The blog of Luther M. Siler, teacher, author and local curmudgeon
A couple of days ago my regional manager asked me– Clark Kent me– for one of my (Luther’s) writer business cards. Yesterday I sold a print book. The address for the blog is on the card and on the book.
If I end up abruptly fired y’all know why. AVENGE ME!
Yesterday was kinda weird. Right after waking up in the morning (in fact, what woke me up in the morning) I got sick again. At least as sick as I’d been the other night, but… uh… different directionality, if you know what I mean, and if you don’t feel free to make something up. I spent all morning lying around and moaning, with my wife alternately telling me just to go back to bed or to at least try and take a shower.
Then lunch happened. I had to force myself to eat something; I don’t even remember what I had. And suddenly, wonder of wonders, I felt a hundred percent better. In fact, I felt so much better that I ended up making dinner: farfalle! Nothing super complicated; pasta with onions, garlic, red pepper, and spicy Italian sausage sautéed in olive oil, with a sauce made from heavy cream and crushed tomatoes, topped with fresh basil and pecorino cheese. I’d not had farfalle before; it’s delicious and I may well reach for it instead of spaghetti the next time I want pasta.
This is how healthy I was feeling, by the way: it seemed to me a good idea to make spicy food for dinner.
It was not. It took about an hour after dinner to be certain of that. But trust me. It was not.
I went to bed weak and shaky again and not sure if I was going to work today; waking up at 4:30 in the morning with urgent needs answered that question, and I’m typing this at my desk in my office, back in “completely fine except for five minutes out of every sixty” mode. I will be at work tomorrow and for the rest of the week if I have to install a Port-A-Potty in the hallway outside my room; putting a sub into the last week before Winter Break is just not fair and it would probably be good if my kids actually learned something during this window.
I am making Experimental Dessert tonight; I shall report back on that tomorrow. Assuming I can walk and breathe, which I ought to be able to. (I’m eating the rest of the pasta for lunch, BTdubs; digestive issues be damned, it was good.)
More later; I have a Real Post planned but 350 words of lead-in about illness and food doesn’t really seem right.
So… remember the bathroom update? I haven’t mentioned it in a while because school started and we had to push everything back to when I had the time and the sanity to do it: in other words, winter break. Which is in three weeks, which means that the planning has shifted into high gear. I put this together tonight; I’m sharing it with you guys because 1) I think it might be entertaining to see just how unprepared I am to do this right and 2) I’m hoping people smarter than me will spot issues that I might not be aware of yet.
Copied and pasted from Evernote, here you go:
Project 1: Eliminate bulkhead
1) Clear insulation away from inside attic.
2) Remove existing bathroom fan.
3) Demolish bulkhead.
4) Secure/install new bathroom fan.
5) Install new cement board ceiling.
Potential issues: 1) Electrical incompatibilities; 2) structural incompatibilities; 3) Incompatibilities with position of vent ductwork.
Necessary purchases: 1) Cement board; 2) Screws; 3) drywall mud 4) mudding tools/sandpaper
Possible purchases: 1) 2x4s for structure? 2) possibly something to extend/move vent ductwork. 3) moisture barrier 4) new wiring (hopefully not)
Timeline: 1 day.
Project 2: Demolition of existing bathtub surround.
1) Pull down tile.
2) Pull down drywall.
3) Remove existing shower fixtures.
Potential issues: 1) Mold issues behind wall; 2) leak issues behind wall; 3) plumbing incompatibilities with new shower hardware (call plumber for this if necessary)
Necessary purchases: None for demolition, but we should have shower hardware before doing this so that we can compare it to what’s behind the wall.
Possible purchases: None.
Timeline: A couple of hours for demo and clean-up; possibly a couple of days if we have to wait for a plumber (can do other two walls while waiting)
Project 3: Construction of new bathtub surround/ installation of new shower hardware.
1) Install moisture barrier (???), cement board, second waterproofing layer?
2) Measure/drill holes for shower hardware
3) Mortar, tile, grout.
Potential issues: I probably suck at this. Measure thirty times before tiling once. Make absolutely sure we have carefully researched every step before doing the work; only one chance to do this right. Terror. Do we mud cement board before putting tile on? Assume no, but find out.
Necessary purchases: Cement board, screws, possible sheeting for moisture barrier/waterproofing layer (spread-on?), shower hardware, tile cutter (borrowed/rented), mortar, grout, mortar/grouting tools
Possible purchases: None I can think of.
Timeline: At least a full day; probably two, especially if we need a plumber before doing one of the walls.
***WORK CAN STOP INDEFINITELY AT THIS POINT***
Project 4: Demolish rest of bathroom
1) Carefully remove mirror from wall; take downstairs
2) Remove hardware from walls
3) Demolish sink/vanity (plumbing will be a pain in the ass, since I don’t know how to remove it)
4) Drain & remove toilet.
5) Tear out drywall behind toilet, where tub was leaking
6) Remove tile kickplate around base of walls
7) Remove door and door…frame?
8) Remove floor tile.
9) If putting in floor heating, pull drywall on wall that we need to run wiring through.
Potential issues: Removing the floor tile is expected to be a pain in the ass. Dealing with the plumbing to remove the sink could potentially be difficult. Hopefully do all this with as little damage as possible to existing drywall other than the piece we know we need to replace. Removing the painted door frame without damaging the drywall seems… optimistic.
Necessary purchases: None, unless a special tool is needed to remove the linoleum floor tile; unexpected.
Possible purchases: None that I can think of.
Timeline: Please, God, don’t let this take longer than a day.
Project 5: Fix rest of bathroom.
1) Install floor heating, if that’s happening. Possibly replace power switch on wall if needed.
2) Install new drywall as needed. Mud, sand, etc.
3) Install new tile floor
4) Install new vanity, including necessary plumbing hookups. In process, attach new sink to new vanity. Also attach new sink hardware to new sink once it’s attached to the vanity.
5) Install new toilet
6) Cut door to size for new flooring; reinstall
7) Install new framing for door (match old, if possible)
8) Repaint (before or after vanity installation? Hmm.)
9) Hang new mirror and new hardware
Potential issues: I have no idea how to do any of these things. Timing on painting. Electrical work necessary for floor heating may be problematic. Tile must be measured and cut perfectly the first time, and I’ve never done it before. Plumbing hookups on vanity must be leak-free. Toilet must be leak-free. New door framing must line up. Drywall needs to be proper size and look right when mudded. No good way to cut door down.
Necessary purchases: Mortar, grout, drywall, mud, screws, acquire circular saw (borrow), door framing, paint, new hardware.
Possible purchases: Floor heating unit.
Timeline: God help me, hopefully only a couple of days.
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