A Perfectly Normal Family

We’re a perfectly normal family.

We have perfectly normal things in our garage.

Tools.

A lawn mower.

A couple of bikes.

A toilet.

Yep. A toilet. Didn’t you know that toilets are the latest thing in upscale,cutting-edge. garage décor?

Here’s an artistic view of the toilet. I mean, when was the last time you were able to gaze at a toilet through the spokes of a bicycle wheel?  Doesn’t happen very often, does it? You might want to pause for a moment and mark this time in your life when you got to behold such a magnificent artistic statement.

Now. What good is a toilet if you don’t have a sink in which to wash your hands?

So we added a sink to the garage decor as well.

Lovely, isn’t it?

I imagine you might possibly be questioning just why our place of abode is suddenly sporting a garage-based toilet and sink! Well, it’s because Sir Mr. Fix It Man Smith is once again on the move—painting stuff, taking out stuff, putting in stuff, and doing various other room-altering activities. (And by the way, the toilet and sink will be moved on out of the garage in the next day or two.)

In this photo you will notice that we have worked hard at making lovely, artistic statements inside the house as well. We thought it would enrich our existence to create a tacky, wacky paint job utilizing an unbalanced, strangely spaced combination of red and yellowish tones. I think it creates a certain–shall we say– intriguing ambiance.

And when you combine the red and yellow paint with the mauve tiles?  Well. You’ve pretty much achieved decorating perfection. (Try not to be too jealous.)

Before Steve started his painting, he had to remove the aforementioned toilet. (We’re putting in a better quality unit that we got free from someone who was doing their own renovations.)  When he pulled the old toilet out, something or another happened to the ring thingie under the toilet which caused him to have to run to Ace Hardware (his favorite place in the world) and buy some sort of replacement ring thingie which required a great deal of elbow grease and dirt and wriggling around under the crawl space of the house to access something or another that was ring thingie and toilet-related.  (Nothing quite like a clear explanation!)

Fortunately, Steve loves to get dirty so he had a rip-roatin’ good time with it all; the toilet ring thingie was quickly repaired with his patented blend of grit, gusto and elbow grease.

Saturday night when I was in the kitchen busily cooking for some missionaries from Russia whom we were hosting for Sunday lunch, I had to work around all the Guy Stuff on the counters–Guy Stuff that was a prerequisite for the bathroom renovations going on across the hall.

I think the particular items in this picture had something to do with the exhaust fan/light fixture in the bathroom that Steve was replacing which entailed a long, complex process which I can’t begin to understand.  I just know he had to modify the new fan for it work in the old fan space which made him very happy since his middle name is “Modify.”  (He is very, very good at it.)

So why are we making this huge mess? Well, every year, we try to do some sort of house project to update it a little and this year, the project is the downstairs half bath.

This is what the bathroom looked like when we moved in.  Although the mauve tile matched nothing else in our house, we have coexisted with it peacefully for four years.

But by the end of this week?

The mauve tile is going to be history and a wood floor will have taken its place. Happily, when the former owners moved, they left a whole box of wood behind which has saved us some “wood money.” Also Steve is doing the painting, plumbing, and wiring himself which is also saving us a bundle. You know how we love thriftiness around here!

In just a few more days, this formerly yellow/mauve space will be transformed with new paint, floor, sink and toilet. And yes, I will post some photos.

And lastly?

I thought I’d throw in a photo of my favorite  crazy-ish son standing in said bathroom.  (This was taken shortly after we moved into the house.)  Behind him, please notice the hand towel hanging on a nail.

Because we’re classy like that.

Towels on nails?

Exhaust fan parts propped up near the crock pot?

Toilets in the garage?

Yep. We doggone gone and done it.

I got Sarah dropped off safely in Wilmington on Monday; leaving her behind with a bunch of strangers was not fun but I survived. Since she’s not allowed to call, we won’t get to hear of any of her stories until Friday night which, as you can imagine, I am greatly looking forward to.

On Monday when I wrote about taking Sarah to camp, Jodi D mentioned that I had written something about her trip there last year. I went back and re-read that whole story and loved it so much I’m posting the link here.  It’s called, But Honey! She’s Going Off With–With–With . . . People!    I think you’ll love revisiting it; I know I sure did.