Decorating Diaries - &*%*#%^ Contractors!

See the blood gushing down my forehead?  That comes from beating my head against a wall, trying to remain sane in the insane and utterly illogical world of contractors.

I was hot yesterday.  We've hired one bath design company from whom we've ordered our flooring, shower tile, tub basin, cabinets, etc.  The owner was at our home on Friday, roughing in the shower in preparation for the tile man, who he said would be here on Tuesday.  As he was leaving Friday, he said, "Will you be around on Sunday?  We really need to send someone out to finish this job so we can be ready for the tile on Tuesday."

I assured him someone would be here all day.  So of course, Sunday came and went with no one showing up and--what really made my blood boil--no phone call.  Are these people's  fingers broke? How hard it is to dial a phone? It infuriates me beyond all rational thought.  We arrange our schedule to suit them and they can't be bothered to call.  Makes me want to go buy an Uzi off the street and do something with it.

So 8 AM yesterday, I place a call to this company and get their voicemail.  I left a message that, well, let's say expressed my displeasure at the no show and no phone call and let them know in no uncertain terms I want this bathroom done, I want to know when they're showing up, I want phone calls, and I am through being nice about it.

So all day yesterday, I hear nothing from them.  My anger is on a high simmer at this point.  "Fine, don't call me back today," I'm thinking.  "But you'll have to call sooner or later and you will rue the day you blew me off.  " 

Finally, at 5:30, I get a phone call.  Very apologetic, and before I could say anything, she was reassuring me the owner and the tile guy would be here this morning and the tile guy was ours all week until the job got done and the minute the floor was set, they would move the cabinets in.  "Fine," I said.  "That's what I wanted to hear."  And I dropped it and now (for the moment) I'm being nice again.

But that's what irritates me above all.  I have to be a b---- in order to get things done by these people?  I don't like that.  But I'm not allowing any leeway at this point.  One no-show or delay and I'm going to be all over their ass.  Apparently being nice doesn't pay off in the misaligned world of contractors.

Decorating Diaries--Tile Today???

Oh boy, everybody cross your fingers and say a prayer.  Word on the street is the tile people are coming TODAY. That's right, there is the chance that I may wake up tomorrow morning with a tile floor in my master bathroom. 

They told my general contractor they would be here this morning so I called at 9 AM to firm out a time.  That's when they said (and really, couldn't you have predicted it by this point?) that they might not be able to make it out until the afternoon.  Fine, except for one thing.  I won't BE HERE this afternoon and my General Contractor is at another job.

So after some phone calls, it has been decided that tile guy will try with all his might to get here before 1pm when I leave, but if he can't make it, he will absolutely be here in the morning.  

I'll keep you updated... 

DayTimer Defeat & Other Odds & Ends

I have been humbled by the weekly day planner.  I can't make it work and I'm giving up now, before I waste any more time.  I had visions of grandeur, in that I would plan each day down to the minute so as to squeeze the most productivity out of every hour.  Instead, I discovered I'm a rebel.  And the rebel part of me refuses to have my every move dictated.

So I stopped by Staples last night and picked up my trusty $13 month-at-a-glance planner that has been my companion for 17 years now.  I'm very excited about spending some time later this morning transferring my existing appointments and obligations into the monthly planner.  This weekly one was giving me heart failure.  I would forget to look to the week ahead and be stunned to find out I had a Sunday meeting or an article was due next Tuesday.  The older we get, the more we are set in our ways...

Speaking of getting old, I'm taking up knitting.  Yes, you read right.  Knitting.  My friend Melody has become--I don't think "obsessed" is too strong a word--obsessed with the craft. I met her for coffee yesterday and she showed me her sundry of projects and had me knit a row.  And I say this now, with great pride and no fear of retribution: KNITTING IS FUN.

I was so taken I went immediately to the crafts store to buy a starter kit.  However, the starter kits all contained incredibly ugly yarns, so I picked out a silky-soft, feathery, deep mauve yarn from which to craft my first scarf.  I just need to meet with Melody and have her get me started.  Several friends of ours have expressed an interest in learning to knit so we're kicking around the idea of starting the "Hot Women Who Knit" club.  Meeting times to be announced.  (And everyone just start practicing your happy face now for when you receive a scarf from me next year at Christmas).

Good News: The dryer is fixed.  Our contractor came over and had it fixed in no time.  Very pleased. Maybe it bodes well for the progress to be made on the bathroom.

Decorating Diaries - Things That Go "Boom!"

Blair rolled in the door about 9:30 last night and immediately asked, "What's that noise coming from the dryer?"

"I don't know," I said. (I was already snuggled down in bed reading.) "My strategy was to ignore it and hope it goes away."

Grimacing at me, Blair opened the door to the washer/dryer area. "Dena!" he said.  "The entire hose is disconnected.  Didn't you notice the heat pouring out?"

"Yeah," I said turning a page.  "I did think it seemed kinda warm."

This is why I should not be left alone with appliances.  It's that not I'm incompetent of handling a problem, I just don't care. Mechanical items bore me.  Always have, always will.

Which doesn't change the fact that not only did our dryer hose disconnect, it's torn.  So we need a new hose.  Which, being the easy-solution challenged people we are, brokes an entirely new set of options.

Right now, our dryer vents to our back porch.  However, on schedule for 2006 in the "Home Upgrade" category is a new porch/deck/sunroom.  So, we're wondering if while we're replacing the hose, we ought to vent the dryer to a new area. What area that might be, I have no clue.

Plus, Blair thought he remembered reading the metal tubing is better than the flexible plastic or whatever tubing we have now.  So should be replace all of that?  Discussion of which reminded me to remind Blair that we as of yet have done nothing with the heated floor guy's informing us that the state of insulation under our home is "a mess."

"What does that mean?" Blair asked last night.

"It means it's a mess," I answered.

"No, I mean, how bad is that? Is it all over or just in the bathroom area where they were working?"

"I don't know."

"Because I've been under there and I don't think it's that bad.  Did he say anything else?"

"Look," I said, "I'm not holding out on you.  All I know is he said it's a mess and he seemed pretty upset for us that we had that big a mess to deal with.  That's all I know."

But now I'm nervous.  Once one thing breaks down in the home, it usually spreads like a bad virus and things start going "boom!" right and left. 

Meanwhile, I'll be hanging my socks and unmentionables out to dry.