When it rains it pours

Why oh why is it that when it rains it pours. All of a sudden it is just hitting the fan.


-Taxes are due and I haven't started
-New deadline at work all of a sudden
-Mountain bike is totally in shambles
-Preschool conference
-And the praying contractors need to know how low to run the drywall. (more on this below)

It is so hard to think about training when everything else is going on sometimes. Problem is with my personality. It's 100% on or nothing. So often times I'll bag on the training, cause I just can't get into the mode to go do it with other things weighing on my mind. I need to get back into it after being off from the race. Hopefully I can grab an hour and do some hill repeats or something and then get back
to other matters. It's hard to compartmentalize life sometimes.

Back to the praying contractors. We are having a direct vent fireplace put in our family room.



It's pretty straight forward construction, some framing, running a gas line, slide in an insert, vent to the outside, drywall it in, and then some simple shelving on either side of the pop out. I had visions of doing it all myself and saving a bundle. But the older I get the wiser I get and also had visions of our family room in shambles for about 4 months while I figured out how to do it. I've got a knack. If it can be done wrong I can do it wrong not once but twice.

So we decided to hire a contractor to do some of the work. They do all the framing/drywall/plumbing and put the fireplace in, and I'll build the mantle and the built in shelving. That way I can save some dough but at least the major part of it will actually get done correctly and in a reasonable amount of time.

Contractors are hard to come by these days and we found one finally. The nicest guys in the world. But it's been a little uncomfortable cause I don't think he's ever put in a direct vent fireplace before. And because I'm doing some of the work they are looking to me for some answers on dimensions, which I really had no clue on cause I was going to do the mantle/shelving when the pop out and fireplace was completed. And I'm looking to them to know how to put the thing in properly. Sort of the blind leading the blind.

We are all set to do the job and he comes over with the main framing guys and we are going over details making sure we are all on the same page, and then he says "Ok let's pray". Talk about one of the most awkward twilight zone feelings. We bow our heads and he says a prayer about doing a good job, making us happy and being safe..... I wasn't sure if I should be worried about this or be happy to have God on the jobsite.

I must say that so far they've been a pleasure to deal with, meticulous, and nice, and do good work.

Just wish I had a clue about what the design of the mantle and shelving should be. You know what the trait of a good craftsman is? How well they can hide their mistakes....That's what caulk is for, right?