Master Bath and a Band

We finally found someone we liked and could afford to do our master bath remodel.  I was so excited I started pulling wall paper off right away even though they wouldn't start in over three months!

When they gutted the bathroom and knocked down walls in the closet to make room for the shower, I couldn't believe how opened up it was.  Putting walls back up would soon ruin that feeling.  The bathroom is going to be much bigger though.

This bathroom was my Dad's.  He always had a leak from the shower that would drip on you when you got to the bottom step in the basement.  We could never figure out where that leak was coming from until the day of demo.  They found a small puncture in the shower water pipe probably from a clothes hook screw from the closet wall on the other side.  This leak would have never been found.

The window wall was causing a designing dilemma.  With a double vanity, how could I make it where the person on the right would look in a mirror instead of out the window?  I searched for a trough sink and found one, where the right faucet would be under most of the mirror but,  there wouldn't be room for a window frame.  So, we decided to use wood on the wall .  I call it tongue and groove instead of shiplap because I don't have a farmhouse.  The wood will be painted the same color as the walls. 

Our basement is the painting zone.

Our bedroom is the dust zone.

While this is all going on, we found out the TwoTakes band would be paying us a visit. They were on tour and our house was a perfect stop for them to stay for two nights.  Maggie's boyfriend Chase, is the bass guitar player.  Once Maggie heard they were coming, she bought a plane ticket to come up too!  So, eight people, one bathroom, and two bedrooms because our bedroom is considered part of the construction zone.

The guys took over the basement and didn't leave the house for two days.  They were just happy to be out of the camper, taking showers, doing laundry and having tea parties with Mom's china.

Construction continued on, and still is.  I think this is the sixth week.  When they are all done,
I will have before and after photos.

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The glass shower wall and door came today! 

I can't wait to take pictures of the after photos! It may be another week though.

Larry Sproston

The 1st of June I started a blog about all the projects we have been doing around here but, we got a phone call that Mike's Dad Larry, was in the hospital.  This wasn't really anything to worry about because now and then he would go to the hospital for various things.   The next morning we headed over to Cedar Rapids to visit him.   We were worried once when we got to the hospital. When Janelle asked several doctors if she needed to call her son in Japan to get on a plane, they all said no, Larry was not dying.

Larry went to the hospital late Friday evening and passed away early Tuesday morning.  Even though the doctors thought he would be okay, it was his time to go.

Everything happened so fast.  Mike's brother Devin and his family were able to get from Japan to Iowa the next Saturday. Molly and Maggie were able to come. The visitation was Sunday afternoon and the memorial service and burial were on Monday. One thing about funerals, we get to hang out with family we don't usually get to hang out with.  We met a family member we didn't even know existed!

Here is Larry enjoying a ride in his Mach 1.

Larry was cremated so the burial was very interesting to me.  Larry took his last ride in the Mach 1 on the way to the cemetery.  This car was Mike's when he was in High School. He sold it and eventually Larry bought it back and fixed it up with Mike's brother Devin.   Larry is on Mike's lap in the below photo.

The day after the funeral, we grieved the only way we knew Larry would want us to.  I was taking care of the neighbor's pool and the weather had been so terribly cold for swimming. This was the only  day where it was a perfect day for the pool.

I have to tell this little story.  During the visitation we found out there was a huge storm coming. Soon after the visitation, the girls and I jumped in the car to try to get home to Davenport before the storm hit.  It turns out we were actually following the storm and I had several chances to take a different highway to avoid it.  When I got to a highway where I could turn, I asked the girls which way should I go, turn right into the sunshine, or go straight into a storm where we could all tell there was hardly any visibility. They both mentioned it looked pretty scary ahead.  I decided to go straight into the storm.  Driving through the pounding rain was pretty intense and when I had a slight feeling of fear, I pulled off in a small town to hang out under a gas station awning. We waited until the storm went further ahead of us.  Once I felt okay about driving again, I continued straight but then had a chance to turn again.  This time I did turn into the sunshine.

Soon we saw the most brilliant, full rainbow very close to us.  I wish I could describe it in a way you would understand the fullness and the beauty of it.  At the bottom of the rainbow, you could tell it was in front of the trees off in the distance. The trees were all different colors. We had never seen anything like it before and it was hard for me to keep my eyes on the road.  Maggie in the back seat then mentioned the Walmart we were approaching was the smallest one she had ever seen. Then we all saw it. That full vibrant rainbow was perfectly straddling the Walmart and we all knew it was Larry.  You see, Larry always used to give me hard time because I would never shop at Walmart and this was his favorite place to shop. He tried to convince me and then it became a joke.  He even sent to following photo to me, showing he was shopping at one during one of their vacations.

I had to get a picture of the rainbow Walmart so I turned around but within 30 seconds and by the time I was in position to grab my camera, the rainbow was gone. Larry had played another Walmart joke on us.

We will miss you Grandpa Larry!!

An Impromptu Visit from Molly!

Molly found out on short notice that she was to go to a convention in Chicago. She didn't seem too excited about it so I told her we would come see her.  It is about a 3 hour drive from Davenport to Chicago.   We planned to go to Chicago Wednesday after I got off work, hang out with her that evening and then take her to the airport the next day, Thursday.  The company she works for asked if she didn't want to stay another day to enjoy Chicago and when she told me that, I told her she should come home with us and fly back out of Moline.  The Moline airport is a tiny airport and is fifteen minutes away from our house. Delta flies there.  She found the ticket home from Moline was cheaper than flying from Chicago.  So it was a plan.  We would go Wednesday and bring her back to Davenport on Thursday, she would fly back home on Sunday.

We met her at the motel and then searched for a place to eat.  We decided on the Fox and Turtle, at the country club near the motel.  We had a great time and the food was excellent.

    

      

The next morning we had to take Molly's rental car back to the O'Hare airport.  The traffic reminded me of the traffic down south which I do not miss that at all.  I am so used to being somewhere within minutes and not dealing with stop and go traffic.

After the trip home, we stopped at one of Molly's favorite restaurants in Moline, Illinois named Lemongrass.  We love the coconut tofu soup!

I had to work on Friday so Mike and Molly headed to the farm to visit Mike's parents, the girls grandparents.  This is Shela the dog, of course not the grandparents.

Saturday morning, while making pancakes, I remembered I had thought the night before that we should go to the Maquoketa  Caves and brought the idea up to Mike and Molly.  It was a yes.  I had been there when I was a kid but didn't remember much.  The caves had been closed for awhile because of the White Nose fungus killing the bats.  The caves recently reopened.  It would be a great day trip.  Who would have thought there was a park near here that has over 10 caves, the most in one park in America, I believe I read somewhere.

It was busy at the park because it was Memorial Weekend, but we still had a great time.  We ended up very muddy because of all of the rain we have been getting.  The park person told us to use our judgement when going through the caves.  We saw people jumping over water just to land in mud on the other side and slip and fall flat on their butts.  We were very careful.  We also decided if we couldn't stand in the cave, we wouldn't go in.  There were many holes that people were climbing through and you would see just their feet as they crawled in.  You won't catch me ever doing that.


I am just going to place all the pictures here without explanation.  We took so many and these are just half of them.  What a beautiful place!

We were exhausted after hiking these stairs and caves all day but decided we should go to a Bandits baseball game that night.  They haven't been able to play on their home field because of the flooding and this was their second game on the field.  They weren't even able to get the ferris wheel ready!

We usually buy not very expensive bleacher seats but Mike wanted to try sitting behind home plate, as close as we could.  We had excellent seats but soon found out foul balls were still able to fly over that net.

Most of the foul balls hit the press box behind us and then bounce back into the crowd.  Some people had their ball mitts and one guy caught two with his bare hand.  After the second one, he said he had the best seat ever!

You can see the press box in this photo with Mike.

Close to the end of the game another foul ball was hit.  I always like to watch where they go in case it ever gets close and would have to take action.

This one hit the press box and then is slow motion, I hear the crowd yelling and I watch as the ball flies into the air right over our heads.  It was getting closer and closer, remember in slow motion, and it falls slowly in front of my face and then hits my leg.  I am including the following photo so you can see my legs.  It hit my left one.

Good thing it didn't fall into Molly's craft beer!

I realized Mike and Molly had leaned over and covered their heads. They didn't know what had happened.  Molly asked me if I was hit and I explained yes, my leg.  Everyone around became concerned but I stood up to show everyone I was okay.  I just couldn't believe it.  After everything calmed down I asked what happened to the ball and nobody knew!  If I would have just held out my hand, I would have caught it.  Molly said I would have been famous.

Here is my bruise.

JOKING !!!!!

When I told my colleagues at work, they said I should use a photo of one of their daughter's legs after she was hit by a softball.

Here is my unimpressive bruise.  I am thankful it wasn't worse.

When we were leaving the ballgame, I took a photo of the flood walls. Not the wood ones but the metal wall in the background. It felt like we were being hoarded into (or out of ) a prison.

Sunday we just hung out around the house until it was time to take Molly to the airport.  As always, a very sad time, especially when we had a very good time together.