Perils of Pauline and learning to refeather the Empty Nest

Anyone remember the Perils of Pauline? Oh I don’t either but my mother always said that my life was like that short of being tied to the railroad tracks by the evil dastardly villain. Yet it does seem that some of the things that happen in my life could come from a page or two of poor Pauline.

For example, one day I was climbing into my big van that looks like its 8 feet off the ground when I dropped my keys. As I lowered my right foot to the ground, my shoe caught the side of the running board and I went down hard on the side of the foot. I didn’t break it but the awful crunchy sound it made told me I was going to be in for a world of hurt. It has been a month now and I still can’t wear any kind of shoe except something that I can lace up tightly and walk flat footed.

Then I was making pear preserves. As I sliced up the 40 pounds of pears I was extremely careful not to slice off a finger. I was successful at that but when I was filling the jars full of the precious, delectable candied pears, I splashed some on my hand and you have never seen anyone with a hurt foot move so fast to the sink and cool running water to get that mess off before it did permanent damage!

We finally got both girls moved to the W and darling husband and I have been working nonstop to reclaim the upstairs of the house and make it a ‘couples haven’. First on my list was the TV room instead of a formal living room. So he now has the perfect (for us) home theater and I turned the den into the dining room since it has the kitchen on one end of it. Then we turned our sights on the bathroom.

This house was built circa 1960 and the bathroom is a lovely shade of turquoise ceramic tile with matching tub, sink and toilet. Now I happen to love that color but it can be a tad iffy to work with. So when all else fails, you take the retro approach. We had to replace the broken faucets because it was not my idea of a good time when I had to use a screwdriver to turn the hot water on and off. and replace the whole drain system. Neither of us likes to take a shower standing knee deep in water either. After pouring several chemicals down the slower than molasses draining drain and trying to get the snake through the blockage, I figured there was a blond hair ball the size of a grown possum in the pipes somewhere.


Our new tub surround was seven inches too short on eat end because they don’t make them as deep as in the ‘old’ days and I have been living with a whole lot of ugly wall for a while since I could not find anything to my liking to cover it with. Removing the walls is not an option either. Who knew that in the 60’s someone would make the Bathroom walls out of poured concrete then cover that with ¼ plyboard and then put the tile or sheet rock up? We have had a tornado safe room all along and didn’t know it!


As luck would have it, Saturday we were in a DIY store and lo and behold they had stacks of glass tiles on sale and they were brown and turquoise mixed. I was so excited. I grabbed up a stack of them and purchased the glue and grout and a sponge and rubber float and we came home. Have I ever installed tile? No but I figured it out pretty quick. I am now looking at a whole lot of pretty, shiny glass tile in my bathroom. I listened all night for the sound of it falling but it is still there and looking good. I think my 1970’s kitchen is next!


Pauline may have had some bad luck but I think mine is turning around.