i'd dress them wicked, i'd give them names

The flooring is all installed and I'm v. v. pleased with it (and also pleased that it's done). The installer will have to come back at some point to put in a trim piece that hadn't arrived at the store yet, but the kitchen, pantry, dining room, and bathroom are all done. And they all look great - I'm glad that it all looks good, because I was worried it would go horribly awry at the last minute if it turned out that I'd made the wrong choice based on the flooring samples.

Installation would have actually been done sooner, but I ended up feeding the installer (and [censored]) lunch, which added some long-winded (pun intended) tornado discussions to the mix. Still, we were done by 1:30 or so, and my house is almost done. Of course, Randy has to come back next week to finish the trim, and then there are myriad other projects that [censored] and I (and my dad, in some cases) have discussed - doors, patio / privacy fence, gazebo refresh, trees, install window treatments, basement storage overhaul, garage redesign, garage door openers, a possible remodel of my bathroom, finish redoing the prison bathroom in the basement, etc., etc., etc.

However, all of that is going to wait for awhile - I am really deeply eager to get into writing the book more steadily, and I also want to do some travel, so I need a break from house projects. Still, I'm glad that we did the kitchen / bath, since the space is so much more functional that it will make living here even better.

sssanyway, I took care of a variety of tings this morning and afternoon, and then my houseguests arrived - Aunt B and Uncle B came in from Colorado for "Christmas", and Aunt Kathy and Drewbaby are arriving tomorrow. Luckily, the flooring is done, but unluckily, there still isn't a toilet on the main floor of the house. However, so far so good. We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant in town, and it was delicious - and the staff was excited to see my dad, since he rarely goes in anymore and usually [censored] and I just pick up takeout. Then, my parents went home and the rest of us came to my house, where Aunt B and Uncle B got the tour of the latest house developments, and then we talked until relatively late. And now, I really should sleep so that I can make a million food items tomorrow - goodnight!