Bathroom Re-Do Day Two.

Day Two:

                  OK, I was thrilled with day one. Everything was gone. I said bah bye to the ugly uneven tile and said sayonara to the ugly bathtub. The day went smoothly and so I said to myself "oooo lucky me!"


I shouldn't have said that.


 On day two the plumber came to replace the waste pipe and connect some pipes so that in the near future we can build a second bath upstairs....yes ladies and gents we have only one bathroom. You know, on a side note whenever we tell people we have one bathroom they sigh with pity.


whats the deal?
 I grew up with only
one bathroom and we
 survived. ...But now a days
 houses are just way more
desirable when there is more
than one bathroom.


end of side note.


On the second day the plumber had to remove the toilet assuring us that he would replace it at the end of the day. My Mom lives close by so every time one of the kids needed to go to the bathroom ( you guessed it) in the car we went top speed because my son ALWAYS waits til the last moment to go.


Soooo, the end of the day approaches and My kids and I are anxiously waiting to use the bathroom.

The plumber puts back ugly toilet and leaves. My daughter goes in and comes right back out stating very calmly


                        "EEEEEWWWWWW! SOMEBODY CLOGGED UP THE BATHROOM!"
                            
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as you all can imagine it wasn't caused by one of us.


IT WAS NOT ONE OF US!
Now folks have I told you that I have a thing about bathrooms and strangers using MY bathroom? or I didn't? well I am literally insane about it.


OK, Joanne buck up; just go in there and unclog it.

 I looked around as I dry heaved and there was no plunger to be found. Finally I call the Hubster at work ( where there is a functioning toilet) and I ask " Hey, HON, where's the plunger for the bathroom?"


      He said "I threw it away."


           WHA?

Now mind you there we are, all three of us doing the pee pee dance and there's no way to use the bathroom. Finally after a quick trip to the nearest store ( where I think the cashier thought I was training to be on some sort of dance show), I raced back.

Now after disinfecting the toilet (with enough bleach to completely burn our nose hairs away and disintegrate our eyebrows) I let my kids in to use it.


Then ( oh no you didn't think it ended there did you?)



We go out and come back with Chinese take out

after dinner I go downstairs to our basement to do some laundry and I see that the whole entire wall (directly under the bathroom is wet. I realize there is a huge leak . There was water everywhere!



"Gasp!" It was totally a clutch-your-pearls moment
                       
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"Is that coming from the toilet???

Drip drip drip

No it was coming from the one of the other pipes.


Drip drip drippity drip



the pipe that they had just fixed


What to do what to do!


I find a bucket and run upstairs to call hubster, by the time I was finished cleaning up I was ready to make a voodoo doll and this one would be wearing a tool belt and have a plumber's crack!


It was the second day and I was already DONE. I mean what next?...was the new tub going to fall through the floor due to termite damage? Were they going to find black mold? Would the mystery of where Jimmy Hoffa is buried finally be solved?


Only time would tell. All I wanted was a nice hot shower to wash away the events of the day....but the bathtub hadn't been hooked up yet

Shower at Grandma's

Everybody back in the car!

Artsy Fartsy Friday~~~The Art of Ben Heine

Hi Everyone and welcome!


It is Friday and that means I get to share a bit of art with you.

I admire this young man's work so much. It's the kind of art that makes you do a double take. He is very creative and a lot of his work is just so much fun to look at. He is an accomplished photographer and he combines his awesome sketches with his photography to reveal a very unique art. His name is Ben Heine and I think he is very very talented.

          
              Uploaded by: maxpower285
                          Check out more of this artist's photography here--> BenHeineChannel

I hope you enjoyed this week's art.

                      Have a beautiful weekend!


                                      Blessings, Joanne
          

Day One Of Bathroom Re-Do

OK, I have an good excuse...really






I haven't posted in a week because all I hear all day long is ....
                                   
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                   and
                               
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and something that sounded like this
                             
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And even caught a few glimpses of these
                            
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 You can all agree that all this is not conducive to creative writing





Start of Day One...


                             I have wanted to re-do this bathroom
                                ever since we moved in ten years ago!

The bathroom was completely gutted in just a few hours

These guys were good! Not only were they fast and efficient. They also cleaned up their mess and took it with them. 

 They worked hard... which started me thinking...

 since they finished early; what did they do with the rest of their day?

Hmmm...I wonder..... 

                           


Those contractors really know how to have fun

My Son is 11

Today was my son's 11th birthday.
                            
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 11 years ago he entered the world screaming his lungs out.


    The nurse smiled as she mouthed the words 9pounds 4 ounces to my husband.


He didn't have colic

    He was content to sit on my lap as we waited for my daughter's ballet or preschool classes to be done.

He was a happy baby who made others happy just to be around him.

and now he's 11.



It's so great having an eleven year old boy, He still plays with cars and Pokemon figures. Everyday rain or shine he is off with his trusty dog Max having adventures in the back yard.
                          
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Max loves helping to conquer alien invaders

My son's knees are filled with scrapes and black and blues from summer fun.

                            
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When he eats chocolate ice cream he still manages to get it on his cheeks.

My Saturday mornings are filled with the sound of cartoons.
                             
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When he laughs it is contagious. I love that kid with all my heart and then some

My little boy turned 11 today.

God bless you my Angel,

                 Happy Birthday,

                             I Love you forever and ever,
           
                                                    MOM

Scrubbing

Tomorrow is the start of our bathroom re-do

I have been waiting for this ever since we moved to our home ten years ago.

In fact my usual indecisive nature suddenly changed to making decisions on tiles,bathtubs etc. lickety split ( does anyone ever say that anymore?) because for the longest time I knew what I wanted and so here we are the night before the re-do.


Tonight my husband tried to go to the bathroom and he saw this


                           
                         
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                         and this




                             
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"Joanne, why are you scrubbing the bathroom again? Tomorrow they are going to demolish it!" he asked in that what-the-h#ll-are-you-doing way



"Well, I want it to be clean." I answered without turning around


"Why does it matter?"


"I won't have anyone thinking I keep a dirty bathroom."


"These men won't care and tomorrow before you know it the bathroom will just be a pile of dirty rubble"


" Oh no it won't!"


"Yes it will Joanne."


"It will be a pile of clean rubble, and that makes all the difference to me."


Hubster rolls his eyes and walks out.....I think he mumbled something about how  crazy he is about me



                     ...OK, maybe I just heard the word crazy

Artsy Fartsy Friday~~~Jen Stark~ Paper Art

    

 Hi everyone!  



So tell me, has it been a hard week?




Well, come on in and take a minute to relax...massage anyone?....ahhhhhhh                  


                  
                     video uploaded by  letty9 
                          music:"Concerto For Flute And Harp - Andantino" Mozart






Now there...are you relax?


Today's artist is Jen Stark and she actually got her idea for her art when she had no money for art supplies! With the help of the blogging community she  became known for her gorgeous art. There is something so serenly beautiful about her work.

                    


         
                     uploaded by  artstreetmiami 



Hope you enjoyed this weeks art


Have a BEAUTIFUL  Weekend!!!!

                                 Blessings, Joanne

It's freezing here

           It's freezing here 
                                
                                                source
                                            
                                     

Yesterday, (like everyday) as soon as my feet hit the floor I am on.


Breakfast for everyone

             clean and scrub the kitchen

                            shopping for my Mom and throw out her garbage

 try to clean the rest of the house.




                                  The dog is shedding like crazy so that means that I vacuumed about 5 times yesterday alone.


I scrubbed the bathroom



 Our home was host to both kid's friends


 picked up dog poop in back yard


Went shopping again (forgot a few things)



tried to clean the basement~~~got to finish only half.


made dinner~~ spaghetti and meatballs. delish


cleaned up the kitchen ...again


vacuumed one more time, and I wondered if I could maybe shave the dog

   
 source

                                 No, he'd look too weird





yada yada yada a millions things more...




finally...a break...  I promised the kids we'd sit down and watch a movie together. It was the first time I had sat down all day.

As they watched I worked on some knitting ( I'm learning knitting-in-the-round ( I'll show ya what I am making later)




In walks the Hubster from work (and by the way he had just come from hanging out with his buddies after work)  a childhood friend was in town



         He looks and realizes that I didn't get to do the laundry.



Then he said those words that I swear almost merits a pan to the head

                     

        

           "So, what did ya do all day?Knit?"

             

 source

                

Currently he is getting the very very cold shoulder...

 

So that is why my dear friends that this is the only house on the block with frost on the windows...

                                                                        

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                                                       I won't be surprised if it snows!                                      

A Teeny Tiny Itsy Bitsy Garden

Do you like to garden?

   Even though I grew up in the city, my Dad had the greenest thumb around. Our windowsill teemed with herbs and colorful plants.

I, unfortunately did not inherit his talent.

When my husband and I first bought our home I couldn't wait to get my hands dirty and grow a garden of our own.

         I was promptly fired from my position

            You see the way I would tackle the garden was by looking at the colors of the different flowers and planted the colors almost like I would create a painting. NO GO.  I didn't feel the need to find out about zones and light needs or for that matter how tall a certain plant might grow.... My garden was a bit of a crowded flop of tangled blooms.

So, The Hubster took over and darn it all I hate to admit it, but he has done a great job. I help with both the flower and the veggie gardens and they look great, but was I destined to forever be a flower planting flop?

There was a garden that I thought I could not ruin... a small indoor herb garden.  I promptly looked on the Internet for some inspiration and ...




                              I did like this simple design
                         
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                              Some went the organic route
                                
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                                        Some went High Tech
                              
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                                      Others were almost artistic
                                    
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                                              and very creative
                                           
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                                            Awesomely creative
                                    
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So I had an idea....

           I went to the Thrift Store and found three bowls


                I went to my craft closet and made use of some of my crafting treasures and came up with...

                                      THIS!


In came the idea to make it into a teeny fairy place.

Yes I know...I am a bit obsessed with fairies lately.



Since the bowls did not have holes on the bottom; I placed small rocks and beads on the bottom for drainage. I made some peg dolls a while ago and simply glued some wings to them. The rose in the middle is actually a pen and on it I wrote what is planted there. I know jalapeno is a pepper and not an herb, but my cilantro plant lost it's will to live and went to that ~big herb garden in the sky~ and I  replaced it with something I already had

This little fairy lives in a pretty little house covered in flowers. On the lower left is a little frog wearing a crown...Do you think she'll kiss him?

This little house is covered in shiny broken shells that made it look like stones. On it a butterfly is resting. We caught this little fairy working hard in her garden. Between the pots are little rope bridges~for those fairytale characters without wings!

This last one is a bit unfinished. Can you guess what it is?


 Well...Its a fairy vacation spot by the beach!


The basil sort of reminded me of palm trees and the idea took off from there. On top of the potting soil around the plant I poured The "sand" which  is actually different sized  pearl beads. I crumpled and painted aluminum foil so that it would look like the sea and waves hitting the beach.  I am not really happy with the little cabana and beach chair so I think I will change that soon.

I had so much fun making this and I can't wait for my little Two and a half-year-old niece to see it and play with it too!



I hope you enjoyed my little creation. I have to say that making it was an unbelievable stress reliever. I just hope the plants survive!

Have a beautiful Tuesday!!!

Artsy Fartsy Saturday~~~A Fairy House in the Woods

Welcome to Artsy Fartsy Friday Saturday.

Recently we went camping. I expected the usual...Beautiful views, some swimming, S'mores at night, mosquito bites galore and the occasional snake sighting....what I didn't expect was this.....

Can you guess what that is?

 Now it may look like a tree truck surrounded by vines, but not so. Still can't guess?






                       It's a fairy apartment building!




Yep it's true.


       

            This prompted my Daughter and I to make a bit of art....
           

                      

              What to do what to do...



                                We gathered some wildflowers   

                       

We decided to make a fairy house

Here is my daughter building the walls.

 we used some yarn to tie the sticks together

A hollow acorn is a perfect sink and a leaf is the perfect table cloth....

a daisy head makes a soft pillow for a fairy to rest her head

Moss was used for the floor and tiny blooms were placed outside the tiny house in a teeny tiny garden.

We placed it all under a tree near our cabin.

And you know what? I think the fairies were very pleased, because  look what we found on a walk...

A heart!

~Hope you enjoyed our camp art~

Have a magical weekend!!

Blessings, Joanne

God Bless America

                     




           Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July

Camping~~~Part Two~ The Hike

Part Two~The Hike

As soon as we saw the cottage a sense of relief and calm came over us. It's not very big at all. in fact alot of the RVs that had spots nearby were bigger than the cottage. There is only one small bedroom...in it, it houses two sets of bunk beds with a tiny space just wide enough for one person to stand between them. ..But it was home for a week.

A few days later our awesome friends drove down in their camper to spend part of the week with us. A day later we took a beautiful hike...

Here are the three guys..Hubby's Army buddy and dearest friend M,  The Hubster and my son D

The water in this lake was so crystal clear, it made you want to drink it. Clouds kept threatening to pour but they gave us a break

Here I am wearing my Husband's sweat jacket...believe it or not it was COLD that day!

Our Friend picked a few posies for my daughter...honestly isn't this the sweetest picture?

We picked a few more flowers and found we disturbed a ladybug's siesta...

sorry L.B...ssshhh go back to sleep~

And what's camping without the annual sighting of snakes...UGH!

But no fear our awesome friends brought along their attack dog Kibbles

~This picture just made me think of a poem...

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

                                                                       Robert Frost

Hope you enjoyed the pictures...Have a beautiful Tuesday!!!

                                                 Blessings, Joanne