Still on the mend

It makes me shudder hearing folks walking through the hallway in front of my office with the same "barking" cough that I have/had. It's like somehow I'm sort of responsible. Boo.

I'm still on the mend. While I feel infinitely better than I did last week, there is still a bunch of "gunk" in my chest and it's making me feel just about anything but productive.

Luckily, Garry got over it rather quickly and is working on a few projects before he starts his summer job on Wednesday.

Yesterday he started mortaring the stones for our back yard fireplace. The plan is to finish them up today and set them tomorrow after the mortar has had some time to cure. We should have a working fire pit by Saturday!

Also on the agenda for Garry today is to refinish the bathtub. It's in pretty bad shape right now. The previous owner painted the tub and it has been chipping off over the last few months. The biggest problem is that the paint chunks are clogging the drain - and of course our tub looks gross.

We went ahead and bought a refinishing kit for about $30. Currently, the tub is a beige/almond color and it just doesn't look "right" in our bathroom, considering we have white wainscoting and trim. We're refinishing the tub white (it just makes sense so everything matches) and possibly sometime this year (probably later in the fall) we might get around to redoing the shower surround.

Garry is going to continue with school in the fall, which is awesome and I'm so proud of him, but it also means our income will be a little lower than normal after his GI Bill runs out after this following semester. So most of our projects will end up coming out of my income and it will take a lot longer to save up the bucks to take care of them.

Since we have a few projects that will require contractors help, I think those are going to have to wait until after he finishes his degree - which means we're looking at about 2 years down the road to start. Not really a fan, but financial stability is WAY more important than getting large-scale improvement projects taken care of. Of course, it also helps that we have loads of friends that can help us out with some of the "not really contractor-worthy, but still more than our expertise" projects.

One of those will be installing the drywall in the attic. It's not one of those projects that's necessarily rocket science, but it's something that we're not really "good" at either. Luckily we have a few friends that are fairly adept at drywall installation and will work for barbeque. Once we get that room squared away, I can paint (you know I'm twitching to do it too), start pricing out carpet installation and eventually move our office (and set up my craft room) upstairs. Oh that will be a happy day. My mouth is almost watering at the chance to go look at paint chips.

Part of that plan will also involve building some office furniture. Right now, Garry has a little desk. Ideally, he'd have a nice-sized desk where he can have room to do his homework and play video games until 3am do computer stuff. We're hoping to make the desk long enough so I will have room for a sewing/craft station. Of course, drawers and cubbies will be a huge part of the design as clever storage is a necessity!

Of course, that's a while down the road...