Back down handyman lane - with detour

What I'm reading: The Apprentice, by Tess Gerritsen

After a delightful day off for Mother's Day in which I did very little and got 4 bags of chocolate, my car washed, ice cream for dessert (two flavors) and read an entire book, it's time to get back to real life.

We're hopping back in time to Friday for this post, which was Day 2 of the handyman job.

Day 2, one worker shows up right on time. She gets to work. The toilet issue is discussed. Her partner shows up, and they discuss it some more. Add two wax rings to the shopping list. They tackle the water damaged drywall under the window. Prior water damage has ruined much of the insulation. Not a big surprise, and we have an extra roll of insulation on hand. They continue prying off the sheetrock. Surpise. Along with the expected mold, one section is teeming with little creepy crawlers. I call our two exterminating companies. If they're termites, that's a big problem. If they're not, our regular exterminator should be able to take care of it. Of course, that part of the job is now on hold while we wait for the technicians. At least they're both available to come out within 2 hours. Worker #2 leaves on some sort of errand. Worker #1 continues stripping the rest of the wallpaper and prepping walls.

The termite guy shows up first, and says they're ants. That's a good thing. When exterminator two shows up, she yanks out all the buggy stuff and discovers a slew of eggs as well. She sprays and recommends vacuuming out all the crud. Hubby will get that job. Worker #1 calls the paint company and orders the paint. I put it on my credit card, and she goes off to pick it up, and I assume, take her lunch break. No sign of Worker #2. Worker #1 returns about 90 minutes later and gets back to whatever she's been doing. Worker #2 has all the drywall tools in her truck, and is unreachable by phone. There seems to be some unwritten law that says contractors are never available by phone to clients, although while they're working, it seems they're taking and making calls all the time.

Worker #1 paints a first coat behind the stove and fridge. The color looks very good—almost a perfect match to the cabinets, so it will 'go' with the kitchen, and shouldn't create any problems for prospective buyers (other than it's kind of boring, but once all the stuff gets back on the walls, it should look homey again). By three, there's nothing more she can do without her drywall tools, so she cleans up and leaves, promising to be back Monday by 8 AM. Nobody has heard from Worker #2 yet. The wallpaper is still stuck to the wall behind the toilet in the master bath. Walls don't look prepped enough for paint to me, probably a result of the missing supplies. Finishing on Monday according to their original "Oh, we'll definitely have everything done on Monday" claim doesn't seem likely. Then again, I never expected it would.