Insulation Confrontation- The Sequel

This needs insulatin’, too.

The insulation guys are upstairs. So, I’m assuming that our crawlspaces are being done up. (Hopefully the right side up this time.)

There was a momentary glitch this a.m. when a neighbor flung my lawn chair (previously gracing a parking spot in front of the house) into a different neighbor’s yard. Then he parked his car. So Nora and I ran outside to a) retrieve our chair and b) give an evil eye to the chair flinger. Of course, that was when the 40-foot insulation truck pulled up. The car driver feigned ignorance. The truck driver raised his arms at me like- What?! But I know that move, too.

He argued with me that I was supposed to have a spot blocked off. I told him that I did- and in fact had four blocked off. LAST WEDNESDAY. (I am rarely confrontational. It felt good.)

I went inside (after I yell, I always retreat) and was sure that a) I was in trouble or b) we weren’t gettin’ no insulation did. However. The truck driver and the car driver argued in Spanish. Guess who won? That’s right- the guy insulating the third floor.

I should argue more. HEAR THAT, PEEJ?

Half an hour later, one of the workers asked if he could use one of the bathrooms. I told him sure and pointed to the one on the second floor. (Nora and I were downstairs at the time.) He chose to use the one on the third floor, which- ha HAH- recently lost its ability to be flushed. He apologized. I assured him that it was previously broken and not to worry. I then realized that I missed an awesome chance to get the toilet fixed on someone else’s dime! But the Pollyanna side of me could never let that fly. Besides, I’m an awful liar. (I was about to say that I’d make a terrible spy- but I couldn’t remember the word. What did pop into my head was the word ‘Decepticon.’ I’d make a TERRIBLE Decepticon as well.)

So. This weekend.

I engaged in what P.J. considers his personal hell- and Feng Shui’d the bedroom. He seriously hates when I move anything to any other locale. Also making his nerves work overtime? The fact that I have the most rudimentary knowledge of Feng Shui (like, kindergarten Feng Shui) and frequently change my mind after the heavy lifting has been done. That said- it needed to happen. Our bedroom is a pretty good size, but narrow from the door over to the double window. We used to have the window as our headboard because it looked awesome. And it was great to get a breeze in the summer. And- really- who doesn’t like hearing someone break a bottle on a car at 3am?

But here’s what convinced me that we needed a change. I read- online, obviously- that one of the worst bed positions was with the headboard against a window. Noise! Energy! Frantic dreams! (I will start to blame all previous problems on this headboard placement!) And the worst bed position? Feet to the door- the Chinese position of DEATH. (That sounds way more intense than they probably intended. I may have gotten the wording wrong.)

So I fixed it. Everything, really. And it looks quite good. And even P.J. liked it- once I got him into the room under the pretense of getting something for Nora. (Subterfuge. Hey- maybe I would be a good Decepticon!) I guarantee that Peej won’t be running errands for longer than an hour anymore. He’ll be too afraid of what he’d come home to.

I also did some heavy duty fixin’ up of some found objects (God bless Craigslist’s Free Stuff section)- namely a partition screen that someone was just giving away! It was blue and white checks with broken buttons on crisscrossed ribbons- obviously we needed it. I stripped and recovered them with heavy brown velvet curtains that had been gifted to us–

[Major side note: P.J. does not like when I repurpose things. What if we need them for their originally intended use? I assured him that, unless we wanted a sickroom with dim, dusty light spilling onto my prone, plaid blanket-covered figure, we would not be using the heavy curtains any time soon. He wasn’t convinced- what if we need them for one of the kids’ bedrooms someday? If he wanted his kid to be Colin from The Secret Garden, then sure. Let’s hang the curtains. He gave me the blessing for the fabric.]

–and I got to use the staple gun. Which makes such a satisfying ‘ker-thwunk’ when you use it. And then it’s stuck there forever. With metal. While I worked on this project, I helped P.J. run lines for an audition. I don’t know how helpful I was.

“But then there would be no play, Mr. Merrick.” [ker-thwunk]
“If he did not love her [ker-thwunk], why should there be a play?” [ker-thwunk ker-thwunk]
Keely.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I’m reading. I am.”
[ker-thwunk.]

He really didn’t need me, anyhow. He’s the best actor ever. And the partitions look fabulous. ‘Cause he’s the most tolerant husband ever. And thanks to the insulation, he’ll be the warmest one, too.

Which is good, because I’m certain our neighbors will be flinging eggs at our door in due course…

…And it’ll be chilly tonight when he has to go clean it off.

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