Serendipity and Funny How Things Work Out

We had a crazy day yesterday, and just when it seems like everything is falling to pieces, things have this amazing way of working out. Every now and then, some days more than others, serendipity shines its light on you.

We took R into work because we needed the car to go to riding and dance. After we dropped her off, the plan was to hit LaValley's, set up a contractor's account in order to feel like I knew what I was doing (and to get the fat 5% discount), order sheathing, siding, and Tyvek, and then go home. Of course, things rarely work out the way you plan them.

We want to get to work ASAP on the barn, so I figured the sooner we get supplies, the sooner I can break out into a sweat. What I didn't realize was that setting up an account at LaValley's takes up to a week. Bummer. And to top it off, it was going to be hard to get all the wood we needed, though it baffles me how people build houses sometimes. We were looking to get tongue and groove boards for the siding of the barn. Since the walls are eight feet high, we figured we'd need eight foot boards, because you want to minimize the seams where water can get in. The guys at LaValleys looked at me like I was crazy. They said it's impossible to get the number of boards I needed in a uniform size. You have to take what they have and deal with having seams.

I was bummed because I had anticipated things going so smoothly, and now nothing was working. The one bright spot, and this is a huge bright spot, was that H from Britton's now works at LaValley's. H is one of those guys who is so helpful and knowledgeable that you shop at a store just to get to see him. When he left Britton's, I was so disappointed, but now here he was. We talked and he explained the problem, so I put off ordering supplies and went to see out the wood I needed.

Funny thing is, when I called around, they gave me the same story. You just can't get uniform lengths in the quantities that we need. Back to square one. I was beginning to accept the idea of having seams, that's what calking is for, right?

Anyway, this would have been much simpler if we didn't have dance class and riding to deal with, as well. And here's where we got a few favorable breaks, though one came with mixed emotions. Because enrollment in her class was so small, they actually canceled it. This is not a good thing, but it gave me more time, at least for that day. On a side note, the teacher told me that she thought A was a joy to teach and that she was very creative and a wonderful student. This was completely unprompted by me, mind you.

The second event was that her riding teacher called and said she really needed to reschedule her lesson for later that day. More time for us to deal with building issues. So we went with it.

I spoke with my Mentor and he came up with the brilliant idea of buying the T&G boards that they had in the lengths we needed and then going back next week to buy it up all over again. Why didn't I think of that?

So the plan had changed to the following - take A to riding, jet over to LaValley's and order the supplies, pick up A and then head over to play racquetball until we picked up mom. Is that crazy enough for you?

Well, it turns out that in terms of T&G, LaValley's had none in stock, they were sold out. I'd had enough, so we just bought the sheathing and Tyvek. Those two will provide adequate coverage, and we can work on the siding later. They are supposed to deliver the goods today, but until it's actually on our property, I won't take anything for granted. Then again, we still need to put the stuff on. I think I need more tools and supplies.

Until then, thanks for reading.