Thursday
2:00 pm
Today I am exiled from the house. I spent some time in Starbucks yesterday, (free WiFi!) and the head of the plumbing crew told me the water would be off most of the day today. I’m back at Starbucks and I’m freezing.
It was 102 degrees on Monday and Tuesday, yesterday it was in the 80’s, and today its cloudy and cool. I could’ve used a sweater, but I didn’t get one before the plumbers moved in and covered my bedroom with plastic. And of course the AC is on inside Starbucks.
I had breakfast out, ran some errands. My feet were cold, so I bought some socks at Target. I was thinking of going to Chico’s to buy a sweater – life is so tough, I know. I’ve been nursing a cappuccino for a couple of hours now.
I guess its time to go home and see how big the holes in the walls are. The one above the couch in the family room is much bigger than I imagined. I now have the motivation to finally remove the wallpaper in the family room and kitchen, and get it repainted. It is the only room we still haven’t repainted after 15 years in the house. . .
4:00 pm
the answer is: the holes are quite large. They cut a rectangle out of the drywall large enough to give them access to the shower heads in the bathrooms, then they screw the cut piece back into the wall with drywall screws. One bathroom backs on the family room, above the couch, and the other one backs on the corner of our bedroom. What needs to be done now is to patch the seam, sand it, and repaint the wall. I don’t think we still have the paint from our bedroom, and, as I said, the family room is probably 30 year old wallpaper.
I can’t think about repainting our bedroom, or the kid’s bathroom; although I now see I’ve been in denial about the need to do these things after a re-piping. I think I’ll stay there – denial – for another couple hours until Irv gets home.
Here’s what I have to tell myself: with the sewer line and the re-piping done, we shouldn’t need any major plumbing work for the rest of our lives, provided we stay in this house till they cart us away. Once we get these rooms repainted, we won’t have to paint for another several years.
“But then,” a little voice says in my head, “it will soon be time to paint the outside again, and we’re still planning to re-do the front yard this year; and the carpets are ALL getting old. . .” What’s that screaming I hear?
Oh, it’s me.
Julie Kornblum Studio 
Please replace that stupid wallpaper! And don’t you still have the paint from our bathroom? Didn’t we just repaint it? And the carpet in the family room definitely needs to be replaced. Isn’t your carpet in your bedroom new as well? Sorry, I’ll stop rambling.