Bathroom Update

Brandon didn't get finished before his trip to Seattle, so we're left with some work still to get it "done" It's 95% complete, though, and a huge improvement over what we had 3 months ago. Now comes the fun part of cleaning up the mess left behind and finishing the job. I think the tile looks very nice.

Right now I've got a khaki "suede" shower curtain up. I hope to find something better someday. The brown towels match better than the picture makes it seem they do. Honest.

These are the people in your neighborhood

Apparently I'm not supposed to write anything unless it's 'insightful' or 'enlightening' on a blog. Sadly, when you're in the middle of trying to tie up numerous house projects before a big vacation and clean up the house so you have a place for everything, there's not a lot of room for deep conversation on the blog. My postings here have slowed down not because there's nothing going on, but because I've been too busy. Right now, apart from my daytime job, we're ass over teakettle busy with selling said stuff on Ebay, finishing the pond and landscaping, getting our back bathroom done, and fighting the lineoleum installers to come to a solution over our damaged floor.

Because I'm so busy, I've decided not to write or respond to the neighborhood blog for now. Frankly, a lot of the people who hang out there are jackasses and I don't need the distraction of neighborhood drama and anonymous cowards. I appreciate the chance to blog there, but I don't have much to add. Or, more truthfully, there's little I feel comfortable writing over there given the hostile nature of the readership. If you're reading this and you are one of those anonymous posters, then I can only encourage you to grow a set of balls. Setting up a Blogger account takes 2 minutes. I think it's a shame that a blog/board that should be a place for the neighborhood to come together instead turns into a bunch of spineless whiners kvetching about any and every change that comes to Seminole Heights. I admire those who still jump into the fray to try and get information out there, but right now it's just too much signal-to-noise ratio for this girl.

We leave for Israel in 4 weeks. Eye on the prize.

One reason life in Florida is grand

It's December 2nd and I just cut the most beautiful roses out of my garden, where I've been working all morning. Believe it or not, it's actually a bit warm (and extremely humid) to be out there. The roses in the picture are my Tiffany rose and my Irish Gold rose.

I'm moving the daylillies to the side garden so I can move the roses (several of them) to the front. The daylillies only bloom 1x per year so having them take up so much real estate in the front of the house seems silly. The side yard is where I bed in annuals, so that seems a good place for them. Plus, the roses that are not in the full sun of the side yard seem to be doing better. Go figure.

We've still got a few roses in ICU. All of them fancy hybrid teas from Jackson & Perkins. The more durable ones I got from them are doing fine as are the Home Depot roses (in the picture) and the Knockout rose I bought. The lesson I learned here is that fruffy Hybrid Teas require more care than I can give them. I've got 2 of the patients on the mend, though.

FOR SALE: Vintage Seat fit for a (small) king

We're selling this Kilgore vintage toilet for $25. Local pickup only. It came out of our guest bath and is at least 30 years old. It's clean. It works. It's small. We believe this toilet and the associated sink (sadly damaged in removal)may have been reclaimed from an Airstream trailer or something similar.

The dimensions are 17" wide by 21"long (approx). It could use a new toilet seat which would need to be custom ordered online. There is one here that would work (the middle one). The only issue is that it is 7/8" too long, so it'd hang over a tiny bit.

We have no place for this toilet in our tiny house, but I'd love to see it go to a good home rather than the dump. Please note that the photo shows some yard debris on the toilet from sitting out a few days. Email me for more information or to pick it up.

Virtual Garage Sale: week 2

This week I've got window coverings up for sale. All the window coverings are in very good condition with no tears or stains except as noted. They have all been cleaned. The majority of them came with my home. They look wonderful in a bungalow but I'm not much of a lace person. Pickup is at my house in Seminole Heights.

$10
Pair of lace curtains (A) with scalloped bottoms. Pointelle pattern on trim. Off-white. Each panel is 56" x 63"

$30
Pair of embroidered curtains with scarf. Sage green georgette with light and dark pink beading and embroidery. Beautiful set of like-new curtains that I no longer have a window to decorate with. 2 tab-top panels measuring 55" x 84" and scarf measuring 39" x 218".

$20
3 pair of JC Penney's lace curtains (B). Heavy starched lace. Each panel is 61" x 38" and you get 6 panels. Meant for a kitchen window with a valance or on a shorter window. Off-white.

$10
3 lace valances off-white. 1 shorter valance has a very light rust discoloration. It may be possible to remove it. These are very old school lace and could be antique. 1 long valance 70" x 20" and 2 short valances 34" x 20"

$10
Pair of lace curtains (C). Cream color. Intricate border on vertical edges. Each panel is 71" x 84".

Silent Paint Remover

My lightly used one is up on Ebay. I'll waive shipping for local pick-ups.

IKEA stuff and Flooring Update

We were on vacation shortly 3 days after the flooring people left. We returned to find that tears had appeared in our brand-new linoleum whilst we were away. I discovered these as I was laying down the polish/sealer to give it some shine. There are numerous tears around the edges of the rooms and at least 2 in the middle of the floor in the backroom. We're negotiating right now with the installers to find a solution. They're telling us these tears are 'acceptable' but Armstrong is assuring us that a brand new floor if properly installed should not be ripping. Mind you, we've had no furniture or traffic on the floors since we were on vacation and hadn't had time to move the furniture back. At a minimum we're looking at having to repair our brand new floor. At a maximum, we may have to replace it.

Joy

We've been in the market for a new fridge for some time now. The challenge is in finding one that fits in our narrow space. Currently, we have an older Kenmore that is about 29.5" wide and sits in a corner overhanging some of the doorframe to the laundry area. It fits - barely. Naturally, I'd love one of the retro models from Elmira, but I don't have $3,000 laying around and they're actually a smidge wider than our current model. How fortuitous then that IKEA is now designing for Whirlpool. Generally I am not a fan of IKEA merchandise. It's usually heavy on design and light on durability. But these appliances are designed for smaller spaces and that's something lots of us with older homes face. I wonder if the fridge requires an allen wrench.