dresser to be sink base cabinet for 2nd fl bathroom, and install.
• Replace mirrors and lighting in 2nd floor bathroom
• Replace vent/light in 2nd floor bathroom
• Powerwash the siding and foundation block

Keeping it in Good Condition

• Address porch roof problems
• Route remaining gutters further away from the house
• Clean up leftover mold in basement and re-insulate
• Check condition of crawlspace insulation

I hope to actually do even more, but I have to be realistic. Plus, there are so many unknowns, "will we have the grandkids full-time" being the primary one. One of the things that I've found helpful so far, in the two weeks or so that I've been using it, is to keep an active to-do list on my blog (see link on the right side of the page if you're interested). We'll see how this works in the long run.

Cheesy, but we love it.

After looking at hundreds of fabrics, we have decided that we both love this one for the little cafe curtain in our kitchen:

It has "grandmother" in all these different languages. I see that it has "Nana," I just hope that it also has Abuela and Bubbe.