Before and After Still In Progress and Now Waits Until Friday

Gotta give Rev credit for actually showing up yesterday - it was Friday, here, so the equivalent of what is Sunday in the States. Did the work get done? Of course not. I knew it wouldn't. He said he came by to get a couple of measurements and wanted to know if I wanted a 80 or 90 centimeter door. What? Whatever is standard. I don't use centimeters. I use feet and inches. It needs to be 2 feet and 3 inches wide and open "inside," just like the diagram I gave him. Rev promised me that he would be here Wednesday, first thing, with his workers to do my closet and put the new door in. "But, Rev, you told me you were going to be here Thursday to do it." "Yes, Madam, not enough workers." "And then you told me that you were going to do it today." "Yes, Madam, I will be here Wednesday." Everything is "Yes, Madam" which in actuality means NO! Told Rev that I would empty my closet for first thing Wednesday morning - I will call him on Tuesday to make sure - but if he doesn't show up I am going to be furious because it is too much work to keep emptying it and putting it back together again. "Yes, Madam."

Rev says the construction work - which is really very simple [in my mind, anyway] - and involves removing a double set of louver doors and replacing them with a regular door and a wall - will take only a couple of hours. Yeah. I've heard that before. And, then in my closet he is going to have to move one "closet rod unit" to behind the "new wall" and place my cupboards in the middle of my large "closet rod units." If I was allowed to use power tools, I could probably do it myself. [Why am I not allowed to use power tools? Long story but many, many years ago, when DH and I got married and moved into our first little house from the teeny, tiny apartment, I bought one of those easy do-it-yourself "Rubbermaid" closet organizers to install in DH's closet "while he was out" as a surprise. It was a surprise, alright. It just never occurred to me that the bathroom, being directly behind his closet, and more specifically, the tub/shower unit, would have plumbing and pipes that could be "reached" with the drill." My simple little $49.99 closet "fix" ended up costing over $500.00. In 1992, that was a LOT of money for us. A lot. DH actually locked up the power tools after that "little" mishap. Hey, it could happen to anyone, right?]

Interesting little "measurement mix-up" happened yesterday while I was sewing. I am so, so, so glad that I am like I am - measure everything a dozen times, "try it on" to fit, and then sew. And it is probably painful to watch me sew. I pin everything and measure again. Then I baste whatever I'm sewing to remove the pins, and measure again. Sometimes I even measure it again just for "good measure." Thank goodness I do. I used my little "Stanley" tape measure to measure the windows for the window treatments I am making. Two windows in the bedroom, side-by-side. Could they possibly be the same size? Of course not. They are close, but not the same size. One window is 31 1/4" by 47" and the other is 31" by 47" - close, but when you are doing "inside" treatments, that 1/4" is going to make a difference. I measured the fabric, had it marked and lined up perfectly. Measured both the left and right windows, again, then measured my fabric, again. Good to go. NOT! Had the fabric cut and had the pins in and took it in the bedroom to hold it up to "try it on" and there is almost a HALF INCH GAP ON EACH SIDE! WTF?!? Do I have these backwards? No. Have clearly marked them "L" and "R," so that I don't get them confused. Grab the tape measure and measure the windows again thinking I must have gotten something wrong. Nope. 31 1/4" X 47" and 31" by 47" is exactly what I'd measured the fabric for. Laid the material back down on my sewing table and grabbed my "sewing" tape measure and measured again. I measured and cut, correctly. So what is wrong? Something is clearly very wrong. I grabbed the "Stanley," tape measure and measured the fabric. Oh my gosh. What have I done? It is too short!!! Thank goodness I "tried them on" and hadn't done anything but pin the fabric because they are too short one by a full have inch and one by three-quarters of an inch. Nothing that can't be fixed - will just have to cut the lining a little larger and make the seams of my "window treatment" fabric a bit smaller, but still... Here is the problem:


Notice anything unusual? Who would ever even guess that two tape measures - although both different - would not measure the same?!? The cloth tape measure that I use for sewing measures SMALLER than the tape measure I used to measure the windows!

I'm off... Back to the sewing machine, for hopefully what will be the last day of what I need to do for my little [no, not little - big, very, very big!] "While You Were Out" project. My poor little sewing machine has worked harder in the past few days than it has in the entire twenty years I have had it. After the sewing is finished, all I have to do is sit back and "patiently" wait for Rev and his crew to show up and do the rest...