Adjustments

Inspirational song: Young Americans (David Bowie)

We added a new mah jongg player to the group, who remembers her parents playing this game when she was a young child. She said back then, her parents' group was very serious and cutthroat, playing in relative silence except for the occasional clicking of the tiles to signify a certain action, the specifics of which have been lost in our particular ladies' club version of the game. Her proper pronunciation of some of the Chinese terms made me feel gauche and American a couple times, but I don't mind being corrected. She said she's going to ask her mother about some of the finer aspects of the more traditional rules they played by, to share with us next time. I'm hoping that we can find a way to blend some of them back into our style, without dramatically altering the game I have come to love. I do want to find out what the double-click of the tiles means. She thought it was when they drew a flower tile, but that might have been mere speculation. I know I could probably find it in a split-second on the internet, but I'm enjoying waiting to learn it the slow way.

We've altered our strategy slightly on one of the condos. I had intended on having both units finished in the same way, with only the wall paint colors differing between them. The longer this drags on, the less I see us waiting even a few extra days to accomplish that. We have decided that it would take as much as a week less to install carpeting instead of bamboo flooring, when one includes the lead time to order the product and let it acclimate on site. We need to sell this place sooner than later, and every day off the market is hurting us. We know that some upgrades are totally necessary to sell quickly and at the price point we want and need, but carpeting is a trade-off we can totally make.

There is progress on the condo that has been vacant since the flood. The tile is down in the kitchen, the countertops and sink have been installed (although daughter 2 is upset that they put in a single basin sink without consulting with us -- that will change for the other unit), and the walls were painted with the three colors we approved of her choices. We can see light at the end of the tunnel. Literally. The recessed lights are in and a couple ceiling fans are back up and everything. I am so ready for this to end.