Life More Abundantly

Today the house went from a construction zone to a house. You can walk from our front door to our kitchen without tripping over wood, sheetrock or tools! Also, you can drink water from my fridge, and get ice. In theory you could cook on my stove. If you would like to test that theory, feel free. We generally eat supper around seven. Of course, unless you can create a gourmet meal from left over pizza and two paint covered paint rollers, you’d have to bring your own groceries. Which could now be stored in my refrigerator and cupboards.

Andrea and her son Andy cleared the trash from our front porch and yard. Oh yeah, you just have to know that was a horrible job! Imagine the construction detritus of board trims, fragments of sheetrock, tile shards, cardboard, plastic, and the remains of all those brought in lunches, all bound with a paste of sawdust, tile dust, morter, paint and caulk. Now imagine that damp from a recent rain, and falling into the pine straw that once was some sort of landscaping. Yeah. Now picture loading it all into the back of Jonathan’s truck, along with the cardboard boxes from our appliances, cabinets, toilets, fixtures, lights, etc.

Just makes you cry that couldn’t come out and share in the fun, doesn’t it?

After that, Terri came and cleaned the construction residue from my new shower, cleaned and sealed my granite, removed the stickers from, and cleaned, my new windows, and installed all the shelves in my wall cabinets.

And Brittany was a general “gofer” who broke down boxes, hauled multiple pounds of “big enough to keep” wood and sheetrock upstairs, mopped floors, hauled trash in bags, and was my “just in case” chaperon when I went out to get pizza for supper – you know the one who can “take over if I have an enormous contraction and start delivering the baby right now.” Apparently that happens all the time. (Uh huh) In reality she was very helpful when it came to carrying two gallons of sweet tea, so I’m certainly not complaining about the attentiveness I’m getting from everyone.

Here’s the other thing I kept getting: “Don’t you need to sit down for a minute? I can handle this.”

Now when “this” is something like peeling potatoes or making a salad, I can dig it. I’ve said it myself to my sister, and a few other pregnant friends. But when “this” is collecting the several hundred bottles of molding almost empty Coke and Powerade bottles from the various ledges and window sills of a home, I’ve just got to say, I think my friends are better friends than I! I have a feeling I’d be saying “Don’t you need to sit down for a few minutes? I’ll find a teenager to look after this.”

Mike and Jim were back in the evening, and installed the bi-fold laundry doors, the smoke detectors, the plate and switch covers, the few door and window casings that had been removed and exterior lights.

Even Brittany’s parents, who came to pick her up after their date night this evening, got sucked into the work vortex. Her dad helped finish up the last of the trim work in both bathrooms, and her mom and I (both pregnant) found things to do that didn’t involve bending, stretching, lifting, or standing for long periods. We removed the stickers from the appliances, installed the filters under the microwave/hood, polished the glass top of the stove with the glass top cleaner.

Anyway, we’ve got our final inspections tomorrow morning, and if they sign off, we can move in Saturday. Jonathan intends me to be present, quietly sitting in my rocking chair looking 9 months pregnant while the men inspect. He hopes it will send the message “This woman is so pregnant that a failure might send her into labor right now, forcing YOU to deliver this baby in an empty house it can’t move into because you didn’t pass a double circuit breaker,” or, at the very least, “We don’t have enough time to not pass.”

Caleb asked me today if I was excited about Tuesday. I just about asked him what was happening Tuesday. I’m focused on inspections tomorrow. Then I’ll be focused on moving Saturday. Then I’ll worry about Tuesday.

Unless Pomegranate demands attention before that. Which could happen.