Ten-eriffic Months

Week 39:

  I wanted bagels for lunch.  Miss Spud got to try a spinach bagel, lox cream cheese, capers, lox, and a cheddar bagel with plain cream cheese.  She wasn't sure about the texture of the lox cream cheese and would make a disgusted face when I tried to give it to her.  She would pull it out of her mouth but then put it right back in.

  We got to the cabin later than planned because of the contractors working, me checking on what they did, and packing.  She napped in the car and didn't want to go to sleep.  She kept fighting it and grumped and screamed about how tired she was.

  For lunch Bill made Brussels Sprouts and pasta.  She liked the roasted sprouts and the lightly cheesey pasta.  At one point she ate a dead bug before I could stop her, and she cried about that.

  We went to visit Tom and Janie.  She has a dog watching company, so there are usually a lot of dogs around.  She didn't like when the dogs licked her hands and started putting her hands behind her head when a dog would sniff at her.  At one point I had to drag her out onto the back porch because the dogs needed a break from her, and I think she was a bit overwhelmed by them as well.

  She got to try Turkish food.  She liked the venison and chicken the most.  The pita and tomatoes were also good, but she was unimpressed with the lettuce.

  She has been smacking things more consistently.  I joke that she is giving that item or person the Spud Smack of Approval.

  At one point she tried to use the side screen door to help her stand because I had gone out of it.  It is really easy to open, so she couldn't use it to support her weight.  She ended up falling forward and because there is a small step, she fell more than she was expecting.  The door then partially closed on her so she was also stuck with her head at a weird angle and no way to fix it.  I was able to quickly grab her, but she did not enjoy her trip.  After that she would stop in front of the door.  At one point she tried to stand using it again but stopped when it moved.

  When we got home from the cabin, Miss Spud was very happy to see Tank.  She also decided to try stairs for the first time.  She is too good at getting up them, but doesn't understand that she can't just plop down on her butt to turn around or take a break.

  Bill discovered that she thinks it's hilarious when he rubs his beard against her face/neck.  She will giggle and wiggle around.

  We got asked a lot of questions about her development at her nine month appointment.  The doctor was trying to tell us we needed to give her more formula until we told her that she ate a whole banana and two clementines for lunch.  I think the doctor was also impressed by how many different foods she already eats. 

  At her 9 month appointment she was: 28.1" tall (70%), 16.6 lbs (24%), and had a head circumference of 17.1" (39%).

  Since she has four teeth we were told to brush her teeth with kid's toothpaste.  We got her strawberry flavor.  Since she doesn't understood spitting, we were told to put a rice grains worth on the toothbrush.  I didn't know if she noticed the toothpaste but today she was giggling and leaning her head away back when I was trying to get her upper teeth.

  She has now gone up a full flight of stairs multiple times on her own.  We don't let her do it unsupervised because she still doesn't understand that she can't plop back to sit part of the way up.

  We went to Belfort to look at chairs for the reading room.  While Bill was looking things up, I let Miss Spud roam around.  She found some coffee tables she liked to snack and made it the long length of the building.  She found a piece of paper and held it behind her back whenever I tried to take it.  I let her take her treasure with her as long as she didn't try and eat it.

  One of her books has a mirror in it.  She was looking at the "other baby" and was trying to figure out how to meet them.  She kept turning the page to try and figure out where the baby was, but couldn't find them.

  For lunch I heated up some General Tsos leftovers.  She can usually handle the spice when eating it.  However, she was really sleepy after skipping her morning nap, so she rubbed her eyes with sauce on them when I was heating up my lunch.  No one enjoyed the aftermath.  My mom then tried to help keep her hands clean for the rest of lunch.

Week 40:

  When nursing she likes to push the end of her foot into my arm with her toes curled under.  She presses with the tops of her toe joints.  I'm glad she finds it comfortable, because I'm not the most comfortable when she does it.

  We went to meet Mark and Elena at the Yellow Ferry Brewery.  Miss Spud got chunks of pizza while her second cousin Melly got toppings.  Seems Melly doesn't have any teeth yet.  It's interesting to compare where they are in life, how Melly will be good at one thing, but Miss Spud will be good at another.  Melly was fine with a bottle and taking a nap while we were there while Miss Spud wanted to dance while people watching.  Melly is a real chatty girl, which was so cute.  Elena even told us that Melly sings herself to sleep.

  When trying to put Miss Spud to sleep she invented a new fun game for herself.  She will flail her arms up and down and smile when her hands smack into each other.

  Since she was having so much fun playing her new game, we decided to just put her in her crib.  At one point Bill left to move his laundry and she didn't fuss about it.  So we both left and I left her room light dimly on.  We watched her settle herself in after playing with her toys and grumping a few times.

  Sunday night she clapped her hands together on her own.  She mostly held the right one still and had the left do most of the work.

  I got her some blueberries from Family Tree Farms and she loved them.  They were really big, which is why I picked them out.  They stayed crisp for quite some time while being very sweet.

  She found a plastic strap and was waving it around.  Tank saw and got really interested in playing.  I think she thought that Tank wanted to take it from her when he pounced because she would move it behind her back when he would.  I think they both had a nice time though.

  She really liked the noodles I made with butter, peanut butter, paprika, and Italian seasoning blend.  She wasn't wearing as much of the peanut butter as when I add it to bananas.

Week 41:

  We all had some sort of cold over the week.  Some people say being sick makes their babies sleep more, mine just was more grumpy and didn't want to go to sleep.

  When Bill was "floating" her in for her breakfast nursing she rolled in his hands.  She plopped down on her tummy mostly on the chair.  When I tried to move her she sat up instead.  Bill then watched her reach for the boob and direct it into her own mouth.

  She is getting better at pulling herself up, unless she's tired.  When she's tired she tends to fall more and that doesn't help her level of upset.  At one point she fell forward and solidly knocked herself in the head with my knee.  We think she gave herself a bit of a black eye.

  Looking at books is always a fun time in our house.  She is starting to learn how to turn the pages of her cardboard books.  She has such a big smile on her face after she turns a page.

  After rinsing the remains of her dinner off her body I was drying her off and made her laugh.  I think I saw a few more tooth lumps in her upper gum area.  That could also explain why she has been a bit grumpy for herself.  She still smiles and laughs easily.

  She thinks it's super funny to try and peel the lips off of my face.  I don't know if it is because it moves my lips around or what, but I'm glad she's having fun. 

  Miss Spud was being grumpy unless she was being held.  She saw me typing and wanted to give it a try.  Here's what she had to say:

        p;uopo[l;'000000000000090o;,[.lpl;,"?Ll'0 ,.mgfghhgfghf jm vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv 

  She is getting better at being gentle with Tank.  She will pet him or give him scratches with her fingers.  However, she will still smack him, lean on him, and try and take a bite out of him sometimes.

  We went out to Route 7 Brewing.  We say upstairs and were able to fence in Miss Spud.  She tried a little bit of everything we order to eat.  At one point she was trying to teach Bill how to clap.  She would pull his hands apart and then clap them back together.

  The seats next to us had an 8 month old and they because fascinated with each other once they noticed the other one.

 

Week 42: 

  At either the brewery or when she was chasing me on the deck during the power outage she wore off some of the skin on the top of her right foot.  It wasn't too bad until she kept crawling on it.  I put socks on her and she actually kept them on until after dinner.

  At knitting she entertained everyone.  She showed them how well she eats by eating an entire banana and a WaWa chicken snack wrap.  She then crawled all over the room and showed off her side stepping skills.

  Since she loves peanut butter so much and I don't love scrubbing it off her body nearly as much, we have come to a middle ground.  I will sometimes put a bit of peanut butter on the end of her banana spears.  I will also sometimes dip an end of a piece of teething wafer into the peanut butter.  To try and make it so that she doesn't just pull it off with her other hand, I go Aahhh to try and get her to open her mouth so I can put the peanut butter end in.  She has started saying Aahhh back to me, it's very cute and sweet.

  She is getting better and better at lowering herself down from standing.  Instead of just plopping, she will slowly sit down.

  If we put her down when she doesn't want to be, she will yell at us while crawling in circles.  The size of the circle will depend on the space she has to work with.  She will also yell while crawling between us, but never quite reaching either of us.

  For a while Miss Spud has been trying to bite Tank's face when he sniffs her face.  She has recently started biting Bill's nose.  On Wednesday night I was deemed worthy of a nose chomp.  I wonder if she thinks she is kissing our noses, like we do to her, when she does it.  She will also have her mouth in a wide open smile and press her mouth on our cheek.

  She has been grumpier than usual at bed time.  When I was changing her diaper on Wednesday I thought I saw 4 new teeth coming in, two on the top and two on the bottom.  We will have to see if I'm right or not, but it would explain it.

  She has discovered the power strip under my desk.  If I'm not paying enough attention she will turn it off while crawling around.  If I see it off I comment that she pranked me "real good."

  When I first let her try and type on a keyboard she mostly tried to pick the keys off or just smacked it really hard.  She saw Bill typing on his laptop and paid attention.  The next time she tried to type she opened and closed her fists over the keyboard.  It looked and sounded like the she was actually typing quickly.

Week 43: First part

  We went shopping for more clothes because she keeps growing.  It's probably all those bananas and all that broccoli we keep giving her.  When we were at The Children's Place she was looking around but was mostly distracted by some big kids who were distracted by her.  When we went to Carter's she found a romper with small flowers and kept trying to grab it.  Bill handed her one in her size and she kept ahold of it the rest of the time we were shopping.  She got so mad for a second when we had to take it away from her so the cashier could scan the tag.

  She can stand pretty well as long as she doesn't realize that she's standing on her own.  She has eaten a Cheerio by passing it from one hand to the other after getting it off her play center.  She then realized that she wasn't holding onto her play center, so she sat down.  She even stood up from sitting while holding a toy in both hands.

  She has seen us pinch to zoom in or out on our phones many times.  When she was playing with my watch before bed, she tried to pinch to zoom.  She didn't know what she was doing, but did a pretty good job of imitating the motion.

  She has started trying to nurse for a few moments and then roll over.  She will sometimes put her head down on the Boppy, but won't leave it there too long.  When have been putting her in her crib to chill until she is really ready to go to sleep.

There's Something Back There Again

Day 1: Monday (5/19)

  It took longer than I thought for the plans for the new deck to get approved by the HOA.  I'm not entirely sure when FA Outdoor Spaces submitted it, but they let us know when it was approved and how they planned to start shortly after.

  Not long after hearing about the approval we got a letter in the mail from the HOA.  From what we can tell, it got mailed out the same day we got our approval.  It said we had made external changes that had not been approved of.  We were trying to guess what they meant.  My best guess was the shrubs we took out when they needed to fix the pipe from the previous project.  Bill looked at our HOA agreement and it said that landscaping didn't need approval.  It would be silly to have to get approval if you wanted to plan daisies instead of tulips.

  Bill sent them an email to ask them to clarify what they meant.  We were told to ignore the letter because they saw we had the county building permit in March and they hadn't gotten any requests from us.  We send them the request in February.  They assumed that since we had gotten the permits that we just built it.  No one took the time to drove by our house, which would have shown them that we hadn't started anything.  We had also submitted it in February, which by their laws, says we could have just built it because we hadn't been denied within 30 days.  They also claimed that they never received it. 

  Not long after 7am a large truck dropped off building supplies and a little before 8am they let us know they were here to work.  Since the interior job wasn't done, we wouldn't have a place for them to easily use the bathroom.

  I would have thought that they would have dug the holes and put the posts in with the cement for it to set overnight.  They left having only dug the holes.  I found out later that the holes needed to be inspected.

Day 2: Tuesday

  They showed up bright and early to start working.  Lots of power tool noises were happening.  They asked if we had a power outlet in the back, and we do not.

  At one point I saw a guy trim off part of a board to make it level by using a circular saw with the board braced against the top of his knee.  I'm definitely not brave enough to use a circular saw just free-floating in the air.

  They were checking if things were level at every step.  They would add a perpendicular board and then make sure all the ones attached to it were still level.

  It only took one Miss Spud nap for it to go from a frame to something that was starting to look like a deck. 

Day 3: Wednesday 

  They didn't start work as early as they had previously.  I don't know if that's because they had to wait for another delivery of materials or because it was raining in the morning.

  They didn't get a lot done because they are getting an inspection tomorrow.  They got some parts reinforced and a layer of mesh down for the enclosed part of the deck.

Day 4: Friday 

  They laid down the Trex Enhance flooring in the color Coastal Bluff.   They had the previous day off of our job because on Thursday they needed to get what they had gotten done inspected.

  They stayed really late to get a lot done.  They stayed until some point after 6:40pm.

Day 5: Monday (5/26)

  We weren't there while they worked, but they got started on the roof of the enclosed area of the deck.  I had thought they weren't going to be back until Wednesday, but I guess I was wrong.

Day 6: Tuesday 

  They came by while we were out and added more posts on the side where the door will go.  I think it's interesting that they keep stopping by for quick things when we aren't looking.

Day 7: Wednesday

  The electrician from Jireh Electric Inc showed up and Bill had to show him what he was working on.  He showed the guy where the plans for the deck were and told the guy to call FA Outdoor Spaces for any other questions he may have after answering a few the best he could.  Bill also pointed out that there was a light back there that we couldn't use anymore, so that might make his job easier.

  They wanted to see many options on how they were going to do this job.  They wanted to see in the garage, which made sense.  When they said they wanted to see in the bathroom above where the porch was going was where it was getting weird.  They apparently decided to go upwards from the basement.  I'm glad Bill was here so I only had to keep track of Miss Spud and Tank.

  At one point Bill asked if I cared about the porch having a ceiling fan.  Though all the pictures show one, it turns out they didn't actually plan for one.  I was surprised by it in the pictures, so I didn't care about it existing or not.

  At some point the inspector, SF snuck in and gave an inspection.  Seems we failed some things.

Day 8: Thursday

  I wasn't sure if they were going to work or not.  They didn't show up until after 1 pm.  I first saw them show up, grab their lunches, and walk down the street.  Once they were done with that they came back and got to work.

  They capped the poles that will make up the railing and covered the poles that will make up the walls.  They installed the stairs too.

 

Day 9: Friday

  One set of people showed up in the morning and started working on the railing for the deck.  Another guy showed up at some point after lunch and put the shingles on the roof.

  We didn't have a lot of options for the posts and the railing/infill.  I do think that we picked the right combination.  It is looking really good so far.

Day 10: Saturday 

  I got woken up by what sounded like someone sawing into the side of the house.  We were wondering how they were going to handle the sides of the enclosed area.  They had taken the gutters off of the small roof on the bump out.  They solved this by just cutting off the extra on the sides.

  I saw them measuring the top section of the walls a few times.  They put some Tyvek siding up to help protect the wood.

Day 11: Tuesday (6/3)

  On Monday the inspector was out and we failed again because they covered up where he said they used the wrong connectors the last time he was out.  I don't know how they are going to coordinate taking the covers off and him seeing it.

  Yesterday morning a guy showed up to do some drywall.  Bill told him that we weren't scheduled until Thursday.  He was like "I have you right here for today, the Stevensons" and Bill had to tell him that we aren't those people and pointed to our name on Thursday.  Seems Veronika told him the wrong place to go to.

  They got a lot of the sides done on the top part of the porch.  It also looks like they cut squares off the bottom of the supports so that they inspector can see the connectors.

Day 12: Wednesday 

  I was once again woken up to the sounds of someone sawing into our house.  I thought they had removed all the extra roof from the bump out, but Bill said when he last checked they still had one side to go.

  At one point the guy was knocking on our back door to ask us some questions, but Bill was on a work call and I was upstairs.  Luckily my mom stopped by and relayed the questions to me.  He wanted to know where we wanted to put the spring on the door and if we wanted a screen door or glass door.  We went with top spring and screen.

Day 13: Thursday

  It was our day with the drywall guy.  He used a heat tool to help dry out the mudding faster.  While he was working he saw the square Bill had cut out from the ceiling.  He was able to spot where the very small leak was coming from so we called a plumber out.  Bill felt bad for the guy because one of the spots he had to work on was right next to a toilet.

  I'm looking forward for everything to be done inside so I can set up Tank's food and water in the kitchen again and not have to hide it on the couch in the game room.  I don't have the crochet mat I want to use made yet, but we can put down a towel or something until I do.

  They got the connections approved and could keep moving forward.  They laid down the tracks for the screen and started to frame out the area that will block the roof on the bump out.  I didn't pay enough attention to the lights before I went to knitting on Wednesday, so I don't know if they installed them today or yesterday.

Day 14: Friday 

  We had thought they were going to be done by end of the day today, but it sounds like they will be back tomorrow to finish some things and then the final inspection will be on Monday.

  They got the screen in pretty quickly.  At one point Veronika stopped by and asked how we were feeling about it and if we had any concerns.  I thought it was looking really good.

  Before leaving for the day they shoveled some of the dirt to make it a bit more level.  They also power washed everything.  I'm not sure what they still need to do tomorrow before the inspection on Monday.

Day 15: Saturday

  They needed to add a gutter to the enclosed part of the porch.  The guy was in and out so quick I almost didn't notice him.  Tank has tried it out and approves of the screened in area.

Day 16&17: Monday/Tuesday

  The inspector stopped by and gave his approval of the job.  Bill moved most of our outdoor furniture to the deck.  Both Tank and Miss Spud have been out on the screened in area a few times and I think they approve of the job.

  On Tuesday Veronika stopped by.  She checked on the inspection and to check in with us again.  This time she got to meet Miss Spud.  She told us to keep them in mind as we live with the deck for the next year.  Experience it over all the seasons and see how we feel about it.  I don't know the usual time frame it takes to build a deck, but I think they worked pretty quickly.

This View Looks Familiar

Day 1: Tuesday (4/22)

  I was packing and getting ready for my mom's birthday cabin trip.  I had the day planned out on how I could get Miss Spud's laundry done and then pack for Tank, Miss Spud, and myself.  I gave her some lunch solids, a bath, then used the restroom before I was going to give her a lunch bottle and her snuggle nap.  When I flushed I heard some water sounds from somewhere else in the house and smelled a bad smell.  I found the main floor hallway with some water (and other stuff) in it.

  I cleaned that up and was going to wash the towels I used and get back to what I was doing.  Before I headed up I saw more water.  I stopped the washer and cleaned some more.  I got Cardinal Plumbing out and Willie took a look around.

  It was a soft block somewhere between the house and the sewage system.  He could get his camera through it, but it would close back up behind him.  He called Stephen to bring what was needed to clear it out.  Stephen tried but was unable to get it cleaned.  He said a bit of the pipe was holding onto sewage, which he hasn't seen before.  So he said that someone would be out the next morning between 8-9am to work on it.

Day 2: Wednesday 

  They showed up a bit later than planned because they were having problems with the truck.  Since they had to get to the pipe out front of our house, Bill used this as a good excuse to do some landscaping he's been meaning to get to.

  The mold remediator came and found a lot of moisture.  We all moved things out of the way and they got to work.  I know we had talked about redoing the floors, but that wasn't high on the list.

  We started trying to do laundry again, but we had to call the plumber back out because it started to back up again.

  The ServicePros Cleaning & Restoration were the ones doing the demolition.  I feel like that could be a fun job, you just get to show up to people's houses and take them apart.

  They ended up having to take out more than I was hoping.  I'm getting flashbacks to when the whole basement flooded before we moved in and a few feet of drywall was missing from every wall.  Luckily it wasn't that bad this time, but now there is missing wall bits in the main floor and the basement.

Day 3: Thursday 

  They had to get someone else out with different equipment to get the clog out.  What they used before went through the pipe in front of our house, this one goes through a toilet.

  We heard from our insurance adjuster and it looks like we are getting a lot more coverage than we first thought.  It turns out there are so many clauses that some of the people who first help you might not know the extent of the coverage.

  The mold remediator brought some bad news.  He found some moisture in the reading room, which means we'll have to move a whole lot more stuff to get the carpets replaced.  They just pulled the wet stuff for now, but we will have to work on getting the room clear.  We'll have to rent a storage unit again, but at least we have the strange lock that fits into the door.  The carpet in all three rooms is just one big piece, which is very impressive, but inconvenient for us.

  Our insurance adjuster is going to try and get me some money for the three hours I spend mitigating the gross water.  He was also talking about getting us covered for the towels that got ruined.  It was mentioned that some people don't do anything until they can get someone out.  I can't imagine just letting all that sit for an unknown amount of time.

  He was mentioning all the things that are covered, like a storage unit and packing supplies.  He also mentioned that because of Miss Spud there are more things that are covered, like a hotel and food that wouldn't be covered otherwise because we have electricity and running water.

Day 4: Monday (4/28)

  Jonathan told us the story about how his house used to have pipes from WWII where they used tar.  They had to make them that way since all the metal was being used for planes and tanks.  When he went to take them out, they just crumbled to dust in his hands.

  Orangeburg pipes, also known as bituminous fiber pipes, were widely used as sewer pipes in the United States during and after World War II, especially from the 1940s to the early 1970s. These pipes were made from layers of wood pulp impregnated with coal tar pitch.

  They are having to excavate more than I thought they would have.  I would have assumed that the people laying the pipes would have taken the shortest distance, but I was wrong.  Luckily their saw didn't die cutting our driveway.  It sometimes does that, or so I've been told.

Day 5: Tuesday

  We all started with a not-best day.  Miss Spud was awake and fussing before she usually does, and Jonathan accidentally bumped our mailbox with his truck because of a glare from the sun.

  At one point their excavator broke and they had to wait on a repair technician.  Jonathan wanted to let us know that they weren't just being lazy.  I mentioned to him that it makes sense for this project.  I had been hoping they would miss my irises, but the drain cleanout is right in the middle of them.

  Their repair technician couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, so they said they would just send out a new excavator.

Day 6: Wednesday 

  It was just supposed to be a packing day, but poor Jonathan had to come out again.  They were supposed to get him a new excavator yesterday, but now it won't show up until after 11am today.

  They spent all day working on it and have now finished the excavating.  We got a call from Cardinal saying that we owed the second half of the payment for the job that was finished today.  We mentioned that there were no jobs finished today.  The guy on the phone then corrected himself that it was the job that was happening today.  Bill told them that he would pay once the job was actually done.

Day 7: Thursday 

  Jonathan showed up about 8am and told us he was going to cut the pipe.  He said he's been covered in stuff before and doesn't want to repeat it.  I don't blame him.

  Our insurance adjuster, Matt, said that because of the extent of the damage we are his only inspection of the day.  He said he planned on being there for hours to make sure he can see what all was needed.

  He had a app that mapped the house, which he said was nice as long as he didn't loose signal and it deleted everything.  It apparently made some of my walls diagonal, so he had a hard time with it anyway.

  Finally I can say; out with the cast iron pipes from the 70s and in with new PVC pipes.  I really like the teal color of the new ones, though it turns out they aren't the best quality, but it's what the county wants.

  They had us test it a few different times by flushing some toilets.  It seems they are happy with how it turned out.

Day 8: Friday 

  We got a whole new crew out today to work.  Turns out that Jonathan quit last night!  I hope he finds something good to go to from here.  I was relying on him to be nice to my plants, but they will hopefully be fine.

  They were still working when we left for dinner, but they got all the trenches filled and the cold pressed asphalt done.  I was joking that our driveway now has a racing stripe.

  We now have three cleanouts instead of two.  Not sure why they decided to do that.  They also didn't make the one closest to the house taller than normal.  Bill had mentioned that he wanted to put in an elevated planter, so the plan had been to make the first point out of the house taller.

Day 9: Saturday 

  Two guys showed up to start working on the drywall before we even talked with the Foreman.  I thought we were going to form a game plan before any work on the inside got started, but maybe I misunderstood something.

  I was worried that Tank was going to be scared because of all the strange sounds of them screwing in the drywall.  I went down and found him asleep in his hammock.

Day 10: Monday (5/5)

  Tank let us know the workers were here in the morning by growling at them through the window.

  The Foreman showed up and we were asking some questions, like trying to get an idea of a timeline.  He said that they would get the floor in by Thursday or Friday.  I was a bit confused because we hadn't been able to make our requests yet.  We looked at some carpet samples and he gave us an estimate on how much it would be to change most of the flooring to wood instead of new carpet.

  One of the workers asked if he could use our microwave.  I told him that he could, but when I came down for my own lunch I had slight regrets because the smell of his food was so good.

Day 11: Tuesday

  The Foreman said he was going to come back with more samples.  I hoped that he would show up before Bill had to leave for work, but no luck.  Bill said he would trust my choices.  Turns out it didn't matter because he never showed up.

  They were mostly working in the basement this time.  They got the bottom wall trim in the basement and main floor done.  There was so much plastic everywhere to keep the dust off of our things. 

Day 12: Wednesday 

  More of the same, painting and sanding.  The Foreman brought the samples, of course it was about 10 minutes after I got Miss Spud down for a snuggle nap.  From the way they were working today, it seems they are done with painting the main floor and are now just working on the basement.

  We decided on the Bruce Dundee Solid Hardwood-Dak in Seashell with a 3.25" width.  We went with a slightly different carpet for the second half of the basement, Shaw Foundations Well Played II 12 E0563 Residential Carpet in 500 Sheer Silver because we liked the color and couldn't find anywhere that told us what the other carpeting was.

Day 13: Thursday

  Someone new from ServicePros came in to finish the demolition on our floors.  I had tried to get as much packed as I could, I hope it was enough.  Bill mentioned moving the computers ourselves, but we ran out of time for that.

  One person asked where we wanted the stuff that was left put.  I said that we were told that they would bring something to store them in that would sit in the driveway.  He said he hasn't heard anything about that and would have to call his boss.  I said that if they needed to, they could just shuffle things around.

  I feel like all the things that would be really handy to have two homeowners around for all wait until Bill is at work and until Miss Spud is taking a snuggle nap.

  He cut into the flooring to make it easier to pull the sections up.  My old flooring had what seemed to me to be random lengths of board.  He then had a crowbar and a hammer to get under them.

  When I went down to the main floor to make Miss Spud's lunch, he helped move the plastic out of the way for me to be able to get things.  He called in some help to get the old flooring out and they also got up the rest of the carpet out from the reading room.

Day 14: Friday 

  The painters showed up on time.  Seems our basement walls have already faded some, so they are doing a lot of painting down there, way more than I thought.  I was not expecting them to paint the stairwell to the upstairs and the rest of the main floor hallway.

  The other crew showed up and got right to work.  They were making so much noise that Miss Spud didn't want to nap.  I kept trying until she succumbed.

  They have moved so much stuff around in places I didn't think they needed to get to.  I assumed they were going to paint until a corner in the basement, but it looks like they are repainting the whole thing.  This means that DVDs are out of order and/or backwards.  The games have been moved off and back, so things aren't where they are supposed to go.  I had some knitting on the couch and they broke the knitting needles by placing random things on top of it.  I had some teacups on there too, luckily those aren't broken.

Day 15: Saturday 

  The workers showed up after 10am.  I think they are finally done painting, because those guys usually showed up around 8am.  They got to work on the computer room, the hallway, and the bathroom.  From what we can tell, they worked until they ran out of wood.

  They had to unplug our Internet router but he was nice enough to try and plug it back in before they left.  He called up to me to ask if it was working and woke up Miss Spud.  He exclaimed "Oh no!" when she started crying.

Day 16: Monday (5/12)

  They got more supplies in to keep working.  Since we are upgrading some of the floors, we had to give them a deposit.  I don't know how Miss Spud can nap through them sawing, hammering, and nailing, but I'm glad she can.

  I was worried about them having to move the refrigerator.  When it was installed there was a stiff copper pipe for the water hookup.  It looks like the guy who installed the refrigerator put on a flexible tube, so they moved it out of the way with no problem.

  The one guy would tap the next piece into place with his hammer, then use the hammer on the nail gun to secure it in place.  It is shaking the whole house some, I don't know how they do it without any ear protection.

  They got the hall closet, bathroom, reading room, and computer room done.  They are almost done with the hallway and the dining room.  They are about half done with the kitchen.  The basement still needs the light put back in and the carpeting.

Day 17: Tuesday

  A white van stopped by around 10:40 am and just dropped off Felipe.  They then drove away, leaving him here to work by himself.  They stopped by again around lunchtime, and some more people came to help him after 4pm.

  They stayed late, after 6:40pm to get it all done.  He thought painters were coming the next day, but I thought they were already done since they have done so much painting, so I'm not sure.

Day 18: Friday

  We had to text the Foreman to ask when the carpet would be done.  He then told us Friday.  They showed up around 10:30am.  Carlos kept trying to open Bill's workshop and finally came and asked if I could unlock it for them.  I was just confused why you would keep trying after the second time it didn't open.

  It took them only a little over an hour to lay everything down.  Apparently the carpet wasn't quite big enough because they had to use glue strips to attach a small strip of flooring by my craft room.  They then spent some time cleaning up, but left the hot glue drips.

  I did get to hear him on the phone mentioning to someone that they were having ceviche at his house.  He also mentioned someone named Yolanda.  I hope the ceviche was good and everyone was happy with the level of involvement Yolanda had in the whole matter.

  We finally got our mailbox fixed, but not in the way I wanted.  We talked about them replacing the stand, which was the only broken part.  I was playing the part of a bed for Miss Spud when he was fixing it, so I wasn't able to check on it until much later.  The guy put in a new stand and a whole new cheap feeling plastic box.  I contacted the plumbing company who were going to get the contractor to contact me so I could see if they could bring my old mailbox back.  I really loved that mailbox.

Day 19: Saturday

  The painters showed up a little after 8am.  When I looked at what they had put painters tape on, I'm pretty sure the guy from Day 14 already painted some of those areas.  At one point I walked by the stairs and saw that someone was painting our front door.  There were also sounds of sawing, but not sure what that was about.

  They did similarly to Bill what other workers did to me.  They somehow can sense the worst time to need you and then ask you things.  I know they don't actually know when the worst time is, but it seems to be a trend.

  I had gone off to knitting and right when Bill started giving Miss Spud her lunch they asked where we wanted all of the furniture.  They also broke the glass wind chime I kept indoors because I was afraid it was going to break if I kept it outside.

  The guy told Bill that cleaners will be over at some point to finish, but he wasn't sure when.  I'm also still waiting to hear from the contractor about my mailbox, the plumbing company has reached out to them multiple times.

Day 20: Tuesday (5/20)

  Not a lot happened with the powder room or any of the small things that need to get done.  However, I got my mailbox back!

  Bill contacted the Foreman and he said they could come by on Saturday.  I was thinking "What do you mean, 'can'?  When were they scheduled to come back?"  To me, it sounds like they were acting like they were done and never coming back.

Day 21: Saturday

  The cleaners showed up and asked what we wanted to get cleaned.  We said that we weren't sure, just whatever they would normally clean on a job like this.  Bill showed them all the things their company had done.  I'm more concerned with getting the fixing job done over some cleaning, but the Foreman also showed up, so we were able to show him everything we found.

  I picked the Glacier Bay 19" Single Sink White Bath Vanity with White Cultured Marble Top from Home Depot because it looked exactly like what we had.  I was so proud of that find since I got it used at ReStore and I felt it fit the space pretty well.

Day 22: Friday (5/30)

  We had to contact the Foreman again because we were told that they were going to be back to finish on Tuesday.  They never showed up.  We were told that they could come on Saturday morning, which really makes us think that they have moved on to another job before they actually finished ours.  We told them that we weren't available and got told they can come out on Friday instead.

  We were so tired of waiting for them to make time in their schedule to finish the job that we moved a few of the items from their Punch List to our To Fix list.  They were things that we were confident we could do, like putty the chips in the floor like they already did in another spot.

  Bill had to show the painter what needed to be done when he showed up.  He was confused that the floor people hadn't showed up yet.  When he was done working he said that the floor people may show up later the same day.

  We were then told that the hardwood flooring people would be here around 3pm.  Felipe didn't show up until after 4:30pm, which had made me nervous that no one was going to show up.

  He got the corner by the living room fixed quickly, but said no one told him about the gashes, so he would have to come back for that.  We have told the Foreman about it multiple times.  He asked if Monday morning would work and I said it would.

  Around 5:50pm we got a call from the carpet guy.  He offered to stop by that night when we said we couldn't make Saturday morning work.  He stapled the carpet to the tack strip after asking us if we had vacuumed the carpet.

Day 23: Thursday (6/5)

  While waiting for them we put the anti-tip bracket back onto the stove.  We made a note to replace the screw in the shelves on the wet bar that somehow went missing on our own.  I haven't gotten to it yet, but we will scrape off the extra hot glue on the floor of my craft room.  There are two boards that flex more than I think they should when we step on them, but we think it'll be okay in the end.  We also haven't yet fixed the fact that the door to the mudroom no longer closes.

  It looks like, at some point, someone from the flooring group came in and added putty to the claw hammer marks in the floor. We aren't sure when that happened.

 It also sounds like there is a disagreement between our insurance and ServicePros Cleaning & Restoration.  Our insurance says that the cost of the job should be around XY, but they are claiming it is more.  When our insurance asks why, they say it is because they had to paint so much.  We didn't tell them to paint as much as they did, and for some of it I wish they hadn't.  The insurance is telling them that they didn't need to paint as much as they did.

  We are counting this as done.  We are tired of having to keep contacting the Foreman about things and not being kept in the loop.