'twas the week before xmas

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ok. possession on the 15th. dinner on the 22nd. that is seven days. we roll our sleeves and...

15th: drink champagne sitting on the wood floor. candles planted on old hoist gears. walk around the house in the dark, taking in our familiar neighbourhood at night from a different point of view. listen to its sounds. we can see the mountains from the kitchen and living room windows. they sparkle like the champagne. we try make an action plan - ends up being a tipsy plan.

16th - old gas range leaves with help of a friend. john bought a professional dcs which will be delivered nest week. this is his fetish, our first big purchase. i love john's fetishes. we rip a wall appart taking the kitchen's ugly upper cabs away. the plan looks better today but time flies... and the wall is ripped open.

17: john has the day off, gets drywall and tools, rebuilds wall, muds. i come in from work and start prepping for paint, then start painting. we drink cheap beer. write lists - oh, so many.

18th: fast breakfast, walk up the drive, get supplies and decent food for later - we don't want to live solely on pizza. more painting, patching the bathroom, that kind of stuff. john rebuilds the door frame after getting rid of the door, otherwise the range won't get through. more mudding. shelves and cabinets are washed. we get rid of many doors, will keep the shelves open for now.

19th: got broken into last night. the downstairs tenants' door is quite banged up. "they" came through upstairs but didn't take more than a small camera and two screwdriver bits - go figure. too bad, the "before" pictures were in that camera. they took much more downstairs, including their toothpaste and frozen pizza. starving homeless kids? the egress ladder - not required by our code - through which they climbed to the second floor is taken down. otherwise the day is fabulous, sunny, bright, active. and the paint rolls on.

20th: back to work. compared to our frenzied pace things seem so slow, so quiet... can't wait to get back to work - at home! eve: this place is pure white, clean, bright, beautiful! the floors are in superb shape. the living room is done, and so is the bath. the "wall" won't get finished before wednesday and that's ok with us - we're getting tired now. there is stuff to buy tonight (door pulls, soap dishes, waste baskets, mop, sponges, champagne glasses) so we head off to ikea and rona - canadian for home depot. oh, and to the liquor store - we have to fill these champagne glasses with something. back from that we wash the floor and coat cupboard doors, put the fridge back in place. go home and finish our ornaments. man, we're just plain mad.

21: today the range comes in. we hope. and it gets hooked up. we hope. indomitable is our optimism indeed. also, we have to get a tree, roll last coats of paint on whatever needs it, set up the table, install a halogen track, clean up the kitchen counter and floor, decorate that tree. before we go to bed. john has 1/2 day off. should help.

22nd: john took the day off for this. he'll shop for food, cook, bring the gifts over and set them up under the tree, then basically see to whatever is not finished. this is his gig, his menu, his big surprise. you see, none of the guests knows we bought a house yet. as far as they know they're coming for dinner at his small apartment next door. some kind of a mad christmas gift he had in mind. i think it's brilliant. update on thursday if our fates allow.