Insomnia

It's quarter to five in the AM (cold, dark, AM) and I can't sleep. I have been waking up on the hour and rolling over to see if I had magically slept until 6 when I would rise and get the boy up and in the shower, but alas no. It was just an hour (or less) since the last time I checked. So, I finally got up, fed the dog and sat down to do a quick, overdue post.

As you may recall, the last update involved packing up part of the old house and moving it to the new. Well that part went fine though it was a long and exhausting day. But instead of sitting around on our newly transplanted furniture watching the big screen, everything we moved is either still in its box or under tarps. There is sheet rock mud powder everywhere along with the sawdust and general airborne particulate matter that accompanies construction sites. The house is still not ready for habitation though the kids have staked out their bedrooms upstairs. They normally live in such a state of disarray that mere construction debris is hardly noticable.

I, on the other hand, prefer to live in the apartment in the basement until I can move upstairs without feeling like I am camped in the sahara desert with grit everywhere.

On the positive side of things, the special paint job that we commissioned looks really good. It's a two stage process with a base coat of one color and a top coat of another that is "ragged" on. I am very happy with the results. The painters should be done in a couple of days and the last minute taping and sanding should also be done soon. Once that has finished, the tarps will come off the furniture and we can begin the cleaning process that is needed before articles can be stored in the kitchen cupboards.

We are still waiting on some closet and pantry shelving units that will hopefully make an appearance this week. There are a million little electrical and plumbing items that need to be taken care of before the house is truly livable. I have to make decisions and order more lighting fixtures, towel and toilet paper racks, etc. It is mostly down to the little niggly things now.

A large part of last week was spent in the Twin Cities. It was Youth In Government weekend which is where approximately 1600 kids from all over the state take over the state capital and the downtown Minneapolis Hilton for four days and form a shadow state government and legal system. My daughter was involved in the program for four years when she was in middle and high school and this year, she came back as an advisor. My son participated for the second year now, following his sister's footsteps through the court system.

I hung out at our old place trying to do some more packing and attempted to put the "picked over" interior in a better mode for any prospective buyers should someone want to see the house. Not much came back with me this time since we are not able to unpack what we already have here. I did bring two vacuum cleaners up which can be put to good use soon.

This week will be spent trying to whip the new house into some kind of livable shape. My daughter has to return to college next Sunday, so I will be spending as much time with her as possible. My son's sixteenth birthday is Friday and we have to drive back down to the Cities for his last behind-the-wheel session prior to taking his driver's license test. We have already had a couple of head butting sessions over what freedoms he will inherit immediately and what will have to come in timed stages. Sigh. Impatient youth.

It is hard to believe, but the home buying/remodel/rebuild adventure is really starting to approach some kind of closure. It has been such a huge project that has consumed me in so many ways that I wonder what life will be like on the other side of it. Well, I will have some time yet before that question needs to be answered.

Anyway, there you have it.