And Cecil B. DeMille Said, 'Let There Be Light'

Wednesday, November 11. Sparky is here, because I know I need to be home whenever he's doing any work. Every time I show him a fixture he reacts as if he's never seen one like it before. Now, I'll admit that some of the lights we're putting up aren't exactly off the shelf at Home Depot, but it isn't as if I'm manufacturing these things myself. Wall sconces, undercabinet and in-cabinet lighting, exterior lights - most of them have been ordered on-line from actual lighting companies, so the odds are pretty good they've been purchased by others before me, perhaps even by licensed electricians. And yet each one seems to be a first for Sparky. So it's been agreed by the contractor and me that I should be around as much as possible to show him what to do.

Anyway, today he hooks up the recessed lights in the dining room, installs the electric outlets, and even hooks up the lighting in and under the wall cabinets that are already in place. It's raining when he gets here so it's not looking good for him to install the outside fixtures... even he realizes that water and electricity aren't a good match. Around 1PM, though, the skies clear, I subtly yet hopefully mention that it's now dry outside, and he sends his assistant outside so about an hour later we have five of the outside wall lights put up. Finally, we'll be able to find our way outside at night. And, of course, they look great, but who among us is really surprised?.

More molding goes in, they start tiling the basement floor - which actually makes it look a lot less like a basement, I must admit, and was an excellent idea of Shaw's - and lots and lots and lots and lots of sanding takes place. Our almost 50-year-old walls, faced with sheetrock that's thinner than what they use now, haven't exactly aged all that well. I've become known around here as the "Blue Tape Terror", because every time I notice a flaw in a wall I stick a piece of blue painters tape next to it so they'll notice it needs to be spackled. Of course this makes the house appear to be suffering from a bad case of blue measles, but the point gets across.