Oy Vey - a little catch up - and NEW BATHROOM!!

It's really embarrassing how I shut down in November - it was just all too too much. So the list of things I've done since Nov. 15:
1. Work - conserve stuff for the Plastic Club, for Lea & Febiger, and manage my intern Posse - including attending a few of their art openings.
2. Work on making stuff for Book Paper Scissors - the big book arts fair held at the Free Library in Philadelphia. Very successful!
3. Finish the edition for our book exchange: (image courtesy of Julianna Foster)
4. Laundry (several times).
5. start planning bathroom.
6. drop work off for the next show at the Icebox.
7. Go to Germany for the Thanksgiving week to visit my Great Aunt.
8. Come home to find that the ignition to the heater has broken and the temperature in the house is the same as outside - about 45° - consequently:
9. Catch massive cold.
10. Move out of bedroom and bathroom for the contractors.
11. Neglect a lot of other stuff including the blog, friends, grading, the cat etc.

No more looking back: Here's what's going on NOW:
1. be shocked to discover I have two people following my blog! - i don't even know one could do that! :)

So yes: I went to Germany for a week to visit my Great Aunt who is 97. She's doing pretty well, it has finally come time that she get a hearing aid. But other than that she's pretty chipper. I set up my digital camera and took some "film" of her. Her talking by herself, talking with her Partner of 57 years, Erich (who is 82 - nope not kidding), and then her talking to me.

(yes they are speaking German - but I don't know how to put subtitles in yet - anyone?)
I spent the night with some wonderful friends in Mainz before I came back home. We watched the videos in delight. My Aunt is still really with it and can give anyone a piece of her mind. In fact, she was glad I was sitting in the video because the blouse I was wearing didn't match with my jeans. I should have been wearing slacks - light colored slacks.
We had some great conversations, I stayed in a beautiful little apartment in the center of town, which was good. They have so much energy - it makes me a little crazy. The energy is mostly for arguing with each other and I just can't take it for 24/7 straight, so I had my peace and quiet. It also gave me a chance to go shopping in town. :) I found a really great coat. SUPER WARM!!! Probably the best coat I've every had . . . and I discovered the best knitting store. Oh boy.
I came home with an entire duffel bag jammed full of the most beautiful yarn.
I'm half way through knitting a sweater. Well, you know, if Americans are responsible for the recession, I see it as my ambassadorial duty to support foreign economies.

Upon returning home, I couldn't neglect our own economy, so I went out and started shopping for bathroom stuff. I'd met with Jeff the Contractor before going to Germany, and he said to me, "So you have everything right?"
I said, "What "everything"?
He said, "Toilet, tub, vanity, sink etc."
I said, "What?! - You didn't tell me I had homework!"
He said, "Well you'll need that." Captain Obvious.
I've been in a bit of a panic about that ever since. sigh
I WANT A COBALT BLUE TOILET.
Is that really too much to ask? Kohler discontinued making them THIS YEAR! How can this be? I found a Rhapsody Blue one online and wonderful Roberta at American Standard sent me a test tile of the color. yuck. It's kinda blue grey - who would want go potty on that?! So I'm back to square one. I've also made a friend at Lowes - Mr. Italian Tom. He's really great, has been checking on things for me, and took care of a return for me so that I wouldn't have to come to the store. :) Cross your fingers for me - I want a blue toilet.
As if that were the only issue. Jeff started this morning. Ripped out everything so that they could start reframing everything. And whoever did the plumbing before did a lousy job to say the least. I'm not going to say what they did in case any inspector are reading this, but let's just say it's amazing that the third floor is still up. Jeff said he'd fix it - but he doesn't look happy about it. Let's hope chocolate cake works on contractors too.
Think that's all to the saga of the new bathroom? - ha ha - not by a long shot. I already bought my dream piece - a cast iron claw foot tub, painted cobalt blue on the outside. Gave Jeff the measurements - today he says it's not going to fit into the bathroom. Ugh. This is a real bummer. The guy at the antique place is not going to be happy. Hopefully, he'll have something else that will fit - but I don't think he will want to give me a refund. :(
The one thing I have that I think will be okay is my vessel sink. It's quite beautiful. I'm going to put it on an old nightstand and Lee - the Quaker electrician - will put a plug behind the drawer so that I can put my hair dryer in the drawer. :) Let's hope this will still work out.Oh yes - I had to give up my bedroom for the contractors. This is very difficult as this is my little "nest" and I'm not happy about sleeping on the air mattress upstairs. But it could be worse - I could be sleeping on a sleeping bag in the basement - or in my car - (shudder).

And finally - with help from Jacques - I replaced the toilet seat on the third floor. I'm not really sure what happened, but the toilet seat was cracked! And I had guests! How completely embarrassing! Ugh. sigh. They were very kind and didn't mention it. I bought another funky toilet seat. Why be boring?There, that should get us all up to speed.

Okay, I'm going to bed with my new copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Hermione did a great job translating, don't you think?