I think the assumption is that these "non-invasive" upgrades will be done in an empty apartment. They set things to right when they leave, but there are those of us who are home. All day. So I've seriously had anxiety about this since I heard about it a month or so after we moved in. I was grateful to hear that they'll wait to paint until we leave!
We were told that the work would be done between 9 and 6, so by 8:15 yesterday morning, I was ready. I had all of the stuff off of the counters, and James had moved his "liquor store" from under the sink into his office.
Mal and I had been up since 5, so by 9:02, I started to feel like they were late. We were told we'd be first on the list because I mentioned to the property manager that it's taken us more than a year to get on a relative nap schedule.
We spent quite a bit of time on the patio as yesterday was extremely warm. I heard the call of the Mexican Scrub Jay for the first time in a while. Looked around, and there it was, taking in the scenery.
When I realized I was getting stir crazy waiting for the workmen to come start tearing up our kitchen, I looked up polling places and realized we could walk "next door" to vote at a community center.
Mal and I went downstairs, got his tricycle, and headed out. He walked part of the way, then rode up the hill, across the grass, and through the parking area of an office building to get to the community center. We went inside and there were five booths with only one in use and no lines! I realized that I had to have photo ID (why even issue voter registration cards, then, really?) and while I was getting that, Mal decided to run back outside because the fun automatic doors take so long to close (it *is* a senior center, too, so...).
I pulled him in and realized he had a giant half-dried boogey on his cheek, so I ran him toward the bathroom to get a tissue, and on the way out from that, I slammed my elbow into a metal partition and cracked it open. *sigh* But I had my ID, my reasonably clean kid, and now there were four people waiting to check in.
Fortunately, the process didn't take long, but because I was choosing to participate in the Republican primary (as an anti-Drumpf), this guy pulls out a stamp and marks my voter registration card "Republican." DUDE! There's a reason I don't put an affiliation on there! I don't want one! But I changed it when I got home, anyway. Blacked out his dumb red label and wrote "Libertarian."
Oh, while I was getting stuff together to check in, this guy, of whom I did not take a picture, but who resembled this --
-- Except younger and with an afro, walked out of the building yelling "Trump it!" as he exited. He went outside to smoke a cigarette, then went somewhere, and came back to vote carrying... a baguette. This is barely Austin, but that was a sort of Austin mountain folk thing to have happened.
I only voted for Presidential nominee and three Texas propositions. I don't know or care enough about the other positions. So we were finished quickly and headed outside. Mal had fun playing with the bike racks, then hopping around on the stones between the sidewalk and the mailbox.
He got kind of snacky, so we sat on the bench and he ate a bag of dried apples.
He likes them. They're just really crunchy.
After we'd been there about half an hour, eating, jumping, trying not to mess with the "vote here" sign, even though we *really* wanted to, greeting all of the people coming to vote (90% elderly), we decided to head back because the suspense was killing me about the kitchen demo.
As we left, we passed the "no electioneering" border sign and I realized we'd violated voting day rules! We'd loitered within the boundaries for a good half hour, maybe more. Oops. We didn't encourage anyone to vote or not vote in any way, though, so hopefully they'll grant us leniency if it ever comes up.
When we passed the office, Mal wanted to go in. He looked around and I was trying to shoo him out the back door, but he wanted to go where the bottled water has been when we've had tenant events. They didn't have any in the fridge, but they had some snacks out, so we got Cheez-Its and a Cutie, walked down the hill, and found a nice bike rack in the shade. Mal played, I sat on the sidewalk, and eventually he asked me to peel the orange, which he ate.
It was such a gorgeous day, and I love love love that I get to spend so much time with my kids. (Even though one of them is on an opposite sleep schedule from me; at least that one *has* a sleep schedule!) The other day, I told James that it's actually a good sign that sometimes I get bored out of my skull with the mundane tasks of being a stay-home mom. It means that I'm around enough to take it for granted. I never feel like I just haven't had enough time before I have to move on to the next thing. I'm really grateful for that.
We got back around 11, just as the workers were getting here. By the time we got upstairs, they'd already pulled the tile half-backsplash off and were removing the countertops. They were very respectful of our space, so the demo was pretty anticlimactic. No sledgehammers. No loud noises. But it was over in under ten minutes.
The rest of the stuff took until 6 o'clock, but that's with giant gaps as they're renovating three apartments on this end of the building at the same time.
Mal wanted to watch some of it, and we also spent a lot of time outside. We got to see a roadrunner nosing around (do they have noses?) in the back yard. I've never seen one this far back in the complex, so that was a treat.
Did you know that roadrunners have an exposed swath of skin behind their eyes? It's blue-to-red. I didn't know that until I took the pictures and wondered, "What the heck?"
Interesting, right? At one point, the roadrunner called out, and I tried to get it on video but couldn't. He did it a second time, then disappeared into the bushes, and called out a third time. So now I know what a roadrunner sounds like!
Mal took a bath around 2:30 and ended up going to sleep around 3. We spent a lot of time in my room, playing on the bed and just trying to stay out of the way of the kitchen crew. Sadly, when Mal was getting out of the tub, he slipped and hit what I thought was his forehead on the side of the tub.
Yikes! Today it's pinkish purple, but the swelling is gone. Sweet little kid.
He slept for three hours, and I made him get up at 6. Now that he's napping better (yesterday, he slept two hours before he woke up for a nurse and back to sleep; today, he woke up after just a little under an hour but is back to sleep), usually 2.5 - 3 hours per day, he's sleeping less at night. He becomes inconsolable at night, so we're having to put him to bed around 8:30, even though I wouldn't care if he stayed up much later. But, no. Instead, he's waking up around 5. Last night, I ended up just going to sleep with him so I could get my 8 hours (interrupted) as I'd only had 6ish hours of sleep the two nights before that. I need like 10. It's amazing what the body can do when it has no choice.
As much as I was dreading the apartment upgrades, yesterday was actually a great day. It was made even better by the fact that James had a meeting downtown and got to come home about 2.5 hours earlier than usual! We got Dominos because it was on sale and I wasn't able to get into the kitchen in any meaningful way until 6.
So, regardless of the election outcomes, Mal and I had a Super Tuesday. I hope you did, too.
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