Day 35

They say good things come to those who wait, so maybe this'll turn out awesome. I haven't posted for over a week because nothing has happened. The floor guys finished up, repairing the cat's 'contribution' to our home decor and putting on a final coat of shine. And there it sits.

The cabinets are ordered and should come in a week (or two or three), the doors are ordered and should arrive in a week, closet doors are on their way, and a snappy chandelier and pendants have been ordered. Until something arrives, all we can do is marvel at our pretty green box.

One thing we can do is finish off the electric, but the nocturnal electrician has gone AWOL. If we at least got plugs in, we could move the fridge out the living room and start returning to some semblance of life.

Until then, brave followers, the adventure continues

Day 25
What is the price of the love of a pet? I'll tell you that the tab on the cat is going up every day. We got the floors sanded and repaired yesterday, and by and large they look as good as we expected. The repairs from the former wall and the radiator leakage look good, but there were some additional damaged spots we weren't counting on.

A couple were in/around the old pantry closet and were caused by 'pet residue,' also known as auxiliary litter box. While George is undoubtedly not the only cat to live here in the past 100 years, I feel comfortable in leaving him a share of the blame. In the end it means ripping out a few more boards and and replacing them, but hopefully it will have no long-term effect on our lives.

The transition between the maple and oak floors is far from invisible, but I don't think it bothers me. It might feel weird in the end to do all this work and have this glaring inconsistency, but I'm still leaning on the 'character' argument. Besides, there's always tile.

In fairness to previous statements made here, I received a call from the Depot's store manager yesterday apologizing for the closet door mishap. He said he would do everything he could to get us the new doors quickly, and promised 'to make it up to me financially' once we see the doors and are happy with the outcome. Which is good, because I'm way to lazy to start boycotting the Depot in the middle of this mess.

Day 24
Contractors think about dust they way people in Arizona think about heat. "Oh, it won't be noticeable," they say, and they next thing you know the cat has been dusted in a thin film of powdered wood.

They sanded the floor today, and we got a fresh coat of not-noticeable dust. It got cold and stayed wet, so the varnish may never dry, but the parts you can see from the doorway look sharp. There were some imperfections when I last looked at, but hopefully the were scraped off before they varnished. You have to love 100-year-old hardwood for refinishing, you can rip off half an inch and still have some to spare.

The new 'kitchen' was once both a kitchen and bedroom, so they flooring switches from maple to red oak about halfway across. They repaired where the wall was with oak 'harvested' from the closet, and with the light stain its not a drastic shift. I think it adds character, and I'm going to keep saying that every time I think about how much it would cost to replace the floor.

I still have not heard the Depot's "Resolution Team" about canceling my closet door. DeeDee learned yesterday that they still make the door with frosted glass panels (rather than wood) for $10 more. Wouldn't have that been a nice alternative offer, rather than just hanging us out to dry to for two weeks. Normally I don't like to play the angry customer role, but sheer stupidity of this (especially in light of the simple alternative) makes me want to raise a stink.

That, and I'd really like to move back into my bedroom someday.

Day 23

Same sh**, different day. Jovan and the floor guy came early, but all they did was look things over and left. He said he would look at his schedule and get back to me. After blowing off other vendors for the guy, this really was not what I wanted to hear, but I let it slide.

Jovan was looking to finish the closet and hang the door, so I called the Depot to check on our special order doors (see Day 8)only to be told that order had been canceled by the manufacturer and no one bothered to tell us. The woman on the phone was polite but ultimately useless, so I vented my anger on their customer service email. At this point my concerns have been escalated to their 'Resolution Team' and will see if anything comes of that.

So I was wasted several hours trying to rethink the door situation to no avail. Couple that with being stuck in a holding pattern on some work stuff and still not knowing how badly I'm going to get whacked by the tax man, it wasn't the best day.

On the plus side, Jovan called late in the evening to say the floor guys would start tomorrow at the original price we discussed. So it ain't all bad.

Day 22

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed. I knew almost as soon as I wrote it that I would be in trouble looking forward to imminent floor sanding. Monday came with great expectations and.. nothing.

I couldn't get a hold of Jovan for a while, and I when I did he said he would have to get back to me on Tuesday. I felt like the dog waiting for me to come home, staring at the door with nothing happening. And nothing happened.

Day 21

No new wreckage or repairs on the old wreckage. We had the weekend off from construction and were less than constructive ourselves. DeeDee is still fighting with the semi-permanent sinus infection (I'm sure the dust has NOTHING to do with it) and I've only got popping ears and a large case of laziness.

We did some lighting shopping, and DeeDee's thoroughness is kicking in again, but from my point of view lighting is cooler and way cheaper than cabinets. We have a differing opinion of white celing fixtures in the bedroom, and posted a poll on the right column. If you have an opinion feel free to vote or post comments on the subject. And I will probably ignore them like I have been doing with her opinion on the subject (ha.).

I'm waiting on the floor guys now, and I'm pretty excited. It the biggest stumbling block for to picture how the room will look. Hopefully, in a couple days that image will be all positive.

Day 18

I am still not sick. DeeDee is finally getting healthier, as evidenced by the slowly diminishing stacks of kleenex knocking around the house like tumbleweeds. I refuse to succumb to illness, even though the desire to get to bed at like 3:30pm is pretty strong. I think (hope?) this is going to be one of those things where I feel like I'm getting sick for a couple weeks and never quite go there.

Jovan is flying solo and just picking up the pieces. He fixed most of the weird white stainage in the the bedroom but missed a large spot, so we're in the living room probably through the weekend. Although with floor-sanding on Monday and Tuesday, that might not be a bad idea.

Other than that, its tiny measurable progress. There are now pipes through the floor for the corner sink, everything is painted and touched up and we're waiting on deliveries. This could be the new theme.

Day 17

Not easy being green. I hit the ground running this morning, checking in at the Home Depot by 7:30am. It's a funny time of day there, with the parking lot overflowing with well-worn white vans, and the aisles populated by sturdy dudes in coveralls. It's a far-cry from the 'handy yuppie' Saturday crowd, marking time until they can hit the hot dog stand at the exit.

I picked up the paint we needed and went home to work. We chose the colors for the kitchen based on a bar lamp hand-crafted by the Village Lamp Shop and I got two gallons of a cheery celery green. However, when it was still wet and covering a 20-foot stretch of wall all I could think was 'neon pus'. Thankfully it dried to a much saner hue.

I was going to prepare the bedroom to move back in, when we found these weird white stains on the freshly varnished floors. They came up with a little scrubbing, but I want Jovan to make sure its not something more permanent.

The condo assocation had a meeting tonight, and I actually had to do some preparation for that. It's pretty hard to care about building details on top of the rest of this, but duty calls.

Milan needs to come and finish up the wiring, and the floor guys are coming Monday, but the pace will be slowing soon. I could use the break.