Bath Time, At Home, Of All Places

Back in November I wrote about how I destroyed our bathroom and then posted a video of Ace taking a bath in the sink. In that video, Momma was quoted saying…”Fix the bathroom please!”

See, we bought our house and planned to renovate every single room. However, due to some unexpected problems with the renovations, we ran out of money and time. We had the downstairs bathroom complete, which had a fully functional shower, but the upstairs bathroom, which had a bath tub, had been put on the back burner and never got finished. (or started for that matter)

I ripped everything out of the bathroom, including the walls. It was nothing but a floor, ceiling, and some studs. (Puffing out chest: No I’m not the only stud in this house 😀 )

This was fine when it was just Momma and I, (except for when Momma was pregnant and wanted to do nothing other than take a bath…oops my bad), but when Ace arrived we realized that the upstairs bathroom would eventually need to be finished…for the simple fact that a bath tub would eventually be needed.

However, Ace has been taking a bath in the sink since he was born. He fit…with room to spare! It was a perfect little baby bath tub at just the right height. No bending over and cramping of the back. No wet knees from kneeling on a wet floor…life was good.

Then one day Ace grew up. No longer can he stretch out in the sink. He is just a bit too big now. So, Ace either got a bath at Grandma’s house or I bathed him in the shower with me.

Well, with special thanks to Uncle Brandon (my extremely skilled bathroom renovating brother), we have a fully functional bath tub…in a bathroom with walls!

It is not finished yet, but this is a huge step! Hell, nothing has been done in that room for six months, and in one day Uncle Brandon and I installed a new bath tub, with new plumbing, and hung drywall on ALL the walls. It almost looks like a bathroom now! (minus a sink and a toilet…and paint…and some kind of flooring other than a throw rug)

So, now Ace can get a bath at home…without looking up and seeing my junk…here’s proof:

Getting Ready For Winter

Firewood After recovering from Halloween I have decided that it is time to get ready for winter! Many people do not like Winter, but I do! I would much rather be cold than be hot. When you are hot there is no escaping it. In the Winter you can always put on more clothes to keep warm. 🙂

Any other year I would stock up on firewood, sweep the chimney, clean out the shed, service the lawn mower, rake the yard, put up all of the patio furniture, clean up the flower beds, clean out the gutters, get out the snow shovel, buy some rock salt for the driveway and sidewalks, and sit back and wait for the snow!

Is there anything else I need to do because I am a Dad now? I mean, almost every other thing in my life has changed ever so slightly since Ace was born.

This summer was tough on me because I am an outdoors person, and I had to sit inside with Ace on the weekends when Momma was working. Instead of mowing in the morning I had to wait until the evening. Instead of sitting outside on the deck with the dog I sat in the couch with the dog and Ace. There were tons of weeds in the flower beds because I just didn’t have time to pull them. Things just didn’t get done around he house like they used to.

How will things be this Winter? There is not a lot to do outside in the Winter other than shoveling snow, spreading salt, carrying firewood. However last winter I spent a lot of time working in the house. Our basement was considered a “finished” basement, but was far from what we considered finished. So I spent a lot of time tearing down the paneling, the ceiling, patching the cement walls, peeling up the tile on the floors. I pretty much demolished the basement last year. This Winter my goal is to rebuild it…but will I have time? Been doing some research about water powered backup sump pumps, and considering installing one. Having a water powered sump pump can help avoid flooding of the basement when there is no power to run the electric one. I also demolished the upstairs bathroom a few weeks ago…will it get finished?

Either way, the basement and bathroom are not going anywhere. They will still be there next Winter. I’m just going to enjoy Ace’s first Winter and do my best to make sure that he does too! If I have some spare time…maybe, just maybe, some progress will be made on the basement and bathroom. 😉