Why It Was Hard To Be Away From Home Last Week

It was hard to be away from home last week!

Lars called on Tuesday, "Mama! Ross and I were wrestling and he punched me and my tooth came out!" Lars was still proud of the missing tooth and happy to have been visited by the Tooth Fairy when I got home.

On Wednesday, the new windows were installed! Chris took photos of Days 3 &4 and uploaded them for me to see but viewing them on my phone was awkward (internet in my hotel room didn't work). Based on the postage-stamp size photo not looking as I'd expected it to look, I panicked about the location of the bay window and Chris got the guys to stop working on repairing the outside until I could get home and determine if I wanted them to move it or not. Luckily, I liked it better in person than in the photo, so it doesn't have to be moved.

On Thursday, I talked Chris through answering the EC's questions at the start of rough-in. I was not in a position to spend a lot of time on the phone, so Chris translated as best he could and gave the EC a bunch of .pdf cut sheets so he could see the expected equipment and get started. I cleared up the EC's remaining questions when I got home Friday and he was able to finish rough-in.

Friday brought truckloads of cabinets our way. The cartons are EVERYWHERE! Playroom is filled to the roof, there are huge boxes on the front porch, in the dining room, and in the back hall. I honestly don't know how they're going to fit everything in the kitchen - it's not that big a room! I'm excited to see what happens next and prepared to be amazed by the magic. Chris pointed out that the cartons are no doubt oversized, so some of the bulk will go away when the packaging is removed...but still! There's a LOT of carton in the house right now.

In other news, we've determined the floor (for sure) and counter color (we think; final decision will be made once floor and cupboards are in), light fixtures and cabinet hardware are on order, and appliances will be delivered on Friday. First permit inspections are scheduled for this Thursday - once inspections are passed, they'll close the walls and the real fun will begin. Chris and I still need to determine paint color, pick a faucet, and figure out what we'll sort of fireproof treatment we'll have behind the stove. We're on a mission to figure these last details out and hire a painter (the one thing our GC doesn't do) this week.

We ran out of salt in the little salt cellar this weekend and I realized that the refill box is packed (along with 98% of the kitchen). Rather than dig through everything to find it, I just put salt on the shopping list - it's not as if it will spoil. Chris returned from the store mildly irked and without salt. His comment was, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to buy Kosher salt just before Rosh Hashanah?" Oops.