Snail Slow Going

Well, peeps.

We’ve made it 8 days since the full removal of the kitchen, and we’ve consumed all 7 of the freeze-and-dump crock pot meals I prepped for us prior to the demo. And that’s pretty much the one thing that’s kept us remotely sane this past week, ha.

I’m sorry to report that the progress on the hardwood floors has been reaaaaallly slow going this week. Much slower than anticipated for a multitude of reasons on the contractor side that I won’t bore you with. But the general view around the casa all week has been something like this:

Again...progress.

But not at the rate it should be. Oye.

On the plus side, I ended up home alone this morning, waiting—yet again—on a subcontractor who didn’t show at an appropriate time, and instead, I ended up with our big boss general contractor at the house, surprised to find it silent as a grave with no work happening and not nearly the amount of progress even he had expected.

It was the perfect, calm opportunity for me to convey some of the shortfalls of our restoration at the moment that are piling up and causing us some frustration. The odds of the conversation and situation were both stacked in my favor, with lots of evidence of shortcomings, and I used it all to the best of my ability.

I have every hope that things are gonna rock and roll for the next 10 days and massive progress will be made. But, man, is it tough slugging through one day at a time and maintaining patience when you just want your Humpty Dumpty house put back together again.

Now.

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about the things that have been accomplished this week—even if it all felt a bit like two steps forward, three steps back.

The exterior trim painting on the house was re-done (that’s part of the whole loooong and frustrating HOA story that I don’t have the heart to tell at the moment). 

We continue to really adore the cream (Maison Blanche) color of the exterior stucco. A major win for us that we deliberated a ridiculous number of white/cream colors prior to painting, and—praise the heavens—selected one we love. And I’ll learn to love the boring HOA-restrictive (re-done) trim color.

A second wonderful event of the week: Habitat for Humanity arrived this morning to haul away our cabinets, a piece of quartz and a lighting fixture that we chose to donate.

I’m not gonna lie...I was a bit emotional seeing all this get loaded up. I’m beyond grateful that it will all find a new home and be put to excellent use, but I was definitely heart sore, thinking through all the events that have occurred in this house.

It was such a painful battle to restore our kitchen when we first moved in, after two rounds of criminal contractors that really gutted us and left us very unanchored during our renovation process. So I think watching all those materials (cabinets that were barely more than 18 months old prior to our water disaster) get hauled off just stirred up a lot of emotions. Put me back in those days of reeling after money and cabinets were stolen, and fighting so hard piece it all back together again and maintain a positive attitude.

It was tough.

And this current house challenge is no fun, either.

But THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS.

And now, we have significantly more space in the garage. Thank heavens—since it’s about to be loaded up with baseboards and crown moulding for upcoming installation, ha.



And speaking of garage...remember that compression fracture in our door???

Welp.

The other exciting bit of progress for the week is that the single garage door was replaced this evening—woohoo! And the double garage door will be replaced first thing in the morning. I have no pics, yet, but I’ll share soon. And I’m really pumped to get those crossed off the list.

Okay, last but of random happenings of the week: it was Fiesta Day at school for the girlies (look it up; it’s a San Antonio thing I still don’t fully understand the history of), and they were all geared up.



Traditionally, in a non-Covid world, there’s a big parade in town this weekend and lots of events, so the kiddos have the corresponding Friday off of school. 

And even though all those celebrations are a no-go this year because of social distancing, the kiddos still have tomorrow off school. Amen, Halleluiah. We could really use the day.

And it looks like we might get truly lucky with a little family adventure, so...stay tuned for more mañana.

Okay, that’s all the random updates for now.

More this weekend, and until then...

Stay healthy, stay sane, peeps.

Over and out.