I apologize for my long absence, but I have been mourning the apparent loss of my free clawfoot tub.
I say "apparent" because although it's lost, no one seems to know exactly what happened to it. See, a long, long time ago--like at the beginning of baseball season, when it looked like the Red Sox might make the playoffs instead of falling completely apart in an astounding night of baseball that left me whomper-jawed and kicking things--what was I saying?? Oh, yeah. A long time ago, like back in April, there were two clawfoot tubs in the parking lot of what would later become the awesome new hardware store. They were both painted green. Mine, in case you wondered, was the slightly smaller one on the right which was a slightly lighter shade of green and had had its feet removed. Shortly after the hardware store opened, both the tubs disappeared.
Two weeks or so ago, I asked The Magnificent Greg (aka The Tub Giver) to check on the whereabouts of my tub. He came back with a mumbly answer that was something like, "I dunno where it is," which might have been the truth or might have been TMG's way of sloughing me off. So then my daughter-in-law and I drove around behind the hardware store to see if someone might have dragged the tub back there for safekeeping. My heart leapt when we found a little tub on a pallet, missing its feet, which was in the process of having its paint removed. "That's it!" I squealed. Sarah said, "Mom, what paint's left on the tub is white, not green. I don't think that's the same tub." I may have wept a little, but I bravely took her out for shrimp nachos and beer, which made me feel a teeny bit better.
But I am still sad. A free tub, lost. Lost through my own procrastination and stubborn refusal to ask for help in hauling it from the parking lot to my house way back in April. Procrastination....stubborn independence.....Hmmm, that's a familiar theme here. And I know last time I talked about the tub, I said if I'd lost it I would need one of y'all to come kick my hiney. Well, that's not necessary. I've already kicked myself plenty over this thing. I lost a free tub. Free. So now, the budget for the bathroom remodel has increased again by about $1200, conservatively. Rats. Which means it will be put off again, until probably Spring of 2013. Rats, RATS.
And now, I think I'm done kicking myself over it. At least temporarily. Competitive Freezing Season (also known as Winter) will be on us before we know it, and I have stuff to do. Lots of stuff to do. I need to scrape the peeling paint off the east side of the house, caulk over it like White Trash Bob taught me last fall, and then paint it. I need to make sure all the storm windows are secure, check the caulking around the window frames, put some Seal-N-Peel around the inside frames of the windows, put plastic film (ugly but effective) over the leakiest windows, and generally get the house tucked in for winter. After that, I can make a list of the winter/indoor projects....some of which are still hanging around since last winter. Or even the winter before. It's that procrastination thing, ya know?