2nd grinding today

Today I worked on my second session of grinding the countertop. What a mess! It's wet, dirty and takes a long time. I can't even imagine when it will be done. It's difficult to live with too - the whole kitchen has to be tarped. I do the refrigerator and microwave last .

People can be so rude it really amazes me. People see the way our house looks and assume it's okay to be a jerk. Last week, two people in less than a week left dog poop in our front yard or on the median strip between the sidewalk and street. Then on Saturday morning alone, two more people did it. Not only is this rude, but it polutes the water and is a fineable offense under local law (if only someone could catch them). I finally hit the roof, and decided I would not pick up any more poop. I put each poop on a large yellow piece of paper taped to the sidewalk (off to the side, so nobody would step in it) and put a very nasty note on each piece of paper. People are still leaving poop, but the notes generate a lot of interest and everyone who has spoken to me agrees with the notes. Someone dumped a shopping cart in front of the apartment building next door, and somebody had the nerve to push it in front of our house. I pushed it right back. How obnoxious! I've been taking care of stuff like this, but not anymore. I pushed it right back. (Edited to add: I ended up having to push it back a total of 5 times. Someone finally had the cart removed). Finally, last week someone decided the didn't want to park half a block away and moved my trashcans from the street while they were waiting to be picked up. I couldn't believe it! They put the cans up on the sidewalk where they would not be picked up. How can people have such blatent disregard for others? I would NEVER do that. Last trash day, someone again decided that they didn't want to park half a block away, and moved the trash cans again. This time they put them partially in front of my neighbor's house and partially blocking my driveway. Nice.

One great thing that has been happening is that C is getting into the remodel. In the beginning, I was the one more into the tools, projects, etc. I always thought it would be fun to work on things together, so I was thrilled when he started taking a much bigger interest in the remodel and started doing lots of the work. He's really good at it too! He's gotten really good at using power tools, and he is really good at solving problems and being patient.

These days I feel like the remodel is taking a really long time and I honestly can't begin to guess when it will be done. People always ask, and I really can't answer. It's hard to even say what "done" is - does it include window, door and floor trim? Window treatments? The new bed we want to buy? Organizing the kitchen, since I just threw everything in to get it out of the garage? At what point does the remodel turn into just routine improvements? Even if I could define it, I can't even imagine when it will be done. I mean that sincerely - I can't say if it will be 6 months or 10 years. I can say it won't be within a few months.