Renovation Blues

The perils of bathroom renovations: the downstairs renos to match the Talavera hand painted sink we hauled back from Mexico two winters ago came to around $2000...this one promises to be cheaper, just some paint and some laminate tile at $4.49/sq foot....
Also we installed a new shower head….my advice...never attempt to install plumbing fixtures when someone is painting a wall 3 feet away (unless they are on the other side)...hilarity ensues as the boys at TV guide would say.
Had to remove the toilet to paint and put new flooring in (not that we've gotten around to the flooring), but as the bolts had been sitting for over a decade in a moist and acidic (some would say pissy) environment, they were, of course, seized. Had to cut them with a variety of tools in some very awkward and uncomfortable positions. I haven't hugged a toilet like this since the night before my first day at UVic in 1996, when I lost a battle with a bottle of sub-quality tequila...my student card picture from this year reflects the trauma... I hope my friend Daniel has recovered from the site of my naked torso and extremities gripped around the porcelain.
There is always a disgusting brown paste under any toilet... I've installed many... its a combination of beeswax and bathroom grime that sludgeifies over the ages. Maybe its the context, but it looks (and often smells) like crap. Not a pleasant pastime. Then there is the issue of moving a half-full toilet around your dwelling. Sasha was more than at bit confused when her big water dish migrated five feet to the left. Another few coats of paint and some chrome fixtures, and it should be lovely. I will be able to sit on a throne and revel in the beauty of what will be the nicest room in the house.