Sunday, March 22, 2009

High Anxiety


Almost every morning there is someone doing something on the house, yet it is still not where it should be at T- minus two days from furniture arriving.
The kitchen appliances are on the deck, the toilet and sink is in the garage.
Having them in those locations is NOT useful!

More angst:

I spent almost five hours on Friday looking for a dress to wear to our son's wedding on May 2nd. It needs to be street length for a morning wedding, in some shade of light blue, as the bridesmaids will be in navy and the flowers will be fuchsia.

AND I spent three more hours at another mall today.

So far I've gone to Nordstroms, Macy's, Dillards, Penneys, Sears, Ross, TJ Maxx, J. Jill, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, David's Bridal, Nordstrom's Rack, a consignment shop, looked at Chadwicks, and Draper and Damons on line, the Bridal webpages MOB/MOG dress pages....

I do have a back up dress from Dress Barn in a sea green with short sleeves. It will be fine for a morning wedding, I just was thinking more a suit with 3/4 length sleeves.

Honest to Pete, last year there were TONS of such dressy suits that were just perfect for a morning wedding. But then again, last year I was in the South, where ladies regularly dress for such occasions and the stores have a plentiful supply to choose from.

All I could find here in Salt Lake City were overly dressy dresses in browns, black, navy's and a few dusty rose beige's.
Don't they do Easter dresses and suits around here????
What is up with that???

This is stressing me out because not only do I need a dress, I'll need to find shoes too. I wear a weird sized shoe, 9 1/2 narrow, and I know it likely will be challenging to find something that A. Fits, and B. is comfortable.

I'm still going to order one outfit on line and Laura is going to try shopping in San Diego for me, and will try to bring me some choices from there.

She will arrive the day after the dreaded 220 boxes arrive and will stay six days to help me organize. Boy oh boy do I every need all the help I can get.

The one fun moment this weekend was a bridal shower for my future daughter in law Rachel. The brunch was elegant, and the girls all looked like springtime had arrived in pretty skirts. I switched purses for the event, and forgot my camera so I have no pictures of that event to post.
I know...I am totally losing it.

It got up to 70 degrees on Saturday, and B. and I spent time loafing on the lawn and watching the cats explore the yard. B. constructed a plant table for his Japanese maples; they will need to be taken in later today however...as I write this it is beginning to snow outside.

We were warned not to trust warm March days.

Aside from planting peas, carrots and lettuce, we should hold off adding flowers to the garden until Mother's Day weekend.
That gives me something to look forward to. If the 220 boxes haven't be settled by then, I plan to just move outside for the summer.

I'll admit that both Bernie and I are apprehensive about the stuff arriving. We gave the contractor an extra three weeks to complete the work...and tried both "kiss" and "kick" motivation to get things moving along. Neither had much effect.

The biggest issue is that we will need to return all the stuff we borrowed from our son last September for the apartment and the house in order to make room for OUR stuff to be moved in. The movers will need to muscle our bedroom set into the master bedroom upstairs, and Jeff's loaner bed needs to be muscled out of the downstairs area by the movers.

That leaves us with sleeping UPSTAIRS, with the only potty DOWNSTAIRS.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I for one am not viewing walking downstairs in the middle of the night to use the bathroom as a "good thing".

Actually, another reason I am not crazy about having only one bathroom is that the construction guys have to use my bathroom too. They are nice guys, and I am not squeamish about them, it is just that I always have to remember to check to make sure all my stuff is put away.

I am not crazy about the fact that the guys usually show up while I am getting ready to leave for work...like getting out of the shower and such. Even though I enjoy greeting them as I leave, I just don't like having folks roaming around the house at work while I am here alone.

(It is hard to decide what to complain about most. I am really hacked that SLC has such a lousy selection of dressy wear. What the heck do the Mormon Mother of the Bride/ Mother of the Groom wear after they finish their temple ceremony anyway? Don't they have a reception and dress up a bit??? )

Back to moving angst....

I wish I knew if our furniture will actually fit through the hallways and doors here. Seriously...the 1954 style house was not designed to hold the over sized furniture from 2001.

While I was out shopping, Bob Marley got painted over. Well, Marley was dead to begin with...so RIP behind the paint Bob. The room looks a lot brighter with him gone. That room will soon be stuffed with boxes that contain who knows what. The movers in Houston just packed and labeled the boxes with the rooms that they packed them in. And they didn't always call the rooms what we would call the room. It will be "pot luck" finding anything for awhile.

There are still holes in the walls where the electricians put in new panels, baseboards missing (on order), walls needing to be hot patched, laundry room boxes built to put the washer and drier on (and won't it be GREAT to just toss in a load when needed again?)

Seriously....I would never undertake such a major renovation ever again. I just hope in the end this one will all be worth it.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jill,
We have never tackled a renovation so don't have any advice on that for you, however you are in my prayers. About the dress, don't they have a Masy's there? (I know I spelled it incorrectly) Both my kids were married last year and I got both dresses the same day. However, I was not looking for a light color. Also up here in Canada they have dresses for the Moms at the bridal store. . . .in any shade you want to order it in. . . .just a thought.
Debbie M. (from B.C. Canada)

Anonymous said...

Suggestion from Hal: recommends an under the bed 'thunder-mug' during night time, just like the old,old days.
Suggestion/recommendation from Laura: there's bushes in the back. And again, there's a kittie litter box too. Or, if you need me to bring up foley catheters, just let me know...but you will have to put them in yourself. Too much "ick" factor putting them in your own parents. Ok. Sick, I know. Back to Barbara...
Hope you can find a dress soon, that will relieve a little of your stress. Laura is a great help! I hope next week will not be as difficult as you anticipate. will keep you in my thoughts, Love, mom S.

Lovella ♥ said...

I'm always slightly amused to see my friend Debbie leave you messages. .awesome.
Anyways. . I will put some serious prayer into that dress situation. I know that you need to get that monkey off your back with all the rest you are dealing with now Jill.
Hang in there. .the reno is looking great. I recall saying never again .. but now. .I think we could do it again. Funny how memories fade with time. Or is it that I'm getting old and can't remember how bad it was. .

Anonymous said...

I'm laughing at Hal's suggestion (we grew up calling them thunder-pots, though)!

I'm so glad that you have Laura coming and that you can count on her, even just to have her for company, although I know she'll keep things moving and get you organized!

I know the oversized dresser is a concern - will it not fit through the doorway turned on its side? Perhaps you could repurpose it to another room. And those tall bookcases...hire a master carpenter to shorten them a bit for you. I know, I know. I can make all sorts of suggestions, but are any of them really very practical? ;)

Judy said...

This too will come to an end...and before you know it all the decisions will be made and you will be enjoying your completed home!

You have my sympathies...regarding the dress shopping. And the shoes...I also have a hard to fit foot. May you find the perfect outfit!

What are bluebonnets? Maybe I'll find out.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Hi Jill, you've got my sympathy, though I know that's not much help. I will join Lovella in the prayer department...

Sara