Another day of minioning looms.* And then it gets harder.<\/p>\n
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With just a teeny bit of luck, today will be the last day Handyman Mike is on the Big Scary Bathroom Project (BSBP). Today, the flooring gets laid, the clawfoot tub should be hauled in, and some protective materials be tacked around still-unfinished portions of the exterior. Hauling in the tub requires removing a door and its frame and possibly knocking out a section of wall. So we shall see how that goes.<\/p>\n
With Mike gone, it’s my turn to go beyond minioning. Before God-the-Plumber arrives on Tuesday, I need to finish putting up drywall, do as much taping and mudding as I can, then wainscot (can that be a verb?) the wall behind the tub. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.<\/p>\n
But I’ll be so glad to have Mike gone. <\/p>\n
I like Mike. He’s honest and friendly and intelligent. He’s willing to have a client working side-by-side with him — the stuff of some contractor’s worst nightmares. We work well together. But on this project more than any other, his … how to put this? … well-known lack of motivation has been a constant hair-raiser. Although he worked all weekend (which is terrific and I hope I don’t sound like an ingrate), he only has to do that because he prefers five or six hour days (I sympathize totally, but not so much when the project has a fixed deadline). Getting him to show up on time, jump right in and hustle, and stay long enough to meet goals has been a frazzlement. <\/p>\n
He’ll agree one afternoon that we need to start earlier, then the very next morning he’ll mosey in at 10:00 (he always — faithfully — calls to say he’s running late). He’ll agree we need to get X things done in a day, then cheerfully suggest postponing something just because he wants to leave early. His Perpetual Life Crisis (in the final stages of resolution) has led him to both long, task-filled lunches and fuzzy concentration. Again, I’m sympathetic, BUT.<\/p>\n
I don’t like being a hardass, but yesterday I finally had to say NO AND HELL NO to putting off a crucial step of preparation for today’s jobs, and for the first time he worked a full day (even if it did begin at 10:00 a.m.).<\/p>\n
And by early evening, for the first time, we were caught up. Whew.<\/p>\n
The work I have to do on my own may be tiring, but I’m much more at peace when I don’t have to rely on somebody else whose sense of time doesn’t match mine. Mike is a very relaxed, good-humored guy, and in his own way reliable, which puts him above many others. He’s kind to the dogs and he gives me a favorable rate, which I appreciate. But oh my goodness.<\/p>\n
Ahem. Anyhow, I’ve been taking in-progress pictures. But you know, there’s just nothing interesting looking about a 7 x 8 foot square room with patchy drywall installed and gunky crack-filler on the floor. It looks utterly, absolutely, luxuriously fabulous to me. But the camera says it looks like the interior of a tarpaper shack. So maybe more pix when the BSBP is closer to complete.<\/p>\n
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