The DIY Winter Olympics schedule

Today

Preliminaries in exterior painting (taped delay due to inclement weather)

Live streaming: Lowe's slalom (clearance bins obstacle course)

Nordic snowblowing large hill event (15km)

Pairs raking (long program)

Halfpipe plumbing

Roof jumping

Winter view

I grew up in Chicago, and experienced many a big snowfall. But, in the South, a storm yielding 8 inches is akin to a blizzard. And it made everyone about 15 percent more happy. Our newspaper Web site got more than 400 photos from readers -- all frolicking in the snow -- and it was delightful. Pardon me if I sigh a bit over our winter, which lasted all of 36 hours.

Here's my contribution:

The leap

I have rearranged my finances to get enough money for my bathroom remodel to begin. Tell me what mistakes I'm bound to make.

Getting the check soon. Added to my tax refund, I should be able to finance it and start in the next few weeks.

I plan to:

-- Add a pocket door to the space, adding about six square feet to the space.

-- Replace my crappy old window with a glass block window.

-- Add a heated tiled floor. Yep, I live in the South, but I love me some heated floor.

-- Rearrange the bathroom fixtures (requiring some toilet and bath moving -- plumbing work!)

-- and build a custom vanity to fit the space, and carve in a vertical shelf unit.

My trusted kitchen guy, Pee Wee (yep, his name) will work on this. I'm calling him next week.

What mistakes shall I anticipate? And how shall I avoid them?

Cabin fever!

Haven't done a thing outside in three weeks -- traveling, crappy weekends, crappy weeks at work -- and I've got some DIY cabin fever.

So I'm distracting myself in the usual ways: knitting, watching the endless parade of Jenny Sanford appearances on television, and trying to stay warm.

It's all Drafty McDraftpants here. I dream of blown-in insulation in the walls. But until then...

I have hardwood floors above a crawl space, and while I've put plastic on some of the ground, it's not everywhere, and an insulation job a few years ago fell apart pretty easily. A friend suggested tacking tar paper to the floor from below. What do you think of that? Another wasted effort? Or economical solution?