The Universe Aligns

All right, it’s too soon to start celebrating, but the early portents are looking better than I expected. Check this out:

Yes, that’s Lynn surrounded by her kitchen cabinets, which arrived a week before expected. Over to the right the boom box will be replaced by a refrigerator (not the one that’s been bouncing around the country, but the one tucked safely in the back room of True Value), and over to the left is space for the range.

[And now the weather: in France, where Paris is experiencing record temps of 108 degrees (F, probably 35 C), today’s big bicycle stage in the Alps was stopped prematurely and to great confusion because a freak storm in the valley between the two final climbs experienced rain, hail and snow — yes, snow on July 26 — leading to landslides, snow and hail on the race road. So you are getting more of my attention than I thought, but I will still be late for work.]

And check this out:

I’m no stucco pro, but I’m guessing this is a base layer and/or still wet, so don’t get too attached to the color. But Lynn is ecstatic that her house is no longer presenting green Zipboard.

So there are two things I was sure would not be proceeding apace that actually are. And we’ve lined up not one but two moving companies — if we’re not careful, we’ll end up with neither — but no sign of Spectrum, the internet provider, other than they’ve had no compunction about charging us for services not yet rendered.

I think all the parts for Lynn’s bathroom, never yet pictured here before, are all here; I got instructed to pick out things like towel racks and a vanity light, so I went to True Value yesterday, scouring plumbing aisles during a giant downpour.

Here is the south side of Lynn’s bathroom. The walls are this green on purpose (not that they look green in this photo, but trust me), and not because they’re reflecting some bright green wall on the other side.

The water comes out under that black slopey thing. (I hope that’s not too technical for those of you not into your plumbing terms.) Under the window you can kind of see the “backsplash”: she is repurposing a cabinet she got from her mom to be her vanity. It hasn’t been put together yet because holes need to be drilled through the stone countertop for sink purposes.

So, so far so good. There are rods in two of the three closets and a shelf in one, so progress is crawling along on that front as well. But don’t give up on prostrating yourselves in front of your higher beings on our behalf yet, because there’s still a long ways to go and a short time to get there . . . isn’t that some Jerry Lee Lewis song? (“East bound and down, loaded up and running” — I am horrible with song lyrics.)

I also need to get running; I spent too much time gawking at pictures of road graders trying futilely to clear a road in alpine France. So I will leave you with one last picture to do your own gawking at. Here we are, no longer green but still surrounded by it:

Have a good day, everyone, and do your level best to avoid both 108-dgree heat and snowy mudslides.