Over the last week-and-a-bit, I’ve been without my family. Alex and the wee one were out in BC visiting with family. Me? On self-imposed exile in the basement to try and wrap up as much of the renovations as possible.
Yes, I need to provide pictures of progress. But you’ll understand why I can’t in a moment…
When I got down to work last Monday, I had a huge mountain of work to deal with: installing the laminate floor (including laying down all the foam underlay first, cutting boards to specific lengths and widths), putting in insulation (and cutting to length), putting up vapour barrier, putting in drywall, and starting to mud.
All of this so we can move stuff from the upstairs to the downstairs, so we don’t feel like we’re living in a storage locker anymore.
By Monday just passed (3 December), most of this was complete. (I had also dreamt of tiling floors in a closet, the utility room, and the bathroom, but I abandoned that about two days in.) The only really outstanding parts are finishing drywall along one wall (my fancy-schmancy drywall drill bit gave out on me), finishing the mudding, and helping to organise the stuff upstairs so it makes more sense.
Oh, and I cleaned up a bit, too.
When I went to the airport last night to retrieve my family, I was exhausted. Several people remarked that I “looked like crap” (or some variant thereof). Which was true. Bags under my eyes, over a week’s growth of beard (which was itching like crazy, but I was more worried about renovation than shaving), I think the same pair of pants I’ve worn for a week (my only other pair of cold-weather wear developed a hole in an inconvenient location), my left hip hurts from what I think amounts to seven simultaneous sprains, and who knows what else.
Alex laughed when she saw me. I was probably quite the site. I was happy to see her smile. It had been a while since the last time. I was even happier to see my baby again, who also smiled (and drooled), though likely wondering what happened to daddy’s face.
It’s good to have my family back. If nothing else, this past week just reiterates how important it is for me to have them.
