Making progress

The construction slow down continues....this time because the contractor failed to order sufficient flooring. They are short about 150 square feet, so my master bedroom was only partially complete. The baseboards were applied in the hallway and living room and one of the spare bedrooms though, the railing was finished, and the walls were painted by mid-week. The baseboards were painted on Thursday; this photo was taken a day earlier.

Yes, I am leaving the oak trim and doors as they are, though I'm sure they'd look great painted white. If the next owners wish to paint or replace, that's up to them. The flooring looks slightly darker in person, and I love the wide plank look. This is LVP (luxury vinyl planking), supposedly waterproof - I'm not about to test the theory, and feels lovely on the feet. It does show every speck of dirt, so I am sweeping or vacuuming frequently.

I spent mornings with the cat out in the sunroom, and afternoons in the craft room in the basement. On Sunday, I'd driven over to my friend K's house to sort through yarn with her. Her partner J, is cleaning out his mother's house as she has gone into a care home. They came home with bags and bags, and more bags of yarn, fabric, and various notions. It took us about an hour to sort through the yarn bags, and I came away with a several bags of yarn and a couple of partially completed projects. (Because, I needed more yarn, right? Of course I couldn't say no!) Monday afternoon, I spent some time sorting through the yarn, sorting it mostly by color and identifying skeins I'll use for mittens.  

On the far left, the variegated blue/purple yarn is partially knit into a scarf. My daughter called dibs so I did some knitting on it while I chilled in the basement. In the center of the photo, there is some cotton blue variegated yarn, that I'm using to crochet a few dishcloths. I'll drop a few of them off at K and J's as a small thank you. Several of the single skeins have been tucked into a bag to take to my daughter's this weekend. I'll use those for mittens and toques. The principal of the school mentioned to D that they go through about 30 pairs of mitts a winter, as children are sent to school without mitts, or lose them at some point. Taking the yarn to D's will give me projects to do when I'm there (though I'll have to do some at home too), and I won't have to take things back and forth with me. There is a good amount of a navy and a gray, both 50 gram skeins. I'll have to do a pattern search to decide what to do with these. The rest will likely be used together with my current stash for other projects.

I also started sewing together a top that I'd cut out sometime in the last year. I'm a very slow sewer, as I can't sew a straight line to save my soul but it's an easy pattern so I should be able to finish it in the next week or so. The material is more see-through than I realized but it will make a nice top to go over a tank top. 

House cleaning has been hit and miss. I dust every evening, as it seems every thing is covered in a layer of drywall dust, or tracked inside from the flooring cuts. Now that most of the flooring is down, I've either swept or vacuumed every second day. The guys sweep before they leave but I still find debris in the corners. Since I'm not doing any major cleaning, I've had time to read too, and have finished two books. Child of the Phoenix by Barbara Erskine, is a historical fiction novel that was a great read. The second book Next in Line by Jeffrey Archer is the fifth in a series of books featuring a character, William Warwick, a Detective Inspecter with Scotland Yard. I do enjoy crime drama and this latest book in the series does not disappoint. 

Book club was held on Tuesday evening at a nearby restaurant. I'm happy to say that there was a great deal of discussion on this book, Mad Honey by Jodie Piccoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. The story of two women, a mother and her son's girlfriend, is told in two voices by the authors. Olivia is a beekeeper, following in her father's footsteps, after she leaves an abusive relationship with her, then toddler, son Asher. Lily, is transgender, and has moved to the small community with her mother, a park ranger. Both women have secrets that are revealed throughout the book, and the story is told in flashbacks juxtaposed with the current days events. It's a compelling mystery, and at the same time, educational. I'd give it a 9/10....simply because nothing is perfect. 

Wednesday was stitch and chat; S and B were there and Io stopped in for a brief chat. She (Io) is really going through it at the moment. Her husband was recently diagnosed with a recurring cancer and the prognosis is not good. Meanwhile she finally got in for an appointment for an ultrasound and MRI. She told us she'd had a call that day (the same day her husband came home from the hospital) advising she was being referred to a surgeon because her situation was urgent. Within two days she had surgery to remove an aneurysm, and they sent her home the following day. Thankfully, her daughter was able to come and stay for a bit to assist them at home. She, and her husband, are both spending much time relaxing - she mentioned they do a lot of sitting in their recliners, but she wanted to drop in and say hello to all of us. It was certainly good to see her again and know that, at least for her, her issue has been resolved. She's been waiting for this appointment for nearly a year and it was postponed several times. 

We had more thunderstorms on Wednesday evening with more rain. The rain gauge had 2 inches in it the following morning. I haven't had to water the containers a lot this spring/summer even with the heat. The front flower bed is filling up nicely and the containers are coming along too. 

Back to construction, the crew arrived on Thursday for a half day of work. The baseboards were sanded and painted, the walls were given their final coat of paint, and the nosing at the top of the basement stairs was replaced to match the rest. Late in the morning we heard that the additional flooring has been located; the contractor is paying for expedited shipping (I should hope so) and it will be here next week.

All that remains is the remainder of the master bedroom flooring, installation of baseboards in the master and second spare bedroom, and caulking, sanding, and painting of those baseboards.  As well, there are a few spots that need to be touched up where paint has bled. I've also noticed they've covered the second heat vent in the master, so that needs to be taken care of as well. My guess, a full day should take care of everything...but I've been wrong before.

A mid-construction and after of the living room:

I'm off to D and Eli's later today, so will set this up to post tomorrow morning. There will likely be another post of our fun times on Monday. We're heading the pool on Saturday and the birthday party in the park on Sunday, and I'm certain there will be some yard time too. After the party, I'll head home as the landscaper is supposed to start on Monday. At least that work is being done outdoors. Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend everyone!