Bathroom Break

Let's take a break from talking about bathrooms!  I have lots of pictures of cute goings on to share. 

Do you remember when I had my dates for a quilt show wrong and ended up at a resale shop instead? Now they are all decorated for the holidays! 

So is the coffee shop just down the road. 

These are from their Facebook page. Here is what I am drinking at home. I am on the bathroom budget. 

While we are in the kitchen, the last paper bag of green tomatoes ripened.  I made them into a sauce and served over some meatballs. 

Last Saturday I drove 20 minutes down some country roads to a cute little Christmas bazaar where I buy my mincemeat from the Methodist Church ladies.  Most of my family does not eat mincemeat pies which means there is more left over pie for me. 

Last night I attended the Fourth Grade Musical with a special dance number by an Orange Sun. 

Tonight my posse and I dressed and went to another performance. Can you guess what it was? 

Wicked! The witch's hat is blocking my green dress. My granddaughter and I were team Elphaba.  My daughter is team Glinda.

Here's some Thanksgiving Memories. 

My parents were married on Thanksgiving morning. My grandfather owned a jewelry store in town and was open on Friday evenings and all day Saturday. Those were his biggest shopping days, especially so close to Christmas.  They were married in the morning and the ceremony was followed by a breakfast reception.  Afterwards all the guests went home and cooked their turkey.  My dad never remembered his wedding date, it was always on Thanksgiving in his mind. 

This one is a funny one.  I may have mentioned a hundred times that we live in a teeny tiny house. During all the years when my children were young, we always hosted Thanksgiving for both sides of the family.  Now in my older years, I am very confused by this. Why my house? And why me cooking when I had a full time job and five children? Regardless, here are two of the tables in my living room. On Wednesday night my husband, children and I would move all our living room furniture into the garage and set up tables. As you might notice, everyone had to enter through the kitchen as the front door is blocked. I wish I had more pictures, but this is back when we only had so many spots on the roll of film.  I still think this is ridiculous and very funny. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

The Bathroom Project, Chapter 5090

Well, it's Sunday evening, the week of Thanksgiving with Christmas catching up quickly. We spent the morning with one of us using a laptop and the other on an I-pad searching for shower and sink hardware.  We have discovered for people that "really didn't care", we actually care a lot.  And we have discovered for people that have very simple tastes, we actually have very expensive tastes.  

We visited the store again this week. We had specific items we had decided to order. Unfortunately when I got to the store, I was again blinded by bright shiny objects. We switched between sink bases and sizes several times, the sink I liked online looked incredibly cheap up close and that would influence the medicine cabinet/mirror. 

This isn't exactly the pattern. It should be more gray and have more of a horizontal streaking. 

So. Keeping in mind that we have lived perfectly well with a Formica style countertop with "integrated" sink (as in all one piece) and all plastic for almost 48 years, I have now ordered a custom made countertop in the size I need made of cultured Carrera marble with a separate porcelain undermount sink for only three times what I had budgeted. The bright side is that it won't be here until January which means we will still have bathroom walls for Christmas celebrations. 

We also ordered our original sink base choice (which was also a tad over the original budget) and the matching medicine cabinet/mirror which, I think, was astonishingly in budget. It doesn't exactly match this photo. We went with a second door instead of drawers on the right. 

And this is almost the medicine cabinet except ours is smaller (to match the sink base) with a single mirrored door. 

I can't remember when the cabinet is coming, but the shower walls arrived while we were at the store. Luckily we did not have the truck so my husband and middle son picked them up at 6 am on Friday because that is their time zone. 

Which brings us back to today. We found the manufacturer the plumber was comfortable with (not his first choice, but his second choice) who actually manufactured the very specific configuration of what we envisioned for the shower and that we could order it online. 

We also, after many more minutes of contemplation, ordered a faucet for the sink that coordinates with the shower. We were able to order these online. This took our whole morning so we had lunch and went back to deciding more things.

That left the matching grab bars. Due to a disagreement with the actual photo on the screen and the description, we decided to visit the store. We piled in the car and went to a neighboring big city where we could visit grab bars. They actually had exactly what we were looking for, we verified the color choice, (stainless steel that is not shiny, but burnished something), but the only one of the 18" hand rail was scratched.  The decision was made to return home and order them online so they would be shipped together. 

And that took my whole Sunday.  Tonight I am still trying to clean up the guest room that I started cleaning on Thursday or Friday. Here is an in progress photo I can't explain. 

Keeping it real here at the picket fence. 

This leaves the toilet (I have convinced him on size) which we are having trouble locating in the right height but with NOT an elongated bowl. (who knew). And the flooring which we could have picked out and up today but we forgot. 

And the clock is ticking for the holidays.  Hopefully I can get further on cleaning (or hiding and stashing) items tomorrow before my church meeting and my attendance at the fourth grade holiday concert. Tuesday I think I need to start baking but can clean while things are in the oven and then I have tickets at 5 pm for Wicked with my granddaughter.  Wednesday there is no school and I would really like to have the cleaning, clearing and hiding done by then so I can bake 2 pies, 2 cheesecakes and make a roaster of stuffing for Thanksgiving at my daughters with 30 other guests.  

The Bathroom, Chapter 1001

You all are going to get mighty tired of hearing about this bathroom project.  

To refresh and over share, we bought our house in 1978. It had been built in the early 70's.  It has ONE bathroom. It is one of the world's smallest bathrooms. This is not my bathroom. It is a lifted photo from the internet to show a much cleaner and newer bathroom the same size.

We did remodel our bathroom in the early 80's which is now (somehow) 40 years ago. That can't be true. 

I try really hard to disguise the condition of the bathroom with splashy shower curtains and other bedazzlements.  But the fact remains - this poor bathroom has lived through a family of five children and the daycare of ten grandchildren! 

Meanwhile I have been making plans. I am pretty sure the master plan was to gut and redo the bathroom before retirement. Well, that didn't happen. But the threat of tariffs in the new year spurred my contractor (okay, my husband) to service.

The first trip to the store was a success.  We had reached a compromise and purchased the materials he wants in the patterns and colors that I want.  Here is what the shower walls may look like. 

They will be delivered on Monday.  We also purchased all kinds of things like drywall and waterproof insulations and the shower pan and lots of small items necessary in the construction. I think some electrical things and a lighting fixture of some sort.  A bed of a truck full of items on his list. 

The color is Thunder Gray - which I am in love with. The pan is white which I am not in love with, but we spent a lot of time looking at shower enclosures and this one only comes with white.  I can live with it. 

We then went this week for the second part of the purchase, the vanity base and sink and the toilet. We had more on the list, faucets, grab bars, a towel rack.  This trip was not successful. 

I wasn't too picky about the cabinet. I wanted gray, I knew they had gray, I was going to see what was available in the size I want.  I found four. Two were all particle board which is not what I wanted and two were higher quality and higher price. Here are my favorites.

I am going with the cabinet on the right. It seems sturdier and I just like it better. So far, so good. 

Then we got to sink bases. I had one sink in my brain but then I saw it in person and that was not what I wanted. 

Is there anything wrong with it? No. I just decided I don't like it anymore. 

This is the one I want. It is Carrara Marble. Before Sunday, I did not know what Carrara Marble was. It is real marble.  And this countertop option does not come in a size that fits into my bathroom. No matter what I try to figure, it is not going to fit in that room. My heart was broken. 

They had several man-made marbles called "Cultured Marble" and "Engineered Marble".  They just didn't look the same when compared. 

Today I had a talk with myself. The truth is I have lived with a Formica countertop in the bathroom for 48 years. I do not NEED Carrara Marble.  Second truth, I am only putting one countertop in the bathroom, it is not going to have a Carrara Marble top right next to it which I like a percent better.  

We are going back tomorrow night, ordering the base and picking out any old countertop of a manufactured material that will fit. And has gray in it. 

Our next obstacle was the toilet. 

I want a tall toilet for old people. My husband has somehow found one that is 16".  The recommended height is 17"-19".  This is a battle I did not foresee. We debated it at the store.  I am not happy with the 16". I have a feeling I may have to compromise on this and have made up my mind that the next time I fall - and we ALL KNOW there will be a next time, I am going to call a paid contractor and have the toilet replaced WITH THE TALLER ONE. End of that story. Unless I win wear him down in 24 hours. 

This brings us to the final debate at this time in the planning.  Where the heck to put the toilet paper roll.  You can scroll back to the top to see what we are faced with.  Currently the toilet paper is on a stand because there is no place to put the roller.  I googled this question and it turns out it is quite the topic on Reddit. Contractors are continuing to build teeny tiny bathrooms like mine and no one knows where to put the toilet paper. 

You can mount it beside the back of the toilet on the wall, but no one can reach it. You can mount it on the wall across from the toilet which would leave me flat on my face on the floor (again).  Some people mount them on the side of the vanity, but I am afraid we don't have that much room (we might, I think I am going down two inches on the width).  Or you can put it on the stand. Which I am not a fan. First, I have to move it to get in and out of the shower. Second, the base collects dust and I just think it is gross. But I haven't found a solution yet. And my unpaid contractor swears I cannot have a partial wall beside the toilet on the shower side which was in my original plans.  

I know, I know. First world problems. And I know that I talk myself into problems that aren't there. And I know that I am just being silly and prolonging the shopping spree that I am anxious to conclude. 

I have much better news on the flooring. We looked at the four options of waterproof laminate planks in a gray stain and I like them all equally.  Mr. Merry can decide which one he wants to install. 

I have also been counting on my fingers and I am concerned that we may have a toilet with no walls by Christmas. But I am going to wait and worry about that next week.  

Ketchup

 Just a quick "ketchup". 

Doctor confirmed small fracture of nose. Also said it is still swollen (she should have seen it before!). For now we are going to continue to ice it and see how it looks once it is back to normal.  Which I can tell you now is just a little crooked and barely noticeable with my glasses. In my nonmedical opinion - I'm good to go. 

She did schedule another Dexa Bone Scan since I guess it's time already? And I am so good at falling! 

Still haven't started listening to my podcasts so I know what I am doing this weekend. 

We are prepping for the second big bathroom haul at the home improvement store this Saturday. I can't believe we are finally this far along with the project. And by far along I mean just purchasing the materials. Woo hoo. 

Other than that, not much new. 

Decisions Decisions

I have been looking at my nose more in the past seven days then I probably did in my entire 68 years on earth. Is it crooked? Is it not crooked? Is that a bump? Did it always have a bump? Has it always been crooked?

They moved my appointment from this morning to this afternoon and my husband was helping me debate. He said my nose looks perfectly fine and the bump I was feeling was always there and matched the bump that mirrored it on the other side. Maybe I have always looked like this. 

I told the doctor that now that the swelling was down, maybe I was just obsessing and it looks normal? She said "I can see how crooked it is from my side of the room."  And ordered an x-ray.  

It turns out it is fractured.  It is a mild fracture (I know this because I am reading the report online, not officially notified by the doctor's office yet.). I went to Dr Google and it seems like the choice will be mine. I can leave it crooked or maybe have it manually put back in place, hopefully under some sedation.  But my dreams of a complete nose job for free are gone, lol. 

I honestly don't care that my nose is crooked. But the bump (which is the bone) is where the nose piece for  my glasses rest on my nose. So I am leaning toward the decision of having them line up the nose if that is, in fact, offered as an option.  

I also wanted to share I have been visiting Lawyer Google and it seems in my state that rules prohibiting gun ownership in an assisted living facilities only apply to facilities with over 16 or 17 units.  This facility was smaller so those rules would not apply.  I still don't think firearms belong in any sort of hospital, care facility or assisted living but it is no longer a one day wonder in my community and no one is talking about it anymore.  

Sunday

Life in my crazy rural community continues. 

On Friday a male resident of an assisted living facility shot two employees and then turned the gun on himself. I was happy to learn that other people than me wonder about residents in assisted living facilities having loaded firearms. When I saw the news, I was certain in was a different New London, a large city in another state. But no, it is the tiny village where I take my grandchildren for their Whoo London Grinch celebration. 

My black eyes are fading and, if I wear thick framed classes, the marks are blending in. Well, I am telling myself that.  I was congratulating myself that no one had noticed but I found out several people were being polite and not asking what happened. I am a woman of mystery! My doctor appointment is this Tuesday so I will see what she thinks about the nose, which is SO much smaller than a week ago. 

It's not our first rodeo with the new president so I am getting prepared. The last time we were locked in our houses and grocery stores were empty. That isn't happening again here! I need to clear off these shelves this week so I can load up for my pandemic pantry. This photo is to remind me what it looks with all the crap gone. I am going to start restocking this week.  I also have a quarter beef on order for early January. 

The threat of tariffs has spurred Mr. Merry to buy the materials for the bathroom remodel!! We just returned from the store with the first load, all the drywall, insulation, the shower pan, a bunch of stuff I don't know what it is, electrical stuff, new cap light for the shower and pieces of wood for something.  We have the shower walls on order for delivery the day after Thanksgiving.  

We have two more trips to make. Next is cabinet, sink, raised commode and the new mirror. In that trip we are also getting the faucets, the grab bars and other accessories.  The third trip will be the flooring, I believe and that is the last step.  I am super excited about this project! I have saved for this a long time and we should have everything purchased by the end of November. 

The next meeting of the True Crime Podcast Club at my library is coming up and I need to listen to at least 4 assigned podcasts this week so I won't have time for any news programs. It is tricky to plan my listening time around visiting grandchildren since I don't feel the material is appropriate. I just realized it is 4 1/2 hours of listening so I better get busy!  I am so into this, I am embarrassed. I take notes, do a timeline and suspect lists. I could write a true crime novel on my own by the time I am ready for class, lol. 

Okay, get to work on those shelves, Miss Merry. 

Oh Heck, Why Not More Election Stories

Well, I can't face opening the blinds or turning on the television so I was thinking I would share more stories from my poll worker perspective. 

My state likes to change the rules every election to try to stack the deck so we always have a mandatory training before each election. This year's training focused on confrontation at the polls and we had a video of situations that explained that everyone was allowed to vote no matter what and we should not confront them. 

We also have a handout that said that although previously no election related clothing was to be permitted, this election we were merely to ask people to cover the offending words and if they didn't, just let them vote anyway. In the past we had them vote curbside if they refused to remove clothing or hats. 

Then our secretary of state issued a statement about a week ago saying pretty much anything would go and there would be no confrontations about apparel. 

And then over the weekend he issued a statement that they could wear clothing with words but not with the name of the candidate.  

So basically, the official statement was anything goes. 

The other thing that was stressed was that we do not call law enforcement for violations. The only reason to call law enforcement was if we were in "immediate imminent danger". 

So when my personal law enforcement officer stopped by for lunch today, I asked him if he was aware of a resident who gathered a crowd around him at my polling place and was discussing how he sits on his front porch with a gun and is going to shot anyone who steps off the sidewalk onto his property (there was more but that part was enough for me).  I didn't expect him to be arrested, but wanted to know if local authorities were aware of the gentleman.  He asked why I didn't call during the incident. I told him that I was not allowed to call unless it was Immediate Imminent Danger and I wasn't on his lawn. 

Later in the day another worker mentioned what he said at the registration table and my counterpart asked who we were talking about.  I said, well the guy who was wearing stuff and talking about shooting everyone. That startled some voters at our station but I assured them that he was in during the morning and they were safe. 

I also had someone stand in front of me and accuse me of declaring my town a sanctuary city which confused me for a while since our county did declare ourselves a sanctuary county for guns years ago and that we are immune from any gun laws our state or federal government passes. I couldn't believe we were on the same side against this. He kept yelling and finally told me our city had built 600 free apartments for illegal aliens. Luckily he had a long profane speech he had to give before depositing his ballot and did not require me to reply. 

We also had a couple who gave a speech (or performance or something - we really need a stage in front of the crowds) about someone who supposedly broke into their house and how the husband pistol whipped him.  (It turns out he was drunk and went to the wrong house which had an unlocked door). 

This story was particularly fun because after telling it he wanted to make sure everyone knew he has a loaded gun by his bed and ran to the kitchen with it but didn't want to kill him so he beat him with it. But in retrospect he should have shot him since he carries a loaded gun at all times and is allowed to use it. He doesn't want anyone to think he isn't afraid to shoot someone. 

Some in the audience started mumbling about damn Mexicans and he also had to say, and he prefaced it by saying "it pains me to say this" but the guy was a white guy born right here in America. My counterpart at the table was mumbling about it later and told someone it was one of those Mexican guys. 

What does this have to do with voting or elections? I have no idea. I guess our code of conduct and theme is "hey, let's have a free for all".  

I was particularly proud of my normally mouthy self that I just sat all day with my mouth closed or at least with no sound coming out of it.  I think I was just in disbelief.  

I sent my leftover soup and brownies with my daughter today to feed the teachers in her pod.  I then spent the day at a friends where I held a Shutterfly photo book class for grammas who want to make scrapbooks for high school grandchildren.  

The eyes are fading a little. Still not sure about the nose. The doctor's office called me twice to change the time but not the date of my appointment next week.  

If this is our last election ever, I certainly won't ever forget it. 

Election Night

 I went to my polling place on Monday night to help set up for the election. We had to move some tables to storage. I put the legs up on a round table and was wheeling it to the closet. It got away from me and, instead of letting it fall, I lunged forward and face-planted flat on the floor of the hall.  My glasses flew off (but did not break) and I even lost a shoe. 

So that was fun. I believe I landed on my nose and you cannot imagine the buckets of blood. Since I am the youngest of the crew, people were slightly panicked. Once I convinced them to get me some paper towels, I was able to run to the restroom and got the bleeding stopped.  I then drove myself home. 

My oldest daughter, the nurse, is convinced it is broken (she lives 2 hours away and is going by photos). My youngest wanted me to call the doctor.  I did call today and they can't get me in for two weeks, lol. 

Today I worked the polls from 5:30 am (setup) until 8:15 pm when we were finished with end of day with two black eyes and a very swollen and slightly off center nose. Not one voter mentioned it.

Our turnout was much lower than expected but did include the usual suspects who taunted us with political t-shirts and hats (when they don't get a reaction, they ask - did you read my hat?).  We were told not to confront anyone who breaks the political rules.  More fun times.  

I am too tired to eat, too upset to watch results and I am going to bed.  I guess tomorrow I learn whether I am locking myself in my house for the next four years. 

The Right Date

One Saturday I got up and put on my good jeans. Fixed my hair and it looked really great. Went to the oldest church in my town for a quilt show. The parish was established in 1818 and services were held in a log cabin. When the oldest part of the current church was built in 1909, the log cabin was moved to the rear of the property and used as a parish center until 1976 when our community had a series of church arsons and it was burned to the ground.  

The only problem?  I had the wrong weekend. 

A week later, I put on decent clothes, did something with my hair that was not nearly as successful and went to the quilt show.  I think I am just going to let the photos speak for themselves. 

I was surprised by how vibrant the reds were. My favorites are always the doll quilts or children's quilts. A lot of the crazy quilts had some really special touches. 

I hope you enjoy looking at the photos.  I had a nice, quiet Saturday admiring all the quilts. I ran into several friends who are still quilters. And I did finally arrive on the correct day.