Good Morning to all Those in the Know!  It is a beautiful, sunshiney, springy day here in northern Illinois and I must say it is about time!  It is all bad enough that we are afflicted with daylight savings time in the not-so-merry month of March,  but when the weather remains wintry,  that is just too much!

I promised yesterday to update TITK about all the other news in my life,  and I am nothing if not a promise-keeper!

We are currently in the midst of another bathroom renovation.  Yes, I know I once posted that I would never, under any circumstances,  ever undertake another renovation again as long as I live but  I was only kidding!   circumstances arose which made renovation of that last bathroom urgently necessary.  We suffered a leak from the plumbing in there which ruined our newly renovated kitchen ceiling.  I do not think I need to tell TITK how infuriating  disappointing that was!  We tried a few home repairs ourselves, but the water always came back,  until we finally determined that the only solution would be to tear out the bathtub and old plumbing completely to get at the pipes buried underneath.  Obviously, once we began a tear out of that magnitude, the only sensible course forward would be to completely gut and renovate the entire bathroom.

This we have undertaken.  We hired a contractor who began the demolition this week.  I must say,  it does seem to me that these young men undertake a demolition project with entirely too much gusto.  The other morning,  I was startled by a veritable rock concert of thunderous crashes and thumps from above.  Even Minnie (whom TITK are well aware is as deaf as a post) was uneasy and jumped with fright once or twice.

I was forced to walk upstairs to have a brief word with the contractors,  letting them know in my usual grating  gracious manner that the level of noise and banging seemed quite unnecessary.  I must confide in my dear friends, TITK, that young people these days seem particularly bashful,  not to say a little slow in comprehension skills.  The two young men,  whom I interrupted with wrecking hammers raised in mid -air, stared at me in obvious incredulity  apparent confusion.  I do not know what to think of education today when young people enter adulthood unable to understand the simplest of requests:  I feel I made myself perfectly clear:  there must be a way to demolish a bathroom and remove 50-year-old fixtures, floors and ancient tiled walls without making quite so much of a fuss!

Apparently not,  however.  After a long pause (during which I nearly had to go back up to inquire about the breaks policy of their firm),  the wretched cacophony started up again.  Minnie and I were literally driven out of the house!

Anyway, enough about the shortcomings of contractors.  Let me tell you about my design!  The former bathroom was a standard 6X8.5 room with an ancient ceramic tub enclosure along one wall and an equally ancient vanity cabinet with a single offset sink at the far edge of it right next to the ugly, squat toilet.  The new bathroom will have a simple shower (though beautiful, naturally!  It will be a creation by moi do not forget!) and new vanity and fixtures.  The old tile and fixtures were white and chrome and the walls were plain yellow.  The new tile will be a Mexican style in a mixture of shades of stone, cream and brown. The new vanity will be a modern furniture style cabinet in an espresso finish.  The fixtures will be in brushed nickel.  No doubt it will all be simply elegant!

Today, I am trying to finish this before my battery runs out, so this post will be quick and possibly poorly written.  C'est la vie*, my friends!  As always,  I do my utmost to make the most of every situation,  no matter what the cost to myself,  but from time to time it must be acknowledged that challenges can sometimes get the best of one.  Resources are limited (32 minutes of battery life remain,  but only 9 minutes of my patience) and one must do one's best, irregardless**!

Good day to all!


*From my much-admired collection of French phrases.  This one is a suavely sophisticated way to say "tough noogies".

**I have no idea why the spell check has underlined this perfectly useful word!  Clearly, there are bugs yet to be worked out in this blogspot software.  How irritating!