gateslacker | Tripping the light craptastic.

First! Thanks to

flammablehat for my adorable Halloween Spider (((hugs you!)))

Second! Belated birthday wishes to

mal119119. I am sorry that I suck and that these wishes are super late

Third! I am sorry that I seem to just suck in general at keeping up lately. I do tend to read what is going on with everyone but, sadly, time gets away from me and the replies don't often make it from my head to the screen. If I could send telepathic good wishes, I would!

It has been a hugely stressful, craptastic week for me, probably amplified by estrogen and progesterone duking it out for supremacy.

I am in the midst of some home renovation and repair. I started this process because I thought I was going to sell in a few years. That may or may not still happen but I decided to do it anyway. It was time to replace the floor in Brandon's and the spare bedrooms and finally replace the counter tops and the floors in the kitchen (where I had tile put in many years ago when a leak ruined the vinyl flooring I had at the time. Of course, the tile was put in by a complete idiot and totally started cracking in the first year). I also needed to paint all the rooms except those in the addition. Several years ago, my son's bathroom shower head leaked between the wall and the shower. I didn't know this till the drywall was crumbling. I had it all fixed but it seems that the leak extended farther than I anticipated and caused my floors to buckle. It had affected the subflooring in my sons room which isn't even on the side of the wall where the leak was. so, I'm certain that it has affected the subfloor of my dining/living rook which is on the side of the leak. The hardwood floor still looks really, really good. There's just some dips and valleys. Have I mentioned that these are the same floors that are practically new as I had them put in a few years ago?

Naturally, I chose a lovely prefinished hardwood that has since been discontinued. Is anyone getting the picture that I tend to have rather shit luck when it comes to flooring? And plumbing?

Well, other folks came out to insulate under the house because I do have a great deal of moisture (but no more leaks!) and there were a few holes in the plastic ground barrier (where Sammie has been getting under the house) Of course, this is after they went to the wrong house and insulated 3/4 of my neighbor's house.

So, I did this and my floors have already started to improve. Then the question was, do I want to see if they will improve more, even if there is one area that will likely never fully improve?

(Mainly because replacing them was going to send me way over budget and I'd still not have something that I feel is of the same quality. And also because I think my contractor would have sobbed right along with me if we did have to pull them up. He put them in, after all, and has said that it is his personal favorite of all the floors he has put in.)

I decided that I wanted to see if they improve more and that I didn't really want to go over budget. (as this moisture issue and replacing sub flooring already had me over what I initially wanted to spend.)

When he calls me, my first question is, "Well, what calamity has befallen now?"

But the house is a wreck because I have all these things, i.e. almost everything that was on a wall, in a closet, or in the kitchen, that are not going back where they were and clutter really stresses me out. I seem to just keep shifting the piles of stuff around while I try and figure out what to do with it. I then sent out a group text telling people to come over and get what they want. This decreased the "stuff" somewhat but there's still too much stuff just taking up space in my dining room and then there's all this other stuff that does need to be put back but, since they aren't quite done, there's piles of it, too. And it drives me nuts.

So, add a stressful work week in to the mix where I have the never ending pile of charts (Because I am following up on the charts from the vacated and the soon to be vacating provider in addition to my own and the only time I have to do that is in between patients, assuming I have time) . Typically, I have been able to do that with the time afforded by no shows, but I haven't had too many of those in the past several days. I've started calling that pile the "rabbit pile" because I will clear it completely out and turn around and have another pile of equal or greater height take its place. I tend to like being caught up and I'm not too certain that I will ever get used to never being caught up.

Argh, enough about all of that.

On to the entertainment talk which is way more fun.

Believe it or not, I have wanted to watch "The Wicked Day" again but have been unable to do so because it totally broke my heart.

I never had the chance to comment on "Athuisa" though I enjoyed it and probs shed a tear or two when Merlin called the baby dragon forth. It was so adorable. It was nice to see James Callis again. (Gaius meets Gaius!) I think that backstory would have been interesting.

I was a wee but confused about Gaius telling Arthur all about James Callis' quest and the dragon egg but then sort of blaming Merlin in an "it's been protected for 400 years and now it's on your head" if Arthur destroys the last dragon egg. Did he really have to tell Arthur every last detail especially when he couldn't be bothered to tell him that, oh yeah, Morgana sent an enchanted necklace to make sure that Dragoon and magic wouldn't heal your father just so you know. I wasn't really bothered by the practical joke on Merlin regarding the food. It is in character for a group of guys to constantly mess with each other in this way (even though I was glaring daggers at them before I realized it was a practical joke). I think what does make it hard is this residual sadness that I feel for Merlin. It makes me feel very protective of him. I am relatively certain that I am in the minority in that I did NOT like the Arthur losing his pants thing. It just wasn't funny to me. He was with his council, for goodness sake, and I was humiliated and uncomfortable for him. I do believe I was as irritated with Merlin in this scene as I was when Arthur rubbed the dirty floor sponge in Merlin's face.

Other shows I have watched

I caught the first three episodes of The Walking Dead on netflix the other day and I am intrigued enough to watch more. Zombies aren't usually my thing but I think there's enough here to make me want to see more. I admit to some annoyance at cliched southern rednecks but those scenes where the guy is trying to kill his "walker" wife and just couldn't do it just made me sob! Still, it can be pretty gross at times and I'm not one who is often squicked too badly by blood and guts. When they were covering themselves with zombie entrails, I almost gagged!

Chuck! Not sure how I feel just yet about Morgan having the intersect. Still, it was a good start to the last season.

Sanctuary has been really good this season as well but, Oh my, is Helen Magnus channeling Captain Jack Harkness or what!?!? I so did not see THAT coming!!!

Now off to watch "His Father's Son". Is it just me or does anyone else feel a bit of anxiety and apprehension going in to these series 4 eps? I go in afraid of what is going to happen next!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hee, you are welcome madame! He is a very jaunty gentleman spider with a fabulous top-hat. :D

It would be a terrible shame to have to replace hardwood floors just because of a leak. :/ Even if you could find the same type of floor, it's so damn expensive!

And ahhhhh, Merlin! 4x05 is rather delicious on the bromance.

I am such a huge fan of the bromance, I can hardly bear it.

And I decided to just wait and see with the floor so as to not be over budget and in debt.

This is why I hate Gaius on that show! He never behaves rationally and always puts Merlin at the worst. It's really annoying to me... and I don't understand why people don't dislike him more. He does nothing to really help Merlin... nothing! Ergh...

My face has broken out in hives and I will go to work today and hope everyone thinks it's a Halloween costume because none of my co-workers answered their phones this morning when I hoped to find someone to take my place. Have taken a crapload of benadryl but still feel like I just want to curl up in a ball and sleep. Not an auspicious start to my very long day.

And good heavens, I don't know what to say about your epic bad luck with renovations. It stressed me out just reading it... and seriously did 3/4 of your neighbor's house before realizing their mistake... and neighbors didn't say anything either. What in the world people?! *hugs*

Here's to the hope both our upcoming week treats us better.

Well, I like Gaius because, all his faults aside, he loves Merlin like a son and that redeems him. But, yeah, he is rather hit and miss with his advice.

And good heavens, I don't know what to say about your epic bad luck with renovations. It stressed me out just reading it... and seriously did 3/4 of your neighbor's house before realizing their mistake... and neighbors didn't say anything either. What in the world people?! *hugs*

Well, my neighbors came home in the middle of this process and the insulation people beat my contractor to my house (or my neighbor's house..LOL)

I think they all arrived at about the same time to realize what was happening. I was at work at the time.

Ugh, sorry about your hives on top of everything else. Hopefully, they have completely resolved by now.

Wow, you have had quite the week. o_O

Is it at all possible that all the "stuff" can be shifted to one part of the house - preferably one part where you can (hopefully) "ignore" it until time to put it all back in place? I know trying to live in the midst of renovating is CRAZY. Hang in there. Keep trying to tell yourself this is temporary - things will find a sense of normalcy again. Eventually.

ETA: Nice banner, by the way. Enjoying all the pretty boy love there. ;)

Edited 2011-10-30 19:23 (UTC)

I know! The banner was lost for some time and then, one day, as I was trying to change my theme to something else I clicked on one of the themes and, voila, there it was again. I haven't changed it since because I didn't want to "lose" it again but I sure would like to add some Merlin love to it. Sadly, I have never figured out how to adjust LJ themes and backgrounds beyond the most rudimentary.

And now the work is done but I am *still* sorting stuff. I hope to get back into some semblance of order today.

When my parents underwent major renovations, the contractor was really smart about the psychological craziness it causes. So everything was moved into one room with walkable rows and then a sheet was tacked from floor to ceiling to block it from view. It really helped keep the crazy feeling from overwhelming them.

But I get it. Not being able to deal with it has to drive you nuts. I advise breathing.

And good luck on making the right decision. Using the budget as a guide is a good idea. You can always take it on another time, if you decide it's needed.

Good luck!

Yeah, this was really some basic stuff but as it involved the whole house, it was hard to manage it. The work is all done but I am still sorting the piles. I have whittled them away a bit.

Now, I just need the motivation to hang all the pictures and whatnot I am keeping back onto the wall.

There's a three day weekend coming up.......

And good advice.!!I am going to take it on another time if it is needed. (Plus, I actually like the contrast of the two different floors though I realize that many people, when it comes to hardwood flooring, like one type, continuous throughout.)

Thanks so much. Belated wishes are good, too, and I've been known to be very late birthday-wise.

Sorry about all your plumbing/flooring issues. Sounds awful.

I've known to be behind the times even when it comes to my own child's birthday..LOL! It all seems to sneak up on me.

You do make me feel better knowing that I'm not the only one who has this problem.

Tripping the light craptastic.

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