Wordless Wednesday - My quilting assistants

"Action Shots" of My Cats on the Couch

In response to Melanie's posting of action shots of her dog on the beach, I give you "action shots" of my cats on the couch! Okay, not quite as nice as Melanie's pictures of Montana, but it is all I've got.

I would love to join Doofus and Nut Job, because it is rather cold here today and it would be a good day to just sit on the couch under a cat all day, but no can do. We're going to a wedding tonight, so I've got to get clothes ready and pack up The Girl and get her to Grandma's for a sleepover.

This is the first wedding that we're going to that we're friends of the PARENTS. How old am I that my friends' kids are going to start getting married?

My bathroom is getting me back

We've lived in our house for seven years, and I have always hated our upstairs bathroom. I haven't even tried to disguise my hatred from the bathroom and it is now paying me back . . .

When we moved in, the tub was disgusting. In an effort to "pretty it up," the previous owner* had attempted a DIY refinishing, which peeled off in big chunks. The Girl was just about 3 at the time, so disgusting peely tub was a big bad. Because we had just bought the house and money was a bit tight (to say the least!), we went the path of least resistance and got a tub liner put in. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't anywhere near what it would cost for full renovation. We figured we'd wait a couple of years and then do the bathroom over.

Fast forward seven years to me scrubbing the tub and realizing that there is water, lots of water, between the tub liner and the old tub. Hmmmm, that can't be good. Call the tub liner people. Our warranty has (not surprisingly) expired, but they can come out and take a look and drain the water for $130. Okay, they come, they drain, they say, "it could be this" or "it could be that" and "we recaulked so you should be okay for a while." I'm happy with my ugly bathroom again. Until I realize a couple of days later that the water is back. And that the water is leaking through the floor to the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom. ACK!

I issue a cease and desist order to The Girl and The Mailman relative to use of the upstairs shower. Thankfully, we have another shower, so we begin the slow deliberation process - do we attempt a fix or do we just rip out the old bathroom and start fresh. I vote for total re-do. The Mailman votes for fix attempt. I tell Mailman that fix attempt will involve removal of tub tiles and walls (a good number of tiles are cracked and may be our issue) and that any "fix" may end up being an issue with the tile floor, the other walls, etc. We're doing a total re-do. We call a couple of guys and a friend of a friend that is a plumber

So, starting tomorrow, the Sunshine household will be in more than its usual amount of disarray. Now I've got to get rid of seven years of accumulated bathroom crap from the shelves and under the sink. *sigh*

On a side note, Doofus cat is quite happy. He has a deep love of boxes and cardboard. Right now, there is a large box in the living room with our new vanity in it. He is king of the mountain!Did I mention that he's a Tub of Goo? Yeah, I think I did.


* The previous owner bought our house at foreclosure, never lived in it and "re-did" a lot of it himself. He was NOT a craftsman, but on the surface, things looked fine. A lot of what he'd done very badly we have had to fix. He also caused us to have the closing from HELL. Two days, me crying in the lawyers office (without tissues, because who brings tissues to a real estate closing?), all of my worldly possessions on a truck with nowhere to go, our other house already sold and people living in it . . . He is not popular around here.

RTT - Because of the Moon

We have two cats, Doofus and Nut Job (names have been changed to protect their anonymity, except that we actually call them these name, too). Doofus is almost seven and is, well, fat and a doofus. His other nickname is Tub of Goo. Nut Job is one and a half and is, well, crazy. The full moon this weekend? Yeah, he was running around like the Nut Job that he is all night. To anyone that says the full moon doesn't affect animal behaviour, I extend an invitation to take Nut Job for a couple of nights some full moon.

Not sure what I was thinking, but Doofus is mostly white and Nut Job is all black. Now every piece of clothing that I have, no matter what the color, is obviously covered in cat fur. Before Nut Job, I could at least get away with the whites.


Moving On to Moving On
I went to a "Moving On" meeting at The Girl's school last night. Yes, they finally scheduled something that the working moms could attend! They were talking fundraisers, and someone finally said, "Why don't we figure out what the cost would be and consider just asking the parents for the donation instead of all of the fundraisers?" Alleluia! If this means that I don't need to sell/buy any more overpriced wrapping paper or candles, I am all for it! Of course, because none of the students will be excluded from the "Moving On" events, there will, as always, be those who chose not to make the donations and whose slack will need to be picked up by the rest of us . . . I'm not talking about those who CAN'T make the donations, I'm talking about those who WON'T make the donations. (I'm sure some of those who CAN'T will often scrape together the money somehow.) Totally irks me.

For some good randomness, go see Keeley: