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So, the bad thing about having a week between deciding on the new bathroom layout and the date the order could be placed for the cabinets and vanity top is that we had a week to think about things. I discussed our decisions with a real estate agent because I was still in shock over the "we aren't selling many dual sink vanities anymore" comment by the three bathroom designers. The realtor concurred that since we have a second full bath on the second floor, we could go either way with it. But she thought that the "knee hole" for sitting to put on make-up was too dated a look. Crap - the last thing I want to do is date a new bathroom! So back to the drawing board we went.

Our sales woman was already booked with a 9:00 when the doors opened this morning, so we had another woman help us. That actually ended up to be a good thing because she looked at the layout through a different set of eyes. I really loved her suggestion about building drawers into the wall to store the linens. We were going to buy a second cabinet to match the one under the sink and recess it into the wall. The drawers are way more functional and will fit the character of the house better, I think. Whether that solution ends up to be more or less expensive remains to be seen.

We pulled the trigger and placed the order. The photo shows the cabinet we selected, and the mirror above will actally be a tri-fold medicine cabinet. We selected a medium cherry finish to lighten it up just a little, but will have the same color Silestone vanity top as is shown here. The cabinet and matching medicine cabinet will take about two weeks, as will the vanity top. Apparently the tub we selected may be on that same timetable. I thought the contractors were coming a week from Monday, but Jim just informed me they will be here this Tuesday. I hope they have enough work to do to keep them busy until the stuff we had to order arrives. All I need is for them to get pulled off to another job. Since this is the bathroom I use, I don't want this to drag out for months.

Now I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend - emptying out the linen closet that will be removed, the cabinet under the sink, and my closet as that is where the new drawers will go. Sounds like spring cleaning will come early to my house!

Especially if the home is no longer there. Today I went to see if I could find the house my mom and dad lived in while my dad was stationed at Jefferson Barracks. I have a picture of the house, and even though I don't have the exact address my dad had indicated that it was on Perrin near Notre Dame High School. A quick Mapquest review showed that Perrin is not a very long road, so not having a house number shouldn't be a problem.

The house was no longer there, however. There are several lots with no houses on them at all, so perhaps one of those is where the house once stood. I could see Jefferson Barracks from the area, and I wondered if dad walked there each day?

I decided to drive through the cemetery since the day was sunny, if not warm. There were two funerals taking place that I came across. I went to the highest part of the cemetery and got out of my car to look around. Though I have visited Arlington National Cemetery a couple of times, I have never visited Jefferson Barracks before. It was really sobering to realize that each of those stones represents someones past; a life lived and now gone. As I drove out the gates of the cemetery, a funeral procession was heading in. And so the cycle continues...

Katie went back to college this morning, as classes resume on Monday. We dropped her at the MegaBus at 8:15 and then grabbed a bite to eat before heading to Henry Plumbing at 9:00 when the doors opened. We perused the showroom for a bit, and then hooked up with a salesperson to narrow down some choices. She was great, and on top of that had recently remodeled her own bathroom of a similar size. She threw a wrench into my design by proclaiming that dual sink vanities are out. What!!! That's the first thing every couple on HGTV is looking for in a bathroom! She tapped into two other salespeople who concurred - they rarely sell the dual bowls. Instead she suggested doing the same size vanity top that we were thinking of and having one bowl and a knee hole, I think she called it. Basically a place to sit and put on makeup. I like that idea, it's less expensive, and I think it will make the room look more spacious.

By the time we left two hours later we had selected the tub, toilet, vanity, faucet line, floor tile and shower tile. We rock! We need to lay out the design we came up with and make a few more small decisions, and Henry won't be placing an order on the cabinet or the vanity top until a week from Monday. So we can tweak things, but most of the hard decisions are done. No more potty talk!

Jim Sepe came over to look at our bathroom today. His company did a fantastic job on our addition downstairs, so I definitely wanted him to do the bathroom remodeling. It was really fun to listen to him throw out ideas and alternatives for the room. It is a pretty standard size bathroom, so we can't get real creative. We have to keep a shower/tub combo because that is the only tub in the house. For resale down the road, any family would want a tub. I also didn't want to necessarily get rid of the linen closet in there because this house is really shy on closet space as it is. But if we remove the closet, then we can put in a dual sink vanity. I watch my HGTV - I know that is what all the home buyers are looking for. Of course they want it to be in a master bath, but hey, you can't always get what you wa-ant (everybody sing)....If we cut into the bathroom wall that backs up to my crappy closet we can put shelves in there to make up for the loss of the closet. Plus we'll gain the storage of the double vanity. Sounds like a plan, and he's to get back to us by Monday with pricing. Woo, hoo!

The challenge for me is to update the room to make it more modern without making it uber-modern and out of character. So tonight Jim, Katie and I went to Borders and became those people who sit around and look at books and magazines but don't buy anything. Okay, that's not technically true because Katie bought a pocket English-Chinese dictionary. So we weren't total slugs. Actually I would have bought something if anything we looked at had contained a design we liked. I really was not inspired. Guess I know what we will be doing on Saturday - hitting the remodeling stores.

Jim and I have talked off and on about remodeling the main bathroom on the second floor of our house. We do not {gasp!} have a master bedroom suite in our 108 year old house, and the only way to get one would be to add an addition or sacrifice one of the other bedrooms. Neither seems like a good option to us right now. It never has been that big of a deal because one of the smaller bedrooms on the second floor has an attached bathroom, including a shower. I use the main bath and Jim uses the guest bath. No biggie.

The main bath has had a few issues with the wall behind the tiled tub/shower, and two different contractors have told us the wall is "spongy". I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it doesn't sound good.

It so happens that at this point in time the contractor who did our kitchen/conservatory addition will have a crew freed up soon with no work lined up. We decided to jump on the opportunity to tackle the bathroom. It will be completely gutted - out with the tub, tile, flooring, toilet, sink and vanity. The pressure is on to find replacement parts quickly. We went to RSI after work yesterday because they do have a nice showroom. We took a couple of photos of things we liked. Next stop will be Borders to pour through the kitchen and bath remodeling magazines to see what is the latest and greatest. The bathroom has a window, and I'm not willing to sacrifice it so we can't use one of those all in one tub units. That would be an easy decision.

The biggest issue for me is that Jim is the one talking to the contractor. I just hope the workers don't just show up at my door without warning. Because you know who has to empty everything out of the bathroom. And being a woman, I'll want to clean the toilet before they rip it out!

Today my niece Julie came over with her two daughters. Molly is in 8th grade and required to do a Science Fair project this year. She decided that she wanted to do something with vermicomposting. Jim and I have had worms eating our garbage for over 15 years now. Because I go into classrooms and talk to the students about the composting process, having worms to take along was a great way to illustrate how it all works. Plus the kids always get a big kick out of seeing the worms.

I have a mini vermicomposting bin I use for the classroom, and it is empty when we aren't doing any talks. So I let Molly build her own worm bin with it. As she followed my instructions on how to get it started, Julie snapped away with the camera. However when it came time to transfer some of the worms into the new container, no one wanted to get their hands dirty. So I scooped out some of the compost and some of the critters and put them in their new, temporary home. It was probably for the best as I was gentle in moving them. After that Molly added the grapefruit rind I had saved from breakfast to get the worms going.

They took the bin home and Molly will feed the worms and monitor their eating habits. The worm bins are truly full circle recycling. You give the worms your food waste, thus saving on landfill space or sanitary disposal costs, the worms create a compost that can be used on your plants, and any extra liquid in the bin can be diluted with water and used as compost tea. All organic!

Cordelia, who is 8, thinks the worms are disgusting and was dismayed with the fact that some were going to be living in her house for awhile. She calls them little snakes. She had a close encounter with a big snake at her grandparent's house, so anything that reminds her of that experience is taboo. I hope that as she listens to Molly talk about the project and begins to see what the worms do to help the environment, that she will feel more kindly towards them. If nothing else, she probably will enjoy having them eat her garbage.

Last night Katie and I went to see "Grease" at the Fox Theatre. Jim is still up in Iowa with his mom following her open heart surgery, so Katie scored the second ticket to go with me. I have to say up front that "Grease" is not a favorite show of mine. The whole story line bugs me. Bad boy meets good girl. Bad boy gets good girl. Bad boy dumps good girl once he gets back with his bad boy friends. Good girl becomes bad girl to get bad boy back. Really?

The Fox has been heavily promoting the show because Taylor Hicks, winner of Season 5 of American Idol, is in it. Seriously, he has one song in the show. They brought him back out at the end to do a reprise of the song "Grease", and following the show he sang one song from his new CD, which he would conveniently be signing and selling in the lobby. I don't care for Taylor Hicks, never have. And for the record? My name is Kim Wolterman and I am an Idolholic. I couldn't believe Taylor won Season 5. And look where it's gotten him. Signing CDs at the Fox Theatre riding on the Teen Angel wings of "Grease." Enough said.

The travesty of the whole thing is that Ace Young plays Danny, the bad boy lead in "Grease". Ace was also on Season of American Idol, and finished 7th. He was fabulous in the play, and very cute to boot. Did you hear one mention of him in any of the advertising of "Grease"? No, it was all about Taylor, the one song wonder of the play.

Okay, I'm done ranting. The gal who played Sandy, the good girl lead, had played Elle in "Legally Blonde the Musical" at the Fox. She is as cute as can be and very talented. The entire cast was great, and very high energy. So despite the fact that the plot sucks, the production was really great. Go, greased lightening!