Remember that song *Where Have All the Flowers Gone* a folk-pop hit for The Kingston Trio in the 60s? I have it running through my head but with altered lyrics:

Where has all the money gone?
No time passing.
Where has all the money gone?
No time at all.

I have written two stupendously large checks within 6 weeks and now I am at the point in our contract for shelling out the 3rd of 4 payments for this house project. On the bright side, it signals nearing the end of all structural and mechanical work. Monday or Tuesday of next week, we have a critical inspection and I am truly nervous about it. That is all I am going to say.

On another note altogether, I had to attend an annual meeting/workshop for all liturgical ministers at my parish. Since technically I am still a Minister of Care (take communion to home bound - although I have not done this since prior to my hysterectomy) I went and actually enjoyed most of it. The presenter was great; I could have done without all the hymn singing, though.

Tomorrow night I have dinner at the rectory with the pastor and other priests, along with 2 or 3 other parish leaders. That should be...indigestion-inducing.

I am SO glad I actually went to the retail location for the vanity i was GOING to get - when I saw it in person,I was really dissatisfied with the quality. I spent too much time in that store trying to find alternatives,and finally gave up and headed down the road to Home Depot, where, nothing on their selling floor suited our needs, either. I ended up waiting to talk to a kitchen & bath specialist who did not seemto be familiar with much inher catalog of special order items. She knew a lot about custom-designed cabinets, but even then we could not get the look I wanted, and it was going to be EXPENSIVE.

Finally, I found something that looked ok in their catalog of special order items. Not great, but ok. Has the storage we want and a brown stained wood instead of painted. It is also *furniture style* meaning, it has legs and not an apron that runs across the floor. My only reservation was that I could not see it in person, and there is some question about the coloring of the *engineered stone top.* The Home Depot associate explained to me that it would have the look and texture of a cultured marble but more the coloring of travertine without the maintenaince issues of that type of stone. OK, well...the price was right, so I took a chance on it and even ordered the coordinating mirror and picked up all the coordinating bronze bathroom hardware/faucets. My goal in designing this is a more *masculine* feel for the bath and I think the walnut wood and bronze hardware accomplishes that. I also like that the colors will be easy to coordinate with earth-tone tiles.

I sent this pic to my hubby to see and he was thrilled - it has the drawer space and color tone he wanted so...I guess it was a good pick. I did not order the backsplash, as I hope to do a wainscoting on the wall of tile that coordinates with the shower tile. I hope I like it once it arrives.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be ordering a small (28 in. wide)  granite-topped wood furniture-style vanity for the new bathroom, as well as picking up all coordinating hardware: sink faucet, shower faucet, rainfall shower head, hand-held sprayer, light fixtures, paper holder, towel holders, etc, etc. The vanity I have in mind is in a cherry-tone of brown with black top. The hardware on it is chrome but I want to see if it would be easy to switch it out to something like a brushed nickel, because I know that is hubby*s fave hardware finish for bathrooms; from there I think I could coordinate everything else - except, likely, the shower items.

After that is accomplished, I have to begin the process of choosing tile for the foyer floor, bathroom floor and shower walls. I have convinced hubby to abandon his turn-of -the-century dreams of glossy white subway tiles for the shower and tiny white hex w. black accent tiles for the floor. I am going for a more *masculine* feel for the bath and so I am thinking of warm, earth-tone faux-marble 12x12 porcelain in a mid-tone beige w. rust/gold veining for the shower; not sure about the floor. I am leaning toward a faux-stone/slate look but I don*t want anything too dark.

Realistically, I know there is at LEAST another month worth of work to be done, even though our contractor has had at least one, if not more, teams of sub-contractors working every day, all day. The part of the house we have been living in looks HORRIBLE from overcrowding and overuse now. We might have to do a total overhaul on IT once the addition is done!

Various changes toward the better side are happening:

• Kiddo seems to have turned a corner in at least her fever is gone; she is still home due to stomach cramping and frequent bathroom trips.
  
  
• I scheduled a *meet and greet* with a new gynecologist. My former one was running about delivering babies all the time; I wanted a gyne-only practice and was actually referred to this new Dr. by the ultrasound tech at my former Dr. I hope to resolve the weird series of incidents with fainting and bleeding and such over the next few weeks with this new Dr.
  
  
• I scheduled my annual mammogram.
  
  
• I scheduled an overdue colonoscopy (whoo!)
  
  
• I got a bunch of work done for my Stewardship council, although I have two articles to write by the end of next week.
  
  
• I caved into vanity and ordered a dress online that, in itself, was very modestly priced (I had a coupon code, too!) but since I hope to wear it Saturday night for a special Mass and party with a bishop, I paid half of the price of the dress again in rush shipping charges. A first for frugal  me! I plan to wear it with charcoal gray tights, black mary jane high heels, and a silver necklace with amethyst-colored beads.
  
  
• Phillies won National League East 3rd year in a row. Whoo!

My daughter is home from school with some sort of stomach virus. She is really miserable, and I feel terribly for her. In addition to the discomfort, diarrhea and vomiting, she also has a fever.

This week, our lower level has been closed off as part of the construction project. As a result,  we are now living in the equivalent of a small 1-br apartment and it is getting TOUGH - especially with someone in the crowd who is sick.

Our delightful Chi-town weather has made it usual turn (although a bit early) from the 70s and mild to 40s/50s, blustery and damp. Its a real joy walking the dogs in this stuff - although not as awesome as it will be once piles of snow and ice are on the ground.

TMI warning: menses and other whining about to spew forth.

Our carpenter got stuck at another job today. Not good. Now we are back behind schedule again.

My college football team lost again and most frustrating was two really sloppy turnovers in the 4th quarter that sealed their fate.

Yesterday I nearly passed out at the store (hot flashes?), got sick at walmart (causing two women to hustle out of the bathroom stalls) , then last night I start bleeding rather heavily. I had a friggin hysterectomy and yet I am today wearing a maxipad. Thank goodness I did not throw them all out after the surgery.

I feel like crap and just want to watch dvd*s and get loaded but I have to attend a meeting at another parish tonight PLUS I am driving with another parishioner.

Is it Monday yet?

Tentatively, the demolition of our basement stairs is slated for Monday or Tuesday. It will not only be an enormous mess, due to cement dust everywhere, it will be unbearably LOUD while the jackhammers blast away within the house.

This weekend, we are moving or covering much of the food, clothing, electronics, and other items housed in the lower level of the house. We have been housing my daughter there since the remodel project started, as her old room was the first thing taken apart.

So I have to plan a worst-case scenario and presume I will not be able to get into the basement for two weeks - but I only have tiny slips of space in the living/dining room and bathroom. That, plus the kitchen and my current over-crowded bedroom are all that will be accessible.

I am most concerned about my animals - how will they handle the noise - I planned to sequester them all in my bedroom but I am concerned that their more-sensitive-than-human-ears (frogs, cats and doggies) cannot handle it. If money were no object, we would move to a short-term residence hotel (efficiencies for business travelers, etc.) that is just a mile or two down the road. But...no. Hubby refuses to pay for it.

The only *up* side is that the demo should only take a few hours - this concrete guy works really fast and is very precise. As it turns out, our plans have been altered and we have to have new concrete stairs put in instead of the wood we planned on. That is actually fine w. me - I think I prefer it for durability.

Monday we also have an inspection and of course I am nervous about it. I think I will hide in my room with all the pets and wait until I (hopefully) see the inspector signing that day-glo orange slip of paper that we need in order to proceed.

Although we had some delays, two walls are now up on the addition, and the third is built but not in place yet.

Next week, the roof will be sliced open, an extention to the roofline built and the whole mess all shingled up.

Anytime I think of *walls* I am reminded of that preposterous Sheena Easton 80*s hit Sugar Walls. Its preposterous because 1.) someone wrote those hideous lyrics 2.) money was spent to record and promote it 3.) people LIKED it an bought enough of the records to make it a hit.

And so, now you can reminisce on this pop homage to Scottish vaginas:

Although I do not watch TV often, there are a few shows that have drawn me in this season.

Thursday nights, for me, its Real Housewives of Atlanta on Bravo. One of the characters, a bosomy bottle (synthetic?) blond named Kim has had an ambition to be a singer, and yet she chain smokes and just plain cannot SING! However, thanks to the wonders of auto-tune, her producers have managed to put together a catchy pop nugget in which Ms. Zolciak merely talk-sings her way through. Its awful and yet terribly addictive.

Enjoy this preview:

Last Sunday at Mass, our young Colombian priest began to preach about how, in the gospel, Mark 8:27-35, Jesus instructs the crowd that, essentially, talk is cheap.

*Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me,* he states emphatically.

Fr. Diego explained that its easy to say Jesus is our personal savior; but he wants us to SHOW him we love him.

Immediately I began to grin as this 80*s Latina pop gem began swirling in my brain.



Cover Girls - Show Me