Paws Awhile - Pile of Tile

I took a little break from condo remodel to spend a few weeks at home, but I found myself missing the beach and itching to see for myself the progress that had been made on the remodel.

Since being home, I'd gotten back into my exercise routine at the gym. I didn't want to disrupt that so I didn't leave for the airport until after the 6AM exercise class. It was a particularly hard class so I was already tired when I got to the airport.  I barely had time for a cup of coffee in the Sky Club before heading to the gate.  I sneaked a container of fat-free yoghurt into my backpack to eat with my biscoff cookies on the plane.

I got a nice window seat & the crew did a great job of getting everyone a drink during the short 45 minute flight. I borrowed a friend's car that was parked at the airport in Jacksonville and headed for Paws Awhile.  When I got there, I discovered that the tile work was still only about half done.

The painting was finished and the place was really looking spiffy.  I especially liked the way the walls were tapered in the space for the refrigerator.  Hopefully this will mean that we can open the refrigerator doors a little wider. The way the place was designed with this little cubby-hole for the refrigerator is not optimal, but I have to admit, they crammed a lot of functionality into a <800 square foot condo.

I feel compelled to tell you that we ARE going to have a kitchen in our condo.  I had jokingly posted in an earlier facebook post that we were not going to have a kitchen in the condo because Tony likes to eat out so much.  I have gotten a lot of responses from incredulous people who couldn't believe we weren't going to have a kitchen.  Everyone can stop worrying, we are going to have a kitchen.  The new appliances are purchased and waiting in the guest bedroom for the new cabinets to arrive so they can be installed.

There was really nowhere for me to go with the tile work going on, so I decided to go for a walk on the beach.  It was a little chilly but sunny and clear.  It was great to be outside after some of the cold weather we've had in Atlanta.  

I stopped in to catch up with Gerry, the condo association manager.  She told me the latest scoop. The house next door to the condo complex had experienced a robbery. Someone stole the pitchfork from the Poseidon statue in front of their house.  She also gave me a copy of the local paper - the Amelia Island News Leader. The nature column had a mention of our cat, Lola!

"On Saturday morning the group set off on the beach for a walk while I stayed home finishing some work. And it was better, in a way, that they explored the beach through their own eyes, not mine. I’ve seen the sights and maybe by now I take some of them for granted. But not these visitors. Even though it was foggy, they happily photographed a group of horseback riders, some jellyfish and a rustic driftwood chair. They also encountered a woman walking her cat on a leash along the dunes. The owner told them this was a savannah cat, a breed established by mixing domestic cats with African servals. Apparently these cats are known to be happy walking on leashes and love water. I’ve got to meet this cat and owner! (If you are reading this, please contact me.)"

When I left the condo, I went to Barbaritos to grab a salad and then went over to my friend Nancy's house for the afternoon.  Again, she wasn't there, but it was nice to have a place to go where I wasn't in the way.

I booted up the computer & answered a few emails.  I even did a little travel-agency work. I headed back to Paws Awhile around 4:30PM so I could pay the contractor before meeting my friends at the Surf to celebrate the last day of the month of all-day happy hours!

Handyman Herb handed me a pile of receipts so I could reimburse him for the supplies he had purchased. I did some quick math (that I had very little confidence was correct) and gave him a check. He informed me that he would not be working over the weekend but he promised that the tile and grouting would all be finished next Wednesday.

It was nice visiting with the Withers over dinner at the surf. Mmmm - delicious fish tacos!

I decided to stop back by the Paws Awhile on the way back to Nancy's. I knew I couldn't stay at the condo because I couldn't walk on the freshly laid tile, but I wanted to stop back by and count the remaining tiles to make sure we had enough.

I decided we were going to run short so I made plans to go to Floor and Decor in Jacksonville on Saturday.

I spent the night at Nancy's on the sofa and got up early the next morning to go over to Paws Awhile.  I grabbed a small coffee at Starbucks. (This time I got a small & asked for lots of space for milk.  I wanted to avoid the shakes I usually get from the strong Starbucks coffee.  I took my coffee out to the beach hoping to run into Dan from the house next door so I could ask him about Poseidon's pitchfork but he wasn't out.

I stopped into Paws Awhile to make one more count of how many tiles we needed. I picked up a box with the dye lot number on it so I could make sure I got the same one. It takes about an hour to get to F&D in Jacksonville.  The clerk rang up the tile and then said it would take them about 2 hours to pull the order because that dye-lot was buried beneath several palates of tile.

I went to Best Buy to look at laptops.  Mine is starting to die fairly regularly so I'd really like to replace it before it dies completely.  I don't know what to get, so I had a clerk show me some possibilities.  I really like the hybrid laptop/tablet idea but I have to get used to keeping my data in "the cloud".

When I got back to F&D, they had not started pulling my order yet, but I sweet-talked them into getting it right away.  I wanted to get back to Fernandina Beach in time to go to a variety show that my friends' daughter was starring in.  I grabbed a sandwich at Chick-Fil-A on my way back to the island.  It was a good thing I did, because I would need the strength to lift the EXTREMELY heavy tiles out of the car. Each case of 7 tiles weighs about 60lbs!  I had bought 4 cases.  Fortunately the condo complex has both an elevator and shopping carts so I didn't actually have to carry the tiles very far to get them to the shopping cart.

I finished unloading in time to make it to the variety show.  It was great fun - lots of cute skits performed by the girls.  My favorite was a skit called "The Fudge Shop".

I had time for one more walk on the beach before heading back to the airport to fly home. Again it was sunny and breezy and felt wonderful.

I had time for a snack in the Sky Club before the flight.  I no problems getting a seat on the flight back and watched a beautiful sunset from the plane window on the way home.

Back home, I found I had more construction worries to deal with - our tenants had moved out of the rental house that my sister and I own together. We did an assessment and put together a punch list for all of the work that needs to be done before we can rent again.  It won't be nearly as much fun as remodeling Paws Awhile.  :(