Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A new place to do the paperwork

So, one day, Josh and I went to Big Gramma's house to give her the rent check. We were sitting around chit-chatting and Josh throws, no, hurls me under the bus and says something like this to Gramma, "Gina wants to know if we can remodel the bathrooms." Uh, thank you, husband o' mine... While the embarassement, ire, irritation, betrayal (not really) is building inside of me all at once, I barely hear Gramma say "Ok." My head musta looked like it was on a swivel when I realized that she'd agreed to it because it whipped around so fast!

We wrapped up at Gramma's house and I all but skipped out to the truck, formulating a plan of attack in my head about how we would tackle the project. Woo hoo!!!

The following week, Josh and I headed to Home Depot to get some ideas. We knew that we wanted to keep it on the cheap, while still maintaining a nice, clean look. We took pictures of everything that we wanted and got an approximate price of how much everything would cost. Then we let Gramma know that we were ready to get started. Dun duh dun dun....

Here are pictures of the transformation of Josh's bathroom.

Before
After we took the mirror out. It actually made the bathroom feel really small...

Out comes the old vanity!

This is Josh contemplating stuffing me down the hole in the floor for suggesting tearing up the lino, rather than laying the new stuff on top of the old.

In the process of tearing up the lino. About 10 minutes into it, I realized that it was not a good idea to go this route. Because of the close quarters in the bathroom, we weren't able to use a lino scraper to get it up. Instead, we used a 3-inch scraper tool thingy and a hammer. Not fun...

This is after literally HOURS of scraping and a fresh coat of paint. The little white spot is where the splashguard took a little of the texture with it.

The new floor. We were able to get a really good deal on it because it was a remnant. Josh & I had scoped it out on Thursday and when we went to pick it up, a lady was walking toward the bin at the same time as I was and as soon as she saw me with the roll, she gave me a disappointed look and walked the other way. We saw it first, lady!!! I think... So Josh had to run something back to Gramma's house real quick, and pick up some pizza for dinner :), so I asked him if I could lay the lino. He said he'd be very impressed if I did it by the time he got home, or even at all. So I strapped on the knee pads and got to work!! After scrubbing the naked floor, I trimmed the lino (not fun, by the way) and got it all fit in there for the glue to be put down. He'd come home just as I'd finished laying the first part of the glue so he helped with the rest of it because the pizza was getting cold. Priorities, ya know?!?!

By this point in the project, I've learned how to wire and connect a vanity light, take off a vanity top and splashguard, how to remove old linoleum, how to properly apply knockdown re-texturer (not sure if that's the real name for it...), and now, how to properly lay and glue new linoleum.

Before we put the new vanity in, Josh installed the new light.

Priority #1: Get the toilet out of the tub because Josh HATES taking a shower in *my* bathroom. And because it's kinda inconvenient to have to walk to the back of the house to use the other potty...

The new vanity!! Gramma made the final decision and decided to go with the espresso color, instead of the white. We think it was a good choice. :)

Josh made sure to get everything level and measured correctly.

Ta da!!! Our new bathroom! We still have to put the baseboard around the bottom and caulk it all, but that can be done during the week sometime. No biggie.

We're planning on putting a piece of artwork above the toilet and maybe some decorative shelving on the wall next to the window. Overall, we're really happy with the way that it turned out. The smaller vanity really opens up the room and definitely gives it an updated feel. We thought that because we'd both be working in such a small space, that we'd either end up divorced or killing each other. Neither happened. ;) Thank you so much, Gramma, for letting us do this!!

Next up: bathroom #2.... Will we be ripping up the lino in this one? Definitely not.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

February 17, 2010


Steak and peppers over white rice. Can I just say how GOOD this was?!?!? And quick to make too - about 12 minutes, not including rice cooking time.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

February 16, 2010


Crockpot chicken & wild rice, with a "salad" of tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, and iced tea. Perfect and light for an after-jog dinner!

February 15, 2010

It's a fingernail moon!!!

February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's day!!


This is Legion's daily regimen of pills: glucosamine/chondroitin, vitamin C, fish oil, and vitamin E. He's got an anti-inflammatory in there too, to help with his limping. The two gingerbread man-looking things are "Chicken Madness" dog treats. Even though he's got all of these pills to swallow, he's the best pill taker and is SO excited for the treat afterwards.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Annual February Snow Day

President's Day weekend has become our annual Snow Day weekend and this year we were so excited to take the *baby* to see the snow for the first time. All of the dogs LOVED it and we loved the fact that they slept for the rest of the long weekend.

This was how Legion was laying for most of the car ride. He wanted to make sure that daddy was driving the right way.


We were glad that we had a gorgeous day this year. Last year, what is normally about an hour drive to Donner rest stop took us about four hours. And then it was closed...


We got to Donner and hiked away from the rest of the people that were there. The dogs couldn't wait to get playing!


The kids will follow their daddy anywhere.


Maybe they shouldn't because it got Abbi thrown down the hill!!


Abbi puttin' it in 4WD to get back up the hill.


Legion coming back up the same hill.


Some *gorgeous* scenery shots from Donner rest stop.


My little posing baby!


After Donner rest stop, we headed to Donner Lake. There's always been too much snow for us to go down to the water but we got lucky again!


Abbi channeled her inner Michael Phelps again and decided to go swimming in the lake. Remember, this is February....


The kids were having a blast, cruisin' up & down the lake shore and playing in the lake.


After Donner Lake, we headed into Truckee to eat at a restaurant where Josh installed a drive-thru system. On the way there, we passed by a doggie boutique. Of course, we had to stop.


After the doggie boutique, we headed to the restaurant. I'm not a huge fan of rotisserie, but this place was gooooooood!


I had to take a picture of the sign and what the sign was warning against. The snow was melting so I made sure to walk FAR AWAY from where it would fall. YIKES!


The boys were tuckered out! Actually, all three were sleeping but I couldn't get a picture of Abbi because she was in the corner right behind me in the truck. They had a huge day and then a good-sized snack of mom & dad's rotisserie leftovers.


It was an awesome day!! Josh and I feel very fortunate to have such a great family.