last night's fortune cookie

"Be prepared for something special." I said, "for the door problem to be fixed." Well, it is being done. After abruptly ending yesterday's post out of teeth-gritting frustration, I called Brent. [an aside here - most of you know how wonderufl he is, but I just can't say enough how he is exactly what I need.] I was so irritated and then felt bad because I'd managed to get him irritated as well and he still had to work. Then I received a txt msg a little while later - from Brent saying he'd talked to Carl. He came home a little while later and we were able to keep that pink elephant in the corner long enough to feed the children and exchange plesantries of the day.

keep reading if you want the long version - the short version was line one above.

I would have called the builder and started beating the dead horse on why he won't bother to call us and why he can't understand that we don't want him making decisions and hasn't he figured out over the last 6 mos that everytime he makes one without talking to us it's been wrong and why continue that...yadda, yadda, yadda. [when I get mad, I dig in my heels and you won't convince me right then that you have the better point --- it's a flaw, I know.] I want nothing short of an admission from the builder that he'd made a mistake -- which he will not give under any circumstance so far - maybe it's our fear of legal repurcusion society. I'm not interested in getting anyone else involved on this project, much less a lawyer!! I just want the man to be honest with himself and then with us.
So you see, me calling him would have only made the situation worse. Brent, the diplomat, called him and explained that we had spent all this time with the supplier and agreed on doors with no hinges/holes and because of those decisions we'd ordered door knobs to match the ones in our house. The knob size will not cover a predrilled hole b/c they are smaller (I don't think predrilled doors were around when our house was built - and our whole purpose is trying to match what we have). Apparently the only response was a long silence. The realization set in that this was indeed a mistake (my take only). The builder said he'd talk to the supplier and that was the end of the conversation.
I combed the internet last night looking for the doors we wanted because I'd been told just a day earlier that they didn't exist. [again, those of you who know me - not a wise choice of words.] Found them.
Brent called this morning about 9 to say Carl had called him early and things were worked out. The supplier took responsibility and agreed to take back the doors. [that still makes me angry because I don't feel it was the supplier's fault - there's someone else here who needs to accept responsibility for his actions. It's been a 3 part error - the builder for making a change without telling us, the supplier for not saying we had agreed on a certain door, and me for not seeing a handwritten note at the bottom of a fax to the builder reading,"with prehung doors."]
The complete and final details are yet to be worked out, but I have faith that we are at least on the right track again.

Now for other news:
I wrote yesterday that no other work could be done without power, but the painters have started priming; they don't need anything but natural light.
I also met with Carl the other day to discuss the openings into our family room. Here was a perfect example of why we chose him - I needed his expert advice in finding out if we could get the finished openings we'd always thought of -- there were some issues with ceiling and wall meetings and the trim , etc. He did some measuring, etc. and gave us a great solution. So, we are back on track with our cased openings into the family room.
A good friend came over the other day and helped me select paint colors. I've never been a fan of painting the whole house white/cream, but until we buy furniture and until the kitchen cabinets are installed, I just can't decide on how the family room and kitchen should look, so they are cream. Then last night I was flipping through a new catalog and saw a neutral sofa with colorful pillows and a brightly painted wall -- I might do that for the family room... I've had fuschia on the brain for the family room (weigh in through the comments or via an email if you have a decorating suggestion.)

I guess that's it. Just didn't want to leave anyone who happened to read the blog last night hanging.