in the closet... and other tales

you know, i really didn't think its been quite this long since i had last posted anything.

i think that because things had just come to such a snail's pace, i just plain didn't get here. but even with the snail's pace, there have been some crazy things happen in just the last couple days, that made my life into a sort of time warp.

so this is where we are now, in a rambling sort of way:

- we're about 6 steps away from completing our reno. we fired our contractor about a month ago. he just quit bothering to get much of anything done (surprise, surprise) and we just ended up with the shortest end of the stick.

- about being in the closet - i spent far too much time removing the subfloor and ripping yet more staples out of the pantry, and have only accomplished the removing of the subfloor in the coat closet. the staples still need to come out of there before the hardwood is installed. hot and stuffy little spaces do not make me happy.

- the finishing is done on the outside of the house. we have a doorbell and our house numbers are up.

- "backhoe bob" will be here tomorrow to level out the ground in front of the house and drill the holes so we can pour the concrete for our new porch.

- after a really odd experience with a guy that came to drywall and tape, ending with him just walking out of our house on monday morning with no explanation other than him having nothing less than what could be called a 2-year old's temper tantrum (after telling him the painter would be doing the texturing of the ceiling), one of my dad's co-horts is finishing the taping in the addition, and should be done by sunday.

- the painter will be here monday morning to start painting the main living areas and addition.

- the flooring installer will be putting in the hardwood on aug 4. and at that point the only thing left will be the tile backsplash in the kitchen.

so, really we're just that close. yet so far away yet.

add to all of the chaos:

- had a ridiculous summer cold for the better part of 3 weeks. when i laid down it felt like someone was sitting on my chest and i coughed and coughed and couldn't sleep. and when i talked to anyone more than a few minutes, i was again coughing. not so good when i had lots to tell my customers. talking is my job. and coughing on them or near them does not help my sales.

- time has been in short supply while we have tried to balance weekend home projects and some fun time (mainly golfing) with the kids. i always worry that they never get enough fun stuff in during the summer. i don't want them to have to be programmed to death, but they have a routine going as well. 5 days out of the week, they're at home. 2 days a week they're at my mom's. b's been having sleep overs, going to sleep overs, and generally being as much of a couch potato as possible. j has his little jobs that keep him busy, and he stays quite active, but he's starting to get tired. when we all go 7 days a week, its just not a good thing for any of us.

- we've done some entertaining, even though the house is a disaster. have had a few great evenings with friends, and now that it seems like the weather is finally co-operating now, hopefully we'll have even more.

- august long weekend we're heading to great falls for a break. the couple that we went to mazatlan with will also be joining us for some shopping, maybe a round of golf, a trip to the montana state fair, and just some plain r&r. (although this plan already sounds just that little bit busy!)

- went to a golf tourney with my boss last weekend, and i came home with a pair of oakley sunglasses and a shop vac.

-which pales in comparison to this:


(click for bigger picture)

dh golfed at the pc children's charity tournament yesterday and got a hole in one. that in itself is a feat. but he also won this beauty of a car.

we took the cash option. an amazing $78000.00!!! i was almost hysterical when he called me. insane.

- so now there's a few more things to add to the list. we'll be paying off some house stuff with the cashola, shopping for a new vehicle for dh, and looking at upgrading my baby as well. this just made a few things possible for us that we were worried about having the funds to do it with.

i think that's about it. like i said, a bit of craziness around here, and adding to that the everyday mundaneness of it all, i really feel like i've just been in the closet for too long of a time!

have a great day - thanks for reading!