Week 45

You guys! The plumbing is finished!

Sink!

Toilet!

Tub!

Well, mostly finished. If you look back at the sink, you'll notice that the faucet doesn't really match the tub fixtures (click on the tub picture to see it larger). That is a temporary faucet, put in while we waited for the final one to come in. The final one arrived on Friday, so it's just a matter of swapping it in. The main thing is that we have a fully functional bathroom downstairs, and we have passed the final plumbing inspection:

I think I see our friend Susie, the bath aficionado, on the front steps right now, towel in hand.

We are very excited about this, both because we can now fully use the room downstairs, and because it feels like an enormous milestone: it's one of the three remaining things that we can't do ourselves. The other two are painting the exterior and putting up the gutters (well, we could do those things ourselves, but our being on a ladder 2 stories up seems...unwise). Those are just a matter of scheduling, which I will organize with Mr. Bunkport on Monday. 

After that, we just wait for the paperwork to finish wending its way through the Planning Department, and then get the final inspection done. Even though our to-do list is a mile long (staining the doors downstairs, caulking window trim, repainting part of the bathroom, etc. etc. etc.), that's when I will call this project officially done (and will stop numbering the weeks here): when the final inspection is complete & the permit is finally closed.

In mouse news, it's been a whole week without any new sign of the little devils, so I think I finally conquered them. As further proof, I accidentally left a fresh loaf of bread & a stick of butter on the cutting board overnight -- if they were still getting in, those would have been demolished. Success!

My big project for this weekend is getting better after having come down with bronchitis this week.  I feel much better today, but Dr. AJ has issued strict orders for bed rest. My usual habit is to pick right back up with my projects the minute I feel better, and then, of course, promptly start feeling poorly again, so she may have a point.

Next up: AJ will try out the bathtub this weekend, using the bath bomb that the Martins thoughtfully gave her for Christmas, and I will work on getting better. And then Monday, I will schedule the final work with Mr. Bunkport!