On the third day of Christmas…

Make a list for the contractor.  You’re more nit-picky than I am, so you’ll be more thorough.

Since we moved into our new home in May, we’ve made note of a few minor problems that will need to be corrected, as well as a few cosmetic — but not necessary — changes that we’d like to make.  We noticed some water entering the attic roof a couple of weeks ago — not a lot, and only when we receive a really heavy rain — and that meant that it was time to call in one of the more popular local contractors.

Aside from taking care of the minor roof leak, there is some tile-work around the living room fireplace that needs a little restoration, and we’re curious what it might cost us to have at least the living room floors sanded and refinished.  The contractor stopped by today around 1pm, and he’ll provide us with a quote for all of the work, though I think we’ll probably have just the leak taken care of for the time being.

Rattling off the last few days’ happenings in reverse, we met one of S’s old friends from high school, Jerry, and his wife and children for lunch yesterday.  S. and Jerry hadn’t seen each other for six or seven years, and I’d never met him, but I managed to conquer my vestigial social phobia and actually had a nice time.  It was good to meet them, and they stopped over at our house for the 25-cent tour before heading off to another social engagement.

Christmas itself was great — very low-key and informal.  We cooked our turkey on the 24th, so dinner preparation on The Day itself was quite easy.  Aside from turkey, we had mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, roasted brussels sprouts, dried corn, leftover homemade cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving (which had been frozen), baked pineapple, and dinner rolls.  We exchanged gifts in the morning (hint: I’m typing this on one of my gifts) and took the dogs for a walk on the trail in the afternoon after dinner.

Working at an academic institution, we receive quite a bit of time off between Christmas Eve and New Year’s, and because of the way the holidays fell this year, work is closed for nearly two weeks.  I used a couple of vacation days to extend my break to a full two weeks, and I could really get used to this being-paid-not-to-be-at-work gig.  There will be plenty to do once we reopen, though, so I’m sure  to fall back into my old routine quickly enough.

But let’s not rush that along just yet.