D is for Durock

Our new tile guys started yesterday and put in a full day's work, and it shows! They are back again this morning, and we're hoping that a good bit will get done on through the weekend. Check out the progress so far - and this is just after one day!


Cement board is installed anywhere you plan to tile. In our case, 1/2 inch Durock is installed on the floor and 1/2 Hardi Backer (a different type of cement board) is installed five feet up the walls where we plan to tile behind the tub and sinks.


Hardi Backer cement board up the walls of our shower. The shower membrane was secured down and goes up under the cement board to prevent any water leakage behind the walls.


Hardi Backer behind the tub, where the wall tile will be installed


More Hardi Backer on the walls behind where the new vanities will go


Our toilet has a new home beside the bed, for now...


Dust! Needless to say, I've scheduled a huge cleaning party in the bedroom after the remodel has been completed

The Never Ending (Bathroom) Story

We're moving along with our bathroom remodel, and have made some good progress the past week and a half. My dad came down to help us last weekend with some electrical work. We bought two light fixtures that will hang above two recessed vanities, so we needed our current single junction box to disappear and become two. Dad also installed another outlet near the second sink.

In the midst of this progress, we had a setback with our tiling. We hired a tile guy, who subsequently disappeared after we gave him a deposit. After trying to stop the payment on our check (the check had been cashed before the stop payment went through) and calling the girlfriend of the tile guy numerous times, in addition to calling our tile guy over 100 times during the week he was MIA, we finally had to take matters into our own hands by the end of the week. After several heated telephone conversations with the tile guy, we went to the Cary Police Department and had the officer in the fraud department contact our tile guy. To make a long story short, our money was returned to us in the form of a certified bank check on Christmas Eve.

Now with that episode behind us, we are focused on doing as much as we feel comfortable with. Obviously we can't do plumbing work, so we had a plumber come on Christmas Eve to replace some pipes and stub in the water main lines to the sink and shower. Afterwards, we replaced some moldy installation and framed in where the two recessed vanities will go in between the studs in the wall. Luckily, we've found another tile guy - a man who does business with my father-in-law who has provided us with his tile guy for the week. Our tile is our (fingers crossed) last major hurdle. After we get the tile installed, we'll paint the ceiling and walls, bring the plumber back in to finish up the plumbing and begin installing the fun stuff - faucets, mirrors, lights and decorations. And oh yeah, being able to take a shower again in the master bathroom and putting our clothes back in the closet (that is, after we get our closet system installed).


Old insulation down


Old wires and junction box location


And then there were two...


Dad consulting the home improvement book


Our plumber's tools


New shower membrane


New drywall in the closet


New insulation and vapor barrier


The new tub filler, waiting to be unveiled

More to come!

'Twas The Day Before Christmas

'Twas the day before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a doggie was stirring, not even a mouse.
The fixtures were waiting by the bathroom with care,
In hopes that the plumber soon would be there.

The doggies were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Milkbones danced in their heads.
And Husband in his ball cap, and I with pulled back hair,
Had just opened our wallets for a long bathroom repair.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the front door, readied our cash

The sun on the breast of the plumber's work van
Gave the lustre of reality to I and my man.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
But another contractor's estimate, more bills to fear.

With a young plumbing expert, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment our water line soon would be nixed.
More rapid than eagles his tools and supplies came
And he measured, and studied, our exposed shower drain!

"Now Mister! now, Misses! This job I can do!
The only problem is, you can't use the loo!
For the main water line, you will have to shut off!
So I can work quickly, you won't even scoff.

As dry bank accounts dwindle with each home improvement,
The Husband and I were anxious to stop the money movement.
So up to the bathroom our plumber ascended,
With a box full of tools, and pipes soon to be mended.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard from upstairs
The sawing and hammering from our bathroom repair.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Out the pipe valves and wrenches came with a bound.

The plumber was surrounded from his head to his foot,
With new pipes, hammers, sockets and soot.
The bundle of tools he had resting on the floor,
And he looked ready to work, and so much more.

His tools-how they twinkled! his work boots how merry!
The new pipes were the color of roses, the washers like a cherry!
We unpackaged our fixtures, tied up in a bow,
And the silcone caulk was white as the snow.

The plumber spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And sawed the old pipes, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his tools,
And giving a nod, out the invoice he pulls.

He sprang to his van, all his tools packed away,
And up the street he drove, without any dismay.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Pay the bill within 30 days, and have a good night!"

Prep Work

This week we made more progress on our bathroom. We have subfloor back in the closet area and we've purchased all of our tile and some supplies. Because our vision was more than we could take on ourselves, we hired a tile guy to tile the shower, around the tub, the floor and portions of the wall. Tonight the tile guy did some prep work, removed the old shower base and scraped the popcorn off the ceiling. We're looking forward to getting tile in the bathroom and to start putting our house back together again.


Sydney exploring the new subfloor in the closet


Bare bones shower


The shower base removed


Buh-bye popcorn ceiling!


Major shopping trip to Home Depot for tile and supplies


Choice porcelain tile for the floor


Fancy tumble stone tile for a decorative inset on the walls


All the things that will eventually end up in our bathroom

The Demo Continues

So...you thought we were making progress? Well, we are! During our initial demo this past weekend, we found wet subfloor in the closet. Turns out there was no leak from the adjacent tub in the guest bathroom, nor was there a leak from the roof. The wet subfloor was due to...pet stains...trapped for almost 20 years. Yeah, um...you can only imagine how THAT smelled. So, in order to get rid of the smell, we had to get rid of all the subfloor in the closet. We're also removing some subfloor that was under the vanity. Fortunately, we are not tackling this project alone. We have reinforcements. One of my wonderful co-workers offered up her wonderful husband to help us out. He has years of experience doing this kind of work, so we know we are in great hands. Check out our continued demo:


Stack 'o drywall and subfloor


Our closet wall that we had to tear out to get to rotten subfloor below.


The corner of our closet.


The exposed side of our tub in the guest bathroom.


Stack 'o tools.


The fun continues...

Bathroom Remodel

You know when you sit back on the couch and snuggle up under a blanket and turn on HGTV? And you know how cute those little hosts are in their designer jeans, fitted vintage T-shirts over long-sleeve white fitted T-shirts and perfectly unscratched toolbelts? Oh, and you know how they edit the program to show only the fun parts, and almost none of the homes they work on have surprise water damage, mold, leaks or termite damage? And the homeowners who are doing it all "DIY" actually have licensed contractors with them guiding them along the way? Well, move over HGTV, we're rockin' DIY the real way.

We're remodeling our master bathroom after we discovered a leak under the shower last year. Armed with Home Depot gift cards and a chunk of time thanks to the Thanksgiving holiday, we started demo on Wednesday. We discovered some rotten wood not only near the shower base but near the vanity and in the closet. We pulled out some drywall, pulled out the vanity and ripped up the vinyl floor. The smell is terrible (um...water damage plus possible cat or dog urine stains on the subfloor does makes you really question why you didn't buy new construction. Dear previous homeowner, if you are reading this, you are gross). We have the windows wide open and the bedroom and bathroom shut off from use. We have a couple of handymen coming out on Monday to give us an estimate on replacing the subfloor and pulling out the heavy shower base. Check out our most awesome demo pictures:


Our closet


Where our giant mirror use to be


View from the tub


View of the tub


Where we use to shower


Where our toilet use to be (yes, that is purple paint on the wall. Again, we seriously question the judgement of the former homeowner)


View from the closet


Inside our closet, where we discovered wet subfloor


More demo in the closet


The vanity we pulled out


Where I sleep because our bedroom is off limits (and apparently where River sleeps too)


Our guest bedroom is now our new walk in closet!


What happens to your bedroom when you are remodeling your master bathroom

A Morning Walk

Walking Sydney and River is one of my favorite activities. I jokingly refer to the dogs as my personal trainers. Last weekend my mom came to visit and we took the dogs on a walk on Sunday morning. Lake Crabtree is within walking distance of our house, and we just hop on the Cary greenway to get to the lake. The sky was clear, the air was crisp and the dogs were happy. Below are some great pictures my mom took along the way.


Just your typical walk with two 80 pound dogs


Trying to keep them out of Lake Crabtree


Walking ahead...


Beautiful sight.

We're Doomed

Not all of the polls have closed yet, but it looks pretty clear that Barack Obama will become our nation's 44th president, and the first African-American president in our nation's history. This is quite an accomplishment, and on that fact and that fact alone, I congratulate Mr. Obama and take pride in the fact at how far our country has come in a relatively short period of time. Could anyone my parent's age imagined this 30 years ago?

However, we are doomed.

Barack Obama is a socialist. He is a brilliant politician who ran his campaign towards center political ideology in order to dupe about half of Americans in to voting for him. Don't like feeling duped? Yeah, neither do I, which is why I voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin. I, in fact, like being told the truth by my politicians.

But, let me get back to Mr. Obama. As if his questionable associations weren't enough - Bill Ayers, Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, Rashid Khalidi, ACORN and who knows what other leftist organization or radical crazed loon he chooses to spend time with - we have NO IDEA HOW HE WILL GOVERN. Let me state this again: we have no idea how he will govern.

But wait, he has been an Illinois state senator and a US state senator. We too can get an idea from his senate record on how he will govern!

Yeah, right. Mr. Obama is famous for the "present" vote as both a state and US senator. He started campaigning for the presidency, like, 115 days after he reached the US senate. He's known for being late to many senate hearings. We're not really sure how he will govern as president. All the American public has are snippets of his record as an elected official. And those snippets do not exactly fall towards moderate political ideology. They are far left, more radical than any decision most Americans would chose. But, as I mentioned earlier, Mr. Obama is a brilliant politician who obviously knows how to campaign in order to win.

Combine his questionable associations with his limited liberal voting record, and you have to wonder what the future holds. His character is questionable - he's on record saying that rural Americans cling bitterly to guns and religion. He wants to bankrupt the coal industry. He sat in the church of Reverend Wright for over 20 years. Reverent Wright married Barack and Michelle and baptized his two daughters. He straight up lied to us during the presidential debates about ACORN and Bill Ayers. There is strong evidence that he does not have Israel's best interest at heart. And we all know that he wants to spread our wealth. Um...I didn't vote for you, so could you please keep your hands out of my wallet, as I work hard for my money and at the end of the day I really don't have much left over to "spread" around to other folks.

I love this country. I question what we have just done. I worry who the American voter has chosen to be the 44th president. Just over 50% of our country is choosing a man to run our country who will most likely turn it in to a socialist society. So he gives a good speech. Big hooey. We don't elect speech writers into the Oval Office. We elect a leader, a role model, a person who will serve this country to the best of their ability, who will fight for our nation, our security against foreign threats and will protect our citizens at home and abroad.

Mmm...kind of sounds like the man I voted for.

Today, America has chosen to elect someone else. Who that someone is, we won't know until well after January 20. We can't know because we don't know what Mr. Obama will do in the White House. And with a Democratic stronghold in the Senate and House, I fear dark days lay ahead for our country.

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country..."

Our country has chosen to elect a man who wants the government to do everything for them. How far we have wandered as a people from that shining sentiment spoken by John Kennedy some 40 years ago...

God bless America, keep it safe in the years to come.

Free Stuff on Election Day? Bring It

As if election day isn't exciting enough, I learned over the weekend that Starbucks will be handing out free tall cups of regular coffee to everyone who votes on Tuesday and that Ben & Jerry's is providing voters a free scoop of ice cream. Free coffee and ice cream? Hello? Did these companies poll me exclusively to ask what will get me to the polls? Of course I would vote anyway, but the fact that Starbucks and Ben & Jerry's want to reward me with caffeine and sweet ice creamy goodness...bonus!

And, a quick Google search of freebies on election day returns a couple more freebies! Score again!

Participating Krispy Kreme stores will offer one free star-shaped doughnut with red, white and blue sprinkles to each customer wearing an "I Voted" sticker.

Free tatoo removal! (North Texas only, darn it.)

Eight Below

Today we bought some movies at Best Buy, including "Eight Below" which we watched tonight. This was a great movie, although if you haven't seen it yet, make sure you have a few tissues within reach. It has a happy ending, but there are definitely some tear-jerking moments as these eight huskies fight for survival in the Antarctic. If you are a dog owner, this movie will make you want to hug your dogs after the movie (which I did for several minutes with each of my dogs, both of whom gave me a "just let me go back to sleep" look. But I didn't care - I'm there momma and I can hug them whenever I want to).

But back to the movie. Paul Walker was the main actor in the movie but the huskies were the real stars. They are so cute, so amazing to watch in action. After the movie we watched the making-of-the-film on the special features and learned that each dog had two doubles so they could rotate out the dogs for wide shot scenes and scenes that involved a lot of running. How wonderful must it have been to work with dogs on a movie! The actors looked like they were having a blast, and the dogs seemed to have a lot of fun too. Definitely check out this movie or just give us a holler and we'll let you borrow our DVD.

Sick Daze

Head colds are not fun. Neither is the flu. I'm not sure which one I have but I am definitely sick. Wrapped up in a blanket and resting on the couch, I took a sick day today to recover and avoid infecting my co-workers. And being sick on Halloween is so not fun! We're weren't planning to go out, but I was planning to dress up and reprise my role as Princess Leia. Perhaps if I feel a little better this afternoon I can get myself geared up for the big night of handing out candy and trying to control our dogs from running out into the street to join the trick-or-treaters (or as my grandmother liked to say, "spooks"). We'll hand out candy regardless, and it will be a fun night. Let's just hope my cold/flu goes away soon so that I can get back to walking the dogs (did I mention they are about to go crazy because we haven't walked since Tuesday night), going to work, and being more than just a lump on the couch. Fortunately my sweet husband has been taking care of me and pumping full of chicken noodle soup and Alka-seltzer.

Top Ten Reasons Why John McCain Can Pull Off The Upset

10. Joe Biden enters the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and loses by misspelling the word "football".

9. Bill Clinton plays a sax solo during "Drill Here, Drill Now" with Aaron Tippin on Huckabee.

8. Sarah Palin and Colin Powell compete on So, You Think You Can Dance, and only Sarah gets on board the Mary Murphy hot tamale train.

7. John McCain is offered a guest hosting gig on The Tonight Show based on his speech at the Al Smith dinner.

6. Hillary Clinton is discovered at a McCain-Palin rally in Ohio disguised as Joe the Plumber.

5. Oprah has Sarah Palin's glasses in her Favorite Things show.

4. High School Musical 4 is released November 3rd. The storyline revolves around a young man doing drugs, but who dreams of one day becoming president. He votes "present" during elections for homecoming king and queen.

3. Barack Obama tells Warren Buffet that he will spread his wealth around.

2. ACORN is successful in securing more votes for Ronald McDonald in Ohio, thus losing the state for Barack Obama.

1. Michelle Obama slips and says that she has never been proud...of her husband.

Raise The Roof: Sarah Palin In The House

Mad props to Sarah Palin for appearing on SNL last night.





You gotta give up to Palin for appearing on a show that has completely trashed her the past few weeks. She did a great job, and the cast members seemed to have a good time joking with her. Let's hope she'll be raising the roof at One Conservatory Circle come January 20.

Just Because You Are A Professor Doesn't Make You Smart

I always knew that my beloved college Alma mater was a relatively liberal university located in an extremely liberal town. It wasn't so uncommon for me to see two young women engaged in a lip lock on my way to class, or to see fliers posted in the Pit about the upcoming Young Democrats meeting (funny, I never really saw any Young Republican fliers). My senior year we had an anti-abortion organization display over sized pictures of aborted fetuses in the lower quad (you can image the rebel rousing that caused, and on both sides too, because there is a time and a place for everything and seeing these images on the way to Lenior to grab a turkey sandwich before 1pm English Lit was not one of them). The campus and school, it seems, are game for anything.

So when I ran across this story posted on Michelle Malkin's website, I was intrigued, but ultimately not that surprised:

More schools to avoid: UNC-Chapel Hill. They heart The Unrepentant Terrorist.

The line refers to an article published in the News and Observer about professors from UNC signing an online petition in support of William Ayers, of most recent fame for his relationship with Barack Obama and the fact that Ayers bombed several Federal buildings back in the '60's and '70's and has absolutely no remorse for doing so.

CHAPEL HILL - Bill Ayers, the radical militant-turned-university professor whose ties to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama are under scrutiny, is getting some support from faculty members across the country.

Professors from UNC-Chapel Hill are among the more than 3,200 educators who have signed an online petition in support of Ayers. More than a dozen signatories are from local universities here in the Triangle.

Lawrence Grossberg, a UNC communications studies professor, said he signed the petition because he believes Ayers should not be demonized for his actions 40 years ago. He said he also respects the work Ayers does now as an education professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Ayers is a school reform advocate who has written or edited more than a dozen books.

"He did break the law, and he was punished and he moved on," Grossberg said. "He built an extraordinary life. He has become one of the leading scholars in the field of education. [People are] excoriating him for things he did 40 years ago and misrepresenting what he has done since, in order to make someone else suffer. That doesn't seem very American to me."

Most local signers were from UNC-Chapel Hill, though others were from Duke, N.C. State and UNC Greensboro.

Honestly, this comes as no shock to me. It's not like UNC doesn't already have the reputation for being a fairly liberal teaching institution. Sure, I absolutely love the university and loved my four years being there. It's just a little frightening to think back on some of my classes and wonder, "Gee, were my professors teaching me true academia, or academia with a slight personal/political agenda." In general, I would hazard to say that most professors and education professionals lean towards the liberal side. In fact, I had one Religion professor who was absolutely adored by students. He was a great instructor, cared about his students, and an agnostic. He had a common law marriage, did not believe in government and probably skirted around paying his taxes. For all intents and purposes, he'd rather have nothing to do with the state and Federal government at all. Interesting that he choose to teach at a public university for over 20 years, in which his salary was paid by...yup, you guessed it...tax payer money. Probably shouldn't criticize the 'ole government so much, right?

But, back to the issue at hand. It saddens me that many of the UNC professors feel the need to sign this ridiculous online petition supporting Ayers. Do they even know the guy? Doubtful. Are they just falling in line with the liberal mindset and showing support for Ayers because it is the Liberal PC thing to do? Highly probable. Futher, I find it extremely interesting that anyone would support Ayers because his actions killed 7 people. Who cares if it was 40+ years ago? People died. And yet Ayers lives a cozy little life with his wife up in Chicago "teaching" (read: ingraining) students to be radical themselves.

Back in 2006, a fanatic drove his SUV into the crowded Pit on UNC's campus during the middle of the day. He claims he mowed down students in the Pit in response to the US government's treatment of Muslims around the world. Domestic terrorist? Yup, I think he earned that title. And he did this horrible act (no one was killed but at least 3 were injured) for his own purpose because he believed in something, you could even say that he believed in a cause greater than himself...just as Ayers believed in a cause greater than himself (hey, I didn't say the greater cause was good or anything. But you don't see professors at UNC lining up to sign an online petition in support of Mohammed Taheri-azar. Why should they sign a petition in support of Ayers?

Seems like earning your Ph.D doesn't necessarily mean that you will also earn common sense and a mind of your own.

McCain-Palin, XOXO

As you know, Gossip Girl is one of the shows I watch and (yes) like...a lot. Sure, it's about a bunch of uber wealthy prep school kids who rule Manhattan, a lifestyle I know absolutely nothing about, but I watch GG still. Guilty pleasure? Absolutely. Mental escape? Definitely. Political messages? What?...

You can imagine my surprise and delight when I came across this ad from MoveOn.org featuring two of the characters from the show. Penn Badgley (who plays Dan Humphrey) and Blake Lively (who plays Serena van der Woodsen on GG, and also of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fame) are featured in the ad. Now, it is an anti-McCain ad, but check out the hat that Penn finds in his parent's closet...



The hat is none other than a hat designed by American Elephant! How cool is that? Sure, I totally disagree with the message, but the fact that MoveOn.org and Gossip Girl have used an American Elephant design to show just how much they loathe John McCain, well, American Elephant must be doing something right.

XOXO, A Coffee To Go

Dog Party!

In honor of one of my favorite books as a child, Go Dogs, Go!, in which there was a huge dog party in a tree at the end of the story, I title this post.

Below are some pictures of Sydney, River and their friend Indy (our neighbor and friend's dog who lives up the street). We use to live next door to Indy, so Sydney has known Indy for a long time (they use to greet each other through an opening in the fence separating our two backyards). Sydney has long since outgrown Indy, but they still love to play with each other and are good friends. River, our calm dog, is usually the silent observer.


Resting for a bit.


Nothing like a good old fashion game of tug-o-war!


Looks like someone needs a bath!

Thanks Krissi for the photos!