Short post this week, because not much has been going on.
Did you test your smoke detectors and change the batteries when you checked your clocks today?
The bathroom project continued Sunday afternoon. We found once we got the tile down and the floor up that this probably had never been a bathtub. The plumbing looks like it’s always been for a shower and there’s no indication that the drain was moved from where a tub drain would have been. We’re going to replace some of the cast-iron plumbing with PVC when our contractor takes the shower drain down to the floor. Well, maybe not to the floor, but at least lower than it sits right now. We’re also going to raise the ceiling. We have never been able to figure out why it sat almost a foot lower than the ceiling in the rest of the bathroom, so we’ll raise that to give more light in the space.
There was a small box-like structure over the sink that we wondered about, too. It looked like something put in place to allow for HVAC ducts, but when the contractor pulled it, all we found was some wiring for the light over the sink. Anyway, that box is gone, along with the popcorn ceiling. We’re going full-bore renovation here.
No driveway work this week. The contractor wanted to try to move things up a day, but the concrete supplier was booked Monday and the weather forecast called for rain Tuesday, Wednesday, and into Thursday. Ah well. We ended up with about an inch-and-a-quarter for the week. Rebar got set Friday though, and next week’s forecast looks good for a pour early in the week.
Diana is off this coming week for Spring Break, so Grandson will be happy. Plus, since we got some unexpected funds a while back, we’re putting up a new swingset this week. That should make up for not having his Bro around (Bro is his nickname for Youngest Daughter).
Italy
And where is Bro? Youngest Daughter is in Rome right now. It’s a trip for the juniors and seniors in her homeschool cooperative. They’re in Rome for a few days, then on to Pisa for a day, and Florence for a day or so. They finish up with two days in Milan.
I had fun watching her flight over using FlightRadar24, but I think I’ve been watching YouTube videos too much. I kept hitting the right arrow to speed things up.
It occurred to me that all of our girls have been able to travel internationally. Oldest did a People to People trip to Scotland. Middle Daughter traveled to London, Ireland, and Scotland with Girl Scouts, and now Youngest is in Italy (after several aborted attempts with Girl Scouts). But most of the boys have never left the country. Number Three Son went on a Work & Witness trip with Middle Daughter and me to Mexico several years ago. Part of me feels guilty that the other boys never got to travel, but none of them expressed any real interest, either. Hmm.
Writing
If you’re still on Twitter (and even if you’re not), check out BookMarketingChat on TwitterSpaces Wednesday, April 5 at 11 Pacific/1 Central/2 Eastern. I’ll be on there with host BadRedheadMedia talking about AI tools for Authors. You don’t need a Twitter account to listen in – just follow this link or click on the graphic.
Ghost continues chugging along. I’m only making about 400-500 words a day, but it’s progress. I didn’t make my wordcount goal this week or last, unfortunately, mostly because of the bathroom project. I usually get a lot of writing done the last couple days of the week, because Grandson is only over here Monday through Wednesday. But this week involved concrete demo for the bathroom project on Thursday and Friday. The noise and dust made it really difficult to concentrate, but I couldn’t exactly leave the contractor alone, so I toughed it out and did what I could.
That’s all we can do, right?
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