Tiles, Paint and Boobs

So, we had a meeting with the interior designer and our builder last week.  Luckily, Marlina's mom was able to watch the kids so that Marlina and I could take our time and review the samples that were presented to us.  It is important to note that our designer is a woman, our builder is a woman, and of course, Marlina is a woman.  That leaves me as the only one with testosterone involved with this meeting.  That being said, I should have invited the kids because that may have helped move things along (more on this thought later).  We (and I use that term loosely) spent two hours agonizing over Bubbly Blue vs Cayman Sky vs Bahama Aqua, and noticing the subtle differences each one has contrasting against against five different tile samples that are the size of a fifty cent piece.
At least they let me participate.  I am not exaggerating here.  This was the process that they used with me:  They would lay out six pieces of tile on top of the counter in front of me.  "Andrew, pick out the three that you dislike the most."  I would pick out the three that I didn't like.  "Thank you.  We will take it from here," they all said. Then they would decide which combinations to use using the ones that I didn't discard.  It really was an ingenious system.  Rather than have me pick which ones I liked, they laid out six that they liked, then had me eliminate ones that I couldn't live with.  Which is fine with me, because after I eliminated three of the six, I could hardly tell the difference between the other three anyways.

So far, we have picked out tiles for the kitchen, bathroom, guest bathroom, and kids bathrooms.  We have picked out paint colors for almost every wall.  We have looked at stone samples galore.  We finally picked one that everyone liked via photograph, and it was time to see it in person, so we scheduled another meeting. This time, no one was available to watch the kids, so off to the meeting they went.  It rained heavily last night, so the lot was very muddy.  What was the first thing that Luke did?  Jumped in the mud puddle and got his feet all dirty.  (I don't know where he got that from).  With Luke all muddy, and Kate shortly after him, they were forbidden to enter the house for fear of getting the whole house muddy.  That was fine with me at first, because I was busy looking at the exterior of the house, and digging a trench so that the water that has ponded in the yard can drain to the street.  But then Kate had to use the toilet, and Luke got more muddy, and someone wanted to play swords with 2 X 4's with nails in them, and someone else wanted use a stick as a wand and turn into a troll.  I quickly found myself wanting to know all about the subtle shades of blue again.  After about an hour and half I bailed on the meeting, never even making it inside the house, and took the kids and went home.  Marlina was gone for another hour and a half.  By that time, both kids were bathed and dinner was ready.  It was then that Marlina and sat down to discuss the days events.  She informed me that results of her mammogram showed that she needs to come back in for additional testing.  So, none of this house stuff even matters right now.  We go to the doctor again in two days for follow up.  We should know more next week.  Please say a prayer.