Powder Room Blues and Fall

Fall is here. Cool days and chilly nights. Patty is not at all pleased, since I keep the windows closed in the evenings, and she loves sitting in the sill and smelling the world outside. The house keeps its warmth at night, and having a fire in the fireplace is adequate to keep the place comfortable. ("Having a fire" consists of pushing the "on" button on the fireplace remote).

A toilet in the kitchen, a trend-setter?

Patty isn't quite sure what to make of the fire, either. It's safely behind glass, and I know she likes the warmth, but she jumps when it goes on and gives it a wide berth when coming and going from the room. She is also still confounded by the toilet, sink and vanity sitting in the kitchen. I dare not let her into the powder room, as there are holes open to the wall interiors, and she's the kind of cat to crawl in with curiosity and get herself stuck.

As for the powder room, progress continues. The drywall guy came by on Monday after the plumbers finished replacing the drain stack. He pulled down the remaining lath and plaster. And, as I suspected, whoever installed the medicine cabinet (which has the vanity lights included in it) had not bothered with a junction box in the wall, just wired directly into the wooden cabinet.

So a junction box has to be installed before the wall is replaced. Joel (the drywall guy), of course, does not touch electrical, so I told him I would go out and get a junction box and install it before I called him back to put up the new drywall and finish the job.

Another happening on Monday, I finally got someone out to check on the floor refinishing. Instead of relying on Internet reviews and dubious websites, I have been calling around to places that install wood floors but don't refinish them, and asked for referrals for good floor finishers. Attic Restorations Floorings (Ron Miller) came up almost half of the time, so I called him.

He dropped by around 6 p.m. and quoted a very reasonable price for the work (much cheaper than having the rooms recarpeted), so I told him to schedule me in. Now I just have to find someone to help me pull up the rest of the staples in the floor and move the furniture out into the garage before he shows up to do the work.

Homemade meal: Pork Tenderloin, stuffing and peas.

One other thing I'm dealing with is the baseboard moulding, which is consistent throughout the home. I think I'll have to find someone to actually produce it if I can't find an adequate replacement at Menard's or one of the other DIY stores.

Tuesday was a lazy day for me. It was the first really cool day, and I was lucky to get the garbage out to the curb for pickup. I actually cooked dinner (a lot of evenings, I've been making a sandwich or heating up a can of soup, as the stove really heats up the kitchen). About 3 a.m., I woke up with a migraine. I took ibuprofen and went back to bed but got very little sleep. I woke up Wednesday morning with a slight subsidence, but I didn't get any real relief until early afternoon. Sleep was peaceful Wednesday night, and this morning I woke up refreshed.

So today is shopping day: A junction box, a new toilet, sink and light fixture for the powder room, new doorbell, new CO/smoke detectors, new faucet for the new sink, and a replacement faucet for the kitchen sink (which has a Moen faucet from the 1960s). Then I can get the drywall guy back on Monday to finish the job after I've installed the junction box over the weekend.

News from the office: I think I'm finally in synch with all my bills: what's monthly, what's quarterly, what's annually. Now I just have to come up with my new filing system for all this. It will take some time.

Meanwhile, on the social front, Facebook has finally caught up with me, and is starting to suggest potential friends here in the La Crosse area. So now I have about a half-dozen new "friends" that I've met at the social gatherings so far. Now the big question is: what am I going to go as for Halloween? Suggestions for easy, clever costumes are being accepted.

Ricka-racka Fiah-crackah Ziss Boom Bah: band members and flag girls march down the street.

I have mentioned the bells from the church across the street. I have another aural stimulant in the neighborhood. With fall comes the return to school, and every day the marching band for Aquinas High School (across the street) revs up and the music wafts over the building to my house. At the end of practice (around 11 a.m.) they march out onto the sidewalk and march around the block. It's a weird reminder of the Rose Parade, but it does help with my late-morning slump.

So, this afternoon I'm headed to Menard's for shopping. Part of me is feeling panicky about spending the kind of money I'm going to drop. I have to keep reminding myself that the money was held out so that it would be there to spend on stuff like this. I've never been one to really enjoy the shopping experience. I suppose I should work on that.