Everyday Stupidities

Hello, readership! Indeed I only posted once last week, with an update appended, because I knew I'd have more to say today. It's easier if I itemize what's been accomplished to date, which I'll do momentarily. Saturday was spent in Packwood, Washington at their annual communitywide rummage sale. Every year we say "this is getting bigger by the year" but most of the time it's true, and this year was definitely the largest turnout of vendors seen to date. It was between 94°F and 102°F outside, depending upon who you asked, and we bought probably half a gallon of water at various vendors, 12 ounces at a time, during the course of the day. I saw the videotape at left early in the day and thought of various bloggers (none of which are redheads, some of which play guitar). I took a bunch of digital photos of odd items and odd people, bought a stack of paper photos and a Brownie negative from three dealers [Ariel, are you out there?], and had dinner at the Huff & Puff Drive-In near Randle, and that place is a delicious anachronism. Sunday was spent doing yardwork, bathroom work, or nothing at all, and here are a couple photos -- I should have taken more but I was actually working and not everything is visual; an action photo of me spraying sealant on the floor at 2am would have been only slightly impressive. Know what that stuff smells like? The spray you get at the shoe store when you buy suades.

The cove tiles are being mounted and properly spaced. The gaps below are so that grout can be stuffed under them as well as between them.

The wall is painted, the vanity top is in place, the faucet has been installed and plumbing reconnected. Out of frame, the light has been remounted and fixtures reattached but the medicine cabinet has not been installed -- and we haven't put the sidesplash on yet.
Seems that that sidesplash we bought at Lowe's ($2, a customer order which hadn't been picked up) is the right color and fits perfectly but was meant for the right side of the vanity, and we need one for the left side. Nothing on that box made it clear which side it was for; we presumed it was square at both ends or something. We also figured out a few other complications with the vanity top, such as the makers intended the cabinet to be 1" away from the back wall (what?!) and not be touching side walls, which is not the way we intended to use it.

So here's the status of things:
• Walls -- painted in the lightest shade, and it looks good.
• Floor tiles -- done and sealed!
• Fan cover -- the first thing put back in place, as it was the easiest. :)
• Toilet -- can be installed tomorrow.
• Light -- functional.
• Medicine cabinet -- coming next.
• Closet -- not painted yet, it'll happen possibly today, and see next item...
• Cove tiles -- mounted around the perimeter of the room but not in the closet yet because it hasn't been painted; grouting and caulking will happen in due time.
• Vanity top -- installed and caulked but not complete, see next item...
• Sidesplash -- wrong side! gotta get a new one of them, hoo hoo!
• Towel racks, TP holder, switchplates -- all there.
• Trim strips -- we still haven't bought new ones yet, but the cove tiles have been cut to handle trim the same size as what had been there, and I do own a mitre box.
• Vent cover -- have not either procured a new one or stripped the paint off the old one; the size is a standard 6" high with the hole 1" off the floor, but whomever put together the ducting used a 7¼" high vent cover and left the space below the vent hole open(!), so either we cover that gap or find a way to fill it.
• Bath -- The original idea was to not do anything to the tub and shower enclosure, but we are now interested in slight modifications of other elements: changing the showerhead to a rain type and replacing the (somewhat new) handles with another style, if such an option is available. Also, in removing this mildew-covered bracket-ish thing that was bias-taped to the wall (I always assumed someone had put up a Stick-Up deodorizer in the shower...?!), we discovered why it was there -- two holes had been drilled in the plastic wall, and this was covering it. Crackheads!! Must caulk those, and I'm sure Paige will use this development as justification to rip out and remodel the bath/shower portion of the bathroom in the future. Unlike the other bathroom, the shower's flange is just fine, and I replaced all the valves within the last five years out of necessity.
• Shower rod -- haven't trimmed it or put up the mounting brackets yet. We've had the new shower curtain and hooks plus a new bathmat ready for a month.
• Etcetera -- I'd like to put some sort of tile protector down (the books mention there are products available for this but gloss over it -- heh, get it, gloss over? -- because most ceramic tile is resistant. Ours appears to show dirt because it's light and the faces are fairly matte so I think it'd be a good idea for the sake of preservation and maintenance. I'm sure when Paige sees how often the floor needs scrubbing just from walking on it in shoes she will embrace the idea.

I'm still having a good time even if my skeleton is out of alignment.

11:58pm update: I have a place to go!