A Bit Of A Let-Down

We got back from vacation on Friday, had a nice trip. The coolest things: 3-D 1906 earthquake movie at the Capitol complete with paper glasses to wear; tour of the Capitol, including watching the State Assembly in session (utterly hilarious, yet heart-breaking); Railroad Museum; Joe's Crab Shack (touristy but tasty and oh so entertaining: do the hustle!); tour of the Sutter Gold Mine (best tour of the trip!); tour of the California Caverns (littlest one a fearless spelunker, in part because she never had to bend over or squish through anything); fabulous, majestic, gazillion year old Sierra Redwoods at Big Trees State Park near Arnold (aka Giant Sequoias) and a very nice interpretive guide prepared by the ranger; and, a really fun new yarn store in Murphys. Truly something for everyone! Memo to self: skip Black Bart Inn and entire town of San Andreas next time.

Progress on the house was steady but not very visible. Same poor dude spent the entire week taping, mudding, and texturing drywall. One would think there's an easier way, but no. Seems like he did a great job, but it just didn't look that different from when we left. Still, we're nearly ready for paint, amazing.

Had some trouble with our flooring supplier. I'd selected a nifty product by a company called EcoTimber (everything salvaged, reclaimed, or sustainably farmed). Their only local supplier was a Danville flooring company. Unfortunately, a week after our contractor placed the order for a massive amount of salvaged oak flooring (so beautiful, full of distress marks and patina, I swore I'd never had oak in the house, but after seeing the stuff I was completely sold on its beauty and total appropriateness for our home: pre-distressed old floor equals not-distressed serene mommy), manager calls back with $1500 price increase and undisclosed $2000 shipping charge. I give my contractor extra credit: he immediately cancelled the order and found a new source. And he sold himself beautifully telling me the story. Top marks!!