The home improvement finish line is in sight. July 4 is looking like the real finally done date.

I met Home Improvement Man tonight, and soon I will have amazing lighting in my kitchen and a patio out back. We had to bicker a bit about the overhead light in the kitchen - he wanted to install recessed cans, which I know are wonderful, but I asked him if he was going to fix the popcorn ceiling damage that I'm trying to cover, and he quickly saw my point that track lighting with those nifty dangling pendants was the way to go. Heh. Popcorn ceilings are a nightmare to patch, you're better off bringing in Yet Another Expert to do a knockdown ceiling, and there's a lot of ceiling and I don't wanna spend the money. Track lighting is a helluva lot cheaper than a ceiling.

He talked me into what is basically under-cabinet track lighting - a tube of light the length of the cabinets, shining down on the work area. Boy was already on the task lighting train - he sees it in houses he shows - and I like the continuous light better than the hockey puck spots. My granite countertop, bathed in the glow all the way around. Damn, I am enchanted with that vision.

Home Improvement Man has been a construction manager for a big electrical company for many years, he knows his stuff - a friend at work gave him absolutely rave reviews for the amazing stuff he did working on Her Old House. He'll pour a 9x15 concrete patio for me (I told you my yard was very small, I can't go wider than 9 feet) and get his Tile Guy to tile it with the tile of my choice (I'm thinking nice tan Mexican pavers will be fine.) I can't wait to be able to sit out there after work, with a beer and my knitting, while Murphy runs around the lovely new grass chasing lizards. This is going to work.

So all I have to do in the meantime is continue to prepare for cabinet rip-out next Friday, go to Goodwill again tomorrow, then hit Yon Depot and buy paint supplies, light fixtures, a dishwasher and a ladder. I will spend my Memorial Day Weekend painting the soon-to be empty kitchen. This is going to be a very bizarre experience, but very good. I will, of course, document it in pictures.

I made an appointment for the cats to board at the vet's for the week of cabinet installation. This whole thing will be way too traumatic for them, too many strangers with power tools. They will hate being boarded, but they'd hate this much more. And they are overdue for physicals and shots so we can knock that out while they are in the vet's custody.

Murphy, OTOH, will want a small tool belt of his own and will have to be restrained from joining in the fun - but there's only one of him and he can be tucked under an arm.

Another early to bed night - tomorrow I have to get up early, water on my allotted watering day (we get two a week) and then head for Yon Depot to buy the dishwasher and various other things. Boy has volunteered (quite graciously for someone still working three jobs) to go get my taller ladder since he has the bigger vehicle. Tomorrow I promise pictures of the Anti-Charlotte Shawl for the Lace Challenged. I really like it. I can definitely see making more than one.