"It Is What It Is"

If I had a dollar for every time someone said "It is what it is." to me during our renovation, I could probably afford to rebuild our garage. I think just about every single person who has worked on our house has uttered this meaningless phrase at some point, with the possible exception of John -- and I think that's only because he's not a native speaker of English. This is essentially a non-committal way of saying, "Sorry, but there's nothing I can do to change it, so you're just going to have to deal with it." I finally reached my breaking point this morning when Steve B said it to me -- I don't even remember why -- and I launched into a tirade. (Sorry, Steve!) For those of you who see me on a regular basis, I suggest refraining from saying this around me, at least for the next few weeks. And remember, wherever you go, there you are.

Anyway, back to the house. I don't think I've posted any photos of the front for a while, so here's what it looks like today. New additions include downspouts, balcony door hardware, balcony lantern, and mailbox by front door.
I was scheduled to meet Rob and Steve at the house this morning to go over our punch list. They seemed pretty happy that it was only three pages long. I told Rob I considered bringing a phone book over (since he said previous clients have handed him punch lists the size of a phone book), but we don't have one in our apartment. He still appreciated the thought, though. Rob and Steve read through the list and said most of the items were easily remedied -- and many were on their own list -- so it was not nearly as painful as they anticipated. I later asked Rob if there was anything he expected to see on the list that wasn't there -- he's pretty honest about that kind of stuff -- and he said there wasn't, so I think we did a decent job. Of course, there is still work in progress and some areas of the house were covered with paper, equipment, and supplies, so a few more things may crop up before the house is done.

While we were going through the list, Cindy (the cabinet lady) showed up with a replacement door and a new piece of crown molding for the kitchen. Soon after, Steve B arrived, so they had a confab in the dining room.
Meanwhile, John was working on a strange project -- he was attaching wire mesh to some small plastic bins. Rob explained that these would be use to cover some of the vents on the back of the house to keep bugs out. I'm all for that!

In the kitchen, Ian and Juan were putting the final touches on the tile backsplash.
Later, Rob and I sat on the toilet in the master bath to decide where the toilet paper holder should go. Due to some measurement issues, the toilet ended up being closer to the vanity rather than centered between it and the wall, and Rob thought it would be awkward to have the TP on the side of the vanity since it was too close. Once I determined that I could reach it on the wall, we agreed to install it where the yellow post-it is instead.
Speaking of toilet issues, SAI installed a gray water recycling system in the master bath yesterday, only to discover that it didn't work with our new toilet, so the plumbers had to swap it with our old toilet, which was in the other upstairs bathroom. Rob was happy to share this news with me because Josh had wanted the old toilet to go in the master bath anyway, but since the plans indicated that it should go in the other bathroom, that's where they put it. The water recycling system is called The Aqus System. It filters and collects the water from the sinks and uses it to flush the toilet.
While sitting on the toilet, I noticed that the tub surround had been finished and grouted.
They also grouted the backsplash in the other bathroom.
One of the items on our punch list was that only one of the bulbs on the exterior flood light seemed to be working. Rob climbed up the ladder to see if he could figure out what was wrong, but since the floodlight has a light sensor, we couldn't get them to turn on. Rob does not like heights, so I felt bad that he climbed up there to no avail. (I took this photo from the window of the master bedroom)
Unfortunately, he had to climb back up to install the vent covers that John made. Even though he is quite tall, he had to go to the very top of the ladder and could barely reach the vents. Even if you didn't mind the height, it looked pretty terrifying. If I had a dollar for every time he said "This sucks!" I'd use it to buy him an "It is what it is" t-shirt. To get a better idea of how high up this is, see the second photo from this post. The ladder is in the same spot.
I couldn't bear to watch anymore -- and I was probably making him even more nervous and distracted by being there -- so I asked Rob to refrain from killing himself (at least until the house was finished) and headed home. On my way out, I had to go carefully down the stairs as Romero was grouting the tile and the painters were back to touch up the paint and stain.
If all goes well, I think they'll be mostly done by the end of next week. (Yay!)