Well, I gave myself a pep talk to go and move this from the old site, and lo and behold, someone had already done it. Thanks! http://www.medicalspouse.com/forums/...ons/icon10.gif

I had kind of a meltdown on Friday. I figure if that is the only one I have through this whole process, I am lucky. I have been waiting patiently for the backsplash behind my cooktop to be installed. The tile was on order and was taking a long time to come in. I had actually designed the backsplash based on a picture I had seen in a magazine, only using my own colors. I drew it all out on a piece of graph paper. On one piece I drew the design for the center of the backsplash, which is a little more elaborate, and on another piece, I drew the design for either side of the the cooktop area. For me to do this was a HUGE step outside my comfort zone, because I am one of the least crafty people you will ever meet. I was pleased with what I came up with and showed DH and my mom, and they thought it made sense and looked nice. I had no fears that our tile installer would have trouble with it because he had done beautiful work on our entryway and in our MBA with very little direction. However.....he just plain didn't follow my drawing, and I was disappointed. He came up with a fine design, but it wasn't what I drew. Basically, I had 1 inch square tiles (in blue glass) set on the diagonal interspersed with 4 1/4 square tiles. All of the corners of the larger tiles were to be clipped so that every time four of the larger tiles came together, instead of the corners touching, there was supposed to be a little blue glass tile on the diagonal. I have seen tons of pictures of this and the result is that the backsplash looks almost like it is "tufted", and it gives it some dimensional interest. Anyway, my tile guy only used half as many of the blue tiles as I had drawn, but SWORE he had done what I had on my paper. It was like he and I were speaking two different languages. He kept calling me, I kept getting frustrated, and finally DH stepped in and called the builder, who put the kibosh on the other guy calling me. Basically, he kept calling because he didn't want to have to take it all down, but that is what he ended up doing on Saturday morning, and my builder has assured me that he understands my design and that it will be completed properly.

It didn't help that all of that was taking place the night before my choir contest. The band director at my school (who is also the HS band director) hosts this contest to raise money for his HS band program. He is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants guy, which is fine for him, but at the last minute, he decided that the choir portion of the contest would be hosted in our new building, with the band part of the contest at the high school. Both choir and band have been hosted at the high school previously. Do you see where this is going? You guys, he waited until the last minute to do EVERYTHING! He hadn't talked to the janitors about set-up. He hadn't talked to the athletic director about the use of the gym. It went on and on. Of course, since he isn't in our building all day, guess who everyone came to with questions? That's right. Friday night he kept calling me (he was setting up with the band boosters) asking me about power cords, etc. about which I knew nothing. I decided to go out there early Saturday morning because I knew it would be chaos, and it was. He hadn't provided the necessary office equipment for the judges. His student helpers didn't have the day's schedule, or a map of the building. ON AND ON. And of course, he was over at the high school, working with the contest stuff there. I was a total stressball, and that was even before I considered that I had three of my own groups performing.

Anyway, it is over, my kids did fine, I kept things at the contest from totally disintegrating, but didn't take on responsibility for any of the chaos, and now I can focus on the move and a week away from school, which I desperately need. We have all the closing paperwork and now know that our savings will be wiped out after both closings and paying our taxes. The good news is that we have enough to cover all of those things, but that hard part is that we wanted to buy new furniture, etc. which will have to wait. We only went 8K over budget with the house, which I think is pretty good. DH/partner had a slow December and January, so they weren't able to take a draw this month which they have done in years past. However, they have been busy since then, so it is just a matter of time, and compared with what so many are experiencing right now financially, I feel very petty expressing any kind of disappointment regarding our move. Besides, if I had to pick out new furniture right now, my head would probably explode!

So, we close on the new house Thursday. I am going to really try to get over there this week and take some pictures before we start moving in, although I don't think the backsplash will be done until after we are living there. I am having big time PMS this weekend as well, so this week could be an interesting one![/QUOTE]