Well it's my first weekend off in months.  One of the perks of my new position.  I still have to work the holiday, but I'll be done at 1pm.  We were planning on spending a good deal of the weekend at the Folk fest downtown, and the Ethnic festival in the west end.  The only chore we had to do was to re-caulk the tub surround.  Three hours max.

Friday night we headed downtown, umbrellas in tow.  The Folkfest is known for its' entertainment.  Three large tents with musical acts, some almost nationally known.  It has the usual "fair food" vendors and plenty of ice cold beer.  A bit overpriced but then they have to generate some income to pay the bands and keep the event free.  It does have a few church and non-profit groups that peddle some of the local ethnic delicacies but everyone knows if you want the real deal you go to the west end for the Ethnic festival.     It was a good thing they had large tents because mother nature was making it a real challenge to keep warm and dry. 

I must be getting old.  Screaming guitars seem to get on my nerves.  So I lost interest in the first band real quick.  Or maybe it's just the same tired versions of old songs.  We wandered over to the next tent that had a gospel group.  Now here was some interesting music.  Very bluesy.  The Gospel Lights.  Gentlemen who could sing as well as I would suppose a choir of angels would.  I really enjoyed them.  Then we moseyed over to the last tent where some Texas boys gave an energetic performance in the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan or Kenny Wayne Sheppard.  At this point it was getting to be about 9:30 and my new schedule was clashing with my wanting to be a late night party girl.  Time to call it a night.  Tomorrow was another day and I was psyched about seeing Those Darn Accordions.  I just had to get past the bathroom caulking.

Ok, it's early Saturday morning.  Honey  and I attack the caulking with scrapers in hand.  Now I know you are looking at this picture and thinking, "Oh my god!  I never realized re-caulking involved lumber and bracing.  I'll be calling in a pro when mine needs to be done."   Normally you don't need bracing to re-caulk.  At some point during the removing of the old caulk, I heard Honey exclaim, "UH, OHHH!"  While investigating a manufacturers flaw in the old tub surround, his finger accidentally tore an 8 inch gash in the plastic.  Did you ever notice that projects around the house are never as simple as you think they are going to be?  Now we have to explore options.

Honey first suggests tearing out the old surround and putting in tile.  I like to tile but how many different types of tile do we want in a 5' X 7' room?  Tiling would require gutting and rebuilding the walls.  The only bathroom we have access to and weeks of work on our full schedules.  I suggest a nice fiberglass one piece tub and shower unit.  Honey points out the small door opening.  We both come to the conclusion that some minor wall  adjustments and a heavier duty new tub surround would be the easiest way to go.  Still a couple of days worth of work, but what were we going to do with the rest of our rainy cold weekend anyway? 

So the picture is our new tub surround installed by early Sunday afternoon.  Not our new Limbo obstacle course.  You will be happy to hear that we survived this project without screaming obscenities at each other.  The only harsh words said were S.O.B. and that was because the blade on the hacksaw was a little bent making a cut kind of crooked.  Honey will put on the final coat of caulking Monday morning.  Plenty of time to head to the west end for an ethnic lunch. 

Saint Stephen's blue hair brigade is serving up the halupki (stuffed cabbage), halushki (cabbage and noodles), and pierogies (who doesn't know this?).  CRUD!! They are out of pierogi, but they do have pagach.  What the heck is that?  Honey explains it's what some of the local pizza shops serve called pierogi pizza.  Yes that's right.  Cheddar mashed potatoes covered in flaky dough.  I'm thinking I better pass.  It could lead to carbohydrate overdose.  Honey buys one anyway so I can try it.  No food fear here.  Turns out I won't be hitting the local pizza shops for a fix.  I didn't hate it, but maybe it's an acquired taste.

Honey rolls me back to the car and we stop downtown at the Folkfest to see if anyone interesting is playing.  Jazz In Your Face.  Lots of horns.  Very nice.  Rusty Gun Revival with the big bass and banjo.  Interesting.  The Gamble Brothers Band.  Good.  We stopped and listened to a young woman who was warming up the audience for Will Hawkins but we had to leave before he played.  I had to get ready to start the early to bed, early to rise, routine.  No Zydeco this year, and darn it all, no Darn Accordions.  I was just going to have to visit their web site to listen to ditties like We're An Accordion Band (think Grand Funk Railroad).  Worth a chuckle.  Accordions aren't just for polka anymore.

Back at home I pealed five pounds of potatoes for the holiday cookout at work.  I was making scalloped potatoes in the crock pot.  I soaked the potatoes while I was sleeping and assembled everything in the crock pot at 3am.  By 4am, I had them cooking with the notion that they would be done by noon.  I left at 1pm and when I called my co-worker at 5pm, she told me the potatoes were still NOT DONE.  Then she informed me that the only acceptable dish to bring to a potluck was pretzel jello.  In fact, they took a vote and I won't be allowed to work there anymore if I bring anything besides pretzel jello.  I wonder if that's considered an acceptable reason to collect unemployment?  Hhhmm, fired for lack of pretzel jello.  Yup, the fun never ends.

tags: music  food  labor day  work  fun  bathrooms  caulking  catty's corner  

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