UPDATE: Oh, I am in love, I am, I am. Alfonso not only showed up, he showed up with four other guys who have been working their cute little fannies off all day. They fixed the slanted and the squeaky steps, they trimmed out the post upstairs, they finished the stair railing, they mounted all the drawer fronts in the kitchen, they have the shell of the bookcases up. There are also some painters caulking everything they can find. I had to run to the store to buy 50 -- FIFTY! -- knobs for the doors and drawers, and they are going to drill the holes for them. I would say I don't have enough stuff to fill all these drawers and cabinets, but you know there's that law of physics that says that things always expand to fill the available space. There are a couple of saws on the front porch, so there is not a lot of new dust coming in. I know at this point I am easy to please, and any progress looks like enormous progress, but if they keep this up for a couple of days, we will be ready for paint and floors and my ovens. I haven't been this optomistic for weeks.


Yesterday, after I was done with my sales calls, I impulsively went by the builder's shop to see if the cabinet maker was cutting wood there. We hadn't seen him for over a week, and I was trying to find out if he was working on our job or if the builder had sent him out on a different job while my house languished. I talked to the builder's wife, who told me that the problem was the cabinet maker -- he vanished. However, she said, Alfonso will be finishing up your house. Yeah, right, I thought. But she got someone on the radio who said that he and Alfonso were on their way to my house at that very moment. So I ran home and Alfonso was indeed there, taking measurements, discussing what we wanted, and checking things out.

He said he would be here this morning. He said he will set his saw up on the front porch instead of in the house. He asked if I want adjustable shelves in the bookcases. (I couldn't get the other guy to do adjustable shelves to save my soul.) I think I'm in love.