Day 72

Not alot to report today. The contractor stopped by and put in that one piece for the kitchen sink drain and left.

I called the guy with the paint sprayer and I will have it in my hot little hands tomorrow! I spent a ridiculousreasonable amount of time on finalizing my paint colors and buying paint today. Using the paint sprayer, I hope to have the house painted in a couple of days based on what everyone is telling me.

I had a lovely afternoon at a very dear friend's house. It was my first time visiting her house and I have to rave a little on how gorgeous and tasteful for her decor is! She has put a lot of time, thought and effort into every little precious detail. I pray that my house will someday grow up to be like hers. :-)

Day 71 - The Miracle of Running Water

I HAVE WATER!!! Woohoo - YAY! Crazy dance!!! I feel so pampered...LOL! Aaaahhh...the luxury of water. Sigh....contentment. Anybody have a cigarette?

While the bathroom is far from being done, all of the water lines have been installed and the water is running. The only thing not back to normal is the kitchen sink drain. While I can run water, we were missing one piece when it came time to hook the drain line up. At almost midnight, I didn't feel like making that 99th trip to Lowe's, so that will get finished up in the morning.

So...could I possibly be painting tomorrow? Maybe...anything is possible!

Day 70

Well, I don't have water yet, but I'm close! The contractor worked from noon today to about ten o'clock tonight. I've got to pick up a door and frame for the bathroom this weekend and hopefully, that's my last 'big' item. Hopefully...

Day 69

YAY...the contractor was there today. He didn't get there until after noon, but I did see some progress. He still thinks he can have me some water by tomorrow, but I do NOT want to get my hopes up!

I took the night off to meet up with some friends from younger days and it was a sweet-crazy-feel-like-I'm-20-again evening. Love all of them and wish we could do this more often.

'Nite.

Day 68

Another day of nothing! No contractor...called about 7:00 tonight to say he was still sick. :-(

Day 67

I called the contractor's friend's phone bright and early this morning. I left a message asking him to at least tell me he's not coming back. At 8:50 AM, the friend called back and said the contractor was on the way. Mom went by the house and she unlocked it. She stopped by at 10 AM and 11:30 AM and he still wasn't there. I ran by on my lunch break at 1:15 PM to "brag" on my tile to Tess and he still wasn't there; however, when I pulled in the driveway at 5:15 PM, he was there. He said he had been there for hours. What two, maybe? LOL! I told him I needed everything completed by no later than Friday morning. He said that would be fine and he would be there bright and early tomorrow morning. Mmmmmkay...let's just hope?! I had made a couple of calls earlier today and I'm trying to go ahead and line up someone else as I sadly have no faith in him at this point.

Here is a picture of my tiled bathroom floor for you to oooh and aaaah over. I'll be more than happy to refer this guy to anyone that needs any tiles laid. He was there when he said he would be there (if not earlier) and the tiles look fabulicious - especially considering my humpty-dumpty floor.

And I'll leave you with a picture of my proud little gardener...check out his pepper plant!

Day 66

The tile guy called me right before lunch today. His job was wrapping up early and he wanted to go ahead and get started on the grout. I took my lunch break to take over the grout and ten gallons of water for wiping the tile down. I came back a little after 5:00 and he was done. Man, it looks purdy! I'll post a picture tomorrow when the grout dries as it still looks dark from being wet. I'm really glad I went ahead and bought the tile versus the vinyl - I think it will be a good investment!

I did get a second quote on the floors today that looks to be a little cheaper, so that was a big plus!

The contractor had told the tile guy he would be there, but he never showed. I left a message on his friend's phone, but did not hear back from him. :-(

Day 65

My phone rang at 9:05 this morning...it was the contractor. He said the tile guy was at my house ready to work and he would be there shortly. While I was thrilled, it would have been nice to have had some notice. I filled up four gallon jugs, took a speed shower and headed over there. The tile guy was there and setting up his tools outside. I learned that he had not been able to reach the contractor yesterday, so he rang his phone off of the hook until he answered this morning. Stop it - I know you're surprised. Anyway, he got started, so I left to take Lori to OutBack for her birthday lunch. When I got back, he was already finished with part one. The tile looks really nice and professional - very evenly spaced and flush which is a miracle on my old floor that was made up of several different materials. He also made a call to someone who does floors and he will be there tomorrow to give me a quote. I've already got one quote, but I want to shop around a little. He will be back tomorrow evening to grout the tile and I've got to collect some more jugs because he washes the tile down several times.

YAY...some progress!

PS - The contractor never showed up.

Day 64

I called the contractor's friend's phone at 8:30 tonight to see where the h#ll he was at. He was with his friend, so I got to talk to him. He started by saying he hadn't heard from the tile guy which really has nothing to do with the work he has to do under the house and I told him that. He spouted off some more lame excuses, so I hung up frustrated because I was afraid of what I was going to say. Unfortunately, the contractor is my cousin so I've tried to tread carefully, but enough is enough. I made the BIG mistake of fronting him some money thinking surely he wouldn't rip off family. Out of the last eleven days, he has worked part of four days. Stupid me...lesson learned! The tools are going straight to the pawn shop Monday to get some of my money back.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, I'll just kick your a$s.

Day 63

I woke up at 2:10 AM still boiling with rage over the contractor and never went back to sleep. Then, Colton woke up with pink eye. Today was his last day at summer care and he was really looking forward to going. The doctor gave him the eye drops and he should be fine a couple of days. Here's to hoping no one else gets it!

The contractor called this evening and said he had been sick with a virus for two days. He also said the tile guy should be here Saturday evening. I guess I'll hold off on taking all of his tools to the pawn shop to see what happens this weekend. hehe

With all of this, I have no plans for the weekend other than trying to let my blood pressure go back to normal after this week! I'm tired....