Got Donuts?

Life is settling down a little bit. Emphasis on 'little' bit.
Once I got everything put away in the kitchen and the living room is almost there. We have a place to eat, cook and sit. Then I found all the things for the master bedroom. Still, a lot of boxes but the bed could be made and our pillows could be laid on. That felt better. 

I no longer feel the stress of having to have this all done. 

The rest will be done as we can.

Having someone who has English as their 2nd language pack you really makes a difference. One box that said the office had bathroom things in it. 

A box that said toiletries and master we brought that box into the master bath and viola it was not toiletries, but toilet paper and it was not from the master but the linen closet. So we've had some laughs about what we find where. Surprise!  A box marked his closet was some of my clothes. (we each had our own walk-in closet - ah what I'd do for that now!)

The biggest thing that makes this go so slowly is that we have no place to put the things we've unpacked. I'm praying by Xmas we will have the garage and home completely unpacked. My goal is January 1 - done!

Then for those who follow me on FB you know that paint is a scarce commodity. I did not know this. When I walked into Sherwin Williams and gave the man at the counter my list of things I was buying he said he didn't have any paint. Now I have spent weeks with the SW color deck painstakingly choosing colors. He has to be kidding. I seriously thought he was joking and I laughed. I looked behind me, then right and then left. Was there a camera and I'm being punked? He actually said I'll show you the back. Like a fool, I went into the back of the store with a strange man and it was indeed empty with the exception of supplies like brushes, cans, etc. After we were walking out I realized that was stupid of me. He could have been a really creepy guy. But thankfully he wasn't and he also had no paint.  I guess my head has been in boxes as was our TV so I wasn't hearing about this. Or my head was up my arse. Either way, I was shocked to find out I can't get paint. The colors in this house are dreadful to us. 

I did buy a lot of white paint at another Sherwin Williams location so if nothing else we can paint it all white for now. Seriously these colors are annoying me and now even Rick.

We've had to laugh at neighbors coming by with store-bought baked goods. My mom asked if this was southern hospitality and we both had a good laugh. It's our little joke. Everyone does this in the midwest and east too but not store-bought, at least I've never seen that. Sure a Wegman's cake from the bakery but not an Entenmann's box of whatever they gave us. Still very nice and thoughtful but because they make such a big deal about it being southern we find it humorous. 

Anyway, I get a kick that southerners think they invented this idea of bringing food to the new neighbors. Seattle was antisocial so it did not happen there. But have they not heard of the midwest? I moved to Cleveland and got tickets to a ball game, food, etc.  Have they never had ethnic neighbors? A Greek family brought me some baklava in Ohio. Mmmm..

When we left Seattle we moved to Maryland. The neighbor came out with a small cooler of beers, water, and pop on a hot July day and shook hands by our moving van and introduced himself, and then said, "I'm not nice enough to help you move all these boxes. We'll be over after you unpack! Stay hydrated"  

We thought that was funny and great. The point being it happens everywhere it's not something only done in the south. 

We have found so far that our neighbors don't so much come over to be hospitable but to be nosey and we sure love to mess with them. Or I should say, Rick loves to mess with them. One of the women asked what Rick did for a living. He said quickly and with the straightest of faces that he was a gigolo. AND HE WINKED! OMG I about killed him.

The look on this old bird's face was priceless. I, of course, interject quickly with, Oh he's just kidding and I hit Rick's arm. He then smiled and said he was retired. He about gave this lady a heart attack. She wanted to come into the house to see what we were doing. I said we have arranged boxes nicely. But they push forward.

Then the next one came over with again a box of Krispy creme donuts. 

She asked rapid-fire questions never allowing us time to answer. 

Does your dog bark? Do you have kids or grandkids? Why did you choose to move? Won't you miss your family? Are you baptist? I mean it just went on. Rick said he used to be VP of HR and those questions could never be asked at an interview or in a meeting so I think I am going to choose the same route here too. I turned my head away so I did not laugh. He is terrible!  The look on the woman's face was just dumbstruck. Poor thing didn't understand what the hell Rick was talking about so I said, "We don't have children, do you?" And off she went! 

Rick refinished our hall bathtub/wall unit yesterday. It's a cheap fiberglass tub/wall one piece and we can't afford to rip it out right now. Bigger fish to fry. So because it was almond we thought if white it would look better. Hey, Rick even brought it up! It also had some damage on the floor which he repaired first. Oh did we have fun teasing one another about the work. 

I behaved like a rotten customer, "Rick how long will this smell be in my home? Is my dog going to live? OMG, this is just awful!"

Because of where this bath was located I couldn't do the rooms I was working in and Izzy was antsy so I told him we were going for a ride. Where he asks? I replied, "for my contractor, you sure are nosey mister. We are going to go get lost and see what we discover."

I go to leave and he has moved his work vehicle in such a way that I can't get out. I know he did it so he was close to the front door because he goes in and out so much but I had to bust his balls.  I text him that I wasn't going to pay if he couldn't park correctly in my driveway. He told me to bite him and I'll pay and he'll see to it. I laugh and Izzy and I head out to get lost. (I had to drive onto the lawn to leave though)

I come back and he's done. I go in and see the items I removed from the shelf have some white haze on them. I wipe it off with my hands but this is a great time to bitch to Rick like his old customers would.

"Hey, Refinisher Boy, you left a mess in my bathroom"

"Well, my office manager told you to clear out the room, and you were sent an email with all this information. It's your damn fault lady"

"How dare you speak to me like this. I refuse to pay you!"

Now he walks to me and grabs my shoulders and tells me, "Oh you'll pay me, missy." 

OMG, that made us both laugh so hard. Ah, we don't miss those customers!

But who is laughing today? Not Rick. His body is sore. He said his ass cheeks are sore. I asked why?  Is it from squatting over tub and doing knee bends? He said who knows but my body sure as hell forgot that muscle memory from only a few months ago. How fast retirement agrees with him!

Oh Oh.