September 17, 2020 Update!

 I sit here absolutely amazed!!  The Master Bathroom is nearly complete! 

Jorge and his crew started demolition on August 19.  Old shower and cabinets were removed, porcelain tile was laid, new shower tile was installed as well as new plumbing.  Cabinets were installed - except for one which was measured incorrectly and reordered.  Jorge spent an entire Sunday here removing three layers of wallpaper.  He's a perfectionist and since the shower will generate steam, he wanted no seams to show.  

Then came the texture and paint.  Selecting the paint was a three person job: my wonderful neighbor, Lana, and I put our heads together but our selections seemed to disappear with the north light over the new shower.  Mark, of Ladybug Landscaping, and I went back to my initial BLUE and came up with Sherwin Williams Smokey Azurite.  The cabinets are smokey grey and in certain lighting, appears dark taupe. The flooring and tile have tan, taupe and grey colorations.

Here are Jorge and part of the crew:  Jorge [striped shirt], Isiah, Jose and Mac, kneeling.  These guys, and the others who weren't here the last day, were so respectful and such hard workers!  And didn't laugh too hard when I tried to speak Spanish.  Since I couldn't do anything while they were here, I decided to sign up to learn Spanish on Babbel, and they helped!

Along with an incorrect measurement of the cabinet above the toilet, the guy who cut the quartz didn't quite get it right.  Sinks are supposed to go into those holes!

Quartz was recut and all is well.

Of course, there are a few things ordered from Amazon which will make storage in the closets better.  Also, shopping for towels and other accessories will be fun.  And there are a few boxes from the guest wing that need to be put away, but that will have to wait for the Amazon organizers!

All this to say: Statewide Remodeling did a tremendous job.  The anticipated three week completion estimate was done in 19 days.  Of course, Jorge and his crew [or Jorge alone] worked ten to twelve hours on Saturdays and one Sunday!

It certainly was exhausting and still find dust in hidden places but all in all it was a great experience.  I want to do some work in the kitchen but will wait until I recover physically, emotionally and FINANCIALLY!

I expect things will be quiet until Vicki gets here in November - unless something unexpected happens!

The Summer of 2020! A Year That Will Go Down in Infamy!

Since COVID 19 became a semi-permanent resident of the World, things skidded to an abrupt halt.  Vicki was supposed to visit for three weeks but had to put it off until the virus settles down - hopefully over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

I was supposed to have a tiny little speck of skin cancer excised from the inside of my right elbow but it was put off - finally had it done at the end of June and results were that the margins were clear.  The "tiny" little speck required 11 stitches as Dr. Smith wanted to make sure! Good for him! And good for me!

Since there's only so much TV one can watch, I decided to have the Master Bathroom reconfigured.  I know, I know - can't call it "master" as that indicates something about slavery! Tough!  Andrew came out and spent a long day and we finally came up with a plan.  Materials were selected and then ordered, and then I tweaked an item or two and those things were ordered.  Now, the waiting begins. Andrew said six to eight weeks for start date and two to three weeks for completion. I've heard that story before.  Lisa, who is my project coordinator, texts me a few times a week to keep me updated on the arrival of the materials.

Here's a photo of way BEFORE:

That's Vicki a few years ago.  We had such a fun time gathering the mirrors for above the never-used bathtub.  So that shower is going to go away and become a closet; the tub is going to go away and become a level huge shower.  

When Jay could no longer bath himself, I found it extremely difficult to get him to the shower chair and get him cleaned.  I am thinking of my future - just in case.

Now, since I'm going to need a place to sleep and bathe while deconstruction and reconfiguration goes on, I needed to get Jay's wing ready for inhabitation.  The painter was called and in two and a half days, Jay's office, bedroom and bathroom were patched and painted.

New blinds are ordered and should be here the first week of August, but here's an interim photo or two.

There is a recliner in each room that need to be donated to Salvation Army but at this point, they're not permitted to enter a home - can only go into the garage to get furniture.  So the ugly chairs will stay until a can get some burly boys to get them to the garage.

Since the painters were going to be here, they also stripped the garage of warped and sagging wood shelves, patched and painted - I wanted it to look like new.

The floor will be painted in November or December so as not to leave my car outside during tornado season.  Also, I was agile enough to put the two metal shelves together.  I'm hoarding boxes as I'm going to have to use the boxes as storage for my clothes during the bathroom remodel.

There are also several boxes of Jay's "car stuff" that Jacques will have to go through when he comes back to Dallas.  He took a van-load back to the Hill Country to sell on his online auction and said he'd be back in early fall.  There's also tons of car books and posters that need to go to a better home.

Little by little, things are coming together.  Hopefully, by mid-September I'll be back to "normal" whatever that is.