Should have, could have, would have

On renovating, and how to keep sane.

Dear renovating men, renovating our house inside and out.
Would it be too much to ask if you could follow instructions, be hard-working and finish on time?

Our balconies should have been finished in August. They will be finished in October. Hopefully. Where did the 2 months go?
And now that you are also exploding up our front steps and the steps leading from front yard to the parking lot, do you think that you could have told us, the tenants, about it sooner than 2 days after you had already started the work?
Yes, we will be happy to have nice and even stairs for winter, I grant you that.

Oh, I know that your work requires great manual skills, and I appreciate you for it, believe me I do. I'm a bit of a renovator myself, and some of my best friends are renovators. But hey, does that really mean the total exclusion of brain function?
Like, when you were drilling those holes on our bathroom wall tiling to attach the new lamps, did it ever occur to you either a) to call us once again about the correct measurements, or b) to actually look at how the lamps and the new mirror would look together.
The mirror was supposed to be in the middle, between the two lamps. Not so that the other lamp was further away from the edge of the mirror. Small things, but for finicky, small-minded people like us, symmetry is important. Especially if you are looking at the mirror and the lamps many times a day. Every day.
Anyway, thanks for fixing this by attaching a bigger mirror over those first holes, and attaching the lamps again. To their correct places. Thanks.

***

Hey, don't get me wrong - I love our new bathroom and toilet. I love the new washing machine (which, by the way, was not installed correctly the first time - during its first ever spin, the machine actually started to rumble towards the bathroom door. Thanks again, dear renovating men, for not removing the transportation supports from the back of the machine, and causing us a few scary moments and aching arms for trying to keep the machine in its place). I will like the new balcony, too.

***

Neglecting ones blog isn't the biggest crime in the world, but somehow it manages to raise some quilty feelings. So, a collective apology to any and all who may have visited here during last months.

After reading some French literature and visiting my dear blogger favorites after a long dry spell, I decided to let myself be creative again. No, I decided I want to be creative again. Because it's good for me. As is French literature.

So here I am - hopeful that somebody will read this someday, somewhere.
And hey, everybody deserves a second chance - even renovation men.