Sunday, January 04, 2009
The Lost Vacation
Dick and I both took the past week off from work, planning on a nice, holiday vacation.
Dick and I were both sick all week.
boo.
That's a bummer.
Luckily, we didn't have any plans all week. Literally. Nothing on the calendar at all.
The silver lining:
We were both able to relax knowing that there wasn't any work piling up, and we weren't missing out on anything.
We both got a lot of rest
We spent a lot of time at home
We spent a lot of time together
We watched a lot of TV, and movies (speaking of which, watching Netflix Instantly via Xbox Live pretty much rocks)
With the exception of taking Marcel to the vet, and the stress of learning about his kidney problems, we actually had a pretty relaxing week.
So, not the best, most exciting vacation ever, but not too bad either.
We're all feeling better now, but still not 100%. I expect that'll take a few more days or so.
Dick and I were both sick all week.
boo.
That's a bummer.
Luckily, we didn't have any plans all week. Literally. Nothing on the calendar at all.
The silver lining:
We were both able to relax knowing that there wasn't any work piling up, and we weren't missing out on anything.
We both got a lot of rest
We spent a lot of time at home
We spent a lot of time together
We watched a lot of TV, and movies (speaking of which, watching Netflix Instantly via Xbox Live pretty much rocks)
With the exception of taking Marcel to the vet, and the stress of learning about his kidney problems, we actually had a pretty relaxing week.
So, not the best, most exciting vacation ever, but not too bad either.
We're all feeling better now, but still not 100%. I expect that'll take a few more days or so.
Labels: A day in the life, home life
Friday, August 31, 2007
The Big Bathroom Remodel of 2007!
it's been a long time coming!
At last! The time has come!
We're finally remodeling our bathroom!!!
This month marks that 9th year since I've moved into my condo. The bathroom has always been a bit of a sore spot, and something that we've been wanting to update for a long time.
In order to fully appreciate the magnitude of the situation, I present to you:
Diagram A: The Before Pictures
Yes, it's true: not the prettiest bathroom in the world.
It is, in fact, quite ugly.
Let's start with the layout: it's a tiny room. It's just under 5' by 10'. The configuration is quite bad. It works fine for me, but for anyone slightly larger, there's a lot of maneuvering needed to get to the toilet, the sink, or even in the shower.
Next, let's talk about the brown tile. It's brown. And not only that, it turns out it's not actually tile at all! Rather, they are individual thin sheet of metal designed to look like tile. We found this out when we were moving back into the condos 3 years ago. Our plan was to paint the tile over in white to at least brighten up the room until we were able to remodel. The guy who was doing it told us he didn't recommend it for two reasons:
1. the tile wasn't real tile.
2. there was potential water damage underneath said "tile" in the shower.
So we axed that idea, and briefly considered having new tile installed.
The tile guy came over to inspect our bathroom, and suggested that this wasn't a good idea either.
Why?
Because the plumbing job was so bad, that you wouldn't want to put any money into this bathroom unless you're doing a full gut-job.
So, there you go. We didn't have much leeway when we were moving back into the condos, so we decided to put this project off until we had settled in.
In the meantime, I lined the interior of the shower with plastic shower curtains. I did this so that we would not add to any water damage problems under the faux tiles.
Christopher used to refer to this shower as the Alien Autopsy Room. I admit, it is really ugly, and you have to carefully find the openings through the shower curtains in order to get in our out of the shower.
After we moved into the condo downstairs, that became the main shower and bathroom. When Christopher lived with us, he and Dick used the downstairs shower, while I continued to use the upstairs one. Even though it's ugly, and I have to shower in the Alien Autopsy Room, I think I must have some strange, sentimental attachment to it. But, I have to admit, the downstairs bathroom is a much more pleasant experience. One of the previous owners (and a friend of mine) had remodeled it in the mid 90s. He had gutted it, and had it rearranged to a much more usable configuration. Dick and I always knew that we wanted to do something similar to the arrangement upstairs when the time came.
...and now, here we are!
We've been working with an architect/design team for the past 3 months, and have come up with some really nice solutions for our tiny bathroom. We're rearranging the placement of everything to match the downstairs bath, and having a large shower, rather than a bathtub.
Here are some early 3D renderings of what the bathroom will look like. We've made some changes since then (different sink, tile shapes and colors), but the basic design remains the same.
We've hired a contractor, and they are starting today! Today, they are blocking off the work space, and taking out the fixtures. Next Tuesday, they'll start the major demolition.
Our contractor is projecting 6-8 weeks, with a good possibility of it taking less time. Fingers crossed!
At last! The time has come!
We're finally remodeling our bathroom!!!
This month marks that 9th year since I've moved into my condo. The bathroom has always been a bit of a sore spot, and something that we've been wanting to update for a long time.
In order to fully appreciate the magnitude of the situation, I present to you:
Diagram A: The Before Pictures
Yes, it's true: not the prettiest bathroom in the world.
It is, in fact, quite ugly.
Let's start with the layout: it's a tiny room. It's just under 5' by 10'. The configuration is quite bad. It works fine for me, but for anyone slightly larger, there's a lot of maneuvering needed to get to the toilet, the sink, or even in the shower.
Next, let's talk about the brown tile. It's brown. And not only that, it turns out it's not actually tile at all! Rather, they are individual thin sheet of metal designed to look like tile. We found this out when we were moving back into the condos 3 years ago. Our plan was to paint the tile over in white to at least brighten up the room until we were able to remodel. The guy who was doing it told us he didn't recommend it for two reasons:
1. the tile wasn't real tile.
2. there was potential water damage underneath said "tile" in the shower.
So we axed that idea, and briefly considered having new tile installed.
The tile guy came over to inspect our bathroom, and suggested that this wasn't a good idea either.
Why?
Because the plumbing job was so bad, that you wouldn't want to put any money into this bathroom unless you're doing a full gut-job.
So, there you go. We didn't have much leeway when we were moving back into the condos, so we decided to put this project off until we had settled in.
In the meantime, I lined the interior of the shower with plastic shower curtains. I did this so that we would not add to any water damage problems under the faux tiles.
Christopher used to refer to this shower as the Alien Autopsy Room. I admit, it is really ugly, and you have to carefully find the openings through the shower curtains in order to get in our out of the shower.
After we moved into the condo downstairs, that became the main shower and bathroom. When Christopher lived with us, he and Dick used the downstairs shower, while I continued to use the upstairs one. Even though it's ugly, and I have to shower in the Alien Autopsy Room, I think I must have some strange, sentimental attachment to it. But, I have to admit, the downstairs bathroom is a much more pleasant experience. One of the previous owners (and a friend of mine) had remodeled it in the mid 90s. He had gutted it, and had it rearranged to a much more usable configuration. Dick and I always knew that we wanted to do something similar to the arrangement upstairs when the time came.
...and now, here we are!
We've been working with an architect/design team for the past 3 months, and have come up with some really nice solutions for our tiny bathroom. We're rearranging the placement of everything to match the downstairs bath, and having a large shower, rather than a bathtub.
Here are some early 3D renderings of what the bathroom will look like. We've made some changes since then (different sink, tile shapes and colors), but the basic design remains the same.
We've hired a contractor, and they are starting today! Today, they are blocking off the work space, and taking out the fixtures. Next Tuesday, they'll start the major demolition.
Our contractor is projecting 6-8 weeks, with a good possibility of it taking less time. Fingers crossed!
Labels: His 'n Her Condos, home life, Remodel
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Our new Toto Toilet
...and your little dog, too!
Our downstairs toilet has been dying a slow death of the past few months. We realized a couple of weeks ago that the time had come to put it out of its misery, and to buy a new toilet. (exciting stuff, isn't it?)
The prospect of buying a new toilet had us more excited than you would think (and more excited than anyone should really be about buying a toilet.).
When we were in Japan last year, we were in utter amazement of their toilet/toilet seats. You know the kind: they have seat warmers, and are a toilet and bidet in-one. (Is this bordering on T.M.I.?) Some models even have more crazy features!
Anyhow, we decided that if/when we ever needed a new toilet, we'd try to get one of these cool ones from Japan.
...and that's what we've done.
We found out that the same company that made the toilets that we saw in Japan (Toto), also had a US Brand. So we ordered a new toilet, which is nice and all, but you know, still a toilet.
We also ordered a washlette, which is really what it's all about.
We just had our plumber in to install our new toilet and washlette. I have to say: it's pretty cool, and it really does crack me up that we're so darn excited about a toilet.
I mean, at the end of the day, it's still a toilet.
But somehow, it may be able to help make your day just a little bit better. :)
I'm guessing that the people who read this blog post will either think that we're a little crazy, sharing too much info, or this may make you want to go out and buy one for yourself!
Our downstairs toilet has been dying a slow death of the past few months. We realized a couple of weeks ago that the time had come to put it out of its misery, and to buy a new toilet. (exciting stuff, isn't it?) The prospect of buying a new toilet had us more excited than you would think (and more excited than anyone should really be about buying a toilet.).
When we were in Japan last year, we were in utter amazement of their toilet/toilet seats. You know the kind: they have seat warmers, and are a toilet and bidet in-one. (Is this bordering on T.M.I.?) Some models even have more crazy features!
Anyhow, we decided that if/when we ever needed a new toilet, we'd try to get one of these cool ones from Japan.
...and that's what we've done.
We found out that the same company that made the toilets that we saw in Japan (Toto), also had a US Brand. So we ordered a new toilet, which is nice and all, but you know, still a toilet.
We also ordered a washlette, which is really what it's all about.
We just had our plumber in to install our new toilet and washlette. I have to say: it's pretty cool, and it really does crack me up that we're so darn excited about a toilet.
I mean, at the end of the day, it's still a toilet.
But somehow, it may be able to help make your day just a little bit better. :)
I'm guessing that the people who read this blog post will either think that we're a little crazy, sharing too much info, or this may make you want to go out and buy one for yourself!
Labels: home life, just trina, my life is a sitcom
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Game Night!
It's game night here at His 'n Her Condos.
That's right, first javascript lessons, Yahtzee, then Scrabble.
It just doesn't get more exciting than that on a Saturday night!
The Scrabble game ended up being one of my best ever.
In the end, it came down to the last play. Dick's turn was first. He was able to play his last three letters, enabling him to take my last three letters (only 3 points). He also managed to get a triple word score on a 3 point word (ion).
He won by a mere 7 points!
Ouch, that hurts.
But, I was still really proud with how I played and with some of the words I came up with.
Notable mention goes to: "evoked" paired with "ware". Also, "guava" worked really well for me when I had a bunch of vowels.
That's right, first javascript lessons, Yahtzee, then Scrabble.
It just doesn't get more exciting than that on a Saturday night!
The Scrabble game ended up being one of my best ever.
In the end, it came down to the last play. Dick's turn was first. He was able to play his last three letters, enabling him to take my last three letters (only 3 points). He also managed to get a triple word score on a 3 point word (ion).
He won by a mere 7 points!
Ouch, that hurts.
But, I was still really proud with how I played and with some of the words I came up with.
Notable mention goes to: "evoked" paired with "ware". Also, "guava" worked really well for me when I had a bunch of vowels.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Nice way to start a weekend...
My parents have a regular masseuse who comes to their house every-other-week. (Nice, huh?)
For Dick's birthday (in September) they gave him a gift certificate for a massage at our house by their masseuse. Dick and I have been meaning to schedule this appointment (and one for me, too!) for several months, and finally got around to booking an appointment for this morning.
Ahhhh... let me tell you... such a nice way to start off a weekend! Soooo very relaxing!
We'll have to see if we can make more of a habit of this! (she's fantastic!)
On a side note...
I had my massage first. When Dick started his massage, I took a shower, then decided to blow-dry my hair downstairs so that the noise wouldn't disrupt his massage. (We had our massages up stairs)
I brought my hair accoutrement to the downstairs bathroom. That's when it occurred to me that I've never blow-dried my hair in the downstairs bathroom before. How would I notice this? Because the mirror in the medicine cabinet downstairs is hung so high that I can barely see my face!
I remember when Dick and I hung the medicine cabinet - we had to find some kind of happy-medium so that we could both see ourselves in the mirror. Dick is about 6' 2", and I'm somewhere just under 5' 3". That's a pretty big discrepancy.
I'm pretty sure that Dick can just barely see his face (it's probably a scooch too low for him) and I can barely see mine (it's just a bit too high for me!). When I blow-dried my hair, I had to stand on my toes the whole time!
I don't really notice our height difference very often, so I had to laugh about it today!
For Dick's birthday (in September) they gave him a gift certificate for a massage at our house by their masseuse. Dick and I have been meaning to schedule this appointment (and one for me, too!) for several months, and finally got around to booking an appointment for this morning.
Ahhhh... let me tell you... such a nice way to start off a weekend! Soooo very relaxing!
We'll have to see if we can make more of a habit of this! (she's fantastic!)
On a side note...
I had my massage first. When Dick started his massage, I took a shower, then decided to blow-dry my hair downstairs so that the noise wouldn't disrupt his massage. (We had our massages up stairs)
I brought my hair accoutrement to the downstairs bathroom. That's when it occurred to me that I've never blow-dried my hair in the downstairs bathroom before. How would I notice this? Because the mirror in the medicine cabinet downstairs is hung so high that I can barely see my face!
I remember when Dick and I hung the medicine cabinet - we had to find some kind of happy-medium so that we could both see ourselves in the mirror. Dick is about 6' 2", and I'm somewhere just under 5' 3". That's a pretty big discrepancy.
I'm pretty sure that Dick can just barely see his face (it's probably a scooch too low for him) and I can barely see mine (it's just a bit too high for me!). When I blow-dried my hair, I had to stand on my toes the whole time!
I don't really notice our height difference very often, so I had to laugh about it today!
Labels: home life
&
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in anyway --- oh right, I *am* my own employer!
;)
© Copyright 2003-2007, Trina Chow
