Wake Me When We Something Happens

Having to spend the month of April eagerly awaiting our new gas line had an upside, as the delay provided us with more time to clean out the basement before any actual work could begin. When we bought the house, we were thrilled with the abundance of storage space - basement, attic, two-car garage, even a good-sized shed. However, in the ensuing eight years, I had closed up my law office, my parents' house of 38 years as well as their apartment, and our abundance of space was no longer. So, after burning out a shredder, outfitting several fundraising garage sales and filling up our garage, we were finally able to see the basement floor which meant the construction crew could too.

Meanwhile, while all of the above was happening (or not), Shaw and I had also been busy making product selections. Cabinets, countertops, tiles, appliances, floors, bathroom fixtures (times two), doors, windows, siding, trim - just name it and we had to pick it. It's one thing cutting pictures out of magazines - quite another having to make the actual decisions. We took lots of field trips and spent many hours on the computer. Pretty soon, things start getting delivered to the house, so whatever space in the garage that hasn't been filled by stuff from the basement now looks like a branch of Lowe's.

Shaw calls me at work one day. "Did you order toilets?" he wants to know. "Yes," I calmly reply, "since we're doing two bathrooms I thought they would be a nice touch. Why do you ask?" "Because they just delivered some and I didn't know where they came from," he tells me. "From me," I reply. From who else, the Good Toilet Fairy? More stuff keeps coming and filling the space where two cars once peacefully co-existed. And one of these days we'll also have to begin cleaning out the attic, as that's where the new HVAC unit will be going. Our contractor advises us that we'll be getting a 40-foot trailer placed alongside the house once the foundation for the addition is built, so that all of the furniture that needs to be moved out can be stored. That should help, and should also thrill our neighbors. Perhaps we can put a rusty car on blocks out there too just to complete the effect.