Today is going like clockwork. The tile guys arrived to finish up the bathroom at 7:00. Our new living room furniture was here by 8:00. The folks who are cleaning our existing furniture were here by 9:00. Our bedroom furniture will be here by 1:00. I think I'll give the GC a lesson on proper project coordination. Heh.
WE ARE IN!!! Finally. Calvin and I spent a good hour, when we arrived home from work last night, just wandering around the place, simultaneously ooh-ing and ahh-ing, and dreading the sheer amount of work we still have ahead of us. We had to sleep on the floor in our bedroom last night, but we'll have a Real Live Bed tonight!
I swear, I have been sleeping like crap for the last two weeks. I'm not a tall person by any stretch (heh), but my feet hung off the end of the bed at the hotel. How do people like Shaq O'Neil manage do you think? Oh, yeah, they have more money than GOD, so they can afford to make a custom bed. My bad.On today's agenda - load up the closet, find all the blankets in the house which mysteriously disappeared during this whole process, rearrange furniture (I love that part), help Calvin install more light fixtures and ceiling fans, and basically get resettled. That last part's going to take more than just this weekend, I suspect.
Okay, I'm back. I just helped Calvin install a really bitchin' light fixture for the dining room. See?
I will now add to the list of things I've learned from this whole experience.
Some additional things I've learned:
- You still have to vacuum new carpet right away. They leave all these little picked carpet fuzzies everywhere when they install it. And you keep finding them everywhere, in every odd area of the house, for ages after you swore you'd vacuumed the last bit up.
- Ceiling fans are stupidly expensive.
- So is upholstery cleaning (I'm sorry, $260 for a sofa, love seat, chair, and ottoman? Man.)
- Tubs that easily fit two adults, reclining, with room to spare, are a must in any household. That's how Calvin and I celebrated our "moving in" last night. It was heavenly. I told him, "Calvin, we've waited 6 months and $60,000 for this very moment." We both agreed it was worth it.
- It is much easier to do all the tedious "moving in" tasks while listening to KC and the Sunshine Band. "Do a little dance, make a little love, Get Down Tonight! (do do do) Get Down Tonight!"
- Adolescent step-daughter gets embarrassed when parents dance around to aforementioned KC in front of her friends.
- Calvin will always be the first to spill on/stain/muddy new flooring. Sorry, Calvin, the world had to be warned.
- Dogs, ferrets, and cats don't negotiate very well on tile at top speed. Gadget fell flat on his face while tackling the stairs. Gypsy was watching, and after she saw that she refused to approach the stairs at all. Smart dog.
Segue...
It's Sunday. "Leet's do the tiiime warp agaaain!" As anticipated, we had a crazy-busy day yesterday, with more work ahead of us today, but for the time being we're lounging on our new living room furniture, Calvin's reading the paper, and I'm futzing with Photoshop and writing this entry. Ahhhh... I love how all the details came together so well. The lighting fixtures (as you will see on the next page, we are very lighting savvy) added wonderful accents, and the couch matches the tile *just so*, and grumpiness is fading, and the dogs are remembering we actually *do* live here, instead of just stopping by long enough to feed them. It's been raining all weekend long, and we were a little concerned that the skylights might leak, but so far so good.
Calvin and I were startled awake this morning by the biggest crash of thunder I've ever heard in my life. It sounded like God dropped two dozen semi's in our backyard. Car alarms were going off all over the neighborhood. The dogs were blinking at us beseechingly from outside the french doors - "Please let us in! We won't get dirt on the new carpet, we promise! How would you feel if we got hit by lightning, huh?" Michael came rushing down stairs exclaiming "Did you hear that? Did you hear that???" We'd have to be deaf not to, and even then we would have *felt* it.TAKE ME TO THE PICTURES! >>>