Holiday Heart

It is a puzzlement. Consternation turns to elucidation.

Carmen left about an hour ago. No work for three days. Quiet. Solitude. Hot damn! I feel as good as the place is starting to look.

The bedroom is done. The office is done. The upstairs bathroom is done. The stairwell is done. The entry is done. The living room is done. All is still disarray and gypsum dust pervades, but there is a quieting voice inside me: They will never be in your bedroom again. They will never be in the office again.

From here on out, it's all limited to the kitchen and numerous DIY projects I am fully capable of doing. The disorientation, anxiety and frustration of the last week have started to melt away as the new look emerges. And it's really cool. I wish Steve could have seen it.

I churned up some soda ice water with my SodaStream and sat back on the not-half-as-cluttered-today patio, as it is cooler outside. I've been living without air conditioning for two weeks now; it started as a hassle, but as long as I have a fan, I'm good. So, I lean back and wait for Roni.

I called Roni this morning and arranged to have him drop by to discuss the unfinished stuff on the job (and also the second payment is due). During the call, he said the sink I wanted wouldn't be delivered until the 14th or 15th, which is just fine with me (to his surprise, I think). He said he'd drop by as soon after 5 as he could.

The delay on the kitchen doesn't bother me: I wanted to have a couple of days to clean up and sort, once again, through donations, things to be stored, things to be tossed, and now, things to be used in the staging of the house (and then shipped with the stored stuff). With the house pre-staged, it will be easier for the cleaning women (the Gang of Four, I call them) to make it sparkle once the kitchen install is finished. And I splurged on a really nice white-and-beige rug that will make everything pop.

So I'm sipping my seltzer on the patio and Roni calls: traffic is horrible, he doesn't know if he can get here, can we get together first thing tomorrow morning and meet about this (are you kidding?)

I told him what I told Carmen as she left: No work on Friday (Independence Day!) She told me her boss was pushing them to finish today, and that just wasn't going to happen. There is significant drywall work on the kitchen ceiling before they can paint. Roni (like Carmen did) asked how about Saturday? Sunday? These new immigrants: they just don't get the concept of the three-day weekend holiday.

The electrician came today, which had been foretold by Sam. I'm guessing the guy is Russian or Lithuanian, not just because of the accent, but he and his assistant had that dour East European fatalism toward everything and everyone. He put the new ceiling fan in the bedroom (which I've done without since Miguel #3 broke the old one over a week ago). The electrician also installed the safety plugs in the kitchen and bathrooms, and the stairwell light, which is about 12 feet above the landing floor.

As for the sconce down the garage stairs, he checked and would have to start tearing open walls to rewire the circuit, so that was nixed. I also decided to forego the recessed light, and leave the simple white cylinder pair presently hanging up there. With the clean white ceiling, they fit in with the new look of the place. And it saves money, too.

So although I have three days ahead of me, digging through piles in every room and closet in the house, cleaning each thing as I box it, I'm feeling happy. I've been wanting to start the process all week, but the piles just migrated from one room to another. Dusting has been a non-concept up to now. Hopefully, it is now an emerging possibility.

So consternation turns to elucidation, and for the first time in days I feel like I will survive this. And with the DIY stuff, it's all puttering kinds of things, so a few at a time is not a problem. In fact, I'm coordinating a DIY day for a weekend when Kittie and David come down to visit. I've invited Bob McBroom over, as well, and hopefully the two handyman heavyweights, along with their sincere assistants, can tear through most of it in a single day.

So here I am and it looks like my goal of getting the house listed the first week in August is still a very good possibility. This is getting more real by the hour.

Happy Independence Day. Blow up something colorful to celebrate!