One Sixty: Time, Mike, and a Dream about a Toilet

Time, Mike, and a Dream about a Toilet

Yes, I had a dream about a toilet - weird huh? I haven't even been thinking about it lately either. It's been a good toilet. Anyway, I knew I had to address that first because that's why you clicked onto this post. I dreampt that we were getting a new toilet as a temporary solution. I don't remember much else except images of shopping for a toilet. Maybe it means something... or maybe I'm just bathroom obsessed.

Time has been killing me. I've been doing some traveling for work and it's been just exhausting. I slept 24 hours between Saturday night and now. And Sunday I spent the entire day recovering from the previous week on the couch. Next weekend will be work crazy too - no rest for the weary.

While I was away, Mike did a lot of work in the back back yard. He pulled out a lot of stumps and loaded up the truck 3 times with dump runs of stumps. (Great band name: Dump Runs of Stumps.) I haven't even been back to look at the yard, but I'm sure with that much stumpage gone, it looks great.

Mike was also going to put in the new basement door for me on Saturday night, but his back was killing him from the stumps. He did manage to cut the drywall in prep for the door though. The current door to the basement is an old 24" bi-fold closet door that we shortened to fit. But since it wasn't a solid wood door, shortening it basically ruined it. I wouldn't recommend it. It just doesn't fit in the tracks like it should and falls out every time you try to open it. The new door is also 24", but it's solid and we decided that rather than cut the door, we'd just add height to the doorway.

(This original doorway was for a tiny closet under the upstairs stairs, and a short one at that.)

So hopefully we can get that accomplished this week if I'm not too pooped. AND the new french doors, which are still not screwed in completely. I need to push to get that room done. I need to push myself too.

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: According to a dream dictionary: To see a toilet in your dream, symbolizes a release of emotions or getting rid of something in your life that is useless.

There are other meanings for toilets as well like if you're cleaning it or if it's blocked/clogged up.

Or you could just be bathroom obsessed or just needing to go to the toilet. :p

Good luck getting everything done this week! :); 9:57 PM
kitrainia said...: So shopping for a toilet would be, in a sense, looking for a way to release emotions or cleanse myself... I can totally see that. Especially with all this work craziness and unproductiveness at home lately.

Thanks!; 9:15 AM