My crazy weekend...

Ok. So. I decided that since the house hasn't sold and it didn't look as though the house would be selling anytime soon, that I wanted to make the house the way I want it to be - have always wanted it to be. For some reason, the lovely builder of the house put wallpaper in the baths. Hello. Who puts wallpaper in a house that is built in the 2000's? Geez. Anyway, it never bothered Ben but has always aggravated me...so I finally convinced him that if we are going to stay in the house since it hasn't sold, we should at least improve it to our standards. So...we hired the fellows that pressure washed the house in the spring to come remove the wallpaper. I also decided to have the baths tiled while we're at it. So, yeah - maybe not the most brilliant thing to do all at once...especially for someone who is as insanely crazy about the house being *perfect* at all times as I am.

So. They show up on Monday afternoon 1 hour late of course. Take down some wallpaper in 1 bath. Leave and can't come back until Saturday. They say they'll show up at 9 and again are EXTREMELY late...but I'm still ok....even though this is now the 4th time they have been late to my house. They start working. What happened first? Hm. I believe it was every smoke detector in my entire house going off all at once bec they were using some equipment in the house that apparently produced too much smoke. Finally get those to stop. Whew. That was loud. And obnoxious. Then, a neat thing happened while on the phone with Mom. An older fellow showed up who was interested in the house who thought that we had moved out and that he could just walk in while some workers were there...but he ran into me instead. (He said, "I finally found your house again! I've been searching for it for weeks now." Apparently, he had driven by and when he tried to bring his wife back, couldn't find it again.) Anyway, his wife was in the car and I let them look around - they were very sweet and seemed enthusiastic about the house...but they said they had to sell theirs first, though, so we'll see. We might be here for another year with the way the market is right now. So back to tiling. Suddenly, everything comes to a halt. I ask - through a difficult language barrier - what's going on. They can't find the tile I picked out. Right. No reason to ensure that they have access to it when I pick it out. Makes total sense. Hand me some tile and say "pick one", then discover you have no access to it. Brilliant. So, I have the smart idea that we don't have to use the specific tile that I picked out - and say I'll meet the one searching for it and pick another. Leave tilers & huge mess at house while go out to pick new tile. Chemistry with the tile seller thankfully got us a discount, bec picked new tile that goes very well but more expensive. Return home. Bird in house. (Poor thing, it was so scared). Get bird out of house and clean up bird poop. Things calm down. Finally they all leave around 7pm, house still a wreck, tile laid but not grouted & walls still a huge mess. Unsure if I can walk on tile that isn't grouted. Oh, yeah. They were actually going to leave without putting a toilet back in place...I almost forgot about that part...so I made them put one back in and then they left. Thanfully, I noticed it. Hehe. That would have been interesting.

Today things are looking up. They have just about completed one bath and I have to say that the tile is absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait until the room is painted. I only wish we had done this a year ago like I wanted.

They did show up about 30 mins late again today. I was very disappointed in them bec I had made it a point to keep reiterating that they would be here at the specified time. One fellow showed up on time, but the rest came rolling in much later. I was not pleased. So, I actually told the ringleader that he needed to come when he said he was going to come and that customers expect and appreciate punctuality. I was shocked that I had to tell someone older than me these things.

Sometimes the language barrier is cute. One fellow asked me, "How many years do you have?" and made a wide gesture. I said, "Oh, we've owned the house for about 4 years." hehe. Then he said, "No, how many years do you have?" and pointed at me. That was cute. He told me he had 33 years.

I was hoping that this whole thing would be done before next weekend as we have some events to attend, but I'm not sure it will. I CANNOT wait for this warzone to get cleaned up. Poor Mika hasn't eaten anything in 2 days and hid under the chair for most of yesterday afternoon - I felt so bad for him. But he'll appreciate the beauty of the tile, right? :-)

So not a good writer - was telling Ben the whole story and we were just "hee-hawing" as he always says...but I just reread through this and it sounds rather bitchy (plus I left out the funny stories I have from my conversation with mom). I don't really mean for it to - the whole thing was rather comical, except for the not having access to the tile issue (and thus having to pay more - but not as much as we would have without friendly tile guy who pinky swore with me on the tile that I picked). And the tile and walls do look lovely. I just can't wait to be able to enjoy my new & improved house (and not feel like an outsider in it!) We're not going to want to move.