A very productive day

Miss D. and I had a very interesting and productive day.  It was one of those days when a lot of things came together, and everything worked.

We met a local contractor at the house at 10 a.m. to discuss the work we wanted done.  He came highly recommended by Old NFO, whose new home he's also helped to upgrade.  He turned out to be a part-time minister at a local church, who's also done prison ministry;  and when he learned I was a retired pastor and chaplain, he got a lot more relaxed and friendly.  I'm sure he's given me a break on the price of the work we wanted done.  We'd planned to do some now, and some in a few months' time when we'd managed to save some more money;  but he quoted us a price for everything several thousand dollars lower than I'd expected.  As a result, we told him to go ahead with everything.  It should be ready by the time we move in at the end of January, God willing.

Next we headed for Home Depot to look at their selection of laminate flooring.  We'd grown resigned to the prospect of paying plus-or-minus $2.50 per square foot (about $27 per square meter, for those readers in metric countries) for good-quality flooring.  To our delight, we found a pattern we both like that was selling for only $0.99 per square foot ($10.65 per square meter), which is vastly more affordable.  The color and pattern aren't exactly what we wanted, but close enough;  and we can brighten things up here and there with area rugs and the like.  Saving 60% on the cost of our new floor is worth it!  We'll be going back there tomorrow morning, as soon as we've confirmed the measurements of the areas to be floored, to buy what we need.  Friends will install it before we arrive at the end of January (we'd rather pay friends for work like that than contractors - it keeps the money in the family, so to speak).

We then spent a couple of hours helping Phlegmmy move a lot of stuff.  She's run out of storage at home, but we have a new house with an empty garage:  so we invited her to store it there, and run a garage sale out of our garage before we return.  Lawdog and Old NFO helped load multiple pickups and offload the contents at our new home.

This evening NFO grilled the most delicious steaks, Lawdog baked potatoes, and the ladies made salad.  We've just finished a wonderful supper, and are settling down over adult beverages to discuss the problems of the world.  I'll sign off now and join the party.

Peter