Day Six - - Floors Down

Another day dawns bright and early. Stumble out of bed to move the Jeep so that Doug can park there and use the garage. Just a side note? It's FREEZING outside!


Doug arrives right at 7:30 A.M. and gets to work.





I get to spend the day delivering the dog to the vet to have his back end, umm, well emptied. Don't ask. Then I hauled my cookies all the way over to the Mall to shop for an AC adaptor for a new IPOD dock. All that work and it doesn't even work.














Had to be home before noon so that the roof guy, Justin, could come and do his inspection. To give you an idea at how shoddy our roofers originally built our home, here is one picture Justin took today. EGAD!

By 5:30 P.M. Doug finishes up with the rest of the wall and tub surround. And he got started on the slate flooring by putting down this gray crack suppressor. Yay! Hopefully these tiles won't crack and form a line across the room.

Here are the three built in shelves for the shower stall.

What do you think so far?

Day Five - - Walls Up

It was a tough three days to get through. I got so excited watching all of the changes develop last week. Waiting those three days with nothing happening was rough on the anticipation scale.

Well, was I in for a surprise today. Doug returned bright and early (7:30 A.M.). So on a day off I can't even sleep in. Little price for such a great job. He worked all day to get the shower stall walls up. Poor guy had to pick through the pebble sheets to find ones that didn't have big have stones on it.

He got that all up by around 2 and then started in on the RainForest Green marble tile. This is going to run up along the walls around the entire room. He was cutting and hanging that until 5:30. Amazing how much he can get done in such a short time. The one time I did a tile floor it was an agonizing three days for just a straightforward rectangular room.

I digress. Doug will be back tomorrow to do the rest of the rainforest. Then maybe start on the slate??

Master Bath - - Day Four

Cabinets have arrived. We saw this funky design in a showroom and really liked its creative twist on the doors and shelving. So we asked the fine folk at Home Depot if they could possibly create something similar? The answer..."Yes, of course. What kind of wood would you like?" I love Home Depot.


The doors are in a jigsaw cut design so that they are the old boring straight cut doors. There are two shelves inside that roll out on sliders. The top one is so cool because it has an insert cut out of it to make way for the piping underneath the sink. Clever use of space, I say.


I am so enamored with the oak hardwood finish of these that I would glady marry both of these vanities.


Want to see my loves? Since you asked, Okay:

We're also starting to see the pebble trims coming. There will be a two inch strip across the room of this pebble.

Remember the TileGuy, Doug? Well, he attempted to put up the first sheet of river rock for the shower walls. Too bad the tile mud couldn't hold up the weight. It slid right down the wall. Lovely. He has to come back with something stronger on Monday.

Master Bath - - Day Three

Huge difference coming home today! Insulation replace, walls were up, some sort of plastic sheeting to prevent leakage, and then black sealant. Ooh, big diff??

The shower floor is in!! Never mind the extra foot of space added on the front and back areas from the original. Can you see the polished river rock? Can you see the texture of each individual stone adding to the overall earthy effect? Can you imagine the sensation of soft smoothly rounded rocks gently massaging the undersoles? Yeah? Yeah. I know. I can't wait, either!

Also, more materials were delivered today. We have special ordered two vessel bowls for our vanities.

We chose this style because of its natural material exterior. The green granite inner material goes great with the rainforest marble.

This is one of the vessels.

and here's the second one. Sigh. I can hear your brain from here. I totally agree with you. It looks like a bedpan, right? Alas, we can only return the vessel if it is defective. Please find something defective with this one, or I am going to be washing my face in a urinal shaped sink. Any help is appreciated! Thanks.

Master Bath - - Day Two

There wasn't much going on when I arrived home today. A lot of discussion about placement for the decorative Rain Forest Tile. Where and how to place a strip of flat tile so that the glass shower doors could be installed. Also going through the Mongolian Spring slate tile and picking out color juxtapositions. Fun times.

Master Bath - - Day One

Original Designs:
Vanity









Garden Tub











Shower Stall

The day has indeed finally arrived. After almost an entire year of our master bathroom being out of commission, we are ready to begin remodeling. The more I live in my current home, the more I hate those builders who thought they could get away with cutting corners. Every day something new pops up (literally sometimes) and it makes me wonder how the house ever passed inspection. ~sigh~

We stopped using the master shower right after returning from Christmas with the family around December 27th. We had noticed caulking coming unseated and blackish mold growing along the seams. A decision to let the tile wall in the shower dry out has now become a ten month ordeal that is ending today!

Home Depot, especially Chris, has worked hard with us to make our vision become a reality. If things work out according to plan y'all may never see me again because I won't be leaving my bathroom, ever! You'll see what I am talking about as I update the progress, so keep an eye out for new posts.

Today I came home from work and they had completed all of the demolition of the old bathroom. The yucky cracked tile floor is gone. The oversized double vanity and garish mirror have disappeared. The shower stall has been completely ripped out and hauled away. Leaving a new kind of mess in its place. But with a little imagination I can almost see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Doug, the Tile Guy as he is to be forever known, says that he should be out of here by next Friday. Hmm, I am hoping this project does NOT turn into a scene from the old Tom Hanks Film, The Money Pit. The one where the builders kept insisting it would only take two weeks and kept saying it for the next two years. Please please please don't be that way!

Here's a shot of the shower head placement. Yes, you counted correctly. There are FOUR side nozzles being installed. Plus a rainshower head soon to be arriving!

Here's a shot of what was lurking behind the moldy corroding tile wall. Blackish insulation and badly placed boards. Thankfully this isn't as bad as could be inspected. No Black Mold, yippee!

Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) Ghost Hunt #2

You may recall back in September of last year I disappeared into an abandoned mental institution with my sister and friends. Don't worry, we made it back out again.

WELL, it's that time again!

Yep, I am going on another ghost hunt with my family. This time however they have turned what I originally thought of as a 'rocking fun time' to a full out professional touring group. The group is called SoulFan Paranormal (SFP) and they conduct equipment heavy searches through local institutions around the Boston area.

The group decided to travel towards Philadelphia, PA this time, though. And I will be joining them, hurrah! We will be going on a day tour with all the other 'muggles' (non ghost hunting folk). Then returning later that night to have the entire place to ourselves.

My sister is leading the investigation this time and she has already mapped out team members and camera locations throughout the site. She put me on her team because we always have a good time together (read as "laugh our asses off").

I can't wait to see this place. From the Ghost Hunters episode, I have gathered it is WICKED huge. Should be a fun time.

Stay tuned for tons of pictures from this trip. Especially since I have my Nikon 50mm f1.8 D lens in my hot little hands. It should be fantastic for all of those low light situations.

Wish me luck and pray for a safe return, yeah?

RING-WORM

I am separating this word, because that's how YUCKY it feels to have this thing. Last week one of my little darlin's comes to me and says, "Mr. F, look at what we have to go to the doctor's for tonight!" in such an eager voice I had to look to build up self-esteem when I can, right?

So stay with me and imagine my recoil of horror when I notice the "Fungus-Amongus". Sent him immediately to the nurse. She confirmed it.

I didn't think anything more about it until today. I was in the midst of my lazy period and hadn't shaved in awhile. It got itchy so I shaved it clean before leaving for school. I was washing my hands after lunch and happened to look in the mirror (can't have lasagna in my teeth, can I?).

This is the moment when I recognize what that itchy area on my face actually was. GAAAAAAAH!

And with me flying out to Philly to conduct another ghost hunt with my family (more about that in next post) on Friday.

I feel yucky.

This Can't Be Happening

Leave it up to stupid executive board members to ruin my day. Apparently the WB has decided to postpone the release of Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince an entire EIGHT months after its widely posted date of Nov 21, 2008.

After the final book came out and I've read it through (twice), I had nothing left to keep the fun alive for me except looking forward to the release of Movie 6.

Now that is taken away. BOO HOO!

Do you want to know WHY they decided to do this to million of fans? Because they want more money! UGH. The Writer's Strike strikes again. Due to those long and arduous months of no tv to speak of the landscape of movie releases has become barren too. WB doesn't have any huge summer blockbuster to compare it's 2009 fiscal year to its amazing summer of 2008. Think Batman.

Because they want to balance the books, they are stripping us Muggles of our shining light at the end of the tunnel. Harry and Ginny won't be getting together until July 18 of 2009!

I am sad.

Life Descends Again

After many weeks of dreading it, the time has come. Only one more sleep and then I have to go back to work. It's going to be so crazy tomorrow morning. We haven't been allowed into our classrooms since May 24th since they are retrofitting the air conditioning. All of the teachers had to box up their stuff so it wouldn't get too dusty from all the ceiling work.
Joy Joy.
Oh, add on the entertaining fact that I am going to be grade chair this year. Which means I actually have to call meetings and tell 12 people what to do. This should be fun.
Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Why So Serious? Dark Knight

I have finally seen a movie that places hand in hand the thrill of car chases, loud guns, and great special effects with that of a finely tuned script. Imagine that! Usually summer blockbusters are seriously lacking in anything resembling a plot line. It was good to sit enthralled in a movie theater again.

Heath Ledger absolutely walked away with this entire movie in a tightly clad black glove. What an incredible character, so deeply deeply wrong on many levels. The Joker is an instant classic villain not to be topped for some time to come. What a sad thought it is that we won't be able to enjoy an encore performance due to the quick demise of Heath Ledger. He'll be missed for his talent.

My First Photo Shoot

Official one that is. A photo shoot I choose the location, secured a model and asked her to wear her favorite color, prepared some possible poses and props, and brought my equipment with me.

Christine is such an awesome friend that she didn't hesitate at all when I brought up the idea of a possible shoot. If anything she thought it would be fun. (YAY!)

We went over to the Forum in Norcross for lunch of sushi and pad thai and then I showered her with gifts. I found her favorite flowers (gerber daisies) in her favorite color (orange). I had her pick out her favorite classic novel to peruse. And I bought a French style cup and saucer for one of my poses. She was happy with everything I had in mind.

I set up in this little area outside the Williamas Sonoma store that looks like a French bistro with tables and such. I had my tripod set up and used both lenses to get some different angles. I also brought along my handy dandy exposure rulers straight from my OHShoot! Photography class with Candice Stringham on the JessicaSprague.com site. That way I can play around with the aperature for some more creative shots.

We were going along just fine, getting some fun poses. I was so excited that I forgot to keep checking the viewscreen. I messed up all of the photos by the fountain. Too bad, though. They would have been great.

Here are three good shots that I managed to get:

that was all until the SECURITY descends upon us! Apparently someone called our 'suspicious activities' in. So the golfcarts came racing to curtail our evil doings.

I was almost done with my ideas, so I was all "Okay, we're leaving. Thank you kindly."

Christine was ready and raring for a fight! But she managed to hold it in and we packed up. Sigh. It would have been a perfect day had we not been thrown out.

After I got home I did some googling for 'photography laws' and found a site that stated we had every right to take photos since we were on 'public access areas'. Not quite sure what I would have done with this information, but it will be good to have under my belt for next time.

Otherwise I will miss more shots like this:

Trip of a Lifetime

I went to Hawaii. I accomplished a lot on this trip. Did things I never thought I would do. Had the best time. In short I conquered Air, Land, and Sea all in twelve days.

There's nothing like plunging into the blue depths and coming face to face with a 20 foot tiger shark, only a piece of plexiglass separating you two.

Or walking up to watch the earth recreate itself not 600 feet away from you. Watching lava spew out into the ocean and admire the plumes of smoke as it rises into the sky.

Or taking the controls of a motorized hang glider as you soar peacefully over the earth.

How will I ever top this adventure? Well, it will sure be fun to try!

Here are some shots I managed to get while on the islands: