by jphilo | Jan 2, 2018 | Show Notes
by Jolene Philo & Anne Fleck | Home Again
Everybody at Home Again is getting ready for Baby Lewella’s imminent arrival. Below you’ll find links to products and establishments that have made getting ready for baby easier. Let’s start with the Pumpkin Patch book and toy store where Grammy Jo found rhythm instruments she and Tad will use to march around the house singing Jingle Bells until the snow melts.
Other businesses and stores mentioned in today’s podcast:
Once again, we’d love it if you would share your gluten-free and soy-free healthy snack recipes we can make ahead and freeze for Tad. You can scroll down and click on the “Contact Us” link to share them or send an email to homeagainpodcast@gmail.com any time you like.
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by jphilo | Jun 14, 2013 | Daily Life
News flash!
The Philo School of Home Repair is proud to announce that the hall and stairway remodeling project which began in April of 2012 is finished.
Done.
Complete.
Looking good.
Ready for use.
A wonder to behold.
To be sure, the effort began with an initial spate of optimism and took 12 months longer than expected, ravished our bank account, and proved to be sexier than any home remodeling project in recorded history. These days, we call the finished product our personal stairway to heaven. (Cue Led Zeppelin music here.) It’s so heavenly, the man of steel has created his own mantra, which he repeats whenever he ascends or descend the stairway:
Oh, it feels so good on my toes.
Oh, it feels so good on my toes.
Oh, it feels so good on my toes.
He’s right. The carpet runner does feel good on the tootsies. And the hardwood floor in the upstairs hall is much cleaner and brighter than the blue-gray carpet it replaced. But, me–I’m just glad it’s finished and am ready for lavish compliments. In case our stairway to heaven as rendered you speechless, appropriate responses are listed below. Please choose one and leave it in the comment box:
A. That’s the best looking stairway I’ve ever seen.
B. If you ever think of selling your house, contact me first. I’ll pay double the asking price.
C. Send all future remodeling project bills to me.
D. All of the above
by jphilo | Feb 25, 2013 | Daily Life
Who knew remodeling could be sexy? Certainly not me, until I went upstairs to investigate the progress on the hall floor project. Remember that project? The one we foolishly thought would take only a month or two. The one that enters its eleventh month of progress (or lack thereof) in March.
With no end in sight.
The finish work came to a screeching halt when a respiratory virus nailed both of us in January. But the man of steel is hard at work again, attacking the baseboards with plaster of Paris and a putty knife. I’m not sure what the purpose is, but he assures me it’ll look great…eventually.
Whenever eventually comes.
In the meantime, and perhaps in an effort to snazz things up in the midst of the mess, he decided to tape off the baseboards with not only customary painter’s tape, but also with the leopard skin duct tape that somehow landed in his Christmas stocking a few years back, along with hot pink and Hello Kitty varieties.
He was not amused at the time.
But now he’s come to grips with Santa’s thoughtless de-mannifying of the most manly of man tools: duct tape. In fact, the man of steel is expressing his inner interior decorator more the longer the project drags on. Revealing his feminine side in a most manly and surprising way. With leopard skin duct tape.
Remodeling doesn’t get any sexier than this.
by jphilo | Jan 7, 2013 | Daily Life
Our little stairway to hell’s heaven’s been a long time coming, but this week it’s one step closer to completion. The current remodeling project began with the words, “It won’t take long or cost much to replace the flooring in the stairway and the upstairs hall.”
That sentence reflects the total break from reality required to begin any remodeling project–at least at our house. Take a look a the timeline of the project thus far to get an idea of how far from reality those words were:
Late April, 2012–Hiram removes the grungy carpet from the stairs and second floor hallway in just one weekend while Jolene is gone.
Early May, 2012–We spend a few weeks reassuring one another that the stairs are in pretty good shape, in need of just a little woodwork sanding, paint, and carpet runner to look good. We need the reassurance because the hallway floor is ancient oak plank, complete with square nails. It needs new subfloor before the hardwood floor can be laid. Plus, we have to locate hardwood to match the two boxes left over from laying the living room and dining room floor 6 years ago.
Late May, 2012–Hiram blows a disk in his back. All remodeling on hold.
Late June, 2012–While recovering from back surgery, Hiram does an internet search and finds a place to order the hardwood. It costs an arm and a leg, which hardly seems fair when we’re already paying for Hiram’s new back. But since it will take 2–3 months to get here, we have time to pay off at least one body part before it arrives.
Late September, 2012–The flooring is almost forgotten as we anticipate the arrival of our first grandchild. When we remember and Hiram thinks his back is strong enough to carry boxes, he calls the store. They say the order’s been there for 3 weeks. Maybe their phone only takes incoming calls?
Late October, 2012–We forget to call the flooring guy after the arrival of our new grandchild. Since everyone will be at our house for Thanksgiving, we tell the carpenter not to come until after Thanksgiving.
Late November, 2012–The carpenter calls. He’s a hunter. He can’t come until the weekend before Christmas.
Weekend before Christmas, 2012–The carpenter gets half the floor laid. It’s the weekend of Camp Dorothy. Mom’s nap is quite interrupted. She is not amused. But she doesn’t complain. Much.
Weekend before New Year, 2012–Floor is completed. It looks great. All that remains is to complete our stairway to hell heaven is sanding and painting woodwork, picking out and installing a carpet runner. We try to reassure one another that the work’ll be quick, easy, and inexpensive.
Sigh.
by jphilo | Jan 20, 2011 | Daily Life
Hiram and I must be gluttons for punishment, diving into another bathroom remodeling project. We managed to finish the last one – adding a shower to the upstairs bathroom tub which required tearing out old tile and putting in new plumbing, new sheetrock, new tile, and new plumbing – the day before the kids came to celebrate Christmas.
That project was step one of our present project, turning the bathroom next to the kitchen into a laundry room. Last Saturday, Hiram moved on to step two. He tore out the old shower stall. It nearly killed him to pitch the shower door (which he thought was in perfectly good condition), and he couldn’t bear to throw out the top quality shower head (if anyone needs one, contact me please), but everything else was good riddance to bad rubbish.
As with any remodeling project, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is two-fold. The new stackable washer and dryer, which Lowes has patiently stored for two months and is willing to keep for a month or two more, will fit nicely in the old shower stall space. So we don’t have to tear out the closet beside it or the lowered ceiling above it to make room. And since the space used to house a shower, the drains and pipes are already there. Hiram will just move them a wee bit, put in a new electrical outlet, beautify the floor and sheetrock, and we’re in the first floor laundry business.
Now for the bad news. Um, the bad news. Well, the bad news is that there isn’t any bad news. The project looks like it will be less work and less expensive than anticipated, which is bad news for gluttons for punishment. Because gluttons for punishment don’t want nice. They want punishment. So either we need bad news, or Hiram and I can’t call ourselves gluttons for punishment. Instead we’ll need to take a trip to a warm place next January instead of launching another remodeling project.
Which sounds like good news to me. Best case scenario? We find a hotel that gives discount rates to couples who bring their own deluxe shower head. Wouldn’t that be good news for a couple ex-gluttons for punishment?
