PROJECT Pandemonium

Greetings from Camp Grandma!  This week, we find ourselves in the...let's call it the "Great White North". 

You are looking at what my Mom and Dad's back deck looked like a couple of weeks ago.  Some of the snow has melted, but it doesn't look like they'll be seeing grass anytime soon.

We have "retreated" to this winter wonderland because our home is undergoing a PROJECT.  Pictures and details will follow when I am able to connect my computer to the Internet for more than a few seconds at a time. 

You see, at Grandma camp there is indeed Internet access, but it must be achieved through a land line.  Actually, I can "hijack" the wireless signal from my Dad's place of business across the street, but only if I stand on one foot with my laptop in my opposite hand while leaning out the second floor window and holding the power cord between my teeth.  In that position, it is difficult to upload pictures of the big PROJECT!

The PROJECT that has sent us fleeing from hearth and home is the complete "gutting" of our main bathroom.  The master of ceremonies for the big PROJECT, my very able father-in-law, began work Monday morning at 8 a.m., shortly before I finished brushing my teeth in that same room. 

It was decided months ago that the children and I would seek sanctuary with my parents for the initial "gutting" phase which would involve the tearing down of plaster walls, the removal of a 300 pound cast iron bath tub (good bye old friend!), the sink, the cabinets, the...well, all but the potty was to be outta there!  

My Mom, being the brave former Girl Scout leader that she is, agreed to house us for the week, we put the date on the calendar, and that was that!

UNTIL. . .

Did I mention that my Mom and Dad have been waiting for 6 months for their carpenter to call and schedule a date for their  long-awaited bathroom renovation? 

In October, my Mom called and happily announced that finally, FINALLY work on her bathroom would be started somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sure, said she, she was a bit nervous that things would be a zoo if one of her two bathrooms was out of commission over the Christmas holidays with 9 grandchildren, 3 daughters, 3 sons-in-law, and 1 mother simultaneously in residence for a few days.  (Frankly, we well qualified for zoo status, bathroom issues notwithstanding!)

It was a mixed blessing when Christmas came and work on Mom's bathroom had yet to commence.  Mom was getting a bit antsy about getting the thing underway, especially as January crept by and on her calendar she could see that the Wrights were coming soon.  Five of them (we left my Man at home to work both at his day job, and to serve as the jr. partner of the PROJECT at home.)

We took "before" pictures of the bathroom, loaded 72 suitcases, bags, school books, doll babies, diapers, wipes, ipods, and crayons and peeled out of the driveway headed to the land of...

BATHROOM RENOVATION in the Great White North!  Who would've thunk it?

We arrived at Mom and Dad's on Monday just in time to wave good bye to their carpenters who were calling it quits for the day.  These were the very same gentlemen who greeted me in my PJs at 8 am the next morning!!!!!  So glad for that bit of embarrassment to begin the day! 

Just about the time I was crawling out from under the nearest piece of furniture, my Dad peeks his head through the door and says, "Tell your Mother that the roofers who were here a few weeks ago are going to be back this morning to get some more work done."  (The amazing amounts of snow had caused some roofing issues for my parents last month.) 

Let's just say, Tuesday was an adventure.  Two carpenters on the inside with 4 children, 2 of whom are supposed to be getting an education, and one of whom had not slept much the night before, 1 grandma, 1 great-grandma, 1 bed-headed-pajama-clad-red-faced mother, 1 grandpa who knew enough to be busy at work, 3 roofers outside of the house going up and down in front of all the windows on a lift, 1 really loud saw buzzing away in the hallway outside of the room where the children usually play and just down the hall from where the baby sleeps, and ... one available "potty". 

Kind of gives new meaning to the phrase

"All for one and one for all!"

doesn't it?