Here are a few of my favorite things, in Barcelona!

I love that the city is not just infinitely walkable, that there is fantastic and cheap public transportation and dedicated “alternate wheel” lanes: for bicycles, mopeds and other small wheels. We’ve seen skateboarders, roller skaters and recumbant cyclists too.

I love that the bars open at 7 a.m., the same time the night clubs close. I love that some people start drinking beer then, too! 

I love that vegetables are served at breakfast, and instead of orange juice, there is melon juice. And that I saw someone mix tomato and orange juice  this morning.

I love there are escalators in (some) of the hillsides and foot bridges over highways and busy roads.

 

 

 

I love that there are structures here (mostly walls and churches) dating back THOUSANDS of years.

Capella Reial de Santa Àgata (14th century): The base of the chapel is part of the wall of the old Roman city Barcino (4 a.d.)

Close-up of part of the Roman wall (4 a.d.), supporting Capella Reial de Santa Àgata.

I love the Boqueria market where you can find seemingly ANY ingredient ever, right down to the fresh spices. Where there were sheep heads and calf brains and cow stomachs, goat legs, endless rows of seafoods arranged by color and shape and  cheeses and cheeses and more cheeses. Oh and many stalls of cured meats too. And olives. 

 

 

 

 

 

And fruits, dried and fresh and nuts and candies and …

 

 

 

And, I really REALLY love the gazillion languages and accents heard all around you, all the time.

(All photos on this page were borrowed from public domain because my camera battery died.)

Barcelona pictures

Here is a small gallery of photos from our afternoon walk in our local neighborhood…

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Traveling is _________________ .

Stressful. Tiring. Adventurous. Noisy. Dry.

You can fill in the  blank with whatever traveling is for you.  We had fun at the airports, people watching. It’s amazing to see all the different sizes, shapes, colors that people come in. It’s fun to identify the different languages spoken or to translate a bit when we understand the language being spoken. We noticed that all the women who wore their sunglasses indoors were also wearing high heels. We noticed that those men wearing pants slightly too tight and too small, always seemed to be European (American men were typically wearing big shorts or baggie sweats and flip flops.) And here is what a typical American teenage boy looks like, at the airport:

Andrew and the iPod

We made it out of Boston and in to France. We ate delicious French patisseries and I had a lovely cafe. We slept on the flight from Paris to Barcelona. Navigating the Barcelona airport was not a problem: with signs in three languages and very obvious pictures, we would have to have been idiots -or very sleep deprived- not to “get it.” Bags retrieved and taxi hired, we were at our hotel in NO time.

Hotel Universal Barcelona on the Avinguda del Paral·lel. We arrived by 3 pm. Unpacked, cleaned up and walked for a while, finding our hotel very centrally located with easy walking to many sights and stores.

It's a small room, but very centrally located and clean.

Hotel room

Planes, trains and automobiles!

We’re off to Barcelona, Spain via Paris, France and then a cruise tour of the Italian coast. I am hoping to blog here about our trip, complete with photos and all the details I can manage. First though, we travel. A drive up to Boston, time in airport purgatory and a couple flights. I’ll be back with the gritty details sometime Wednesday evening (local time, Spain.)

Stay tuned!

Sigh…

Today is the day we’re starting the “bad wall” in the renovated bathroom. The wall behind the (not level) new vanity, the vanity without a counter or sinks. This is the wall with potential electrical problems because:

1. the contractor ran electrical wires OVER studs
2. the contractor capped live wires and buried them in a box in the wall
3.  we don’t know how the contractor split the one outlet’s wires into wiring for two outlets

Worst case scenario is that we will have to take out the vanity cabinets (thank goodness there are no counters, no sink.)

UPDATE: We have hit the worst case scenario

Contractor not only ran  live wires over the studs behind the vanity where we knew he did it,  but also here in the wall with this buried junction box. These wired were just hanging there. And we are wondering why exactly he chose to insulate this wall… combined with the bad electric, this is a HUGE  potential fire risk. I swear it’s like he did all this on purpose.

Electric wire over studs, interior wall insulation, free hanging junction box.

Close up of the same

Once again I wonder why no one wants me to make a formal complaint. I really think we have no choice but TO make a complaint. And to the fact that this contractor wants me to let him know before I file a complaint, I have one thing to say: “Fuck you.”

No news is… well, uh, no news.

That’s where we are. Still no new, still no progress. Now however, we have no one to “blame” but ourselves. I’ve been working in the yard and garden a lot and so haven’t actually given a tremendous amount of thought to our bathroom problem. We did get the tub surround properly caulked last week and the amount of water dribbling into the space behind the surround has significantly decreased. PHEW! And, I did take the lights off the wall that needs to come down.

I also did one difficult task relating to the bathroom: I went to talk to the granite counter fabricator. And, they were WONDERFUL. They have my sinks in storage and they were able to show me the countertop, all cut and polished and waiting for me. It has beautiful steel reinforcements on the front edge, the edge where we all lean when we are brushing hair, flossing, doing make up etc. It makes me want to hurry up with that wall so they can come do the installation and we can have this lovely counter.

I also think one of these rainy days I am going to head up to Providence to Restoration Hardware and choose some pulls/knobs for the vanity.

I know I say “one step at a time” a lot, but in this instance, I totally mean it.

Pictures to come again someday.

Time Flies

It does… time flies whether you’re having fun or not. Remember, we started our bathroom project in early February and here we are at the end of April, still no farther along than we were a month ago.

Ok, that’s not entirely true. We have learned a few things and made a few decisions. We learned that no matter who comes in to finish this job (contractors) they will have have to back track to a point where they feel secure in the current state of the bathroom and comfortable going forward from there. We also learned that the little tiny  bit of money we have left from our renovation budget is not enough to even pay a deposit for anyone. That is where the decisions have come in…

We are going to finish this bathroom ourselves. Yup. And I am betting we can do a much better job that our ex-asshat thieving contractor.

We decided not to rip out the surround and reset the tub, rebuild the surround etc … yet. Last weekend, we scraped away the grout that was cracking and crumbling and caulked with a lovely 100% silicone caulking. It seems to have done the job to prevent water from entering into the surround cavity. The water pools up on the lip of the tub and tumbles into the tub and down the drain. There is still the issue of the front, exterior lip leaking (remember the tub wasn’t leveled or supported) and water still runs out of the tub into the middle of the floor. But, it’s not as much and it seems to be possible to staunch the flow using a strategically placed wash cloth or sponge.

Next up: taking down the wall behind the vanity. We are going to leave the vanity cabinets where they are, poor plumbing and all. We will take down the lights, outlets and switches, and we will cut the wall level with the top edge of the vanity and take it all down. From here, we will red0 the wiring and then rebuild the wall, paint and reinstall (evenly, leveled and measured) the fixtures and lighting. At that point, we should be ready to deal with the company for the granite counter top installation.

After that, we will deal with sanding and repainting the walls, rebuilding the closet and then cleaning up the trim. And voila… basically finished. We will, someday in the future, have the surround and tub taken out and reset, rebuilt etc. But right now we haven’t the money or the expertise to do that, ourselves.

It certainly feel just like – starting over!

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die

Some days are just right for a little Johnny Cash…

I haven’t cried myself to sleep since I was young. Until now. Now I cry myself to sleep almost every night because I am at such a complete loss for what to do with this bathroom situation. We can not afford what contractors and contracting companies are asking to come  into a half finished, poorly done job, correct the problems and finish the job. So we’re stuck either doing nothing (and so not having ONE fully functional bathroom in this whole house) until we can save up the money -or- doing little bits and pieces ourselves. The problem with that is: Ron has the ability but not the time. I have the time but not the ability. Again then, we’re at an impass and can’t find our way to doing anything.

One of the unfortunate side effects of this whole rotten situation is that once again I am reminded about how very much I hate this house. I HATE THIS HOUSE. And as long as we’re in this house now, I will never be able to go into this bathroom and not think of what a complete ass this contractor was. He showed NO consideration for us in doing such a poor job, taking such a long time and not getting the job finished. He showed no respect to our house or belongings with the way he just cut into the brand new cabinetry so mindlessly, in the way he just slopped paint onto the rough and unsanded walls, the way he just so haphazardly put the closet together without forming corners or even measuring, clean cutting or sanding the wood. It’s like a giant “fuck you” to us though I fail to understand why as we paid exactly per the contract and paid for all the supplies as the ex-con tractor asked – and – without ever receiving a receipt from him.

The anxiety this situation is causing me is tremendous: I don’t sleep, I dream about this bathroom, I worry constantly, I’m edgy and snapping at my family, I’m frustrated with an entire industry, I’m terrified that another contractor will be as bad or worse. I have headaches, I have tension, I have shortness of breath, I have chest pains, I have upset stomach. Every single day.

The friction it is causing between my husband and myself is unbelievable, as we search for a solution to this dilemma, try and find a bit of money here and there to put towards this, to come to some kind of a decision. I’m sure the ex-contractor isn’t passing sleepless nights over this. I’m sure that he’s not worrying about what this family of three is doing without one fully functional bathroom in their house. I’m certain he’s not going to call me, apologize and start paying me back. In fact, I doubt this even crosses his mind at all.

I hate this house. I hate this house.

A little tomato juice, some horseradish…

It was a three bloody mary lunch today. I thought it would only be one, but by the time the second arrived I knew a third was lurking. I’m sure it could easily have gone to four but it was the middle of the afternoon…

The news isn’t good. Because ex-contractor was paid-in-full (still kicking myself for that one) we can’t afford what contractors want to come in to a half finished renovation project and correct one bad contractor’s shitty work, and then finish the job. We can’t afford the big contracting company and the 5-year guarantee they offer on their work. We can’t afford the small company and we can’t even afford the fucking handy man.

What we can afford is to do it ourselves. Which means me. Except I don’t really know how, though I can learn and can probably do a better job that our ex-contractor.

Here is what we need to do:

• caulk tub
• sand walls, re paint
• sand trim, re prime and paint
• make new closet shelving, sand, prime, paint.
• un-install vanity, take down lights, take down vanity wall
• re do electrical in wall, re measure for lights
• put up new wall, sand, prime, paint
• re install lights, level and even
• reinstall vanity, level
• coordinate with granite counter people to install counter
• install sinks, plumb
• sand, prime, paint the window trim and the door

Sigh.

Someone grab me that 4th bloody mary. And a xanax. Please.

The waiting really IS the hardest part.

I’m not a big Tom Petty fan but this song is just so appropriate to this circumstance.

Yesterday I had a team from a local remodeling company in to assess our bathroom situation and offer a plan to get this thing fixed and finished and safe.

The lead contractor assured me that there isn’t anything that is completely against code but certainly all those things that leave me aghast (leaky tub, sloppy tile, poor painting, lack of leveling of ANYTHING) are poor (unskilled) workmanship. He also noted that a possible reason our ex-contractor continually failed to deal with the radiator is because he likely didn’t measure to account for the difference between old and new flooring, and how that would affect reattachment. He measured (OMG HE MEASURED!!!) several times and the difference is several inches. This might be where ex-contractor created that giant hill of mastic adhesive in the radiator corner, circa his first attempt to lay the tile floor. Of course there has to be a better way than that. What about adding a bit of pipe to the thing? I am sure a decent plumber could help with that. I am sure the new contracting company can come up with a clean and elegant solution.

So the short list is this:

• Pull out the tub
• Rebuild the surround using a moisture barrier (I tried repeatedly to get the ex-contractor to use one)
• Drop in the tub, level (imagine!) and support (right now it’s not supported.)
• Re-tile, using a level and then seal the grout
• Repair, repaint walls, correct and finish all the trim
• Re-tile the floor (3^rd time’s a charm, right?!) and seal the grout.
• Clean up the sloppy assed closet work
• Center the lights (YES!)
• Re-shim vanity – because it’s not level!!
• Coordinate with the two companies that I have already contracted into for the granite counter and the custom wall mirror, to get those items installed.

The two most time consuming parts of this process are going to be the tub surround and the fact that we want to take down the wall that the vanity is against. Ex-contractor did 2 things that can compromise safety:

• He ran electrical wires over a stud (oh yes he did) and
• He buried an electrical (junction?) box in the wall.

I wish I had pictures of these so that we didn’t HAVE to take the wall down but in my opinion, better safe than sorry.

Ultimately, it’s not going to take very long to do this work either, about 5 days to maybe a week! WOOT!

But –

There’s always a “but”, right … The catch is that they are scheduled out 6-8 weeks which means we’re looking at the end of May, early June. It’s a long wait but that IS the hardest part. I am confident that this remodel company can and will do the work right and that I will be satisfied with the end product. And they have a 5-year guarantee on their workmanship, so if there is a problem, at least I know they’ll be there to fix.

I’ll have a better idea of the timeline and the cost, next week. So now I have to work on being patient because “good things come to those who wait.” Right? Right???