Is it lawn furniture or outdoor plumbing?

Bathroom’s gutted…obviously! LOL!

And the new tub is in. It’s not hooked up, just finally fit into the spot which was a major feat in itself. Do you see the left white pipe with the elbow in it? It’s the size of a pinky finger and it was keeping the tub from sliding into position. Hubby had to cut and reroute the old brass pipe from the bottom and run it behind the board which put us an entire day behind. All for a pipe less than an inch wide! We had figured the bathroom would be about 80% finished this weekend, but all that’s done is the tub fits in. Then when hubby tried to hook it up to the pipes which are reached through the hole in the dining room below (something we have also been living with for 4 years!) the old pipes are fused into the wrong position and he has to cut and reroute those too! *big big sigh*

And just to add insult to injury, the tub wall was cracked so it has to be returned. Oh well, if it went smoothly, it wouldn’t be our house! LOL! Oh! And here’s a pop quiz…What decade was this bathroom first decorated in? This is the vinyl flooring and the counter around the sink:

The orange we knew about since we were still living with it (and trying very hard to decorate around! lol) but the floor was a surprise that had us bursting out laughing! If I didn’t know better, I’d say Mike Brady himself designed this house!

We had hoped to get this house on the market in June sometime, but I just don’t think we can pull it off. Hopefully by late July after we bring the boys back home. It will be easier then anyway if I don’t have to keep the house clean for showings with 2 boys and company running through it.

I have been looking at houses available in the area we are moving to. We found some real estate places online, and we drove through some neighborhoods there recently and I had a real estate book of the area mailed to me, but all we can find is what we don’t want. After driving through the neighborhood around the college, we have decided that we don’t want to be squeezed into an old neighborhood that have basically all turned their yards into driveways. We also don’t want anything to do with a development that requires us to pay a monthly fee for the privilege of having them tell us how to maintain our property so that we look like every other house on the street! I am sure there are advantages to these homeowner’s associations, but we are not interested in that kind of home.

I was raised in an old Victorian house that my family had lived in for 80 years and the place was already 70 years old when we bought it. I well remember the rush I would feel knowing I was holding onto a bannister that someone had held onto 150 years before me. My grandfather was 89 when he died but was only 16 with his whole life before him when he first ran up the same stairs I did at 16. I just like homes with a past, and cubbyholes, and creaky stairs and uneven floors and such that give it character. Since this family of mine are a bunch of characters ourselves, it seems only fitting we live in a house with character! LOL! And we want privacy and space! So probably we will have to look at someplace a little ways out of the city. I haven’t seen anything close to that yet, but I have faith we will find what we want with the help of a realtor.

I like to think that sometimes (not always, but sometimes) things happen for a reason. Maybe our house repairs are not going smoothly because the house we want won’t be available until later. Or maybe I’m just grasping at straws? LOL!