House Ready For First Real Visitor

Note to Debra the day before she flies: “We’ll ring you when Jackie is home from work but in the meantime if you go out for any last minute shopping then pick us up a 50 pack of Goodies powders. I just used the last one from about 5 years ago. Also, if you have room, bring me one of these shirts:”

We’ve done as much work on the house after work the past three months as we had planned to do for the whole year, our focus sharpened by our Debra who is finally making good on her threat to come visit. She’s never been out of America and we really wanted her to have a home from home as opposed to a hovel (although I suspect she’s just overwhelmed by the experience).

It was much more effort than this sounds:

• Repainted the dining room
• Installed a futon
• Put a pair of geraniums on the front door hangers
• Added a pendant to the stairwell and improve existing ones there and in entrance
• Pointed and painted the walls of the garden walkway
• Built coat and linen closets and two living room cabinets
• Hung floating shelves for our vinyl LPs
• Refurbed and hung a mirror
• Touched up paint all around
• Moved a 3m long X 1m wide X 50cm tall pile of tools, paint equipment, and lumber out of the dining room where it has been in various forms for the last 3 years
• Finished (started, really, and finished) the kitchen trim and finally regrouted and sealed those quarry tiles
• Layed out a temporary patio by the shed
• Tidied up some outstanding issues with the bathroom
• Resealed the electric access floor boards on the landing and restained the seals
• Installed thresholds where we’ve meant to do for, well, ever
• Got in some plates and drinking glasses (we had two plates and were using 60 year old Tupperware for ourselves)
• And, finally put some shit on the walls.

Note from Jackie replying to my note to Debra: “Jesus, don’t tell her that, you know she’ll try to find one!” I answered that she’d have to travel back to the 70s to get one and Jackie aptly noted that she won’t travel closer to the 70s than spending a week in West Brom. It begins.