Update November 7

Woke up yesterday, rarin' to work on countertops and finally mow the jungle outside. Instead, we came to find out relying on the crack team of meterologists around here is a faulty plan; that in fact, it was rainy and cold until about 2 in the afternoon, which ruined our plans, since we need dry, temperate conditions on both counts. So we had to find alternative projects, that I insisted didn't involve painting. If I have to paint one more surface in this house in the next 24 hours, I'm gonna scream so loud the neighbors will think I'm a 13-year-old at a Mylie Cyrus concert.

In our linen closet there were wooden shelves covered in marbelesque contact paper. Now they're gone, including some of the paint on the walls that they were stuck to, and in their place are closetmaid-type ventilated shelving as high as I could go and still get my hands in there. Yes, there's now bare drywall in some places in the closet. NO, I wasn't about to paint the interior of a closet. Remember what I just mentioned above? Luckily, Rich was on board for no paint, so we moved on and I did some unpacking. All the linens I could find are also in there now. Yay!!

I also got to install jacket hooks in the front foyer. With the unbelievable cold temperatures now, I finally have to concede that it's getting toward winter. The uncontrollable shivering, the constant nose-wiping as I show property, and my inattention to what my clients are saying because I'm thinking how FREAKING cold it was was apparently not working. I guess just acting like it's not cold isn't a viable solution. So now we have at least somewhere to put some jackets, but still no coat closet. I have no excuse now.

Got the cabinet up in the laundry room yesterday as well. Conveniently, we had not closed up the other side of the wall completely, so we took the drywall down in the bathroom and made sure we lined up the cabinet on studs. I think removable walls should be the way we go all the time. It was so easy! I've even started to load it up with stuff already, and I don't even have the doors on yet. Still gotta decide on a final color scheme for that room and the cabinets. Babs was kind enough to prime them so now it's just deciding what to do with it from here.

Also got the final three trim kits installed in the hallway lights. One left in the laundry, but otherwise good to go.

Meanwhile, Rich worked on the installation of all the undercabinet lights. We hit a couple of small snags . . . namely deciding where to connect everything (inside a cabinet or underneath, where it could be seen a bit) and what to do about the fact the ones on the sink wall are controlled by a dimmer that we thought we could work around, but it turns out we can't. So for now, it's a touch dimmer, which is cool, but it's default is the "off" position, so when we turn the switch off on the wall that controls all the lights, the whole thing turns off, so that you always have to use the dimmer to turn them on. Rich suggested forcing a "short" to make them work, which makes me shudder. It's not scary to him--he was in electronics and also blew up batteries with magnesium fires before, so that's small potatoes. But I suggested maybe researching more first to see if we could find a "legal" solution. Ha. We'll see.

I have to be out showing property today, so he's on his own. Big surprise, the phone guy didn't make it on Friday, so today he's supposed to show up while I'm not there. We'll see.