Bathroom Reveal and No Food in Sight

It has been a crazy week here, not much cooking going on, although I have to take pics of Seth's signature dish "Orange Pasta".

It's not orange, it's paprika red, and so delicious and an old family favorite, but Seth (father of Logan, MacKenzie and Morgan) has polished his "Chicken Paprika" skills to perfection. So of course we let him make it...

Which means I got to help unload big bags of chicken feed, but that's another story.

Back to food. Or lack thereof.

We've had the downstairs all awry with the bathroom. And the snow:

Do you love my tulips? :)

And the short spikes are my big irises.....

When the weather warms this big pig pot is filled with bright, friendly begonias....

Or snow. Either way!

My goal is that by next week I can move the last of the firewood off the porch, bring the rockers out of storage, hang the swing and THINK SPRING!!! :)

This is always a changeable month here... March and April can run the gamut, so we're used to it. It's just that by now, hope springs eternal!!! HOPE RISES.... a little faster than the temperatures!

This was a setting full moon on Holy Saturday.... It was so pretty! Peeking through the trees as the sun was rising on the other side of the house. 

I had three 8 oz. bags of my favorite milk chocolate foil-wrapped eggs from a local candy shop... 

Gone.

URCHINS! 

While I was cleaning the attic and Grandpa was watching kids, he fed them my chocolate eggs to make them happy.

They were very happy.

I am less so.

But I did hide my box of chocolates far, far away so that I get my one piece per day... my reward for not doing bodily harm to any creature, great or small.

And having said that, if you've never read James Herriot/s books, you should. If you love animals, you should read those books. If you love sweet romance, you should read those books... Absolutely delightful, and you know I'll never steer you wrong.

I'm using that screen shot instead of nipping a cover off of Amazon... I have all the books in my office, but it's a little askew right now, possibly making a picture of my own copy of Jim's books IMPOSSIBLE to take. 

I've spent the first part of the week in New York City, seeing my sons there, so Starbucks has become my home away from home... and quiet writing in the hotel room.... and visits to Ground Zero/Freedom Tower.

You know the former mayor of NYC urged people to stop using the term "Ground Zero" for the site of the 2001 terror attacks, but I'm going to bet that those of us who live in New York and New Jersey and Connecticut... the people who go in and out of that city... the people who lost family members, who watched those towers fall...

That moniker sticks.

Not because we can't move on but because we don't want to forget... because when you put history into convenient little compartments, you endanger yourself to becoming jaded to it.

That meant no cooking for Ruthy this week... but bathroom painting, yes! And the pics!!!

A Country Sampler

Have I mentioned how much I love living in the country?

After living my entire life in either small towns or suburbs, our move to the country has been a nice change. One I'm not apt to grow weary of anytime soon. 

I love our evening walks that sometime take us into the woods, through the pasture...

And around the tank.

Especially when there's a beautiful sunset.

This week was much quieter than the week leading up to Easter. And while I'm still in love with nature, it's mostly the flowers I've been watching this week.
The amaryllis are in full bloom.

As are the roses, snapdragons and other annuals.

And as we drove through the countryside over the weekend, we were able to catch the tail end of the bluebonnets. 

Oh, and would you look at the smile blooming on this little munchkin's face.

I dare you not to smile.

So, if you'll recall, we spent most of the last year renovating my in-laws' house. And while we've been living in the house since mid-December, there was still one room that wasn't complete. But as of Friday, the powder bath now has sink/vanity.

You see, we'd picked out a vanity that we loved. But when it was delivered, it was damaged. (You can't relate, can you Ruthy?) So we reordered and the second one was damaged even worse than the first. Then we had to make a decision. Take a chance on ordering again or come up with another option. 

After seeing something a friend posted on Facebook, we came up with another option. One that began with finding a really cool slab of spalted maple. And finally, after almost four months...

It's nothing at all like the one we'd originally ordered, but I love it none the less. For starters, I got the vessel sink I'd always wanted yet the other vanity didn't have. Beyond that, though, this vanity has character. It's got imperfections. And instead of trying to hide the rough edges, we decided the highlight them. 

Honestly, it turned out better than I expected and I couldn't be more pleased.

So that's my uneventful week in nutshell. What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Three-time Carol Award nominee, Mindy Obenhaus, lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children and two dogs. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com

 

Tales of the Battle Weary Bathroom and Other Stories

Picture this.

164 year old house. 1/2 bath on first floor, in the kitchen. Literally 1/4 of the kitchen is this little 6.5 x 6.5 powder room.

Now that's okay, especially if the house is short on space... but this house isn't short on space and about 12 ft. and around the corner away is a 6.5 X 9.5 foot storage room.

HUH????

So my dream, 30 years ago, was to turn the store room into a bathroom.... and add 36 square ft. + to my kitchen.

Happy, casual author on phone... :) This must be a few years old because I had to replace the appliances three years ago!!! 

Well add in lost jobs, college, six kids, weddings, more college, hairnet and nametag jobs galore and all the stuff that goes on with raising six kids on a shoestring budget....

I was going to say "fast forward 30 years" but there's nothing fast about it!!!

We are adding the bathroom... a full bath in that 6' x 9' plus-a-little space.

We tore down walls. And by we, I mean someone else. Like my son-in-law Jon....

Like husband Dave....

And when the floor had to be torn up, it was son Seth...

A real family project! :)



But the install was all hired... I hired wonderful electricians.... wonderful plumbers...  Check out those old wooden beams that frame this old place... and the old 2X4's which aren't really 2X4's... but it works!

and a great wood-man/finisher.... The roughed in plumbing got done... the electric got done, with a new panel box in the basement! Fewer circuit breakers tripped!

This is what construction looked like in 1854. The solid beam marking the house corner braces 12" beams that mark the first floor ceiling and the second floor above.... There's the box for the thermostat for the heated floor. A heated floor up north is a new luxury that just made sense.

Such beautiful construction... and we (meaning I) decided to leave part of that corner beam visible so folks can see it...

This new wall was added around 1950... Look how perfect that wood looks for almost 70 years old??? The electric will be switches for fan, mirror light, overhead light and outlets. We were ready to get started! YIPPEE!!!

And then the tub came in damaged....

I had to send it back.

Only there were no more in stock and while they thought more would come in... they didn't.

So I switched to another tub.

Waited anxiously because now the finish renovator is ready to work.

It comes in!

We happy dance!

We cheer! We yell! We whoop it up!

Nice plumber returns and installs tub.... Shows me that it works and that it's happy and that it's level, a nice whirlpool tub that will be great for Farmer Dave at the end of a busy day in the fields.

Tub cracks.

WHAT????

Spider crack appears in top and spreads...

Tub must be removed.

Home Depot will come and pick up tub.  Will send another tub.

Nice contractor loses a week of work time.

Ruthy sighs... not because of the tub, the tub can be replaced, but all this lost time is lost money for a small business owner and Ruthy understands that small business owners NEED ALL THE LOVE THEY CAN GET.

No one has a replacement tub to fit in stock.

Home Depot doesn't have a fiberglass repair guy....

New tub is supposed to come in by next week....

And that's my story.

And I'm sticking to it.

Because the tub is big, it needs to go in before the tiling and wainscoting can be done.

Project on hold.

Pass the beer nuts.

;)

Reporting to you from the site of the second damaged bathtub, this is Ace Reporter Ruthy the Meisterburger. Returning you now to your regularly scheduled programming!

(note to all... this is because I thought I was soooo organized, but now I know that no matter how organized you are, stuff happens.

IT REALLY HAPPENS!!!!

And the world won't end, but our sweet buddy Peter is now twiddling his thumbs because our messed up time frame messed up his time frame.  Except I have him building me a window seat for my office... Trying to keep the poor man busy because his next job is about 90 minutes south and there's no jumping back-and-forth from there to here!

Next week is Holy Week. We should have kittens. We should not have as much snow.

We'll see if that prognostication holds true!

In the meantime it's been ridiculously cold here (12 degrees at 3:45 this morning)... but with bright, sunny days which should mean a great maple syrup run, and there's nothing like real maple syrup from the Northeast woodlands!