No thoughtful reflective post for you today

Hello dear blog-readers,
Today is my birthday. It's a big one... a really big one, with a zero at the end and a five at the beginning.

Nothing earth-shattering is happening here. I've been told not to go into the shed, but when I suggest to the kids that there is a motorcycle in there for me, they assure me that is not true. Who knows?

Some people get mushy about the passage of time and all that, but things seem much the same today as they did yesterday. I do get a nice dinner out tonight, and a party on Saturday, but perhaps the idea that I am now over the hill and on the downward slope just hasn't sunk in yet.

Arthur and I went to the Textile Museum this morning, and saw some wonderful quilts and shawls -- shawls that really wrap around a person, huge things! Paisley, woven, printed, light, heavy... not knitted, though! I knew there were quilts, but I got mixed up between the Textile Museum quilt show and the Royal Ontario Museum quilt show. I'll hit up the ROM sometime soon.

Since Arthur is off school this week, and since we are having a party here this coming weekend, I thought he could do some prep work, and asked Stephen to provide him with chores, like buying potato chips or sweeping the floor. Stephen's mind was clearly on other things, and he gave Arthur the following list:

• take everything out of the basement bathroom
• take all the tiles off the walls
• smash out the tub
• take down the little stub of a wall between the tub and the toilet
• smash out the floor tiles
• replace the sink and vanity

So, needless to say, this will not all get done in a week, and the basement bathroom is presently unusable. We hadn't used the tub in ages, and it was holding a 3-level shelf, full of paint cans, children's artworks, a humidifier, a lamp, with a spare mattress tucked in behind... Now all that stuff is in front of the washer and dryer.

Anyone want some tiles? There are two walls not in the picture, also covered in these tiles. We'll think of something, but I'd love to learn that someone just down the street wanted to mosaic their whole house. Meanwhile, the demolition is proving to be kind of fun!

And that's what happens when one turns 50, I guess!

ETA: It was a bread-making machine, not a motorbike at all! Much more useful -- stay tuned for rhapsodic posts about bread!