What's going on at our house

Gray Sunday afternoon. Not much going on. I am puttering today. Procrastinating even.

We are going to spruce up our downstairs bathroom. Everytime we undertake one of these little home improvement projects I wish, afterward, that I had taken "before" pictures, because suddenly I realize that all evidence that it ever looked different is now gone forever. So I just went and took "before" pictures. This bathroom is, I believe, the only room left in our house that we have not changed since we moved here in 1993. Actually the "sprucing" has already begun, because Ray refinished the oak cabinets last week. I didn't get my "before" shots quite before, but that little bit didn't really change things a lot—just made the cabinets look new, not old and scuffed up.

This bathroom has always been way too sweet for my taste, but it wasn't crying out for change as desperately as some other areas of the house, so we have lived with it. It is pinky/peachy with a ditsy little print wallpaper on the bottom half of the walls. The countertop is, for my money, the worst color anyone ever invented—drab blue. Years ago someone, maybe my daughter, used a cleaner on it with bleach in it and bleached some spots. You can see bleached, drippy areas along the front edge in the photo. The brass faucet is, uh, interesting and the finish on it has crazed and discolored badly. Furthermore I think it is too big for the basin—water always splashes out onto the countertop. In the mirror you can see the reflection of a shower curtain I made with 9-patch blocks from a block exchange, in icky pastel colors. Sorry about the shot of the grungy looking towel and washcloth. They help to make the before pictures all the sadder looking, however, so I will keep them in. So there's the "before". We will be referring back to this when I have the new, improved loo to show off.

This looks a little like the lunar lander to me, but it is, in fact, an old GE electric can opener. Ray found it in his mother's stuff last summer and brought it home. It is an artifact of his childhood, but it wasn't nostalgia that motivated him. He figured there has to be somebody warped enough to be collecting things like this, so last week he finally put it on ebay to try to sell it. The auction ended today with no bidders, so he chucked it into the trash. Shortly after that he got an email from someone who was regretting his failure to bid on the can opener and hoping Ray would be relisting it on ebay. Ray went out and pulled it out of the trash. I'm hoping I don't have to look at it much longer, but I have to admit it amuses me. There is something creature-like about it with those wierd little legs. It really looks like it might start walking around anytime now.