“Progress is the activity of today and the assurance of tomorrow” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The house is coming along, I'm not really sure how they're going to be done by Tuesday, which is what the estimated. Two whole sides of the house still need to be primed and I don't think they've put a final coat on anything yet.

I will say it's very stressful hiring people to do things. You have strangers around your house all day (even if they're decent people, they're still strangers); you have to go to them about how you want things done; you have to go to them if things aren't what you're expecting. Not fun. I'm a controller, I like to do things myself, because then they get done how I want them done. I realize that we're paying customers and should ultimately be happy at the end, but I have an issue with complaining and seeming like a pain in the ass.

Our original agreement with the pastor (who's painting our house) was that he wouldn't charge us for the labor if we supplied the materials, in regards to small construction jobs that needed to be done (replacing boards, repairing broken glass in the windows, putting a ceiling up on the front porch, etc). Well, because of this I feel beholdin' to him (I have no idea why).

He has a guy who is working with him, who is also a contractor, he's the one doing all of the construction. We've bought all of the materials necessary for the jobs: We've had everything waiting except for those items he needed for something unsuspecting. Any time that happens he just seems to rub me the wrong way by either how he reacts or something he says, "Materials aren't part of the agreement" (I'm well aware of that, tell me what you need and I'll get it).

Matt helped him put the sheets of T1-11 on the ceiling and I pulled out Matt's nail gun to make putting up trim easier. So, I've definitely been going out of my way to help and show how much I appreciate their doing these little projects.

This morning he asked me about the soffit vents for the ceiling and whether we had the 1/4 round molding. I explained that Matt has been sick and hasn't gotten to the lumberyard (he's been throwing up his guts for the past 2 days and still working), and that I would try and get there today. He then asked if we wanted him to put up the 1/4 round; I said "no", that we could do that ourselves at a later date.

I picked the 1/4 round up today so that I could paint it black and have it on hand for me to do. I came back with everything (clapboards needed for siding, soffit vents, and 1/4 round) and mentioned that I also got the 1/4 round and the guy starts to go off (not yelling or anything, but patronizing almost) that I need to let them know, because they have their day planned out and blah blah blah...I interrupted him and said that I brought the 1/4 round so that it was here and that I still planned on doing it myself, I just wanted to know where I could put it so it wasn't in his way. "Oh, ok." Then he said something about still needing the vents, and I pointed out that they were in the paper bag by the steps. It just really got my dander up, and maybe I'm taking it too personal.

I just want the house to be done and have it be to my expectations without my having to tell them that I'm not happy. I'm sure I'm worrying about something that isn't going to happen. The pastor comes very highly recommended (paints FIL's apartment house) and the contractor does work in the guy who owns our local lumberyard's house. I'm just ready for it to be done and to get back my house.

It's a good thing we're not doing major renovations with contractors...I don't think I could handle it. It makes me anxious about our big home reno we're going to do on our house if we're planning on staying her long time, but we have 5-10 years before that decision needs to be made.

Can I say one thing? I love clapboard...the smell of it, the feel of it, the look of it. Love it! I always have liked house that have wood siding over something else. There's just something beautiful about wood.