Tale of 2 Bathrooms or How to Lower Property Value

So it is almost a month now that I have been living in a house!  Wow time flies when you spend it moving, painting and destroying.  The tub surround downstairs is gone, the cement board is up, the tile is purchased and almost booked for installation and then we will be on to finishing the drywall, installing new lights, flooring and trim!

In the mean time I painted the hallway upstairs BM White Chocolate and the bathroom upstairs BM Pink Cadillac.  Unfortunately the glory that was my pink bathroom was short lived when it was decided that we should unclog the trap and found the ABS trap had been connected with a chrome pipe (which was completely corroded) to the cast iron drain.  The drain had insufficient slope which lead to the formation of what mostly seemed like a rock formation in the pipe.  This combined with the scary electrical we found lead to the removal of the wall and now my 2 bathroom house is a 1/2 and 1/2 bathroom house!  All because the sink was clogged and we thought we would clean it the "right way".

But hey I'm leaving in a week for Viva...what about that well hopefully somethings will be resolved this weekend and if not I have at least booked a hair appointment for Friday and I did manage to buy a dress so maybe just maybe by Wednesday morning I will have my bag packed and ready to go and maybe there will be one complete bathroom when I get home...

Here are some photos from this month:

note the hallway has no light (ie this paint was not helping)

ochre color taped off white chocolate to come

clean a trap lose a wall (grey pipe bottom of sink)

connector removed

beginning of the end of pink wall and notice lovely black door trim at least that was not for nothing... 

The wall is now gone stay tuned for the updates and I will try to grab some updated photos of the basement as it is progressing as well.  Working on my Viva calendar for now and will try to check back before I leave.

And then it snowed

Well the mercury has dropped to -29C/-20F but I soldiered on and walked to work today.  It is all good except for the fact that I like to wear my glasses to work and there is no practical way to wear glasses and a scarf and not have the glasses turn into a foggy mess but hopefully this won't last for too long.

I am waiting on the girl who has an offer on my condo but things look bleak on that front and I'm starting to lose patience. In the mean time the plumber who changed the sink valves last week needs to come back again and I am wondering if my car is going to start when I need to use it or if I should re-insure it as a block of ice.

I bought my ticket for Viva and it appears after much plotting and discussion with my friend I also have an extra ticket should someone want to buy one.  Flights here were on a big sale here for the last week so my flight is all booked and I booked the hotel way back in May so I'm covered there just for now on my own in the big city which is not the end of the world but frustrating that it is so hard to co-ordinate things with other people.

The sun is shining despite the temperature so that is the plus and my vacation to California is coming up and I found this cool site that has vintage shopping maps for places around CA so I'm pretty excited to put them to the test and see what I find.  http://www.shoppersmap.com/  The new house could use some retro-fittings so I will be bringing a suitcase with a lot of empty space to fill :) and hopefully getting some great deals to share.

When I get back it will be crack down on my diet time and get packing for the new place.  Hopefully the condo really will sell this week but if it doesn't I guess there's nothing I can do except keep busy and try not to think about it.  The change in the mortgage rate (drop 0.5%) has been a bonus so I guess it will all even out eventually.

I'm working on an embroidery for the new house 10 points if you recognize where this border comes from!  Until next time stay warm.

In the mail today...

So about 2 or 3 weeks ago while the postal strike was still here I saw amazon was having a DVD sale and decided to browse my options and this was one of the results. $8.50 for 12 classic movies that come in this gorgeous tin.  I can't wait to get home and make some popcorn!  The sets in tins are made by a company called popflix and I'm anxious to see how these are for quality as they had quite a number of sets available!  Including this one in an equally awesome tin.

 In other news I have been doing some embroidery again.  I had to take a break from it as it was  messing with my left arm but so far so good.  It is definitely my favorite hobby and my imagination runs wild when it comes to projects I would like to make.

I also wanted to mention my thoughts on the gel polish I tried out for Viva.  I will say this it lasted and looked good through out my vacation but by the time we were flying home it was driving me crazy and I just wanted to have regular nails again.  It helped my nails get longer but taking the polish off really made them weak so it wasn't really worth it.  There was no long term damage though and a little buffing with the Revlon Crazy Shine and lots of TLC with my OPI cuticle oil pen I made peace with the whole adventure.  I would do it again but only for something where you need multiple days of good looking nail polish and won't have any down time (ie Viva).  Next on my list to try though are those nail stickers.

Flashback

I have wanted to post but things have been a little out of whack with me since I got home from Viva.  We flew back on Tuesday and after arriving home I set about connecting with my best friend who I had been texting all through my adventures in LV.  We have been friends since we were in our teens and his mom was told she was terminal right before I left.  They had given a timeline but it turned out to be wrong and the day I came back she passed away.

It is hard to explain but it really knocked the wind out of me.  She was an adult that I spent a lot of time when I was transitioning into the real world.  We both got jobs at grocery stores in the same year and while I was best friends with her kids it never seemed to wrong that she was my friend too.  A fun loving, bright personality that seemed unlikely to ever diminish.  So that's where I've been - went with another friend on the 13 hour drive to her funeral on the coast a week after Viva.  Then came back and had to say good-bye my best local gal pal as her husband got restationed to Ontario.  I have not been myself but things are getting back to normal and I intend on capturing my Viva travelogue soon.

In other news I was thinking about CDs today after reading the Rockabilly Socialite's post and it made me smile and wonder to think back on when my tastes were more easy to find and that lead me directly to Columbia Records & Tapes 13 for 1 cent plus bonus plus this and that and 7 purchases of $20 for a crappy tape later you might be done with your membership but don't forget to mail in that card every month!  I must now admit that I was a member into the early 90s and it is actually where I got my first Social D tape -yes it was a tape.  As things progressed though they had less and less to offer me and so after replacing my favorite tapes with CDs I eventually forgot all about them.

I bought an Ipod photo in 2005 and this lead me to finally putting my music on the computer but I've never been much for buying music online as it just seems annoying and pointless.  I now have a Ipod nano which I bought last year (the one with the video camera & radio but no touch screen 'cause my fingers are dead) but I still proudly buy CDs and display them proudly in my shelves beside my stereo that has a CD player still.

Columbia probably still exists and quite frankly I don't think I ever would have been able to afford my music collection start up costs without them but thinking about explaining what it was (and how the ads were in every magazine you picked up to my 13 year old niece) made stop and consider how things have changed and yeah I guess I'm old but hey I never had any 8-tracks so take it easy on me okay ;)

Update and Long Stay Hotel Room Essentials

Things have been super busy cause this week is year end at work but I think I've got some of my wardrobe for Viva in place and I'm expecting some new bangles and a dress to show up before I leave.  I just renewed my passport and it will be here shortly as well.

I haven't been doing a lot in terms of exercising -just my pilates 2 times a week but I think I've got my schedule cleared up and can actually get some more gym time in now.  I have lost about 3 lbs so that is good news (not like those watery first week of the diet lbs real several weeks in 3 lbs).  This weekend my big goal is to get some sewing time in. 

My suitcase for Viva is big the biggest I ever take anywhere because I like to leave room for what I will home and I know I will not be moving it once it is parked in the hotel room for over 5 nights. In the olden days you had the option of just adding a bag on your flight home but now that costs $$ so I had to switch to a lameo giant suitcase for travelling.  Normally I try to take next to nothing when travelling but being in a hotel room with one sink (located in the together with the tub and toilet), two people and what essentially what amounts to getting ready for prom every night has lead me to bring some extras that you just don't take on normal adventures.

I picked up some portable speakers that I absolutely love on Amazon and updated my Ipod and I bought my secret weapon which I will reveal now for all interested....a small collapsible cooler that will fit in my suitcase and keep our sink free from ice.  Last year we stayed at the Rio for the first 3 days specifically because there are no mini-fridges at the Orleans this year I really wanted to be at the site for the whole thing so this was my compromise.  This particular type of collapsible cooler will fit a 1 litre container of milk standing up but not hog the ice -so you know other people can still get ice on your floor.  The other good new is that it has a special insert for the bottom and if you don't leave it open it should keep ice for over 24hrs in normal daytime conditions.  It doesn't leak and is no bigger than a hoodie when collapsed. 

Other considerations on this list as space permits are my makeup mirror (I'm wear glasses and like to be close to the mirror) it has lights because the desk/table with the extra mirror is a little shy in that depaprtment and my electric kettle because the coffee maker make one cup of hot water at a time that tastes like coffee which is not what you want when you are making oatmeal, tea or hot chocolate (okay you could get a way with it for hot chocolate but I like to be homey and I like to have breakfast in my room). 

I always travel with my travel mug (leads to less spilling) and my swiss army knife for knife, scissor and corkscrew needs but I think I will include a spoon it doesn't take up much space and I like to have yogurt with my oatmeal!

Don't get me wrong I like to eat out as much as the next person but when I'm away for more than 3 days I like to have some really boring healthy stuff and fruit available so I don't get feeling all yucky and preserved in salt by the end of my holiday.  So, my MO is to hit the grocery store when I arrive and pick-up some chocolate, & perishables (fruit, veggies, milk, yogurt, cheese, & juice), I always pack tea, and lately Starbucks VIA, fake sugar packets, oatmeal packets and granola bars in my suitcase.  I put the granola bar in my purse because low blood sugar = grouchy and it is better to eat a yucky granola bar than yell at someone better yet it is easier to make a grouchy low blood sugar friend eat something if you have it with you.  This over the years has saved me some money but most of all it has kept me feeling good and able to enjoy my holidays.

good things

I think it is important to keep track of anything good that has happened. Yesterday, on my way home I ran into a Cosmetics and Jewellery Gala at the Bay. $10 bought you 2 mini glasses of wine, cheese & crackers, desserts and $8 off a purchase plus $10 worth of HBC points. Too cool I was entered in a draw as well and won plus there was a goodie bag and the stuff I ended up buying was on promotion!

While I was soaking up the gala wishing I was better dressed for the fun my best friend who has been MIA for 2 months called and we got together after I got home. It never rains it pours but when it pours good things I need to savour so it can carry me through the next round of not so awesome things.

Spent my extra food allowance so hopefully the weekend is quiet and full of salad ;)