Quarantine Journals - More reno, still going and going and going

So, we discovered at the end of last week that we would have to replace the carpet in the house.  Dry Force should have pulled it out, but they didn't, so it was a last minute add that no one was counting on. The insurance adjuster fought me a bit on it, but not too bad.  He has approved an invoice to pack up our stuff and move it out to a storage pod, replace the floor, and bring the boxes back in. We added the rest of the carpet in the house on our dime, putting another $7K deep into the project.  The carpet doesn't really match the walls, which haven't matched anything in a long while anyway, so there's another $5k.  The shower didn't have a p trap installed, another count of negligence on the part of the builder, another $1K. At this point, we have spent everything in our savings plus money that Richard has pulled out of the account his dad left him.  I would have never added the master bathroom to the scope if I had known we were going to be 13K deep into add ons down the line.  But we are where we are.

Today I called Dallas North Aquarium and scheduled them to come in and move the tanks for us so we don't have to worry about anything happening to them.  This weekend I have go to pack up some stuff ourselves so we don't have to pay extra, and then I have to pick out a paint color for the living room ++.

Yesterday, I found videos of Dan, the contractor, talking to the moving guy in the house while he looked at everything, and it was not a good experience.  It's hard to watch someone critique your home, even when you know it was cluttered and needed to be rescued.  It is just never easy to hear those words coming out of someone's else mouth.... what a big project it has become... how stressful it has been... how much I am "freaking out about covid..." but I couldn't stop watching because the more I watched the more I knew I needed to get someone else to move the aquariums.  See above regarding that.

Today, Dan's friend Ashley came over to the house to help me pick out a paint color. She was really sweet to offer, and I really appreciated it.  She brought over some sample cans and Dan painted them on the walls so I could check them out when we are there.  It was really nice, but again, I regret watching the videos.  Her talking about how ugly my furniture is.  Her talking about how much stuff there is everywhere... how much it stresses her out just looking at it... him saying what a stressful job it's been. Sigh. 

We are having them bring the boxes back inside but asking them not to unpack it, (which, as it turns out, wasn't actually included in the quote anyway).  I am going to use this opportunity to try and purge a LOT of stuff and reduce our belongs by ten fold. I hope I can do it.  It will not be easy or quick.  And I am not great at it, obviously, since my home seems to look like a hoarders episode to everyone else.

I am trying, guys. My house is currently trashed because it was left in a hurry and unlivable.. and you have your tools and materials everywhere... I'm just saying.

Anyway. This was week 3 of school, and it was not easy.  Difficult assignments that Penny couldn't do alone. The internet wasn't working well.  Apps were frustrating. Oliver was hyper active and destructive. I was on the phone a lot trying to manage all the moving pieces to getting us back home, and when I wasn't doing that, I was paying the bills, managing the grocery orders, and working in my spreadsheets to track all our expenses, insurance checks, and outstanding balances.  I cannot believe we've spent like 40K over the last two months. Fuck.

Distance learning is a mess.  The teachers are a mess.  I think her teacher hates me at this point because I'm always asking questions and giving feedback, but I guess i don't really care.... I'm doing a lot over here and you can hear me out when shit isn't working or assignments are unreasonably difficult. Anyway, we are getting through it. If Penny wasn't so self motivated, I can't even imagine where we would be.

My dad spends a lot of time playing with the kids, even Oliver now, and helps me out however he can throughout the day.  He always makes sure I have some kind of small snack at lunch, which is tremendously helpful. He feeds Penny when she gets up and I'm still getting ready.  He took Oliver for a walk on a particularly difficult day and has even tried to get him to nap once.  Oliver continues to be volatile, and I know it is hard to have that level of screaming around you all the time, but my dad has been my hero through all of this.

Richard and I got in a big fight last weekend, and it was rough. Really rough. I went to a dark place like I have never done so before.  We worked through it though, and I hope we come out of it in a better place.

The pond was almost dried up from all the massive heat, most days hitting 105 or higher, heat index up to 120.  But a couple fo days brought us so much rain that the pond was full when we woke up.  It was lovely to see.  The deer all came out and enjoyed the nice green grass and water, the cooler weather, and we enjoyed watching them.

That's all for now.  Richard's birthday is coming up and I don't know how to make it special for him. I know he really wanted to be home by now.