The Construction Continues!

Well, here we are two weeks later, and still not done. The new painter/patcher came by today, took one look at the kitchen ceiling and said it couldn't be done with what he had in the truck. There'd been so much texture and paint and junk layered and scraped and layered and scraped on the ceiling that he's going to need to scrape it all down, bring out the texture gun and start fresh. The earliest he can do it is Saturday, and then on Monday someone else will be by to paint. It's a hassle, but it at least gives me a few days of down time between then and now to just relax around the house. I fully intend on cleaning the wood floors, even if they'll just get re-dirtied next weekend.

I also really like the new painter guy. He sort of looks like if Jeff Bridges got a haircut, and he sort of talks like Jeff Bridges' character in The Big Lebowski. The dude abides, and is going to fix my ceilings.

In the meanwhile, the plumbers are here installing a permanent water softener (forget you, Culligan!) and my new kitchen facet. Also, just crawling under all of the cabinets and checking the plumbing. I have to admit, the thing I am most excited about is getting our bathroom drain fixed so that it doesn't take a full minute for the sink to drain when you brush your teeth. They will be done today. The only downside of the plumbers is that they turned off the water for a couple of hours. It's hard to be a pregnant lady with limited toilet access.

Here, Thiel men, check out my appliances!


Tim laid those paving stones himself.

The good news is that my friend Becca and I did some brainstorming about how future renovations should go. Any kitchen or bathroom renos will have wait until Dad is formally retired, and then I will offer him a small stipend to supervise construction, and complete authority to make decisions. In the meanwhile, I will go on vacation and not come back until all of the work is done. I think it's the perfect plan.

Overall though, it's not so bad. All of the contractors have been really nice, everyone is doing a good job (or are totally willing to fix the bad jobs) and I haven't gone into labor in the middle of it all, and that's what really matters.

The cats are also doing better after getting a weekend pass out of kitty prison. Thor has put some weight back on, and now our next big job is getting him used to the ceiling fans. He won't come into the room if the fan is running, and if I carry him out in my arms, he cries and struggles until I put him down, and then he's out like a bolt of lightening. My plan is to take him into the office with me (because there's no good place to hide) run the fan and try to get him to see that nothing bad is going to happen to him.

Look at this little face. Can you see why I just want him to be happy?
He is just a little kitten with mittens.

The baby continues to be good. She hasn't dropped and no contractions, and I continue to maintain my theory that I'll go past my due date. In terms of actually giving birth, I realized last night that I am much like a cat. I'm sort of hoping I'll go into labor late at night so I can just sneak off and do it without too much hubbub. Sort of like a cat going and hiding in a drawer to have her kittens, and then carrying them around in her mouth to a good hiding place. I hope the skin on the back of Sequins' neck is strong enough for that.