Just Checkin In

Hey! It’s July! Holy crap-o-lah. Do you know what this means?

I’ll tell you what it means:

It means our house renovation was supposed to have been done 1 month ago.

It means July 4th is in, like, 5 minutes.

It means I’m going to be married in, like, 10 minutes.

You may have noticed my lack of house renovation reporting. Tis true. *sigh* Every week, every day…nearly every hour, we are informed, assured that it’s almost done. “We just have to….(fill in the blank)”. “As soon as we….(fill in the blank)”. When you’re told that something is going to happen over and over again and it never does, regardless of whether that something is good or bad, it seriously messes with your mental health.

Meanwhile, as we’re being mind fucked by our contractors, we are living in a constant state of clutter, filth and disorganization. Good times. The fuzz-butts are not happy about this situation either as they have to be locked up in the bedroom all day. Poor fuzz-butts.

We think they are almost done. No, for reals. I mean, it looks like they are almost done. They finally got the plumber back on-site to finish the master bathroom. He will be there today and then should be done. The master bathroom is the only major component not yet complete. But beyond that, there really isn’t much else, except for a few minor (and I mean MINOR) punch list items and then the removal-of-the-construction-crap process can begin.

Earlier this week, they finally removed all of the old disgusting carpet padding (it was being used to protect the wood floors throughout the house, but it was Nasty) and we were overjoyed to tears at that simple gesture of progress.

Okay, enough belly-aching about the house. Soon I will show you pictures post-construction. Soon. Very soon. Promise.

Not to change the subject abruptly, but have you seen Up? Ohmigod. Seriously good. I’m not a Pixar fanatic – I actually much prefer hand-drawn animation – but I wanted to see this film as soon as I saw the very first preview. And honestly, it was better than I thought it was going to be - which rarely happens. It was really fun and funny and sweet and imaginative and relevant. If you haven’t seen it, well, you should. That’s all. You just should.



So, what’re y’all doing for the 4th? Last year, Daniel and I went to Erie for a few days to celebrate, something I’ve been doing my whole life, and went to a handful of picnics/parties. The 4th of July celebrations of my youth have gone the way of my childhood Christmases. We always had great 4th of July parties at our house – playing murderball in the pool and volleyball on the grass. The older folks played horse shoes and bocce on the lawn. Everyone participated in the water balloon fights – willing or unwilling. There were sparklers and fireworks, cold sodas hunkering in coolers. The prerequisite hamburgers and hot dogs, and two big long tables full of picnic food. Lots of those elements remain the same at the various picnics hosted by friends and families. Although none of them have the element of my dad, and maybe that’s the problem.

Whew!…gettin’ a little serious there for a sec. Pay no attention to my navel-gazing drivel.

This year we’re staying here in Nashville. They have big beautiful fireworks over the river and a party at Riverfront Park. Although neither one of us really enjoys crowds, so we may skip that. Also, on our side of town they are having the Hot Chicken Festival. Hot Chicken, if you don’t know, is a Nashville thing and very nearly a religion…so we should probably check that out. It would be a sin not to, right?

Besides that, our agenda for the next 7 days revolves mainly around frantically cleaning, unpacking and organizing in preparation for the arrival of my mother and sister. That’s right. They are visiting in 7 days. And our contractors are still an intimate part of our lives. And currently there is no where for them to sleep. Or sit. Or walk really. So, we’ll see how that goes!

They are going to be our witnesses. Can I get a wit-ness!? sorry

We still need to go get our marriage license at some point. Soon. We have our rings – and we actually know where they are in the mess that is our home. And soon we will have announcements. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been working with a local artist/graphic designer to come up with a cool marriage announcement. I think we nailed it. Now, we just need to get them printed. We are scheduled to be married at 10:30 am on Friday July 10th. This is a very early hour for Bethany but she is making the sacrifice to be our witness.

Can I get a wit-ness!? again, sorry

That is all.