Yesterday I thought I was going to beat my personal best time to D.C. of 2 hours, 45 minutes, but it was not to be! I left at 6:30 am and jetted all the way up to almost there, before traffic came to a standstill! Accident? Nope. Rush Hour? Nope. Get this one... there was snow blowing out of the trees in the median, I think everyone thought it was a blizzard and stomped on the brakes, which, in an actual blizzard is not the best way to handle that situation, lol. So that 2 mile long "median blizzard" put me behind and I ended up at 2 hours, 50 minutes! But, WOW, they have alot of snow up there. Kenneth, I can't imagine how your city is handling it all, and finding places to put it. Ours is melting in between storms, so we never have it on the ground more than a day or so. Excuse the photos, they were taken with my iPhone, which has terrible photo capabilities!
Sunrise, leaving my city to head across the Chesapeake Bay
The Happiest Place on Earth (for me!)
Mecca for organizational OCD freaks like me
I pulled in 15 minutes before the store opened and parked next to the door on Subaru Alley. Ever notice how many of us there are there? Count sometime, it's pretty funny stuff.
So upon arrival, my plan was to make a beeline for Bathrooms, get all my cabinets, load up, then go back to surf the store. Two kitchens, and a prior bathroom has taught me that speed is an issue, or else when you get to the warehouse the essential items will be gone! Like cabinets, check - frames & legs, nope! I am sure many of you are familiar with this scenario, but it takes on a whole 'nuther level of stress when you have to travel 3 hours to get here. Well, to my utter amazement, everything was in stock! I quickly loaded up the car, then returned to enjoy the rest of my shopping day sans kids, husband & dogs! Let me tell you, it was DIVINE!
Here's my bathroom! It's utterly amazing the amount of crap that will fit on these little carts. Seems to me that after dropping that much money one should get a Hummer-Limo style cart. Or perhaps an armed escort.
The rest of the day I was able to pick up a few other things for the bathroom, bins, towels, a rug, all that other stuff that will make it "mine". After about an hour of shopping, I did notice that I happened to be singing a bunch of really old Prince tunes to myself, and thought "omg, it's on a loop!" We're talking pre-Purple Rain stuff! Thought for a minute the store manager might have relocated from the Twin Cities IKEA, lol.... we do love our hometown boy Prince up there. On the way home, I stopped at Starbucks and got to see 2 girls that were really too old to be dressed like 80's punk rockers argue about the proper way to drink "real espresso". One said "real Europeans" don't put sugar in their espresso, to which the other argued "really? - cuz I was in France and they have sugar there..." it was amusing. Traffic on the way home was bumper to bumper for about 35 miles, but I had awesome music to jam to. First, I jammed to Boy George and then flipped the channel to more Boy George! I lovelovelove Boy George so that was fun. Then I got to hear Safety Dance, a little Duran Duran, and E.L.O.! This 80's girl was in heaven! Usually, I hate traveling between cities and flipping the station constantly but this trip luck was with me. Have I ever mentioned that my husband loves Boy George? Well, he does, and Cindi Lauper is a close second, lol. I started to talk to myself after about an hour. I think there has only been one other time I have had that much time to myself, and it was another IKEA trip for my kids' bathroom. Got home by 8 pm, and hubby had the new floor in!
Today, I got all the new cabinets put together, hubby has been drywalling and sanding drywall all day, so the divorce dust is everywhere. (Ask any married couple who has done a large remodel what divorce dust is, lol). Now he is under the house in the dark with a headlamp trying to install the new shower drain. He is determined to take a shower in it tonight, never mind nothing else in the bathroom is done yet. He needs one, too!
As of 5 p.m., drywall has been sanded, he's getting it ready for me to paint hopefully tomorrow. See my sleek new toilet in the background?
I was going to take a picture of my new cabinets I have been putting together today, but I think you will have to wait:)
Here's a few pics of the kids' bathroom (which is really the master bedroom) we did one year ago. It's small, so the 4 of us sharing it has been interesting. We put a deep soaking tub in it for resale value, but the main bath is getting a shower only instead of tub.
Gotta go sweep up the divorce dust... again....
As we're imagining redoing the kitchen, the idea of divorce dust makes me shudder.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, six of us share one shower/bath pretty happily.
I think maybe you need to get more days out by yourself. ;o)
ReplyDeleteHave you noticed that men never seem to be bothered that they're creating divorce dust?
You two are getting this HUGE project done in a remarkably short period of time. Do you hire out?
Wow--you really are getting that done swiftly! It's looking very well put together now!
ReplyDeleteAnd I would never turn down a little 80s music on a long drive. But I'm a 90s kid, can't deny. :P
About the DC snow removal... I live and work on snow emergency routes, so they were plowed pretty quickly after all the snow stopped. Downtown was an utter mess all last week, of course, and it was part of this week, too. A lot of the snow is just getting piled up at intersections--it had some good melting in the last two days, but there are still six-foot or more snowpiles that make it treacherous for pedestrians. They aren't as solid as they once were, so climbing them is now dangerous.
I have read that some snow is being removed... But to where? Sometimes municipalities dump excess snow on farms, right? That's kind of a problem, actually. I don't think the farmers would like that. It's problem enough growing crops without the few nutrients left in the soil being washed away from crazy snowmelt...!
I can't imagine the burbs are in a much better state than DC is.
But DC weather isn't known for being able to make a decision and stick with it. This stuff'll melt soon enough and things will be popping up and flowering and birds will sing and the sun will shine and people will be smiling walking arm in arm and saying hello on the street and everyone will have free lollipops from the mayor and all will be right with the world.
But I have to go to bed. Long day tomorrow--master gardener class after work.
This is almost a blog post in itself, eh?
We actually love doing this stuff as long as we have time! To date, we have done 2 kitchens, 4 bathrooms (we also have a rental), taken down walls, and laid flooring and tile in both houses, never contracted a minute of it out! Saved A TON of money by doing everything ourselves. Fortunately, hubby had a construction background before entering the military. Not sure if he knew what he was getting into when he married me, the chronic remodeler/redecorator! I'm not sure I would be happy in a house that didn't need a lot of work done! As for the time, I never did understand those poor people who are shut out of their kitchen for months at a time while having it remodeled, I think ours took a week - but we wait until we have stockpiled all supplies, and then work 16 hour days and get it done!
ReplyDeleteKenneth, there was 20 ft piles of snow in some of the suburban mall parking lots, crazy! That's funny about removing it, maybe it's like garbage? Here in Virginia Beach, we are the lucky recipient of some of New York City's trash... it gets trucked in and put at our dump sites... I wonder what NYC pays for that?! And MG class? WooHoo, congrats! You will love it!
Ok, I hate to admit this but I actually got lost in an ikea show room during my first visit there...I mean hyperventilating "what if there's a fire?" Claustrophobia kind of lost. I just going around in circles for a good half hour thinking "where the hell is the exit!!??" I don't like their one way in/one way out business model. Hahaha. I feelings about ikea have been tainted ever since.
ReplyDeleteThomas, that's hilarious! I even know the shortcuts in the store, my husband thinks I'm crazy :)
ReplyDeleteLove me some 80's tunes too! Not the big hair bands or teenie bopper pop (like Debbie Gibson), though. I'm finicky in my retro. Ha! Glad to hear you had such a great time in Ikea. Next time take some pictures of the inside -- I've never been in one, and it sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteHoly tile Erin! You did all 4 walls it looks like.
ReplyDeleteI am very excited to see this new one come together, your hubby is rockin' the remodel. (Drywall is the one thing we have been putting off, I am not looking forward to that mess.)
Very glad to hear all was in stock at IKEA, I really dislike that place, it is straight-up claustrophobia for me. AND it is set up like a Vegas casino- you must walk through the entire place to get anywhere. Other than those minor details they do have some fun stuff. :)
So pretty! I really like your new sink and cabinet.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun day! And Charlie liking Boy George and Cyndi Lauper has to be credited to our mom, she played that stuff a lot when we were little. Mike and I are thinking about attempting laminate flooring ourselves. I think I need some advice from my bro and you! We're not as handy as you guys...
ReplyDeleteLol, I just read what Thomas said about IKEA. Glad to know I am not the only one!
ReplyDelete