Travel Time

I am taking a break from renovation, and all the rest of my usual routine, to go visit my daughter-in-law and grandchildren in Japan for a week. You might be wondering why I did not say I will be visiting my son, and so here is the reason. There is a lot to say about that, but that is all I will say for now. My grandson is now 4 1\2 years old, and my granddaughter is his adopted sister who is 13. She is a great kid, and they are all very devoted to each other. I have only known her for the last 4 years, but enjoy spending time with her when I visit. She speaks great English, but my grandson does not yet. I have learned a little Japanese, but don't make much progress because when I am there I need to speak English with him as much as possible so he is exposed to a native speaker.　 I am in Haneda airport in Tokyo right now, at an　internet cafe waiting for my connecting flight.

So, no pictures of renovations today. Instead I will just report that my prospective carpenter came to the house yesterday to take a look at two projects. I really like the guy, and he seems like he will be easy to work with. And he got it right away when I explained what I want done. 　The two projects we discussed are the pocket door for the powder room/half-bath that is nearly complete except that it still has no door (minor problem for a bathroom), and the shower in the guest bedroom bath.　　He has a guy who works with him who can probably do the pocket door in June. 　The sooner the better, but June will work just fine.

The shower will be something he won't be able to get to before July or August, but that is fine, too. There is no burning need to get that done soon; it is just something on the list that my husband is now saying he wants to be able to check off. So here is the plan:

1. remove all the old fixtures in the bathroom.

2. take up the linoleum.

3. lay the new floor tile (whatever that is - - - need to pick something out).

4. he will then rebuild the shower pan and walls, move the shower drain to the center, and install a window above the shower on one wall.

5. he will lay the tile on the floor of the shower. maybe. or maybe i will.

6. I will tile the walls, for sure.

The bathroom currently has no windows, but there is a window in the adjacent walk-in closet. So putting a window up high in the bathroom will allow some natural light to come in from the closet. At first we thought we might change the footprint of the closet and bathroom to make it so the bathroom extended to that exterior wall, but then a lot of the plumbing would need to be moved around and that would get crazy expensive. We are willing to go the distance for the new master bath, but not for this guest bath. I think we can work within the space we have and make it a nice bathroom. Just removing that abominable fiberglass shower insert will allow the shower to be about 6 inches longer and a couple inches wider. I am also now searching for the right base for the sink. A pedestal sink would be good since that would make it feel roomier in there, but I hate to lose the storage capacity. However, there is a fairly ample walk-in closet in the bedroom, and there is an additional closet just outside the bedroom. So that can be the storage spot for extra toilet paper, etc. I would like to find something that is somewhat open, but has maybe one drawer and an open shelf. Then I would use the square white porcelain vessel sink I already have.

Lots to think about. Damn, I am tired. Stayed up all night before I went to the airport at 6:00 am for my flight to Atlanta and connection to Tokyo. That was a total of about 17 hours of flying, plus another 45 minutes to the airport, 1/2 hour wait, and a heartstopping connection time in Atlanta of about 25 minutes. In Tokyo I took a bus from one airport to another (1 hour trip), and have been waiting here for another 2 hours. So that is about 22 hours so far. Only 2 hours until I board the last flight, which will be about 3 hours. Finally, I will get a cab at the airport in Okinawa, and if I am lucky and the guy knows how to get where I am going, it will be about 30-45 minutes. So let's call it 28 hours of travel for the entire trip. But, hey, no whining. It is worth it.