Bathrooms

Don’t Tinkle in That Toilet

clothedwithjoy 5 Comments

On Thursday I am having guests over for dinner. As you can imagine, this week has been, and will be, a flurry of cleaning and cooking.

Growing up, my Mom was not much of an entertainer, but on those rare occasions when my Dad convinced her to have people over, my Mother insisted on cleaning our home from top to bottom in preparation. At 74, she’s still the same way.

As I prepare for my own guests, I am mapping out the priorities of my To-Do list in my head. It only makes sense that cleaning the bathrooms comes last on the list, obviously, and I wouldn’t dream of touching them until an hour or two after my last child walks out the door for school on Thursday.

bathroom 1

In my childhood home there were three bathrooms. Two were in public areas and one was hidden. Through my parents’ bedroom and on the other side of their walk-in closet was one, single bathroom that was available for use. On party days, the hidden bathroom was the only bathroom we were allowed to use. In fact, we never even considered tinkling in the downstairs Powder Room or Upstairs Bathroom before a party. Stinking one up or leaving poop streaks on the newly scrubbed toilet bowl was an offense punishable by means we could only imagine. The truth is, we had no idea what the punishment would be for defiling an already pre-party cleaned bathroom.

No One Had Ever Done It.

At 41, I have four children of my own. It all makes complete sense now. Hanging a “Do Not Use” sign on the downstairs bathroom door on entertaining days seems the most natural thing in the world.

Tell me I’m not the only one…

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Making It Happen: The Other Girl’s Room

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mih ogr

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/(usually) weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

If you have been following along, you will know that within the last couple months our living space has doubled. This has added just a little bit more to my usual workload. Just kidding. This has added WAY MORE WORK to my usual workload. Honestly, it’s starting to wear on me – but the end is in sight. Hallelujah.

The good news is: I have really  buggy children who will BUG ME until I get stuff done – like their bedrooms.

OLIVE GREEN. That was the previous color – ugh. I lived in that olive green room for three years – not my choice. It is now mint chocolate chip green and Paris themed. One super cute eleven year old is just a teensy bit happy. OK, kidding again, she is ecstatic. In fact, I haven’t seen her since we finished the room on Saturday – I suppose she’s still up there reveling in her “private” space. I know she’s still alive because I periodically hear her yell, “GET OUT!” to one of her younger sisters who was apparently attempting to get in.

Char room 2 Char room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since my last Making it Happen post I’ve also: Moved into my bedroom, Almost got the new kitchen livable and Cleaned up and rearranged the “little” girls’ room. Now I just need to find enough time to actually work, build my business and earn enough $$ to hire a cleaning lady.

Amen.

Follow the transformation on bloglovin’

Making It Happen: Purple Room

clothedwithjoy 8 Comments

MIH PR

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects: Finish paint in both bedrooms. 1/2 DONE!

They found this (and the rot) when they tore out the steps. Now all my bedroom stuff in on a "back burning." w/e ;)

They found this (and the rot) when they tore out the steps. Now all my bedroom stuff in on a “back burner.”  House collapsing into the ground, every floor and door is uneven – w/e 😉

I am super close to having my 13 yr old daughter’s room done! Thanks to my wonderful SIL, J, we painted all day yesterday, then last night E and I cleaned the floor – WE ARE READY TO MOVE FURNITURE PEOPLE! Of course, I need the furniture mover guys… Well, my part is (mostly) done – a little window/door trim painting remains.  I also need the blinds put up, but when we tore out our back steps to replace them, we discovered that the back half of the 123 yr old house is standing on rotting something-or-others, so the hanging of the blinds is on the back burner. Sigh.

THE ROOM LAST WEEK (BEFORE)

ep2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AFTER

eves room

This past week the amount of work left to do on the “new” portion of the house, on top of my regular duties, just seemed overwhelming. But some really wonderful things happened – like my children cleaning my entire house beautifully while I was out on Saturday night. Plus our family received ANOTHER blessing this week – but that deserves it’s own post…

Projects for this week:

Finish paint in my (new) bedroom!

 

Follow the home improvement saga and other craziness on bloglovin’

Making It Happen: The Girl’s Room

clothedwithjoy 1 Comment

mih gr

Fact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

For the first time in my 13 1/2 year old’s life she is getting her very. own. bedroom. This is pretty exciting. I didn’t get to do the work on my bedroom this week (family in from AZ) or scrub the bathroom floor (dang it – I was looking forward to that…) – workmen still working in bathroom.

BUT I did get my girl’s room primed. It was work too. There was a lot of scrubbing and cleaning and wiping that went on even before the paint.

BEFORE

ep5 ep4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ep2

Taken during a break. Getting my prime on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is where you learn how cheap I am:

I’ve gone through 4 semi-used cans of primer that I’ve found in my house. They usually are separated and look pretty gross but I just mix them up and voila! Here is my technique:

ep3 ep1

 

Rusty & Dusty? No problem! Just wrap lip in tin foil. 😉

 

 

 

 

I also got gardening done this week – my squash is sprouting!

Projects for this week:

Finish paint in both bedrooms.

Follow the home improvement saga and other craziness on bloglovin’

You Know Women Live Here

clothedwithjoy 5 Comments

My plate is overflowing lately (figuratively, not literally – I mostly just eat Fiber 1 cereal in a bowl), so I’ve been constrained to blogging in my head. But until I get some free moments to transfer from my brain to my fingertips, here are some FABULOUS finds from the thrift store today.

Paris Inspired Bathrooms here we come…

Four AMAZING Vintage Paris prints are perfect for our new Paris inspired bathroom. $24!

pa1

pa2

Super cute shower curtain for $3. This will go in the little girls’ bathroom.

I won this ultra fab brand new shower curtain with rings on eBay. I got it for a steal.

pa3

So, uh, yeah – this is a household of women. We can decorate this way.

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Making It Happen: PAINTED BEDROOM

clothedwithjoy 3 Comments

MIH PBFact: Not being married negatively affects the state of my house.

This is a  follow-up/weekly post  where YOU my blog audience “come home” with me to see if having you here helps me get home improvement projects done. For previous post go here.

Premise (same as last week – if read previously – skip down to Projects.)

I find being unattached affects the status of my home improvement projects in two ways.

1. The fact that there is someone coming home kind of gives me a kick in the pants to get stuff done. Clean up, pick up, make improvements.

2. I am so much more motivated to do home improvements when someone else is doing it with me.

Projects:

I’m expanding into the other half of our Victorian Home. I spent all day Saturday and half Sunday priming and painting the (previously) tan/maroon walls. (I’d Rather Be Blogging and I May Be Addicted)

r3

ew. ugly. 

bye bye.

 

 

 

 

 

wall1 wall 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bedroom walls are primed and the top is painted – all with paint I found around the house. Today, I bought the color for the paneling on the bottom – this room will be done this week!

wall 3

 

Bathroom tile floor. I will be on my hands and knees scrubbing this one. And the sink. And the radiator.

Deep breath.

 

 

 

 

Projects for this week:

More painting in my bedroom and the girl’s bedroom. If I scrub a floor – well, that would be cool too.

I am really thankful for great health – no back pain. I’m feeling good – I’ll keep plugging along. God is good.

Follow the home improvement saga and other craziness on bloglovin’

Yuck! Ocupado

clothedwithjoy 2 Comments

Attention Bathroom Door Non-lockers: While using the bathroom in a public location – please lock your door. While it may not be a big deal to you to be visited on the toilet while doing your business, it sure is an unpleasant surprise for the viewer – i.e. Moi. 

Sincerely, Scarred for Life.

lock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Bathroom.

You would think that the above plaque would be unnecessary. Sadly, no.

Is there some sort of thrill that is derived from being walked in on while on the pot?

Are certain people simply forgetful?

Is it a matter of just not caring?

What are you, a locker or non-locker?

Some months ago my youngest daughter came down from our house into the public office area to use the bathroom. If you read my Naked in a KFC Bathroom post you’ll know that she needs to disrobe to poo. In this case she merely removed the bottom half of her clothing and, for a little while, proceeded to walk around the populated office area wearing only a shirt and nothing else, thankfully I work with my parents and brother. Soon after, she was back on the pot doing her business. As I left her in there to perform she called after me, “Mom, shut the door, someone might see me.”

Proving without a doubt that being seen naked on the toilet is exceedingly more embarrassing that being seen naked anywhere else.