april showers bring.....

I was once entitled

     No, not Lord, Duke or Viceroy, but FHA 235 entitled.
     When Jackie and I were first married, I was working at the newspaper.  Tilton Homes, also the owner of the paper, was building some bi levels on Southview Drive....I believe 6 of them.  They were being built as part of the 235 program to put low income people into their own home.
     Working at the newspaper full time, I qualified.
     We paid $95 a month for the house, the government kicked in another couple of hundred.  As our income rose, so did our share of the payment.
     The bi level had two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bathroom on the upper level, and an unfinished basement.  Eventually, we finished four of the rooms, never getting to the basement bathroom, which should have been a priority.
     Anyway, we had a bathroom upstairs.  And it had a tub.
     Jackie was pregnant with Emily and getting up out of the tub was hard work.
     One weekend, I encouraged her to visit her parents.  And I got to work.
     I hired a plumber to put in a shower.  Then I bought a shower enclosure kit from my favorite retailer at the time.
     These were melamine panels that glued onto the wall.  Then you caulked it and voila!  A shower!
     All went well until I cut the melamine panel to fit around the window.  I had the front panel up, and the back panel up.  But I cut the opening about 1 inch too short.
     So I had to go back to the store for a second kit.  It had to be ordered.
     When Jackie came home, I believe she was really surprised.
     Of course, she could not use the shower for another two weeks, but it served its purpose.
     I think it was my first do it yourself project.
     We sold the house six years later.  It still had the melamine panels.
     I always wondered if they ever  leaked......  or got replaced.