The Home Front

I guess I haven't said anything much about this in my lj, but really it doesn't concern anyone but those who will actually step foot in my house (my parents' house? I find myself making the distinction more and more)

Over the summer, we decided to remodel the bathroom. Okay, simple. Mom and dad pulled out the carpet and pulled down all the trim and pulled out the bathtub while I was at stu's house, or in France, I forget which. Either way, I came home late one night from the airport, and on the drive, mom casually mentions that the bathtub is gone. "what"

Anyways, they discovered a million mile deep stain of "feline piss" when they pulled the carpet up. In the last few years, our cat decided that really he didn't need to use the litterbox in the bathroom, so he'd just pee wherever he wanted to. It was very gross, yes, and from the looks and smell of it, he's gone on to the catroom and den, which are a little bit more out of the way, so not so big a problem.

So the bathroom is in disarray, which is pretty annoying because there's little chunks of wood etc, yay splinters, etc, but I go to Lowe's and pick out some pretty [expensive] wallpaper, dad goes to National Home Center and picks out some nice wood to put on the flooring, mom gets out the stain and varnish, and so we have a new wall and floor. But still no bathtub.

I convince them to get this biiiiiiig [expensive] shower from Lowes, but the order doesn't come in before I have to go to school for the semester. Everything is ready, but we can't go any further before getting the shower in! The panelling has been restained, revarnished, it looks so beautiful, but bam, the corner is empty, a hole in the floor.

Finally, they get the order in, and bam, shower. And when I was over for Thanksgiving, we put the rest of the pieces back in toilet stall (it's kinda in its own little closet).

But still, what do we do with the place where the bathtub connected to the counter? IDK and neither do mom and dad because that's the last hold out, floorful of nails and hammers and saws. I'm sure we'll think of something. I'm holding out for a little seat, because I used to sit on the bathtub and brush my hair, and I really miss it.

So that's the bathroom. Let's talk about the living room.

Every year, dad gets sick and tired of the wood stove and cleaning it and it being a general fire hazard (the chimney has caught on fire two or three times in my lifetime, never getting too far out of hand, we've always been able to waterhose it out) Last year, he tried to put in my grandparents' wood stove, but everyone agreed that it sucked, so he caved and hooked ours back up. This summer though, he had had enough, so he stopped up the chimney, tore out the stove, and installed an electric heat pump like they have in hotels. I know.

He repanelled the fireplace, put the mantle back up, installed the thermostat on the side, but no one has varnished the floor where the mat for the stove used to be.

To go with the new look, my mom started shopping around for some new curtains because ours were pretty old and we'd never pull them -to. After a faux pas with some red striped one, she got some nice gold ones, and after we were convinced they weren't too short, it was decided that they look quite nice~

But that's not all. dad got some windows and some two by fours and built a sunroom on the front porch. The front door is open right now, and has been all afternoon, letting the heat from the southern sun shine in and heat the house up. It got up to 80 degrees out there, even when it was only 67 in the house.

When he gets the sliding glass doors installed and won't have to depend on the changability of a sheet of plastic, it'll be quite nice!

(he's out there whistling now)

And they also took up the carpet in their bedroom since mom's dog is sometimes reluctant to pee on her doggie pad, and put some laminate flooring down. Kinda nice I guess, weird and a little ugly compared to the hardwood floors elsewhere, but whatever, not my room~

So I've been wondering what I could do with my own bedroom. Hmm.

dreams

I guess it's because I listened to She Will be Loved last night on repeat for a while; I couldn't stop thinking about that night of the concert in Besançon.

Maroon 5 had a free concert in Besançon while I was there, and I chose not to go because it was raining. Okay. Well, later, sitting in my room with the window opened listening to the sounds of outside, I heard some songs I recognized. 'Hmm, sounds like a party somewhere'. I told my host parents I was going out for a walk, and I just followed the sound of the music until it stopped, then while headed back, I missed a turn and turned my walk into an hour long trek. Ouch, yeah.

The next morning, I realized I had heard the last set of the concert, the hill acting as a sonal conductor, bringing sounds up to my bedroom from miles away. 'Cause the time I noticed the music stopping was right when the concert stopped. And it was all maroon 5 music.

So that's one of my big regrets from France, but regardless, it lead to an interesting dream this morning where not only I, but stu and my dad were doing study abroad at the CLA.

I have dreams about Besançon and the Rollets so often. I don't have dreams about Lafayette, or Stu's house, and I thought those made similar impressions on me. . . I've stayed at them the same amount of time anyways.

I don't know.