More Remodel Pix

Some finishing touches to the bathroom remodel....We ordered two surfboard shelves...this is the smaller one, now home to some decorative pieces my MIL gave me last year (as well as surfer dude LoML already had):

...and the larger surfboard shelf that now holds a basket with washcloths and a basalt rock with barnacles that my 'rents brought back from their recent trip to Tierra del Fuego:

LoML got me this adorable turtle night light for Christmas:

..and some nice warm vanilla hand soap and lotion...

...another look at that awesome stained glass surfer:

..and the woven laundry basket...

Spike looks good in the new bathroom...and loves playing in the shower :D

Finally! The Remodel Update

Well, it's been quite a while since I told you I'd post more pix of the bathroom remodel, but here they are. It's almost done. There's still trim that needs to be painted and one more cool touch in the way of a shelving system that is on order.

I really love the vanity/mirror set we found. Very unique. The base offers a nice place for kittehs to play. (I mean, seriously...all our decorating choices really should be made with goggys and kittehs in mind!)

Better look at the whole bathroom from standing in the doorway...with a teaser-shot of the artwork, followed by close-up of the tile detail in the shower surround. He did a fabulous job!

And now, without further ado or fanfare...the piece de' resistance:

Hat tip to Mom for spotting this piece in a local shop...it was made for a local artist and couldn't be more perfect for this space! (In case I haven't mentioned it lately, while horseback riding is my 'thing,' surfing is LoML's.)

Remodel

We've recently remodeled our guest bathroom. It's a small space and the one room we hadn't done much to over the years. We started by stripping it down to the studs. (By "we" I mean that LoML did some of the work and then subcontractors did some of the later work...)

They put down  new wood on the floor..

We had fun at Lowe's picking out new fixtures, the flooring, etc....This is the new light over the vanity mirror.

It used to have a tub and shower, but we did away with the tub and just put a shower in...we went with tile for the flooring as well as for the shower stall...It turned out great!

Okay, I dunno what I was doing, but I realize the next picture is blurry...but you still get an idea of how pretty the floor tiles are and the cool new laundry hamper.

Spike has had a blast inspecting everything...he's particularly fond of the new shower!

 

I love everything about this bathroom...the vanity is very different from any I'd seen before...

 I told you Spike likes the shower!

 Later on today or tomorrow I'll upload some pix of the special piece of art I got LoML for the wall....more soon...

Sleeping - There's a Fine Art to it

One that kittehs are Zen masters of:

How many kittehs do you see in the picture above? (There's 3...plus one LoML in the background!) The smaller white boy is hard to spot lying in the bright sunlight.

And, boy! Does he ever get into some funny positions! That's the think about 'em when they're little...they're flexible like Gumby dolls. Remember all those funny sleeping pix of Xander I used to post?

Sweet Willow isn't opposed to sleeping on my robe and Spike's "blankie." (Hat tip to his auntie, Spike still loves his pink blankie!)

And nothing draws a cat so much as sunshine. The following illustrates another interesting Spike phenomenon: the curly coat! Seriously. What is that? A bit of Chesapeake Bay Retriever in the ancestry some where?

It seems to be getting curlier.

Not to be outdone, Xander still knows a thing or two about sleeping well.

Here's the "I'm sleeping on the hooman's pillow" pose:

And then there was this. I was afraid they'd move, so I snapped pix as soon as I came in...and cropped...but was able to get closer without disturbing anyone.

What a pose!

But then there was the moment when I came in and found LoML dozing with Spike dozing on his shoulder. The cuteness was unbearable!

*************

So, like I said last night, there's just been all kinds of wackiness around. Nothing particularly new, but it seems there's always so many things competing for my time and energy. (Yeah, I know. Welcome to the 21st century!) Aside from the normal work madness (you know the drill: always too much to do and not enough time to do it in), I decided to come down with a good old-fashioned cold. Nothing exotic. Just the kind that drags you down. Plus, we're remodeling our spare bathroom. (Will share some pix of that soon.) And, I've been trying to update some computer stuff....more on that later too.

One "advantage" to being home sick is that it does give me more time to catch up on my reading. At least during the hours that I'm awake. (I don't know about you, but when I'm sick, I sleep. A lot.) Last week I devoured the latest Stephen King novel, Doctor Sleep. Have I talked about Stephen King here before? I feel sure I have. Okay, understand that I love reading. I don't pretend to be well-read in the sense of scope of reading material. I mostly stick to fiction; mostly mysteries, with a smattering of sci-fi/fantasy and "horror". Except that the "horror" I read...I don't think of as horror. And mainly I'm referring to Stephen King here, although I also read a lot of Dean Koontz and he gets lumped in that category too. But back to King. Sure, I'll give you that King's work contains some pretty graphic and disturbing images...though not all of it. Some more so than others. His newer works tend to be less easily-defined as "horror." But above all, King's works are about character. He is masterful in his ability to bring characters to life; to allow us inside their worlds, and their minds. He reminds us that we're all complex beings made up of seeming contradictions and capable of the most remarkable actions--both good and bad. If you've never read any of his books, you shouldn't knock him. While some of them may be what you expect they are, I'm quite sure that some of them are not. As one of my friends likes to remind me, she's had people argue with her about him being the author of Stand by Me. (Yes. That one. The one that was made popular by Rob Reiner's coming-of-age film in the '80's.)

So. Doctor Sleep. It's incredible. It's a sequel to The Shining. (While the movie was made famous thanks in large part to Jack Nicholson's fabulously mad performance, the book was wonderful and deserves to be savored in its own right.) I heard that King said that someone asked him once what ever became of Danny Torrence, the child protagonist from The Shining, and that King realized he'd been wondering that same thing. So, Constant Reader, we get to find out. And it's King at his finest. He's one of those authors that grabs me, won't let me go, makes me want to not put a book down until its done, and then regret that its done. I loved every second of it.

But I still have issues with clowns and sewer grates....and that's all King's doing!