Construction Site Thoughts

This work on the bathroom has changed my routine in ways that I would never have foreseen. Which forces me to think about all of it more than I probably would otherwise do. And since it's on my mind, what better way to stop thinking about it than to write it down? So here are some of my thoughts:

A) It turns out that when you get sawdust in your sheets, it makes the bed really itchy and hard to sleep in. Drop cloths (and making the bed each day BEFORE Craig begins working) are essential.

B) Keeping all my clothes in Kendra's closet is a much bigger pain than I ever would have guessed. I usually try to shower while she's napping, but now that means that I can't get to my clothes when I'm done showering! And with my in-laws here, lounging around in my bathrobe and/or underwear until she wakes up isn't really an option. So when I forget to lay out clothes before naptime, I end up wearing what I wore yesterday (blech).
1. Craig's Dad put the pole back up in my closet yesterday and I moved all my clothes back today. Heaven.
2. I should explain that better. He was going to put the shelves and everything back, too, but I told him not to. I'm hoping that if my closet is as lame as possible, then I'll be forced to set up really cool closet organizers and stuff like that as soon as the bathroom is done. That could work, right?

C) I'm not sure which is more disconcerting-- the fact that I can hear Craig's and his Dad's voices through the walls really easily as I shower (thanks to the other wall and the insulation being gone at the moment) or the fact that when they stop talking, the silence is quickly filled with the sounds of them pounding, hammering, and screwing things into the (paper thin) walls. I keep expecting the wall to suddenly collapse while I'm shampooing my hair.

D) Thanks to the nearly continual babysitting that I'm getting from Donna (my way-too-helpful to the point that I'm pretty sure I'm consistently taking advantage of her, mother-in-law), I keep just taking one kid or less out with me when I run errands. This is great and makes life much easier, but it's starting to make me think that having a third kid would be a piece of cake. I have to keep reminding myself that I don't normally get to have a babysitter around all the time to rely on. (She also keeps doing the dishes. I'm starting to believe I'm a better housekeeper than I actually am. But the days when she isn't here, I'm humbled back to reality!)

E) It's kind of amazing how quickly the mess from the bathroom can spread to the rest of the house-- we have blocks of wood, little bits of insulation, and powder from drywall pretty much everywhere, despite the fact that Craig vacuums everything very thoroughly at the end of each day. How do we manage to track it around so well???

F) Craig is a really hard worker. Yesterday was his birthday (Hip Hip Hooray, Craig!), but he still insisted on working all day. I made him take the day off for my birthday just so he could pay more attention to me! Boy does that make me look like a brat. (We did go see Harry Potter yesterday night, so he got to do some fun stuff, too. Just for the record. I also made French toast for breakfast, but it turns out that there's a reason that Craig usually makes the French toast in our household. I managed to melt the plastic bag that the bread was in to the frying pan not once but twice. TWICE! So pathetic.)

G) In the dark, you can see a ring of light around the shower faucet and the water-hose leading to the toilet because the wall on the other side is missing. The first time I noticed it, it creeped me out, but now I kind of like it.

H) It's kind of amazing how much STUFF we have laying around for this bathroom. In the laundry room we have extra drywall, the vanity, a medicine cabinet and a mirror. And some other things that I don't know the name for. And there are usually tools all over the kitchen table and countertops.

I) So if I think this is kind of a pain, I can't even imagine how horrible it would be if I also had a house full of strange men doing all the work! I have new-found respect for what a pain it was for my Mom to re-do her kitchen and bathrooms...