dealing with people working in my house #2

Grr. Two things. First of all, they left the basement door, which leads outside, not only unlocked but OPEN. Hello? And I've had to say something to him before about leaving the door unlocked. At which point, he blamed it on the guys working for him. Who, by the way, look to be about 18 years old. And yes, 18 year olds need jobs, too, but don't pass the buck on them. If you're 50-some-odd years old and you are running a company, and you choose to hire really young people, you need to be responsible to see that they do things the right way. If they make a mistake and I end up with a leaky roof, is he going to say, "Well, you know, the guys, they just don't know...." Even 18-year-olds live in houses and theoretically know how to shut a door, right? (At least most of them.) In any case, can you say "pissed off"?

Secondly, I go outside this morning to check the mail and walk around a bit with the baby, only to find that they left a huge pile of trash behind. Hello? This is part of your job, too! I shouldn't have to haul your crap to the dump, especially since it's illegal to dump wood anyway, and they say they'll confiscate the dump sticker if they find someone dumping illegal stuff.

So now, I get to be the bad guy, and call him up and say "I'm not impressed." Because he didn't show up today to finish the work he still needs to do.

favorite things about my sweet little one and dealing with people working in my house

Seeing that my little one is now going on 9 weeks, here's a list of some of my favorite things as far as he is concerned:

1. B (Baby) sleeping in my arms
2. the Baby Bjorn (have I mentioned how nice it is to have use of one's hands?)
3. peach fuzz hair (so soft!)
4. the way he smells right after a bath
5. the way he smells before a bath, too (although sometimes not so much)
6. the big smiles
7. the way his eyes light up when he smiles
8. cooing and gurgling
9. he's very easy to interpret (no "colic," thank goodness!)
10. he loves being outside

more to come later...

Now for some annoyances, NOT having to do with B.

We're having some work done on our house. When we bought this house, it needed some serious attention. So it's happening piecemeal. But it's so irritating to have to be annoyed at people who work for you. (Or is it just me?)

OK, so they started working in the basement yesterday. I didn't go down there, because they're doing stuff with fiberglass insulation, and I'm here with the baby, which keeps me occupied enough. Last night, I go down to try to tackle the laundry, and I find a MESS. Bits of fiberglass all over, dirt/rocks/fiberglass on TOP of the dryer. (What, did they have to step on the dryer to get to the crawl space? Yes, evidently, they did.... Why not just ask for a stepladder?) They knocked over the trashcan and some stuff on top of a filing cabinet and didn't consider putting things back. Probably didn't notice. Plus, they left the light on in one of our porches. Which shouldn't be a big deal, except grr, the only switch for it is inside the garage, and I have to go outside to get to the garage, AND I had asked them the last time they were here to turn it off before leaving.

So when they showed up this morning, I had to have a "talk" with them. Try to tell them how very annoyed I am without ranting, without pissing them off. Of course, they had excuses. But come on! I just want to say, "Be respectful of my space." I did tell them it's a brand-new washer and dryer, and I didn't want them scratched up.

And then, I was walking outside a little bit ago, trying to locate the guy in charge of the operation, when I noticed that an area of the yard seems to have white paint all over it. And my mint patch looks to be decimated. What the...? So I got really annoyed all over again. Can't they bring tarps or something to paint on? So I guess I have to be all annoyed with them again. I really want to tell them not to come back, that we'll find someone else, but J would be annoyed with me, and it would be a hassle to find someone else, and can I really trust them to be in the house with me here by myself (well, ok, with the baby), etc., etc. [So it appears that I was hasty in my rush to be annoyed: he tells me it was just the rinsing of the concrete bucket that made everything white. But still, why not rinse it so I don't have white greenery?]