Is Privacy Over Rated?

So I was catching up on some blogs and I noticed Greg over at the Perch house put a "deadbolt type lock" on his bathroom door. That got me thinking. Should I have locks on my bathroom doors? People who have visited is that a concern? Did you leave saying to yourself, "Gee, I'm going to remember to use the bathroom before I get to her house next time." Just the thought of this leaves me slightly panicked and embarrassed. What would Martha say?

I grew up in a farm house with one bathroom that was directly off the kitchen. I remember brushing my teeth in front of company, and it never even occurred to me to be embarrassed that someone might hear me pee. The door did kind of have a lock on it. A hook and ring sort of deal that was about six foot off the ground. Most of my time living there I wasn't tall enough to even reach it.

So in the spirit of democracy here's a poll for everyone out there with a burning desire to make your opinion known (i.e. the four people who still read the blog since I've stopped posting so often: Doug, Em, my mother, and my crazy sister Mary).

Do we need locks on our bathroom doors?
	No, I'm a risk taking dare-devil.
	Yes, I'm a nervous prude.
	Don't care, just get the stinking down staris bathroom done so you have something better to blog about.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

7 Wonders of the Newton Home

OK, seems like there's been a lot of hype about the new 7 wonders of the world. So we here at the Newton house would like to submit our own for your enjoyment. Alas, like some of the world's original 7 wonders, some of them have not survived the renovation, but they still live on in our hearts.

#7- The 3-holer out house. Yes, you and two of your closest friends can share the joy of the call of nature together. Pass the Sears catalog please.

#6- The mysterious locked freezer. Which became less mysterious when we discovered weeks later it was not really locked, but we were to stupid to figure out how to open it.

#5- The 52 ft. high roof peak. I don't know what the requirements are for one of those rotating beacons, but my ego says the house should need one. The story behind our insanely pitched roof is supposedly this: The farmer who built our house was in competition with the farmer a half mile down the road. Every time one of the men put an addition on their house the carpenters just packed up and headed down the road because the other farmer would what something bigger and better. Well, our farmer discovered that the other guy was going to end up with a taller house so he calculated just what height it would take to beat him. This also explains why the north side of the roof was built to look like it is caving in. Since if a pyramid's height grows so must it's base the roof had to be dented in a some point to make up for lack of space where the house meets the roof.

#4- Our "first" toilet, the toilet in the master bathroom. Ask anyone who's restored a house what a civilizing moment having a toilet in the house is. Especially if you've had to use nature's facilities when working at the house for over a year.

#3- The light fixture above the kitchen sink is the only fixture original to the house, and it's even in its original place on the wall. Don't believe me, check out the kitchen photos from when we first saw the house.

#2- The mint green toilet on a sticky tile pedestal. What makes this even more spectacular is the fact the PO's plumbed it to empty directly into the crawl space below this section of the house.

#1- The industrial tile floor patters in the mudroom and laundry room. We have purchased some pretty pricey and unique items for this house and it seems like these two floors are what gets us the most praise.

Wow. Now that I'm reading over this post I've noticed 3 of the 7 wonders are toilet related. I must be a little more stressed out about the up coming baby and the lack of a toilet downstairs than I had realized. What would Freud say?

Nothing is Happening

because there is a helicopter in town. -sigh-

On Eating and Toilets

The offical due date has now been decided. July 30th at 7:30 AM. I've been taking my mind off the fact that they are once again going to slice me open and for a while my guts will be outside of my body (OK maybe it's not so off my mind- if you can think of anything better for me to obsess over right now I'm VERY open to suggestions) by reading a really cool book Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.

It's about the food chain and it gives you tons of things to think about. What really hit me is the sustainable ag farmer he followed said that it's not about starting a movement, but giving people who want a choice that choice. You need to read this book! And if you do and want to see a local couple's attempt at keeping things local visit Tim's cousin's web site- Sugar Creek Farm.

And on a related note, what goes in must come out.

This afternoon we went toilet shopping. We had actually been before and picked out which toilet we wanted for the downstairs bathroom. Unfortunately that toilet was $600+ dollars and now that we are a one income family that wasn't going to fly. So back we went.

Kohler's Iron Works Tellieur elongated toilet

I really wanted a Kohler. That's what we have in our master bathroom and I'm really happy with it. I don't remember what brand we have in the guest bathroom upstairs, but it's a dud. So I think this is what we are going to settle with. Although it's always hard to say until the thing is purchased and sometimes you still can't say even when it's in place.

Kohler's Devonshire elongated toilet

And to make mom happy (and maintain the plumbing theme) here's Molly a couple of months back helping load the dishwasher. She's so helpful it's annoying.