Bathroom remodel

Before.
A "during" - got the pictures out of order. Oops!
Another"during"
Before.
Before - I hated this light fixture SO much!
Before - I hated the linoleum floor and how the side of the vanity was damaged. I also think the vanity made the bathroom look smaller and there is a closet with shelves right there, so the extra storage isn't really needed.
Another "during" I think this is after the first coat of paint.
Tile is in, but not grouted yet.
Non- sequiteur - this is the pile of papers I am going to sort out tonight!
Question - I have this in my possession already. Should I put it in over the toilet or is would that be dumb because I already have towel bars. I can't find a shelf I like that doesn't have towel bars. Maybe I should just keep looking if I am so uncertain. Opinions welcome and asked for. If I don't put in the shelf I don't think the sunflowers will go back up. I think I will make some art for it.
New towel bar and towels - same shower curtain. I made it and am not ready to part with it, besides, it's perfectly good!
New sink - purchased at Habitat for humanity ReStore for $25. Just a faucet like that costs over $100 new.
Question - should I leave the plumbing exposed as in the picture above or should I make a little "surround" to hide it? I like having the plumbing hidden, but I worry that hiding it will just take up the floor space like the vanity did and make the bathroom look smaller.
The new light fixture. I only learned during my first shower, however, that if you have all "uplight" in the bathroom it makes for a darker experience inside the shower. Keep that in mind if you do a bathroom remodel.
Sink with new mirror and towel ring - also new soap pumper. Mirror from garage sale for $5.
Toilet, of course, with the blank wall. I'm still trying to decide if I want to invest in a metal trash can to match the other stuff. I can't find one that isn't at least $10 so far, and I don't want to spend that much on a stinking TRASH CAN. I am much too cheap. Another problem with the remodel is that the tile floor is higher than the linoleum so my rug is too thick to have the direction it was before - the door hits the rug when you open it. One option I have thought of for above the toilet is to try to take off one end of the rug and use the removed section for artwork over the toilet. I am afraid of taking the rug apart, however. The little old lady who made these (I have one in the bedroom too) died so if I ruin it, it's not replaceable.
Same shower curtain - new hooks instead of rings to hang it.
Oops - forgot to rotate the picture first.

So there you go - the new bathroom. The most expensive thing was the tile and the labor. Light fixture next in line, shelf next if I use it. It was such a treat and something I've never done before to have someone paint for me. I have done the rest of the house - well I guess not in Michael's room, I only did one wall in there and then we "won" the other painting in a silent auction Scout fundraiser. I even did the floor when I worked on the other bathroom, including taking out the toilet and putting it back in. Part of what prompted me to pay to have this done is that I have lived without a sink in this bathroom for almost a year. We took out the old one and then it was one problem after another trying to get the work done. I planned to do the floor myself, but injuring my knee three times in a year meant I could not crawl around on the floor and install tile. I hired this sweet old man to come and work on the bathroom in June because I wanted it done before Michael's graduation party, but he did such a shit-tastic job that I had to undo what he did. I had a different sink I was trying to use at that time- not having found this one yet - and he installed it badly - so badly that he seriously used duct tape to try to connect some of the plumbing! Duct tape can do miracles, but not in plumbing!

So I LOVE it. I love my new bathroom. I also had Cooper do a bunch of other stuff at the same time. I will show some of it later. I like him a lot and trust him in the quality of his work and trust him in my house. The stuff I had a couple of questions about he answered to my satisfaction. It cost a truckload of money. I don't like that, but it was really, really worth it. I will be happier while I am in the house and it is closer to being ready to list if I decide to move west.

So we discovered that my "Recap" sucks.

I can hardly keep up with the present - let alone recall the past!

Here's in the very NEAR past - yesterday up 'til now.

Woke up.
Called Michael - we decided that we wouldn't be able to get together until dinner time.
Talked to niece Hannah on the phone for a long time and got all the family news.
Showered and got dressed.
Went out and got gas, went to bank, decided to go see "The Vagina Monologues" Two of my friends were in it, plus it was a fundraiser for the shelter where the children and I stayed when I left Ed.
Afterward talked to a previous co-worker and friend from the bank.
Met Michael and had dinner at "Siam House" - tried Pad Thai for the first time.
Went shopping: Dollar Tree, Goodwill, evil empire - looking for frames for an art project I think I want to try for hanging in the newly remodeled bathroom.
Came home and talked to Debbie on the phone for a bit.
Watched a movie "Days of Heaven" because I decided I needed to see another Terrence Malick film, having liked "Badlands" and "The Thin Red Line." It also didn't hurt that it starred a young Richard Gere!
Slept some - woke up with a raging headache.
Suffered, slept, suffered, slept, suffered, slept, took medicine, suffered some more.
Woke up around 8am and took better medicine, slept a little more and watched "Field of Dreams"
Came in and began alternating computering, resting, chatting online with niece Amber, cleaning house, putting stuff on Freecycle (purging, purging) and here I am!

I am still doing the same stuff last mentioned above. I still have pile of papers to file and some other stuff to do to complete the basic housework I had planned for this weekend. I'm trying to decide if I want to hang the shelf I bought in the bathroom or wait and try to complete previously mentioned art project for that space. I may ask for opinions. I think photo post to follow.

I was supposed to go watch a movie with Will tonight, but he had forgotten today is his mother's birthday! Duh. I am glad he remembered in time to go see her. He is supposed to call me when he's done and we'll decide from there. I kind of want to and kind of want to stay home and not get dressed and work on the house and stuff some more. I guess we'll just see what time he calls and how I feel at the moment. I guess that's a plus in having a non-committed relationship. I was able to stay home and baby my headache and work on my own stuff. In a committed relationship I probably would have put the man's needs above my own and gone with to visit the mom and play Scrabble and celebrate birthday, even if I really didn't feel like it. I guess that's one thing I need to learn about relationships - that I don't always have to put someone else's needs above my own.

Rules of Engagement:

FB says you have to use your real name - most of you know it is not Leeper. I have filed to have it changed legally however, on April 15th. I do NOT want to use my real name on FB. Back in the MySpace days, I had a fellow who had no picture on his profile write and tell me he had come into my office and checked me out. I still have no idea who it was and he could be somebody who comes in every week and deals with me. I have several gentleman (I hope) customers who insist on dealing with me and me only. My real name is on my work email, my work business cards, my name and full address are in the phone book. I have never made an effort to hide who or where I really am on the internet. That episode got me a little creeped out...So when I signed up for FB I used the name I planned to have eventually. I don't list the name of my workplace, although if someone searched enough of my local friends he could probably figure it out. Well, "eventually" has come and I have filed to have my name changed. FB says that because the rules require you to use your real name that if you want to change your name you have to send them a copy of a government issued document with your name change on it. That won't work for me because I want to change from my soon-to-be-real-but-really-fake-name to avoid stalker to a new avoid-the-stalker name.

A woman at work got married and her name changed on FB the very next day. I asked her if they required her to send in a copy of her marriage certificate or something and she said no, when she changed her status from "engaged to John Doe," to "married to John Doe" it asked her if she changed her name and let her change it right then! Sooo.... to make a short story long, I decided to become engaged. April 15th or so, right after a visit to the courthouse I will become Mrs. Harry Golightly, aka Hope E. Golightly. The irony of it all is that FB requires no legal proof of your name or real identity when you first sign up - that kind of pisses me off. If someone had a really serious stalker ... shudder.. well, bad things HAVE happened because of misuse of FB and it's sad that the victims are the ones who follow the "rules" and put their real names, addresses and workplaces on there and may be putting themselves in danger. Because of my previous experience, I choose not to do that.

I am a witness that you can become in real life, long-term friends through the internet with people who at first are anonymous, faceless words on a screen. I've met so many of the Folk of the Fringe, the Wild Women, and even men off of dating sites and have real friends from this way. FB is one forum however, where I am not comfortable revealing certain things about myself. There are very few people who are my "friends" on FB whom I have not met in real life. Those are people whom I have "known" online many years, however, and I have no fear, nor regret about them knowing who or where I am, nor anything about me.

Having a pseudonym on FB has made it hard for some people to find me who have been searching and as I have searched out a few I realized that. Changing it again will probably still make that hard, but it is a kind of control I need to have considering my residual fear of previous (current? status unknown.) stalker finding me in my workplace.

Muppet Foot

Yuck. Yuck. and Yucky yuck. I hope it doesn't begin hurting in the night like it did last time. I am going to drive to Indy tomorrow night to see that Pink Floyd Cover band again, Atom Heart Mother. They will rock my world. I never did post my pictures of their show I saw this fall - maybe this weekend. Do you think I will become one of those old ladies with elephantiasis? I really want to get this fixed. I am glad I am going to Dr. Karin tomorrow!

2010 Recap #3: Knitting

I made this hat for Karmin C. for Christmas. I haven't given it to her yet. I am not sure if I will because I really don't like it. I wanted to use a really soft yarn, but it turned out that the yarn is too flimsy. The hat won't be warm at all, and if I kept this pin on it, the hat is not sturdy enough to support it and it flops over. This hat should probably go to the fail blog page.
This is my mom trying on the hat I gave her for Christmas. This one is DEFINITELY not too flimsy. I made it with "chunky" yarn so it would be extra warm. It is hard to see, but the yarn is a nifty oatmealish color and I really like it. Mom said I have never made her a hat in all these years so I did!
These are like the hats I typically make. Since this picture was taken I have made an additional hat that is just like the "Tweed" one. I give the baby hats to what I call "The Baby House." It is really called Hannah House. It is run by the crisis pregnancy center. I don't like them or the the tactics they use to try to prevent women from having abortions. I do think, however, that the babies deserve warm little heads! I usually donate child-size hats to the Baby House too. Adult hats go to Shalom Center.
This is a hat I made especially for Renee's grand-niece/grand-baby. The baby is JQ's daughter. JQ is Renee's niece whom she mostly raised. I decided anybody related to Renee definitely needs a funky style hat. I have some more of both of these yarns and I am going to make some more of these hats in toddler and child sizes to give to the Baby House.

Knitting - usually when I made the uberlist my goal was to make and give away at least 10 hats every year. I have gifted many people I know with styles and colors I think they will like. Others go to the shelters mentioned above. 2010 however, I only achieved the seven mentioned here. Also epic fail that it is about nine degrees outside and they are still sitting here in the family room with me! I need to stop doing this, get a bag and take them to work tomorrow. A man often stops by who is a big supporter of the Baby House. He takes them over there for me. A couple of my coworkers also knit, crochet or cross stitch various items for the residents and the babies. I would like to get back to at least 10 this year. I have been thinking about it so much that I want to start another one. I am still working on a couple of Christmas gifts, however and one VERY LATE birthday gift. I have vowed to not start any new projects until everything that is started is complete! I have on my list tonight to finish one of those projects. If I complete it I can get it mailed tomorrow and I will be happy. I need to get it sent to southern California before it gets warm again! I may have about two days left.