New carpet!

Our new carpet is being installed as I write this.  It was supposed to be done tomorrow, when Bruce would be here working from home, but someone from the store called last week to ask if we could change it to Monday instead, as they had another job on Tuesday.  I had already asked my boss if I could work from home on Monday because the guys dealing with the closet doors needed to do some final touch-up work, so we just switched things around - carpet today, closets tomorrow.

Now, however, I suspect that Bruce called the owner of the flooring store and asked him if they could do it on Monday instead of Tuesday, just so that once again, I'd be the one stuck with all the chaos.  Moving his computer desk and the TV, along with his stereo system, was a pain because there was such a tangle of wires behind the cabinet.  The carpet guys asked me if I could disconnect things before they tried moving everything out of the living room - when I looked at the big mess, I understood why they didn't want to attempt the nightmare.  The speaker wires are the worst - they are ridiculously long because it's a surround-sound system, with two speakers at the back of the room.  Someone needs to create a high quality but affordable wireless sound system.

I finally got everything untangled and went back to work while the men moved out the furniture, but my work area was drastically reduced because now the TV and cabinet are in the dining room/kitchen, along with Bruce's very large subwoofer and a bunch of other stuff.  This is exactly what it was like when the tile was being laid and everything from the dining room was stuffed in the living room, with very little space for me to move around.  Somehow, Bruce managed once again to get out of being the one sitting amidst the chaos.

After I finished my news compilation, I went back to the TV and sound system to try and organize the wires a little better.  Everything is now neatly bundled up except for those darn stereo wires, which are one big mess.  I'd have to remove them from the speakers in order to properly untangle them and that's something I'm not going to mess with.  I'm too smart to get between a man and his sound system. (Two wires popped out of one speaker all by themselves when the men began moving the monolith.  If only the others had been that obliging ...)

The carpet (what I can see of it from my vantage point behind boxes and speakers) looks pretty - such an improvement over the old one!  And there is a chance we may get the new windows installed on Wednesday, followed by the siding on Thursday and next Monday.  Someone called me this morning to tell me that and then said he'd call me back to confirm - I haven't heard from him yet.  If they get the go-ahead, that would mean working from home again on Wednesday, as they'll need to be in the house for the window installation.  But when they're doing the siding on Thursday (if that's confirmed), we won't need to be here, which would be great as they've warned us the hammering will be noisy.  I'd be thrilled if it happens this week, because that means the house will be completely ready for visitors when Ranee and family are here next week.  The timing would be perfect!

It's cold again today, but we surprisingly have sunshine (which has been quite a stranger in recent days).  I'm so glad it isn't raining, because our living room furniture is outside in the front yard right now, as are Bruce's desk and computer.  But rain is expected again on Christmas Eve (which, come to think of it, may delay the siding being installed, unless the rain begins later in the evening).  So we may end up having a cold, rainy Christmas, which is so wrong - Christmas is supposed to equal blue skies and sunshine!

We had dinner at Bruce's sister Judy's house yesterday - an early birthday celebration for their mother and a Christmas get-together for the family, as well, since they'll be away on a cruise on Christmas day.  It was a fun evening.  We got to meet Jonathan's girlfriend, Claire, whom we all like.  Judy's husband, Louis, just bought a Harley Davidson, so Bruce got to ride it and he was thrilled.  He's been wanting to get a motorcycle for several years now (used to have one but gave it up when his kids were little), and I suspect I'm going to be hearing a lot more often now that he needs a bike.

I hope everyone has a blessed, very merry Christmas, surrounded by family, friends and love.  We (including Jason, Caroline and Jonathan) are going to have dinner on Christmas evening with the Jacksons, so we'll definitely be having fun.  Perhaps we'll be able to play Cranium again, with more people this time.  Such an entertaining game.