A dog on a rug, like it's all hers. Bitter winds, and a long way to go yet. Shares/sales needed.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

Initially, the dogs weren't entirely sure about this business of going over to the house to sleep every night.

As you can see, they've gotten over it.

I spent much of the day in the house, dusting and sweeping and mopping and starting to lay out the downstairs. We can't work or watch TV over there yet (much less cook and eat, but that's a different issue, covered below), because IKT won't even answer the phone so that we can schedule them to move their effed-up box and router. We'll be dealing with that this week, even if I have to march (okay, hobble) into their damn offices to get it done. The state inspector made it clear to us that there are problems there, and I am not in the least above invoking that status to get them to do their jobs. They were quick enough to raise our rates with no notice, so I'm not dealing with this nonsense any longer.

But . . . we have a couch. And a rug. And a place for my old sofa pillows that never even came out of their box. And a dog asleep in the middle of it all. I opened the door to find her camped out as much on the actual threshold as she could get, and next thing I knew, she was asleep on the rug, so I guess it's all hers now.

Today was bitterly cold. Supposedly the actual temperature got into the high sixties, but the wind was like a fricking razor blade. The house, fortunately, it very warm; this tin can, notsomuch. 

We are now up against it: We have to get the whole exterior, the interior stairs, and the closets and shelving done in the next three weeks or so, as well as get the kitchen sink and appliances in and installed in that same timeframe. There is absolutely no wiggle room now; it has to be done, and done NOW. The sink delivery has been changed from October 24th to November 10th, which makes me profoundly irritated, especially since we had the sink drain basket — yes, you know, that little thing to plug the drain — delivered yesterday. Essentially, everything to install it is in except the sink itself. The appliances are supposed to show up at Home Depot on Wednesday, but who knows? And then we still have to get them up here.

As I said yesterday, thanks to kishik and a whole bunch of other folks, we have next week's labor covered now, and we're both profoundly grateful to every one of you (and to so many others, for so many reasons). We are, however, up against an unbreakable deadline now of just under a month, and in fact, the weather deadline will no doubt come far earlier, so we and the crews are really going to have to push hard to make it. That means more materials, and more labor, and more planning for the inevitable incidentals that we can't predict. So we still need shares, daily (and thank you to everyone who has fulfilled items off our registries, although there's a lot more to go there; I haven't even gotten to the tables and lamps and other two upstairs rooms yet, but those will go on this weekend, I hope). So here are all the links:

• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• Wings's site, for sales;
• Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
• Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
• Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
• Our Amazon wishlist generally.
• Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; what's on it so far are drapes for the upstairs, associated curtain rods, bath rugs for both bathrooms, and doormats and a few other miscellaneous items. Most important: hold-backs and drapes for upstairs.
• Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but covers a number of the area rugs needed for the upstairs and some kitchen items. I've finally added a bunch of items to it, although nothing in the way of small tables or lamps or kitchen items beyond three basic things, because yesterday proved to be a time-suck of epic proportions, and today was more of the same. What I did get to is all of the rugs for the whole house, and a few basic furniture items. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item. Even the backordered/out-of-stock items can be crowdfunded in advance. Right now, the two most important items are probably the first four or five that show at the top of the list. I've just added the furnishings for the rest of the upstairs (i.e., the guest room and my writing/office space, which also includes the desk and chair further down the list, and the last three rugs on the list, two of which are back-ordered). It's a slow process, but every day I find a few more items that fall into the badly-needed category, because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in this place).

Thank you all, once again, for the birthday wishes, and for every other thing you've done over the last 16 months to get us safe and keep me sane. We are both so thankful for each and every one of you who made it possible for us to sleep (and shower!) now, for the first time in seven years, in a safe and healthy (and warm!) place. But we have a long way to go, and this night, at least, is going to be very, very cold again, a reminder that we have to get this done, and fast.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.