Downstairs bathroom: tiled and grouted!

Not much to update here, but it always feels like such a milestone when the new floor is laid and grouted!

I'm so glad we put that tile to use! (Was originally meant for the Man Cave project, but Dennis changed his mind.)

I walked around on the new floor, and my feet didn't stick to yucky stained laminate flooring. It felt good.

What is next? To be honest, I'm not sure. We are going to paint that wood around the shower. We were going to leave it the way it is, but it doesn't seem to go with light grey too well.

Other than that, new vanity or slatted ceiling....not sure which will be first but it will be exciting to find out!

Highs and lows

Life is full of highs and lows. For me, they are happening too close together. It makes you feel like you're caught in a whirlwind of emotions.

The high: working on the remodel of the downstairs bathroom.

The low: no longer working on it for money reasons.

The high: Going to work on my first "client", watching and training a Great Dane puppy. (On Tuesdays only.)

The low: They changed their minds.

The high: Getting closer to finishing school. Making plans for work.

The low: the more I learn about the business side, the more nervous I get that it's going to actually work.

The high: got a lot of sales

The low: Despite the sales, somehow, we are still in large debt


The debt is the biggest thing, it always is. I feel like we never climb out of this hole. It is very hard to do even just the basics and necessities, and when we do, it has to go on the credit card, which makes our debt even higher.

It's discouraging.

The high: We've adopted the Angel Prayer in times of discouragement. I don't know about Dennis, but the prayer always lift my spirits a little:

My God,

I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love Thee.

I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love Thee.

Another low/high: tomorrow is Luke and Max's IEP meeting. I have mixed feelings about this. Working with the school back when Luke's tic was a mystery was difficult. My biggest fault is that I trust too much, too quickly. Assume people will care and then find out the hard way that they don't.

(Sorry, I know this is a downer post!)

There have been some that have been good, some that actually cared. But the ones I expected to care haven't. And the ones that I didn't think would care, did. It reminds me very much of the Good Samaritan story.

And then there's Max. The school suggested that he start going back to school for a few hours day/week. I thought this was a great idea, actually. It will be a good way to transition going back to school.

Yet, it will be hard to share him. I've worked so hard this year with Max. Me and Mom did. We worked hard to bring up his confidence, get him back to where he should have been academically. The school sort of frowns on homeschooling (without trying to be obvious, but little comments come here and there) and I don't want them to ruin what we've done. I hope the IEP will show us what steps to take next.

I will end on a positive note. Luke's tic seems to be fading away gradually. We've noticed that there are times he doesn't tic at all. This is great news, but I seem to be celebrating alone. Oh well.

I am happy. My prayers have been answered. We've weathered our little storm, the storm that mattered to us.

Downstairs bathroom

Making slow but steady progress on the downstairs bathroom.


This is progress?

 

What's left of the wall.

New drywall

 

We found more mold behind the old wall. New drywall makes everything fresh and clean again. The kids still won't use this bathroom (except for Max), because it's so gross. But now, finally, we'll feel like we have two bathrooms again, not one.

Next step, possibly painting. We are going to retile the floor but it might be better to paint first.

A new project

At this time of year, we usually don't work on projects. But this one sort of forced us.

After discovering a leak in the downstairs bathroom, Dennis investigated a little further and proceeded to take down half the wall, only to discover four feet of water-soaked plywood with about two inches of mold. He removed the moldy insulation.

Then he went into Max's room (which is next to the bathroom), and found mold growing inside his closet. Gross, yes?

Dennis has a very sensitive allergy to mold. You don't need to buy a kit to find out if you have mold, you only need to have a Dennis and you will know. His sinuses clogs up and he sneezes for days on end---even though he wears a mask. Anyway, when he began to sneeze, he knew there was most likely mold and it turns out, he was right!

Not that I'm happy about it or anything, but at least now we have an excuse to get that downstairs bathroom done.

We also discovered mold in the playroom. This wasn't too surprising; every time we get heavy rain, there's always a puddle on the floor, which is why we pulled out the carpet. The playroom is on our list to get done, but the bathroom and Max's room comes first.

This isn't a great time of year to do renovations and as of now, it's on hold until at least January, if not later. So we will be looking at this yellow stuff for quite a while.

I'm ok with it though. We need time and money. And in the meantime, ideas are forming in my head of a new bathroom design....