You just call out my name

and POOF!, the lights are on!

Saturday the Best Girl showed up bearing pizza for brunch in my favorite flavor. I had a piece with my coffee and then we left for town. I had a list this time. I love taking Best Girl as she knows how to shop and seems to enjoy it.

We hit one store and got everything from the expando foam to the sticky tabs I wanted for hanging small stuff. It took about two hours. The list helped but we kept finding cool stuff. I did get a new light for the ceiling in the kitchen that wasn't on the list and some storage tubs for sorting the attic. I looked atlamp shades but didn't see the size I needed. We found all the trim we needed for the floor in the panty and to build the barnwood bookcase in the living room. (coming soon) I didn't even forget the new caulk gun or the plaster.

I wanted to get some boxes so we stopped by the good will and a grocery store. I found a few books in the good will, two for me and one for the girl but nothing else. The store was almost out of boxes so I grabbed two, jumped in the truck and ran for the house.

I got in a hurry because we'd "been too long at the fair". Just before Tiny Town I got pulled over. He was going the other way but I was speeding, yup. He U-turned, I pulled over and he walked to my window. I had the proof and registration out and I confessed to my crime. I was trying to get home before my floor guy but I was late. For only the second time in my life I got off with a warning! Yay, cause he had me cold. I thanked the nice man and backed out of it. We got home and unloaded the poor truck. I had a 4 x 8' piece of plywood over everything to put cabinet floors in the kitchen. It had to go in the garage, the porch is too full of stuff for even that.

The rest we got in and put away then started doing piddly stuff. Until the floors were down we couldn't go much further. The Kid was supposed to be at the house to lay the floors the rest of the way Sunday. We did lots of the little stuff that puts a house back together. I foamed the gaps in the patio/basement wall and around the air conditioner. Best Girl helped with that and changing out the water filter. Stuff like that.

You might remember that the delivery guys broke my fan upstairs. I got some knocked off the bill for it. The Kid got me a replacement when he picked up the subfloor. I opened it with every intention of assembling it myself. Now I know we all whine about small print on products and medicine but I have never run into it on assembly instructions before. The wiring diagram was pitiful and puny. I would have needed a microscope to read it. Electricity is not my forte' anyway. The Bro2 was going to do it but is not a pro, just a good hand at it. There was still some carpentry for him to help with later.

I made some phone calls to check up on people and decided to see if I could get my friend, Big Buddy, to come do the lights. Wow, he not only said yes but he will do the next day!

I cleared some ideas with the sis and then got to work with Best Girl. The girl started painting trim and I started spackling and threw together some dinner for us. We had gotten some mouse traps she recommended and she set them for me, too. She headed home and I kept on digging down to the counters and the dining room table like I have done everynight since the fiasco began. I hate to wake with nowhere to have my coffee and chores staring at me.

Sunday the girl was there bright and early. The Kid got there around one thirty and we put the Nascar station on as the Lions had a by week. Come to find out Buddy is a Nascar nut, too. It worked to keep them happy and we got a lot done.The Big Buddy was due at 2:30 or three. I wanted the covers off the living room and the tables dusted. The Best Girl did that for me while I measured for the next cut. Things were rolling along.

Big Buddy got there when he said he would. The living room was on display. Last time he had been there was when he and his wife hit us on a Tuesday with a billow of dust floating over very thing. He walked in the door and actually said "Wow! You have really gotten a lot done. This is great!" and made my day. He whizzed through changing out the kitchen light fixture, a four foot flouresent, except for the blown in insulation falling into his face from the attic! I handed him the duct tape and he blocked it off. Yay! Another dirty route sealed.

In the bedroom he installed the new fan after assembling it while he watched the race. It gave him a poke like it did me. He decided it's the switch and will be coming by with a box to fix the problem later this week, bless his heart.

He and The Kid put the new ring on the toilet while the kid put the last of the vinyl down under it. The Best Girl threw the pizza in I had for them but Buddy left and we couldn't meet The Kid's OCD standards so just she and I ate. I think she was a little annoyed at him. Then all of us, with the floors in, got the closet doors on, washer and dryer back up hooked up in the neatly trimmed pantry. We took a break and The Kid picked up my guitar. We started messing around and I got out the amp and mics in the bedroom. The Best Girl was beat and I still think a little put out. She headed for home after asking if we were going to do anything else. I told her no way, get some rest! She had also loaded my truck with computers for the sister's mate to fix and donate out to kids that need them. I have to get them over there tonight.

We dicked around on the guitars and I sang one for him. It was only thirty minutes or so. Then I started showing him how the piano is all numbers and math and he showed me how he figured out how to do the times tables. It was nice to just visit for a minute.

After he left I I got the quarter round on the cabinet to finish it out. I put some contact paper, also a nice but darker marble pattern, on the dryer where the old cat's food bowl sits. Then I did the back walls of the shelf in the cabinet and cut some of the extra flooring to fit the shelf. I was going to do the lid of the washer, too but started staggering. I looked at the clock and realized we had fallen back and I had fallen down on getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I made coffee and called it a night. I was whipped but we were just about down to the kitchen, just some floor trim to get in tonight and we can empty that room out.

This morning I got the last piece of trim on the pantry and spackled the joints so I can do the last touch up in there and the bath when I get home. Just a few spots need a second coat or got smucked when we were moving stuff around.

It's looking like the end of the week will see it all done. If I go wild, the kitchen might even get painted tonight and be done for Halloween like I wanted except for the cabinet repairs and such. I am blessed to have such good friends. The Big Buddy solved another problem for me, too, on the upstairs 20 foot stairwell! Now I'm ready to roll right up there! All rooms done, all stuff sorted, out of here or stored neatly by Thanksgiving! Go Team!