Great Week for Granite and Tile

Kitchen Cabinets before and after Granite

Can you see the spot where OSHA Babe licked the slab?

Upstairs shower looks much better with tile vs. without tile

"Sanding Patty" singing along with praise and worship songs on her ipod --get it?

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FOR THE WEEK ENDING March 25, 2007

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HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The Granite Has Landed! The installation went as scheduled on Wednesday. You can see what an improvement it was. The 3rd picture will give you an idea of both color and patterns in the slab. We think that it is beautiful. OSHA Babe is poring through what seems like hundreds of paint color combinations to find just the right one to bring cabinets, walls, counter tops and floor into perfect harmony. For some reason, she isn't too receptive to my suggestion of Boring Beige. And aren't we all glad?

2. The tiling of the shower in the small upstairs bathroom is essentially complete. Pictures 4 & 5 will show how far it has come over the last two weeks. What's lacking is grouting, special cuts in the tiles around the handle and neck, and a shower door. Then we're ready to shower up. Just a warning to those who plan to visit, this shower is 32 in. x 32 in. In a real estate ad, this would be called "cozy." When everything is done in the house, there will be two additional bathrooms with claw foot tubs.

3. This week, while tiling in the shower, I heard a form of music coming from another room in the house. Upon investigation, I came upon OSHA Babe, oblivious to the hearing world, with ipod ear plugs snuggly in place, singing along with her recorded praise and worship music, warbling loud enough to be heard over the roar of the Bosch sander she was using. Hence, we're adding another moniker, "Sanding Patty", to her impressive list of names. Isn't she something? By the way, she got the trim in a second room upstairs ready for paint and then began in the kitchen. What a woman!

4. I'm disappointed in our Feline Followers. You have let me go for nearly two months without an update. So, here it is. Due to the graphic nature of the following, reader discretion is advised. Previously on 24, i.e., "Feline Follies in Tobin Hill", the neighbor who had been feeding the local cat herd moved out. Little Leo had a leg amputated and, at last report, is still convalescing at Mary Alice's sister's house. Miss Blackie's inability to dodge speeding cars driven by suspected terrorists proved to be fatal. We're now down to two cats. Bad Girl and Grey Girl (previously, and mistakenly, known as "Bad Boy" and "Grey Boy", respectively) come bounding down the driveway to meet us in the mornings. Food will do that to a cat. Neither will let us pet them but they will get close if food is involved. Bad Girl appears to be "with kitten". (Sign up now for a free kitten if Bad Girl is actually in a motherly way. Operators are standing by.) Grey Girl was terribly sick about 3 weeks ago but seems to be on the mend. (We suspect that the terrorist who hit Miss Blackie came back and released a deadly cat virus.) A terrorist, disguised as our neighbor's fox/german shepherd mixed breed dog, chased Grey Girl up a tree one day last week. It took her nearly 4 hours to decide that the coast was clear and learn how to descend from about 20 feet up in a china berry tree. Can you tell that OSHA Babe and I have been watching too many reruns of "24"?

5. Visitors - We got shut out this week. However, we did hear from several loyal readers about the glitch of last week's pictures not showing up on the blog.

NEXT STEPS:

1. In the bathroom, we need to get the trim for around the shower controls, put bead board paneling up around the room, replace the toilet and lavatory, tile the floor, texture and paint the walls, put a door back on an opening that was a linen closet but now houses the HVAC unit for upstairs, install a medicine cabinet, replace the light fixture, and Voila! ("vwalla!" or "viola" for those of you in the less educated redneck category with the author), we're done.

2. We need to pick up the three window sashes that were being repaired/rebuilt. Then there is expensive glass to install followed by putting the sashes back in the rough openings. But it sure will look better than the plywood that is covering those windows now.

3. We still have window and door trim, along with baseboards, in the kitchen and two rooms upstairs to strip, sand, and get ready for painting. That work goes slowly but is coming along.

4. I did leave a message with the flooring person last week but have not heard back from him. Calling him again remains on the "To Do" list.