wabbit seasoning

Whether it’s chasing the bunnies he sees outside, or helping ourselves to yet another delicious smackerel of something or other, tiny chumley always has a better idea of what we could be doing with our day. But sometimes, the needs of the world take precedence, and all he can do is quietly watch and wait.  

 

tub thumping

well, maybe do u think we can put the old tub faucet back temporarily, mom? duk duk has not had a good swimmy swim for weeks now and even ferocious falcons need their exercise :) 

two pees in a pod :)

hee hee, dad, now that we are far enough away and mom cannot hear us, let’s go to the new greenway and pee off the bridge :) 

live long and poop :)

mom, this show is great and all but, we are practically at the end of the season now and he has not shown anybuddy his pee card.  :) 

a time to sew

hee hee, o goody, time for us to do good for the world and sew again.

hurry up duk duk and put the pedal to the metal.

these  mask covers aren’t gonna sew themselves, u know. and i already told mom we would make and donate a zillion of them. :)

I really hadn’t planned on making mask covers for the pandemic. I’ve read all the same things you have about how ineffective they are. But what really clicked is when I read a fb post that indicated a need from some area houspitals for mask covers, to hopefully allow our healthcare workers to prolong use of their commercially made n95 masks. And possibly a need to use other types of fabric masks behind a face shield. I get it, these are imperfect solutions to an imperfect problem. But all the signs were there that tiny chumley and I needed to join the growing movement that is providing last line defense for those who need it. My years of hoarding fabric, getting stuff that spoke to me but did not yet have a purpose,  and holding on to scraps from projects gone by.  

Some of our friends might recognize the some of fabrics in our first batch of mask covers. They are the bits and bobs of bias tape left over from our dapper doxie dud making days, made so long ago now that sadly, we’ve had to say goodbye to a few of them. But now, their memories can live on, serving yet another magical purpose.  

I’ve chosen first to make a version of the instructables  ab mask cover pattern designed by a nurse. But very quick and ezpz mask patterns abound, one of the more popular being the deaconess mask tutorial.  If you are inspired to sew masks or mask covers as well, know that there is likely an organization that can help not only with supplying materials, patterns, skills, but also matching up / getting your finished masks to those who have expressed a need for them. Search in facebook for a face mask warrior group for your state, or google online for face mask warriors. And I’m sure there are other organizations as well, or more direct conduits for donation if you prefer that as well.  

Physically divided by social distancing, know that we can still  come together and make a difference. :) 

waste not want not :)

hee hee, well, mom, u see, well, what with us not going to the grocery store as much, and well, what with us not wanting to waste anything...

...me and duk duk thought maybe we could use our lettuce ends and grow our own bait to trap the easter bunny this year. and then, chomp! ezpz easter dinner :) 

signs

For months now, we have walked by the construction that is turning tiny chunley’s favorite bunny ravine into a greenway.  

And finally, now with heavy equipment and mounds of rock being traded for wheelbarrows and mounds of mulch, it would seem that the greenway will soon be ready for all sorts of curious visitors. But not just yet. 

hee hee, mom, i am pretty sure they do not mean ferocious wolves because if they wanted to keep me out, well, then, why didn’t they post the sign where a wolf could see it? 

b-9

well, i was just stinking i mean thinking maybe we could stay up late and party and play bingo more, what with the lab results for my two bumpies coming back as benign and all. :)

words words words

With workers coming to and fro, me painting and caulking and finally, getting to the fun part of shopping for things to refresh our master bathroom, poor tiny chumley has had less attention than usual lately.  But with everything in the real world coming very quickly to a snail’s pace, that will soon change. Completing bathroom refresh will have to wait, delayed by an over abundance of pre-emptive caution. And the world, tiny chumley's world, will be back to the way he likes it, a little wolf curled by my feet while we makey make the day away.

In the coming days and weeks, I hope devote a bit more time to writing these blog posts than I have in recent times.  More words, because all the words I'm seeing out there, though valuable and necessary, are just making me crazy.  There's a lot to deal with out there.  Let's hide together under this blog rock for a few blissful, normal feeling moments at least, shall we?

Anyhow, let me ramble a bit today about our bathroom.  And please, feel free to skip it and just jump down to the photo of tiny chumley down at the bottom.  Some days, it will feel like there are just too many words.  But some days, we need that diversion.  It's totally up to you, friend.

So, the bathroom. Once we finally got into the right mode of, okay, yeah we should really consider doing this, it still took quite a bit of thinking and searching to come up with a plan that I felt suited our aging needs, my visual sanity, and our budget.  Yes, freestanding tubs are a visual wonder, but have you ever tried getting in and out of one? We kept our giant garden tub and deck surround, because ultimately it seems safer for us as we age in place.  The tub I do use occasionally, and we use that deck, like, all the time.  To get in and out of the tub, you sit on the deck, spin your legs over and voila, stand up ezpz.  The deck is sturdy, and will never slip out from under us as we put on socks, or whatever.  The real splurge here was for a quartz top, and it's a tradeoff in cost I happily made when I first wondered about getting a freestanding tub.  A quartz deck means cleaner lines visually,  no grout lines in fact.  Solid. Sturdy. Lovely. Cha ching.

If you've shopped for bathroom tile and stuff in recent times, and lived under a rock as I have, you'll wonder what the heck happened to those ceramic wall soap holders, bullnose trim tile, ceramic towel bars, and marble thresholds. Nobody makes that stuff anymore.  It's all schluter metal edge trim and niches now, baby. Alright, that's what I felt every salesperson was telling me when I'd ask about all that stuff.  But nobody was really that fresh.  The closest I got was jaded eyeballs peering over serious eyeglasses, quietly saying what the eyeball's owners wish she could say.

Here's a random rundown of some design decisions and selections I made , and why...

AGE IN PLACE improvements, tempered by no floor design or significant plumbing changes: We already talked about keeping the tub. There wasn't enough space for a curbless shower, which is fine.  Chances are if we are having problems managing the shower curb, we wouldn't be up there in the first place cuz the stairs are way worse in the tall department.  Grab bars (one that can double as a towel bar, thank u)  and an adjustable handheld shower head seemed like good ideas, and luckily Moen offered what we needed and Amazon had some as open box/like new ones, which provided savings of roughly 30 to 50% off.  

NO NICHE, ONLY SHELF: The best place for a niche would have been on the exterior wall, and though some feel that's okay insulation wise, opinions were divided enough that it wasn't worth the risk. Plus, no matter how well tiled it might be, the grody potential was high, with it being in a prime splash zone.  Instead, the shopping gods pointed me to these moderately priced schluter shelves.  Which totally worked out considering these shelves don't interrupt the accent tile band and allow for the product to be illuminated, rather than hiding in a shadowy cave niche.  Plus , they were way less pricey than similar shelf concepts from the same luxury bath fitting store that had a thirty five thousand dollar really majestic carved stone tub.  That tub? You could bathe a family of four in there, plus their five dachshunds, in that thing. Yeah lovely but no thanks.

SOAP DISH: Even if we don't end up using it for soap, it's still a good place to put something like a scrubby or a razor. And luckily, I found this sleek little fella online at Home Depot,  also moderately priced and complete with little drainage slats. That was a total needle in the haystack of a find.  

TILES:   I have to say, the going was rough at first in the tile selection department.  When I make things, I often can see the finished product, or at least a good approximation and feeling of it, in my head beforehand.  It's sort of like a language of its own, but instead of words, it's an internal vision.  The materials are my building blocks, and just as one puts together words to make a great book, one puts together materials to make a great something.  With tiles, at first, my brain sat in a world of darkness, visually speechless.  I lacked a workable visual tile vocabulary early on, and leaned heavily on the tile store designers to point me in the right direction.  Only what they came up with, I just wasn't feeling.  And the offerings certainly weren't meeting my desire to minimize grout lines in the shower area, the wettest of all places. Those jaded eyeballs I talked about earlier? They spoke glaringly. One simply does not mix tiles like that.  It would look too busy. Trust me you won't be happy with it.  Keep it all one tile on the walls. Don't use too many different tiles, they said.

I get it.  I appreciate that look.  But that's not us.  So here we are now,  with five different tiles, all cohabiting the same bathroom.  And I think it totally works for us.

The next challenge, challenge interrupted really because it won't happen til after shower glass/trim and toilet install/final inspection - you know, the stuff on hold -  is all the goodies like rugs and plants and pictures.  The tiny red rug from Turkey that caused me a few moments of anguish as I worried about transacting that purchase on Shopier, a system now used because Paypal pulled out of Turkey? The rug that tiny chumley has  obviously already claimed? That will go in the throne room most likely.  But for now it will sit where it is, bringing in a cheery, ferocious pop of color in our otherwise serene space. And that's all I have to say about that.  :)

rumpty dumpty

Sometimes the path of the sun doesn’t always cooperate with how a little wolf’s makeshift nut box bed is oriented. But that’s okay...

...because some little wolves know exactly how much rumpty dumpty can hang off their bed without falling off it. :)

cootietagion-19

aw great...

mom, i know they taste awful but do we have any more antibiotics left? 

seedling

the little dachshund stared the seeds he had helped his mom plant just moments ago, quietly wondering just how long it would be before he could chomp a delicious cherry tomato. 

surely, because cherry tomatoes because we are growing them ourselves and because they are so small, it will not take very long at all for them to appear, the little dachshund thought to himself. 

and when they do, i will chomp each and every one! i will chomp you, and i will chomp you, i will chomp you and you and you! and chompies to you, and you and you and you and you! and chompies to you! , he gleefully thought as he looked at each and every pot. 

hee hee, and then when i am done chomping, we will plant more tomato seeds so i can chomp all over again! :) 

stop light

hee hee, wait for it...wait for it...

okay, now, mom! floor it floor it!! pedal to the metal!!!

um, mom, when r u and dad finally going to get a car that can rocket off in insane mode? 

edgewise :)

mom, when he comes today, can u please make sure the quartz man gets our revised tub deck drawing? u know, the one me and duk duk made to accommodate a slidey slide? because u know i know we both know that this wolfie will be too busy barking to get a word in edgewise. :) 

a day at the creek :)

cmon, duk duk, hurry. what? no, i packed our lunchy lunch already....a bucket of gummy worms and some chicken chips. what? well i understand chickens are related but u know i know we both know that it is either chicken chips or falcon duk wings if u know what i mean so just get your feather butt over here before mom finds - 

o, hello, mom. what’s that? o, nothing really.  me and duk duk were thinking we might goto the creek today. well, i mean, i know i get to stay home from school because of my stitches and all, but that does not really mean i have to stay home, does it? :)

put a socky on it :)

well, i guess i understand because it is very difficult to not even think about licking it, what with it being right there and all. but..

instead of christmas stripes, do i think i can have a socky that looks like a ferocious dragon’s foot instead? 

dear diary :)

dear diary,

i know it has been forever since i have written u but now that i am home from school for  the next few days while i am healing from by bump removals and teeth cleaning , it seems like a good time to catch up. first off, unlike my uncle fritz who had ten teeth removed during his cleaning, i did not need any ferociousness removed all. but the tushie man did remove eight bumps, most of which were dermoids and stuff but two were sent off for histopoopology. so, crossing fingers and toes on that. but anyhoo, i am feeling pretty fine now, though let’s not tell mom or dad bc the extra snackies have been outstanding. well, except the extra piece of chicken that dad gives me with every meal. it tastes a little sospechoso. but i eat it anyway bc, u know, chicken. and, let’s face it, there’s probably a pill in there. 🙄. i figure i may as well eat it bc if i don’t and i spit out the pill, they just make me eat pill anyway and the second time there is no delicious chicken coating, just a thick slathering of bitter disappointment. 

later this week after the tile man is finished with our bathroom and i can take a break from wolfing, i am hoping i can get mom 2 take some pictures of me for halloween . my stitches are outstandingly rawwr, if i do say so myself. and yes i have not been licking them. well, mostly. which thankfully qualifies me for  no cone necessary status. 

um, lessee, what else? o i am very grateful for all my family and friends who have been thinking and praying and vibing for me and left comments and suchy such on the interweb. 

i read them at nitey nite in bed but have not had a chance 2 comment yet on all of them, mostly because yesterday on our first full day off from school me and duk duk used up all our internet allowance time watching old bugs bunny cartoons and researching level eleventy poop shape making techniques. 

so, yeppies, diary, that’s about it for now bc i see now that all the waiting i’ve been currently doing for mom and dad to come to bed is now over. and with that, i must bid u a fond

toodleydoo!

b. :) 

not just another manic monday

just remember, mom,  after all this u promised me the biggest strawberry ever. and if i have 2 wear a cone, then i get the second and third largest strawberries too, plus the new trebuchet that me and duk duk want, plus no visits from cassie for like, three months. and , also maybe a new bouncy fun house with four turrets and two slidey slides on either side. :)

good vibes for monday :)

well, i guess even duk duk noticed that one of my ferocious wolf bumps has gotten kind of big rather rapidly recently ... so...if u and the tushie man think so, i guess we can remove them...

but, well, mom...if u cannot go back with me,  can i at least take duk duk so he can make sure the tushie man does not remove any more ferociousness than he has to?

none shall pass

 

o i cannot wait to how things are progressing with - uh-oh, i guess this means none shall pass...

hee hee, except for ferocious wolves!