The Great Flooring Project Finish and Other News

Even though it's been Reading Week last week for my seminary classes, I've had an exhausting week, full of Synod Convocation, which I wrote about in yesterday's blog post, and lots and lots of home renovation work.  Let me write about the home renovations:

--The biggest news:  the Great Flooring Project is complete downstairs.  We've had the flooring for over a year, in lots and lots of boxes, but there was always a project that needed to be finished first, so we could tell where the floor would be.  For example, with the new HVAC system going in, it didn't make sense to do the floors a year ago, when we weren't sure where the ductwork and vents would be. 

--Lots of those projects took longer than we anticipated.  Still, now that it's done, I'm glad we got the flooring when we did, even though it meant that all those boxes of flooring have been in the way.  We got it at a 25% off sale, and I don't imagine the price has gone down on the manufactured bamboo that we wanted.

--We are now in a house with no avocado colored toilets.  On Thursday, we needed to have a new toilet on hand, so that the flooring project could be done.  Off we went to Lowe's, where we felt a bit flummoxed.  The cheaper toilets that we had our eye on were on backorder, although they were supposed to arrive on Thursday night.  I started looking at the others, which I assumed were too expensive.  I found a Kohler model that was only $40.00 more than the cheaper one.

--Yesterday my spouse installed the new toilet in the hall bathroom while the handyman extraordinaire installed the floors in the second bedroom.  I tried to be out of the house for most of that.  The toilet install was done by noon, but the flooring install wasn't done until 5.

--I helped my spouse remove the old toilet and find the pipe underneath the house to saw and cap--the  bathroom attached to the master bedroom will have a new toilet location. 

--Much of the afternoon was just a waste, in terms of work that needs to be done:  sermon writing, grading, paper writing for seminary classes, reading of any sort.  It was just too noisy, both inside and out.

--Because much of our house now has no walls, including the bathroom, I took an afternoon walk up the hill to use a bathroom at Lutheridge.  I happened to look up to see a sky of beautiful blue, with autumnal leaves drifting through the air.  I thought about the fact that the days are going to get colder, and I felt both gratitude for the short walk and sadness that we'd spent much of the last days of perfect weather inside.

--We did get back outside in the late afternoon.  I had some daffodil bulbs that I wanted to plant, and with the bit of rain we've had, it seemed like a good time.  Plus, I wanted to use the drill augur I ordered while I still remembered where it was.

--I was sad to hear of the death of Louise Gluck.  I don't think I've ever read a poem of hers that I disliked.  I'm happy she won the Nobel, but losing a poet at 80 seems too young  these days.