The Floor Debacle

Sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned when it comes to renovating a house. Overall, our construction project has been fairly smooth as construction projects go. We have been very lucky. There were no serious delays and the whole process was short. When we moved into the house we had the floors refinished but then they didn't take. The floor guy offered to come back and redo them after the addition was done. In the end it worked out for the best, because the floors would have been scratched up by the workmen. Overall it would take 4-5 days, no big deal. We moved all our furniture into the new part of the house and packed our bags to be gone for 5 days. We piled all our clothes into the bathtubs of the old part of the house, this would prove to one of the worst decisions I've made during the whole construction process. I thought I was genuis, using the shower curtain rod as a closet rod!

With everything piled to the ceiling, something called Clausterphobia Crank-i-titus set in. I got a BAD case of it. I was so disoriented, but no big deal it was only for a few days. So I took some deep breaths and muttered my daily affirmations of, "It's just for 4 or 5 days." Then with renewed energy I carried on. Mr. Boy loved the clausterphobic mess, but I think it had more to do with the fact the Juans moved his bed into the playroom so he could play X-box from bed. On day 3 we realized things were heading south. The rain fell steadily and our super-mega ultimate heater would not work. Yep, the same super-mega-ultimate heater we installed this summer. The floors were not drying and we couldn't mimic a dry heat to help dry them.

By Day 5, the rain still fell, the heater still wasn't working, and the floors first coat still was not dry. Even worse, our super-mega-ultimate heater was so amazing, only one guy in the world knows how to fix it and he had other commitments.
By Day 7, our floor guy had to move onto another job and I was going out of mind. AK's birthday party was quickly approaching, so was Halloween. There was a glimmer of hope the Heater Man arrived. The house was quickly heated to a toasty 85 degrees and I was ready to whip up some Mai Tai's for more reasons than the tropical atmosphere.

I begged and pleaded and cried to the floor man, who came back in the wee dawn hours to slap more coats on the floor, but the rain wasn't helping move things along. On Day 15, we got to move back in! I cried when I saw my bed in my very own room, there was nothing more beautiful than seeing your house put back together.

In the meantime, remember all those clothes that were stashed in the bathroom. That included church clothes and Mr. Boys Halloween Costume. For church Mr. Man had work clothes and AK had her school dresses, but Mr. Boy and I were in trouble. I was tempted to buy new clothes, but it didn't make sense, because it was only going to be one or two more days, or so I thought.

I wore a swimsuit coverup that I fashioned into a dress. For Mr. Boy, I climbed up into the attic and retrieved his church clothes that were a size too small. I squeezed him into a pair of dress pants and a polo shirt that he wore two years ago. It just so happened to be the day when the kids were performing during the service. Mr. Boy stood up there before God and the congregation with his bellybutton showing the entire time.

The following week Halloween approached along with AK's 3-months-late birthday party. It was the party that Miss AK had said she wanted "at home with a hundred friends!" The house would not be ready in time, so we got permission from our neighbors to close the street for a party in the cul-de-sac. And then the rains came... or at least threatened. In the end the party was held in the garage & driveway, and it was a huge success. The week leading up to and planning the party in the midst of chaos.... not so fun. Mr. Boy has wanted to be Jango Fett from Star Wars for an entire year. I had secretly bought a costume for him and we surprised him with it in the beginning of the month. It was not uncommon to find him sleeping in full costume as we checked on him before bed. His costume was trapped in the old part of the house, completely inaccessible. Dissappointed, Mr. Boy wore his Boba Fett costume from the dress up box that was missing a few key elements. It was definitely not the same as the other costume. Oh Internets, thank you for the free therapy session, will you provide free therapy for Mr. Boy? I have a feeling he is going to need it.