Hell

Today was supposed to be a day of escape and preparation: the one year memorial for Mom. I was hoping to maybe send Lisa and the boys home and for me to hang with Dad. But it was not to be:

9:15--Josef calls to verify location for the house numbers... he wants to put it on the wood. I pass him off to Lisa, who says: sure, put it there and we'll check it and if we don't like it, then we'll switch it.

9:30--Carpeteria calls. Again. The supplier doesn't have this carpet, either... even after I explicitly asked last night if the supplier had enough for our job. I let Lisa take over the call... as I talk to Dad in the next room, I hear her say, "We're not the ones who screwed up..." Go, baby, go. He says there's another option. Lisa says we'll cruise by after 11.

9:55--At the harbor, waiting to board the boat, I miss a call, only the catch the voicemail. Shower door guys: no installation tomorrow... they haven't even made the doors yet. What the fuck? They called me last Friday to schedule tomorrow's appointment. I immediately call them back. And sure enough, no doors made... they'll make them next week (late) and deliver/install around January 3 (or "next year" as the ever-so-[sarcasm alert]-helpful guy on the phone said.) "Oh, No, " I said and was about to lose it when Lisa took the phone away from me. Lisa said that she wanted to cancel the order (because the guy pissed HER off so much), but he said we'd have to do that with the HomeDepot store. Great.

The memorial went very nicely. Cried a lot. Held both my father and son (Kyle... Lisa held Jack) as we all cried.

After we went to Carpeteria. Round three. I told the guy I was in no mood to mess around today (and told him the circumstances)... they'll install the pad tomorrow morning and the carpet after it arrives tomorrow afternoon... it should be in by dark. Not that I am counting on anything.

After lunch, Dana called to tell us the preliminary inspection went well (they're going to let us keep the garage door... only we need a firedoor... he-who-must-not-be-named said he'll pick one up and we'll reimburse him for it... RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT. Not going to happen, my not-friend). She said that there's a couple of "little items" to be fixed (we're assuming skylight, plus???)... final inspection might be tomorrow... with more fixes Saturday? Lisa told her that we'd move around them. Dana said that we would be cleared to move in on Tuesday. Christmas? Huh? Lisa told her that we'd be moving stuff (not our bodies) in on Saturday and that we'd move around them. Lisa told Dana about the shower door issue (as the final inspection includes those)... they can "note" the shower doors and inspect them later... but Dana said she'd check into the "their" shower door guy. She called back in mere minutes with the number and the OK from lord voldemort to move stuff in on Saturday.

Kiss my ass, mofo. Anyway...

Then we dropped off Dad and took the boys to the Condo (to drop them off to play video games) and pick up the HomeDepot receipt. Lisa called HomeDepot, and is on hold as I type this in... before leaving again to check on the house (placement of the house numbers) and then go looking for shower door replacements.

Yeah, this day has turned out exactly as planned or wanted.

[sarcasm alert]

---------------

UPDATE:
Late night.

We went to the house to check out the numbers (there were on the wall below the stairwell window as we had envisioned)... looked good. What didn't look so good was: the front yard all dug up. They were putting in the expanded water line for the fire sprinklers (like we caused lord voldemort weeks ago). Oh, well. Frank is there as well.

We ask about the water: we failed the water pressure inspection. And there was a leak upstairs in Kyle's room (sure enough, you could see where the water fell). But even though it's been cleaned up, there's obvious concern in Josef. When we ask about tomorrow's carpet installation, he breaks bad news to us: We shouldn't install until the inspections are done and they've had a successful test of the sprinkler system... until then, we run the risk of ruining the new carpet. So we ask when that will be (because this will mean we'll have to eat crow with Carpeteria and delay the installation)... they hope to have the pipe done late today or early tomorrow. Then the city has to approve the line, then the fire guy has to run the test and approve it, then the city can complete final inspection. Frank doesn't think it can all happen tomorrow. If it does, then we can install on Saturday. If not... well, then inspections couldn't take place this week... and Monday is Christmas Eve and a city/county day off... which means Wednesday would be the earliest for inspections and Thursday the earliest for carpet installation. Great.

Frank reiterates the need for a fire door for the garage, and wonders if we can pick it up or at least order it. I bite my tongue, but Lisa jumps in and says that Dana told Lisa that Coastline would pick it up and we would reimburse them... but even that would need to be a matter of discussion. OK.....

Frank then asks about the landings/deck for the area between the dining room and the master bedroom. The inspector won't sign off without some kind of step. Lisa's on a roll: she says it's in the plan. Yeah, Frank says it was... like why wasn't it built? We let that hang in the air. Frank mentions again that something needs to be done. We sit in stony silence.

I chime in... since we were talking about stuff in the plans... what about rain gutters? Frank's turn to go silent.

It's not going well, and so the meeting just kind of peters out. Lisa makes a call to Carpeteria to say that Saturday's a possibility, but not Friday... we agree to let them know by 3 tomorrow if Saturday's a go... if not, then it looks like Thursday for installation.

Fuck.

So we head over to HomeDepot to discuss the whole shower door debacle (it doesn't look good, since Lisa found on the contract that they technically have until January 3 to install the doors... or else what? we get to be angry? who the fuck knows?). So we go to HD and of course the woman in charge of such things is already gone for the day... so we shop for closet stuff for the linen closet and garage storage stuff... and nearly (another) four hundy later, we leave.

We pick up Dad, and bring him home for dinner. And that really was the highlight of the day.

When I woke up this morning, I was hoping for some kind of cathartic release in my mourning for mom. And I thought tomorrow would bring installations of both shower doors and carpeting. Now I'm exhausted and expect only to work tomorrow. And hopefully tear down the existing cabinets in the garage over the weekend, and maybe hang some closet stuff myself before Christmas.

We're now thinking Dad will move in Thursday, regardless of our status. We may move in Friday or Saturday, and even if carpeting and furniture doesn't allow for the boys to sleep in their rooms until the New Year, at least we'll be in our home next weekend.

That is, if we don't have too many more rollercoaster days like today.