Update: Joyce

There’s also news from up at Joyce’s place. She and Allan finally agreed on designs for the redecorating, so there are now workmen in the house every day. They’re starting off with the living room and den. I think the dining room and kitchen come next, then the bedroom and Joyce’s bathroom. She’s leaving the guest room, crafting room and second bathroom the way they are.

I’ve seen drawings of how the house is going to look, and, well, Joyce got a little pissed at me because I couldn’t get all gay about it and say I was super excited about how it was going to turn out. I know, I know…total straight dude…but I didn’t see what was wrong with the house in the first place. There’s something very comfortable and inviting about Joyce’s house the way it was. I hope the redecorated version won’t make me feel like I shouldn’t sit on anything like Adam and Allan’s house does.

Turns out I’m not useless, though. Joyce said she reckoned that the workmen weren’t working as hard as they could, and she wants them out of there, since it’s pretty dang inconvenient not being able to use whole parts of the house. I had a feeling that was because they knew they were working for a woman. I’m sure Adam and Allan only used workmen who didn’t have an issue with their being gay…but working for a woman is another story.

She said things changed a lot after the morning I came out of the bedroom in my robe. I’m a friendly Southern dude, so I talked to them – at least to the ones who could speak English – and I asked some questions about what they were doing and how they were doing it. I know my way around a toolbox dang well, so they could tell I knew what I was talking about.

I did it on purpose. I reckoned that knowing that there was a straight dude keeping an eye on things would get them working faster than they were when they thought they were just working for a woman. It doesn’t say much for the workmen, but it made a difference. They were even done in the living room and den a day ahead of schedule.

I said I know my way around a tool box. One of the things Dad got from Papaw was knowing how to build things. Papaw had a whole workshop at the farm, and he probably could have built you a house. Dad wasn’t quite that good, but he could fix anything and built all the shelves in the house. Him and me even built a few pieces of furniture. When I got old enough to need a real desk in my room, I told Dad the kind of desk I wanted…and he said, fine, if that’s what I wanted, I’d have to build it with him. So that’s what we did. It’s an awesome desk, and it’s still in my room back home. It doesn’t look like something your husband and son built in the garage on weekends made out of varnished knotty pine, either. It was a serious piece of furniture, and I was dang proud of it. Earlier on, Dad and me also built a trophy case in my bedroom. It was super cool when Dad said we should leave plenty of extra space, since he told me he knew I was going to get plenty more trophies as I was growing up.

I told Joyce I was going to get in on the redecorating action once the workmen are done. I’m going to do some work in Joyce’s crafting room. It’s currently just got a bunch of random shelves that Joyce always says are the wrong heights and sizes for all her supplies, a lot of which are small things in small boxes. I’m not going to take a crowbar to the shelves she’s got (since Dad can’t fly out here to help me rebuild the whole room lol), but I can rebuild the shelves she’s got so they’re better suited to all her projects and supplies. I’m going to have her tell me exactly what she needs, and then build it for her. Who knows? I may even learn something about crafting.

But first we gotta get those workmen out of the house. And get the carpets changed. And get the new furniture delivered.

So it’s gonna be a while. Even with a straight dude waking up in the house a couple times each week lol.