Some Tuesday updates

 *First of all: the painters are slowly but surely finishing up

I stepped out to get the mail and noticed they'd finished the living room area (they're still working around the back of the house, and haven't done all the high-up trim (right below the roof) on the rest of the house. But I saw this, and spontaneously exclaimed "Oh it looks so good!" not realizing one of the painter assistants was around the corner of the house and he came out and shyly asked* "You like?"

And I said: "Yes, it's very good!" 

(*most of the guys speak fairly little English, but we can communicate what we need)

And yes, I'm happy. It's a slightly darker green than the original trim but it looks better with the storm door, which is closer to that color than to the more olivey green of the trim. And I really love the painted corner boards - that was a good decision, I wasn't sure about it at first, but I do really like it. 

also the PLASTIC IS DOWN OFF THE WINDOWS which makes a huge difference - it was unsettling living for the better part of a week not being able to see the outside. 

*Still no word on when Martin is coming to do the indoor repairs but I am forcing myself to be patient. He seemed to think the drywall repair would only take a couple hours; I assume the kitchen floor will take longer. He seemed not-averse to working Saturdays and if it comes to that I'd be okay with some of the work being done Saturday, or I have a couple days before the cavalcade of meetings next week (or, heck, I could even skip those if necessary; what are they going to do, fire me?)

* I made the funds transfer today (it will take several days to become available because of how I did it) so I can pay the big-boss almost all the remaining cost BUT I am waiting to do so until the work's all done; I presume he will want to come up and inspect it and have me sign off on everything.

* I will be glad when it's all done. Partly because I know everything will have been fixed but also because it means I don't have to hang around in case workers have questions or need to plug in an extension cord. 

*That said? I got all my Principles I lectures updated (changing some wording on slides, removing typos that I missed before) and for Environmental Policy and Law. I don't use slides in biostats, and I have the first few Ecology ones updated but I might wait to update more until I'm in the office and able to look stuff up in the textbook.

* Last night, I started the mitts with the red yarn (the colorway is called Zinnia, which seems to fit) but I'm only 5 rounds into the ribbing so no picture yet. I've also been picking at the sweater but when it's really intensely hot (when it's been a sunny day - the living room heats up more on sunny days than cloudy ones)

* I want to start a new quilt top (since I have more space now) but I'm telling myself I must wait until the drywall repair is done (at least) because I know I'd get to a spot where it would be hard to move and they'd need to do the drywall repair and everything would wind up dusty or disarranged.

* Now that I finished "A Prayer for the Crown-Shy," I'm reading "Miss Pym Disposes" and at first I wondered where the "mystery" part was coming in but - with minimal spoilers - I hit the part where the bad thing happened. It's like 2/3 of the way through the book.

I like Tey's writing, and those kind of "school stories" tend to draw me in (this one is set at an athletic/training college for girls - where the girls studying there learn to teach dancing or gymnastics or be physical-therapy assistants, that sort of thing) . I guess gender-separated education was a much more common thing years back (or was more common in Britain) - many of the stories I've read set in schools there are either a women's or a men's school, and not co-ed.