As I type, I can hardly hear myself think because the guy has FINALLY come to remove the tree stump from the front yard with some massive machine...from the previously mentioned alder tree that cost me $8,000 in renos. I digress. So I've been calling the arborist in a rather stalker-like fashion to try to get him to return in order to take out the stump. Because here's the thing with Ben; his handyman skills are somewhere near ground zero and so when he sees something that needs to be done, he automatically stresses because he doesn't know how to fix it. So the last thing I want is him coming home to find the entire lawn dug up. Too late. So the day before Ben arrives, I'm here madly trying to prep for his arrival. I bought some yellow ribbon to tie around the trees on the street (thank you to the Fabricland lady, who kindly gave it to me 40% off). I've been leg shaving, Biore stripping, exfoliating and nail painting. I've been cleaning all night after I saw a brindle-haired tumbleweed blow past (Duncan and his wayward fur obviously needs to be wrapped in plastic wrap). But then it all began...the Thompson luck...haunting me. I mean that as in...we, the Thompson's, have no luck to speak of. The arborist, in his stump removing efforts, cut the cable line. I have no Internet, cable or phone service. Thank God for my IPhone's ability to plug into my laptop! I stroll out to give a scathing look to the arborist calmly shrugs his shoulders and announces that this is a "hazard of the job" (thanks, Buddy). I call the cable company and they assure me they will come tomorrow. I came down the stairs, with an armful of tools after my weekend of renos and drop a massive wrench on the laminate. All I can stare at is the hole I've left in the floor. I somehow thought that curry would be a good idea for dinner and now I can't seem to get rid of the smell. And let's not even mention the drywall patching I've been doing and thanks to a hectic work schedule, no time to paint over them. The house smells like curry! There's drywall dust everywhere! I've put holes in the floor! I have no cable! I feel like Ben is coming home to Stress Central. And I'm smack dab in the centre of it. Duncan looks devastated over the whole thing. Oh wait...he just snored. So I'm running around like mad, trying to make everything perfect and then I sit down to type this blog and realize, it's impossible. I cannot make the house perfect or me perfect or make Duncan magically hairless. Ben will have to take us as we come. Because that's a relationship. You take the good and the bad and somehow, you come out the other side resembling something like a family. Kelly