A^3's Cube

Last Friday was a very busy day. We dropped in on our remodeling place, then spent like an hour at the local tile & flooring store picking stuff out, and - more importantly - pointing and laughing at things that looked like Q*bert.

Then, heaven help us all, we went to Costco. Right before the big snowstorm. Inside was only normal levels of Costco crazy, but the parking lot (West Springfield, MA) was Mad Max levels of insane. That parking lot needs at LEAST one traffic light and probably at least one rotary. Luckily Mr Diane volunteered to drive at that point, otherwise we might still be there trying to turn left.

Bonus: I saw all "8"s out of the corner of my eye and thought the register had tilted. No, that was our total. Ouch. And that was WITHOUT booze or chocolate. Weirdly, wine now costs less than mixed nuts.

Over the last few days: the bathroom contractor came out and measured for tile; I phoned the schmancy fixtures store and placed our order; we changed our minds on the cabinet colour yet again, and ordered the cabinets and countertop; faffed around on the tile a little more, finalized the tile order, and put down the deposit on that. Oh and we picked out a paint colour. IT'S HAPPENING!

Meanwhile it's still colder than a very cold thing. I've learned things about taking the trash bins to the street after a big snow that I really could have gone my whole life without knowing. Oh well, all part of the Vermont experience.

It's been a bit over a month, and retirement is finally (maybe) starting to feel bigger than a massive extra-long weekend. There are still days where we do basically nothing but play World of Warcraft and snooze on the couch; but we're moving forward on the bathroom remodel, we're planning trips, and we're getting out of the house on a fairly regular basis.

Sigh, the bathroom.... it seems like the fixtures know their days are numbered. I never got around to regrouting around the shower; so of course that's now leaking water into the basement. The toilet has gone from "you have to flush it right" to running constantly. Who knows what mayhem the sink will come up with.

The cats are healthy as little horses. The yard is presumably still there; it's under a foot of snow at the moment, with more to come. The EV is cute and zippy and somewhat less efficient when it's f---ing cold.

I still need to set up the craft room for actual sewing. Cross stitch projects and library books continue apace. Here, have some work-in-progress pics.