That's changed as of this past weekend. With your humble nailbender as the tile cutter and mortar & grout mixer, Ruth completed the laying of tiles in the powder room, loft bath-surround and kitchen backsplash on Sunday.
Then, this past Thursday, Delaeno Rempel (builder and friend extraordinaire) returned with the loft bookshelf (ready for installation) and tools to complete the wall-in of the bonus room stairs in the garage. He also brought the plugs and trim pieces to complete the stair railings, so now I can get on with oiling same in the next few days.
On other fronts, I've been conducting some exceedingly frustrating exchanges with a company we'd like to install our woodstove. (They've done some very fine work for us in the past when they were a smaller company.) I've been in sales & marketing for decades, and it's always been my view that the job of marketing (first) and sales (second) is not only to remove barriers to sale, but to eliminate them in advance. You can imagine my surprise, then, that the individual with whom I've been communicating i) forgets who I am, ii) loses my information, iii) repeats queries already answered and, iv) continually finds new problems (created by me, the customer, apparently) that prevent moving to an installation schedule. This despite the fact that I have asked them to tell me what they need (i.e., how much more money than for materials & labour) to establish a suitable value proposition for their company. Most curious – and that's an understatement.
All of that said, I have established two new daily resolutions as of the New Year. These resolutions have led to two new blogs at my son, Cole's, insistence, namely: oneoldphotographperday.blogspot.com and onenewphotographperday.blogspot.com. Hence, the Ruth's Ridge deficiency list will have to compete with my photographic priorities and, come spring, my motorcycle riding priorities.
I'm sure I've reprised the D-list, but here it is again:
• mortar stone to the post behind the eventual woodstove chimney
• get the $%^&*((%^#$@$% woodstove installed and certified
• complete baseboard & casing installation
• install the lovely Italian outside water spigot Jill & Lee gave me for Christmas
• stain banisters & re-apply Duraseal to maple flooring
• build two sets of stairs on the front verandah
• build a small deck out from the back door porch
• spec, order & install laundry room cabinets
• build the stereo installation
• paint the basement floor
• build two guest bedrooms in the basement
• unpack
• decorate & organize furniture
• drink a really expensive bottle of wine.
