When Life Gets in the Way

Yes, the floors are DONE!  I am SOOO pleased with how they turned out, but I have to add that there was a wrinkle in the process.  When I called the owner to set up an appt to get this done (by the company whose bid was right in the  middle...not the cheapest, not the most expensive), I asked what it would cost to get flush mounted floor vents and was told $30 each (we have 3).  I said good, let's add the flush mounted vents, I'll add it to the bid.  I added the verbiage "add 3 flush mount vents at a cost of $30 each bringing the new total to $X" (and I even rounded UP).  I put down the agreed upon dates, signed it and wrote a check for half.

When I came up last Thursday to inspect, I asked when the flush mount vents would be added.  They "forgot" to  add the vents (having stapled the revised bid to the back side of the original and then they worked off the original) and the only way to add the vents in is to redo the whole floor.  Talk about going from a high to a low in one fell swoop!  Since it was their error and I was not getting what I wanted, I expected them to do something to fix.  The owner said he had some raised wood vents in the shop and he would bring them by on Friday morning and if I was ok with it, he would sand and stain them for free.  NOT what I wanted but what I wanted was no longer an option so I agreed.  He called me on Friday to say no he didn't have the vents available.  I asked if he could get them and he said he would see, but I could just get different vents from Home Depot.  Which I interpreted as, "tough luck sista...you're on your own since I already got paid" (which I paid the balance minus the vents).

So, the moral of the story, before you begin ANY work, make sure all the expectations are stated up front, on paper, any changes verified by all parties.  Lesson learned.

Now, it took one day to disassemble the house to get this done last week and I'm working on day 4 now trying to get it all put back together. Thursday after they left, I thoroughly cleaned all the cabinets in the kitchen, because you know "dustless" isn't REALLY dustless.  Friday I painted the dining room, first time in 14 years.  It looks awesome but of course it now means the hallway looks shabby, so I see more painting in my future.  Friday afternoon, the husband and I bought a new kitchen table and he spend Friday evening putting it together.  54 inch square counter height table with 8 chairs.  It looks GORGEOUS.  Saturday my oldest daughter had a dance competition north of the cities, so we went to watch that and have lunch.  It's amazing the lack of motivation that follows two beers at lunch.  Sunday we went to church, then took the girls out Christmas shopping for their friends (yes, we braved the mall...and while it was CRAZY busy, it wasn't as bad as I expected).  We came home, went to some friends', ended up back here for our weekly "side of steak".

This morning my oldest daughter told me that my bedroom (which currently has all the boxes containing the contents of my china cabinet...including TWO full sets of dishes, one 8 place settings, one 11 place settings, stacked in the perimeter of my bed) resembles an episode of "Hoarders".  YIKES!   My goal today:  return the china cabinet to its original form.

And get the stack of Christmas cards in the mail (all stamped and ready to go).

And get a batch of sugar cookie dough made so it can refrigerate.

And get to the grocery store since we're supposed to get another 8-10 inches of snow late this afternoon and my refrigerator is BARE!

And if I can manage all that, I can probably manage  to get the last of my Christmas presents wrapped, right?

This is what happens when  life gets in the way of carefully made plans.