the big challenge every saturday morning at the cafe is deciding how much rice to cook. the trick is to get it just right, so you don't run out, or have too much left over. would today be a busy day? or would it be slow? i called up my father we told me to cook 5 cups of raw rice. i actually thought that was a bit much and was going to scale it back to 4 cups but decided to stick with 5.
it turned out to be a busy day. maybe sister didn't have a meltdown like usual, maybe her doctors upped her medication. there was 13 bubble tea, 6 dumplings, 8 bento boxes, 5 chicken curry platter, 3 zhajiang noodles, 3 vegetable buns, and 5 beef noodle soup. we ran out of salt & pepper chicken and had to take it down online even though we still sold 2 more after that. we just had a single bun left. at one point during the busiest time, my 2nd aunt disappeared to make a phone call to her dentist, with no regard to the fact that we were swamped with orders.
i was hungry enough that i found some leftover scones my sister had made, and had two bubble tea that were mistake orders. the whole time i was thinking, "this is just part one. when i get home, i still have at least 8 more hours of painting work to do."
my 2nd aunt told me that my niece contacted her and said they would be arriving via flixbus tomorrow afternoon 2:45pm. the bus actually arrives at alewife, so my parents will go pick them up. i didn't realize flixbus made stops to alewife, i could've gotten dropped off here (closer to my house) than south station (boston).
i got back home by 5pm, had no time to go over to my parents today for dinner. i got to working right away, removing old caulk from around the tub and the sink. i was also going to remove the caulk around all the baseboard molding, but realized that was doing more work for no reason, and figured i could just paint over the old caulk after cleaning it up a bit.
so far i've been working in silence (like a renovation monk), but realized i could listen to music via spotify on my phone while working, making the time go by faster. naturally i picked an 80's new wave station. i used an old tube of kwik seal caulk for the sink and tub. i didn't realize you couldn't paint over it, but it wasn't a big deal for those areas. the caulk was old and a bit dry, but too late to turn back so i just applied it anyway. for the new baseboard molding around the toilet, i used a new tube of standard alex plus acrylic latex caulk for trims. this one used a caulking gun instead of a squeeze tube, and because it was also a fresh tube of caulk, it applied much smoother and easier to dispense.
i finished with the caulking by 7:30pm, 2 hours later. the instruction said i could begin painting over the caulk (over the molding) in 30 minutes. when i checked on the caulk at 8pm, it was still sticky and wet. but instead of waiting, i decided to get started with the semi-gloss white, working the other baseboards before returning to the toilet area, at which time i was hoping the caulk would be dried.
since i already painted 3 times yesterday (primer, 2 coats of final), i was already a seasoned pro at painting. no roller this time, i used the regular brush and a thinner foam brush that can fit inside the quart size can. instead of listening to music, i was streaming the celtics-magics game via youtube tv and listening to that. painting all the extra baseboard and caulk was additional work no doubt, but they were looking a bit rough, and it wasn't too hard, all ground level, so no ladder climbing. when i got to the toilet area, the caulk was already dried. everything was okay except that area right next to the toilet, which was impossible to get the brush on. after that i painted the window frame as well, which turned out to be a mistake, because i left the ceiling last (also in semi-gloss), and i kept accidentally putting my hand on the wet paint window trim.
the ceiling was a real challenge to paint: had to climb the ladder, painting in an awkward angle that was dark and hard to see. i used the foam brush to get as close to the wall as possible, before switching to the regular brush to apply more paint and to feather it out. i was finally done by 9:30pm.
the instruction on the behr semi-gloss paint said to wait 2 hours before applying the second coat. when i took off my painting jeans i must've snagged that weird skin tag on my snaggle pinkie toe, because it started bleeding profusely. there's no pain whatsoever, but all the blood is disconcerting, and i didn't get to drip it all over the place so 
i wrapped it up with a paper towel.
i warmed up a frozen pizza for dinner. when i took it out of the oven the cheese in the center looked a little unmelted. when i took a bite i realized way: the center hadn't cooked yet and was still cold. i was too lazy to put the pizza back in the oven so i ate it as-is, warm along the edge, cold in the center.
11:30pm i went back to the bathroom to apply the 2nd and final coat of trim and ceiling paint. i didn't do too much, one coat on the baseboard seemed like enough. i painted a second coat on the new baseboards around the toilet. learning my lesson from earlier, i then painted the ceiling corner. i wasn't sure about the semi-gloss - whether it would blend it or not - but you hardly noticed it was new paint, it blended very well. finally i painted the window frame. i was done by 12:15am.
after clearing the bathroom, i moved in the toilet tank. i've been without a toilet tank for 11 days, it felt much longer than that. after attaching it to the toilet bowl, i hooked up the water and held my breath. no leaks! the tank started filling up. i took a tinkle and flushed without having to use a bucket, what luxury! i then started moving things back into the bathroom. one of them was the small tall shelf that normally sits on my toilet tank lid. that thing hasn't been there in more than a year. it was nice to finally see it back in its rightful place.
so that's that. i still need to cleaning the bathtub (stained my dirty painter's feet walking on the porcelain) and the shower curtains (mildew stains). but the bathroom - after more a year - is finally done.
tomorrow i need to clean the house. cleaning the house is much easier than working in the bathroom. i may even have time to visit my parents' place, even though it's going to be raining. more than likely i'll stay home again and clean. i need to get new pillows and a set of new twin size bedsheets for the guest bedroom. i also need to do a load of laundry.