Bathroom Remodel Day 10

Good News the bathroom is now usable. We are able to start putting things away and using the sink and tub/shower. There is some work to be done. There is a small section on the wall that they had to finish putting drywall up and mud today. They will be back on Monday to finish painting. I am going to run to Davenport tomorrow morning to see if I can't find a curtain, rugs, shower curtain and a few accessories that I like to complete the look. Usually the girls complain when it is time to take their showers at night. Not today however, Kristen couldn't wait to get into the shower and Sarah quickly followed suit. Kurt wants to know why the youngest two are the first ones to use the shower. I told him it was because they needed to go to bed before we lost patience with them.

Bathroom Remodel Day 9

I was so excited today, hoping that when I got home, I would see our new bathroom finished. Plus we were all looking forward to taking a shower in the bathroom instead of downstairs in the temporary shower. When I called home to talk to Sarah, my hopes were dashed. Now I am hoping that tomorrow the bathroom will be finished. Using the bathroom to get ready on Sunday will be a wonderful Mother's Day gift. They did get the vanity and sink in today. They also put up white mop boards and white molding. I wasn't expecting the molding on the wall, but it really seemed to finish the paint job. It looks like all that is left is to install the medicine cabinet, register cover, shower curtain rod, and towel rods. In other words it looks like just the finishing touches. The plan is to try to find curtains and rugs on saturday. Check in tomorrow to see if we finally get to use the bathroom or not.

Bathroom Remodel Day 8

We are getting close. Today we were able to see the finished floor and also the paint job is helping to make it look closer to being done. It looks like all that is left is to finish installing the plumbing for the shower and then install the vanity and plumbing for the sink, put in the medicine cabinet and then install the shower curtain rod and the towel bars. I am hoping to find a curtain for the window and a rug for the floor on Saturday. The places I have looked at so far haven't had what I want. I think all of us are ready for this project to be completed. We have all had enough of showering in the basement, brushing teeth in the kitchen, no toilet one night and the messy house. For a while I tried to clean up the floors everynight but gave up. As soon as I would get done mopping the hallway floor, the dust and mortar would come back. I have told Sarah that tomorrow night we are going to clean. I know that she will be happy to be able to hang her clothes up in her closet again.

Bathroom Remodel Day 7

The best news today is that we have a toilet. Amazing how simple things in life will give you great pleasure. The morter was set by the time they workers arrived in the morning. They were able to put the grout on and then muddied the walls. I am surprised but happy to see that they textured the walls. The suround was also up. It will be so nice to have a shelf for everyone. Maybe this way we can keep little hands from using some of the things that don't belong to her. They were supposed to finish by May 9th which is tomorrow, but it looks like it will be another day so will have to wait for the 10th before the bathroom is done.

Bathroom Remodel Day 6

Arggggggggggg. Sarah calls me today to let me know that the bathroom is blocked off and she can't get into her room as they have the toilet, their large shop vac, and the bathroom door blocking her room. When I get home I check it out and sure enough there is duck tape on the door with a sign that says please don't walk on the floor. It looks like they installed the cermanic tile today. The problem is that because of the humidity in the air, the mortar never dried and they couldn't put the toilet back. I called the contractor and talked to him. He explained how it wasn't drying but that one of his employee's would be back between 7-8 tonight to check on the floor and put the toilet back it it was dry. The workman called me about 20 minutes later to tell me the same thing. While waiting I called 4 hotel's in the area to see what their rates are and if they have an opening for tonight. Motel 6 is full. I am not sure how you can be full in Clinton when there is absolutely nothing going on in town. The other three hotels did have room. Around 7:00 pm the girls and I ran to HyVee to use their bathroom. I finally sent Kristen to bed at 8:40. At that point there was no sign of the contractor. It is 9:05 and we still haven't seen anyone. We will instead run to HyVee, Walmart, or Kwik Star when someone needs to go. I just hope I don't have to go overnight. I will get up and get dressed and head out early tomorrow morning. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

National Scrapbook Day

Just wanted to let everyone know about my scrapbooking weekend. My LSS hosted a Cinco De Mayo two day crop this weekend. It started Friday night at 6 and lasted until midnight. We then met back up at 10:00 on Saturday morning and went until midnight. When we got to the place for the crop, two store fronts down from the store how convenient, there was a huge bag full of all kinds of goodies. Ton’s of papers, stickers, buttons, a Karen Foster stamp pad with six different colors and other fun things. As soon as everyone was there they passed out that night’s kit. We made a two page mother’s day layout using Daisy D’s papers and rub-on embellishments. We were to have brought several different pictures of our children or whatever we wanted to put on the page dealing with mothers. They even mentioned scrapping the big picture. I wouldn’t have know what it meant if it wouldn’t have been for the people on this group talking about it. Thanks.
After we finished our layout we had the rest of the night to work on our own materials. They had brought over all of their tools including the cricut and several cartridges. They had several door prizes during the night. I won a mini album kit that has 12 pages and then came with several different types of embellishments. Of course, I was working on my Disney album. I left at midnight and drove the hour home. Of course I couldn’t get to sleep and then woke up at 5:30. Less than 4 hours of sleep to go on for the next day.
When I got there on Saturday there was another bag full of goodies, more papers, another Karen Foster stamp pad with six more colors on it, and lots of other embellishments. And of course, I won another door prize. This prize had a package of license plate type stickers including one for a favorite uncle. I will have to use that on a page with my brother. It also included the same mini album kit that I got the day before, I might let each girl use on, and finally there was an idea book on paper embossing. I might have to try something like that.After lunch they had everyone check under their seats to see if there is a die cut shape taped to the bottom. Sure enough I was one of the lucky 10 out of 60 people there. We had to grab the nearest sombrero, our cutters, scissors, and adhesives. When we got to the table up front each of us had a pack of papers and there was tons of embellishments on the table, stickers, fibers, ribbons, die cuts, tags, etc. We had 5 minutes to create a 2 page layout. While we were creating they had everyone else doing the Mexican hat dance around the table and counting down, of course we had to wear our hats. After we were done, (we got to keep everything else in the pack that we didn’t use, plus all of the extra embellishments on the table) everyone had to vote for their favorite three designs. The top three winners would receive a prize. I came in third place and won a making memories lunch box filled with all kinds of fun embellishments (fibers, brads, metal tiles, stickers, etc.) They are going to put pictures on their website. I will post a link as soon as the pictures become available. After this we worked until supper, Mexican of course, lots of tacos, burritos, enchiladas and of course chips and salsa.
In the evening after supper we then created a Bo Bunny Bare Naked Binder using the rest of the Daisy D Mother’s day kit. I finally learned about distressing while doing this project, now I will need to invest in some more supplies. I was able to get 40 pages done on my Disney album. I finished Magic Kingdom and Future World at Epcot. I still have much more to do however. I have set a goal of finishing my Disney album and then getting my older daughter Sarah’s album completely caught up by this time next year as she will be getting confirmed in just 52 more weeks and I would love to have her albums available that day during the open house. I also hope that keeping up with her last 4 years will be easy at that point. I didn’t work on the challenge even though I had every intention of doing so. It was just too convenient to have paper and all kinds of other wonderful things available just next door.

Bathroom Remodel Day 5

As you can see today they added the light to the vent. It will be so nice to have an extra light in the bathroom. This light isn't that bright so it will be perfect for using the bathroom overnight. They also started to mud the walls. I also discovered that my light and alarm clock were not working. Thankfully it wasn't any thing to serious, they just managed to somehow knock out the cord from the outlet. I am sure that is the only way it could have come out since the outlet is behind the dresser. I figure that they have to be getting close to finishing the project since the contractor came and hauled away the trailor on Saturday. I am really hoping to see that they have painted when I come home tomorrow.

Bathroom Remodel Day 4

On my way home today, Sarah calls to tell me that the toilet isn't working. She used it and then it wouldn't flush. She says that she checked it and there was no water in the tank. As soon as I go home I check and sure enough the toilet isn't working. I decide to call the contractor. We check the valve and it is on, but nothing coming. He has me check the main switch and sure enough it is turned off. I turn on the main water valve and all of the sudden there is water falling through the floor, almost looked like a shower coming down. I am still on the phone with the contractor when this happens. He informs me that he will have one of the men over right away. It wasn't more than 5 minutes when one of the workmen showed up to fix the water problem. Turned out the wrong valves were turned on and off. A simple switch to a scare. We are excited today to discover that we had electricty in the bathroom again. They have rewired and now we have 3 switches instead of two. The one switch will turn on the lights above the medicine cabinet, the other two switches will turn on the vent and the light in the vent. It looks like they were also able to put up more drywall today and install a new outlet.

Bathroom Remodel Day 3

I am starting to look forward to coming home each day to see what has been completed in the bathroom. Today it looks like they put another layer on the floor, added a piece of drywall behind the bathroom door and started to remove and kill the mold on the drywall around the shower. We are really looking forward to the bathroom being completed. This morning I woke up to a surprise. For some reason there was no hot water. Let me tell you, a cold shower in the basement at 5:30 in the morning is not my favorite way of waking up. When I got out of the shower I checked the water heater (that was put in just a month ago). For some reason the dial had been turned down to vacation. We are wondering if the workers did that during the day as they were working with the hot water pipes and fixing them in a couple of spots. Once I turned the dial back up the water heater kicked in and Kurt was able to have hot water when he showered 20 minutes later. Check back tomorrow to see the newest installment in our remodel.

Bathroom Remodel Day two

Wow, I really wasn't expecting to see this much done today. They were able to replace the rotting waterlogged wood on the edge of the tub and floor. They also replaced the pipes in the basement and brought them up to what would be code if Clinton had a code. They also put in the new tub. At this rate I am hoping that they are done by Friday. We currently have to shower in the basement, brush teeth in the kitchen and apply makeup or shave in the bedroom. The shower in the basement is very small, with no water pressure. I wouldn't want to have to use this shower for the rest of my life, but knowing that it is temporary and will lead to a better bathroom makes it worth while. I really think that the only one enjoying showering in the basement is Kristen. Of course she is the smallest and is not having a problem with the size or height of the shower. Kurt has to kneal down just to get under the shower so that he can wash his hair. Check tomorrow for more updates.