Winding up the Week

This has been an interesting week, with little bits of this 'n that to keep it moving from one day to the next, including the reno of my bathroom shower, the site of the infamous fall last December.

Construction is tricky: no matter how detailed the plans, how thorough the process, the amount of materials purchased and on-site, the project always takes twice as long and goes over-budget! This project is no different. What I want is a basic tiled shower with two improvements: one, raise the shower head, which has always hit me right between the eyes, and two, move the shower head to the inside wall, on the same side of the bathroom as the toilet. By relocating the shower head, I can access the shower from the limited floorspace not occupied by the toilet and may (and I emphasize may) avoid a future fall. And, I wanted tile, not a prefab plastic surround.

Not fancy, just functional. My guys bought all the materials -- except not enough pvc pipe fixtures to relocate the condensation drain from the air conditioning unit on the other side of the bathroom wall. This piece of pvc pipe flopped loose behind the previous prefab surround, but had to be dealt with before any other step could be undertaken in the new tile shower. Next, we discussed the bench (I guess every shower needs a bench), and had to decide on both size and placement. I didn't like the look of a square box under the water handle, which would remain on the outside wall, and, in my opinion, provide me with an obstacle course. After discussing alternatives, I agreed to a smaller bench angled across the corner of the shower stall on the outside wall. Of course, there wasn't enough wood to reconfigure the bench, but, fortunately, I had bits and pieces from other jobs in the past couple of years, so he was able to cobble the new bench together.

Then, the little "box" inside the shower, the one that holds shower essentials, needed to be planned and framed in. Once that was completed, I realized that one small box was not adequate, so we added another box -- except the guys had not provided the contractor with adequate wood. This time, we took apart a wooden delivery pallet and reused the 4x4 frame. Then, we had to insulate the outside wall, except there was no insulation in the pile of material in the garage. Then, we needed to change the plan to put a 12x12" tile inside the little shower boxes because ... the guys bought 13x13" tiles, not the 12x12" tiles they told Rob they bought, and that was a different problem to work through (I simply went back to the big box store and bought 2 more sheets of the 2" tiles that will become the floor: problem solved, and no extra time spent cutting and fitting 13" tiles!!).

The biggest issue was the 13" tiles because the tile man spent a long time marking off the tile placement without checking the size of the tile first. Then, one of my guys called to tell him to include the band of glass tiles (in a separate box under the other two kinds of tiles) -- and that threw off all the new markings for the 13" tiles. The tile guy was far beyond frustrated, but he's a pro, so he sucked it up and stuck it out. At 7 pm last evening, knowing that he was driving back in a pouring rain storm, he finally called it quits for the day without quite reaching his goal.

The dogs complicate strangers in the house as Daisy runs like hell the instant she sees an opening. We spend too much time playing "Where's Daisy?" as the workers come in and out of the garage, but the rule is: you let her out, you go find her and bring her back home. Sure, the dogs can be outside when it's not raining, but it's been raining. I know Daisy was cold yesterday, especially after she came into bed with me and burrowed all the way under all the blankets, then curled up right next to my back to keep warm. I don't think she moved last night and was still huddled up next to me when I woke at 5 am.

Yesterday, I also had to contend with asthma issues, probably triggered by the "hot mop" guy who doesn't hot mop to water-seal the shower before framing and tiling. He used a propane torch to heat the tar paper and mold it in place, which generated a noxious odor. I kept all of the doors closed and the windows open, so thought it would not be an issue, but when I reopened the house yesterday for the next stage of the construction, there must have been more fumes than I could smell. By noon, I was done in, no energy, unable to breathe, relying on my inhaler to function. I tried to spend time outside, but it was so cold and windy that the fresh air didn't help my breathing issues. I canceled my class, which I seldom do, because it was not going to happen yesterday, and trundled off to bed as soon as Rob left.

Today, the tile guy says he will finish, one way or another, as he has another job tomorrow. This afternoon, I'm going to stay with my friend who had lung surgery for his cancer last week, while his wife goes to work, so will leave Rob to his business. My friend will probably sleep -- and I just may join him!

The good news is that I've made remarkable progress on one of my "using up yarn bits 'n pieces" afghans. This one is circles of various colors bordered with solid black in a granny square design, then made into 4x4 tiles sewn into strips that are sewn together to form the blanket. Once I have this middle part completed, I'll add another wide border around the outside and be done. Then on to the next using up yarn project already in progress: the knit squares made of half varigated and half solid colors. I'm stumped on how this is going to go together and look okay, but I'll get back to it after I finish the granny squares afghan.

It's been a long week, but each day has had interesting bits to it, so I simply keep on keeping on.