Miscellaneous Projects Continue (Backyard Studio and Bathroom Reno)

Hmmm... I think the whole idea behind blogging is to provide brief, daily (or at least weekly) updates in whatever "areas of interest" you are yammering about, right?

Not wait for 2-3 months to pass and re-write freaking "War and Peace!" :::sigh:::

Yeah, well, brevity was never my strong-suit! So if you're here - "Deal with it!" ;-)

Mom's house is sold (Yay!). We closed escrow on February 28. While we didn't get as much as we were hoping (damned housing market!), it was still a halfway decent chunk-o-change (which is gonna get locked-up in some super-safe, modest-return, tax-exempt kind of investment).

I am spending some of it, though. Two Projects are in varying states of "underway-ness!"

Bathroom Reno: I ended up with three bids, and I have made my contractor selection. Original Kitchen-Guy came in with a decent "Labor-Only" bid. But his business has changed (he's now focusing almost exclusively on "cabinets"), and I'm really not up for running all over hell-and-creation, schlepping bathtubs in the back of my pickup truck! No, I'm gonna go with a "One-Stop-Shop" kinda place that specializes in Kitchens and Baths (that will do the schlepping for me!). It'll cost a bit more, but it'll be worth it.

American Kitchen and Bath is the Winner... They came highly recommended by my boss - and their bid was right in-line with what we are prepared to spend. Now, I just need to get the project rolling................

(Heck, maybe I'll even blog about it!) (What a concept!!!).

In the meantime, I have been a bit preoccupied with my Backyard Studio Project. See, this is where "blogging as you go" comes in handy! Oh, well!

Basically, about a month ago, I'd gotten an email from Tuff Sheds where they had some kinda Super-Duper Promotion of "Get a bid now and save a Jillion dollars" or something like that. They do have a showroom in Milpitas and I figured I needed to go see the sheds "in person" to decide what I needed... So I trudged up there one weekend and stood in several different sheds. Got 'em to write up a quote for an 8x10 shed, then came home to see if I had an 8x10 space in the yard!

Luckily, that was the first sunny, spring-like weekend we'd had in months. I determined that yes, I did have an 8x10 space - but we'd have to cut down three fruit trees, two palm-tree seedlings, and clear out a whole buttload of Gawd-Only-Knows-What in order to make room. I mentioned this to Rog and when he heard "cut down trees" his eyes lit up in a rather eerie way. "Do you want me to get the chain-saw???"

15 minutes later:

Fruit trees - Gone!

Then 30 minutes after that:

I bought replacements!

(Dwarf Cherry Tree on the left, and Satsuma Plum on the right.

I also went back a few days later and bought a Dwarf Apricot Tree)

Then a few days later:

Massive debris pile

And a few days after that:

Ooh! A building site!!! (Yes, the Inspectors are on duty!)

Okay... That's enough for now! Next installment: Let's build a shed!!!