Homework, 1/29: What was so bad about purple carpet?

Last night I had a little heart to heart with my mom. She said to quit driving myself crazy and just push back the move. Moms are smart. The landlord hasn't started showing the apartment yet, so unless he's rented it to someone sight unseen, I'm guessing he'd be okay with getting another week's rent out of me. I did email and call today, though, and didn't get a response. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, because she's right. I'm driving myself crazy, and I don't need to be.

I took last night off and fell asleep on my couch at 7:30. Today I got a call from the Seantractor saying the carpet adhesive on the floor in the bedroom would gum up the sander too much, so I'd need to remove it before he can refinish the floor. And he finished laying the wood in the family room, so tomorrow could be the day he rents the sander, if I can get the adhesive up.

I was not aware that removing carpet adhesive is basically the worst job ever. After work I went to Hudson's to pick up some adhesive remover, and got what I'm sure was some very sound advice from the 15-year old girl working there. I went to the house, read the directions, and got started. Directions say, pour in metal container, spread on surface with a brush, brush in only one direction or too many vapors will be released, apply only to a 3' x 3' area at a time or too many toxic vapors will be released (not only causing user to die, but also becoming extremely flammable), let sit for 10-30 minutes, and scrape off.

Things I learned from a little trial and error and a visit from the Seantractor: (1) you can't just paint on a thin coat of this stuff. You have to dump it on the floor and let it sit in puddles at least a quarter inch thick if you want anything to happen at all. (2) even if you didn't even realize that a tiny speck of the stuff got on your skin somehow, you will feel it within seconds and it will burn like the fire of a thousand chemical suns. (3) This stuff is known to cause cancer (learned that from the can). I had to make a second run to Hudson's after realizing I needed some serious glovage, and that my little quart of the stuff wasn't even enough to do the closet floor. Found out later that a gallon of it wasn't enough either, but by that point Hudson's and Home Depot were both closed, so I just finished out the gallon and called it a night.

Things I'm going to lose sleep about tonight:

1. Cancer.
   
2. The house bursting into flames from the fumes. I left a window cracked just in case. Which leads me to:
   
3. The heating bill.
   
4. Some sort of catastrophic chemical reaction of adhesive remover when it is subjected to extreme temperatures. I put the two empty cans and the garbage bag full of remover-soaked gunk from the floor outside before I left (see #2). I hope nothing bad will happen, like a catastrophic chemical reaction, or the spread of cancer throughout the neighborhood (see #1).
   
   Oh, speaking of the neighborhood: as I was arriving at the house after work, I saw a kid get off the school bus and walk past my house. After yesterday's high 40 degree temperatures, and today's arctic blast, there's a nice sheet of ice covering my sidewalk. The kid fell down, and then fell down again about four more times trying to get up. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do in this situation. I covered it with lots of salt. So I guess that leads me to:
   
5. Getting sued.

Accomplishments:

• Painted one side of the basement door.
• Kinda removed almost half of the carpet adhesive in the bedroom.
  

People Hours Invested: 5
To Date: 188

Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 13

Tears: None, but lots of cursing. (oh, unless you count crying in the bathroom at work because I'm so tired I just want to go home. Then we're talking more like 3 or 4).
Tears to Date: Twice.

Before:

During:

This stuff is so evil, it eats its own home.

But the good news is, all the flooring is now laid in the family room.

Homework, 1/26 through 1/27

After two days of work, the contractor still only has half of the floor laid. I'm getting nervous that it's not going to be installed, sanded, and finished in time for the move next weekend. That is going to make things a lot harder.

Alissa and Mike were here to help this weekend. We mostly painted. Alissa really wanted to paint the window trim in the kitchen, so I ran to Hudson's to pick up some white paint. She worked on that while Mike and I painted in the basement and Reagan worked on a poop and a nap. I'm glad she was so gung ho about it, because it looks a hundred times better. Kara and Roya stopped by for a little baby therapy and helped for a little bit.

Today I painted more trim, and maybe got myself in a little deeper than I planned. I removed the basement door so I could get at the trim better, but as I was painting I realized I would probably need to repaint the door so it would match the trim. I didn't have the heart to do it, though, because I'm sick of painting! Plus, it will probably get dinged 25 times during the move. Might just have to move it to the basement and finish it afterwards.


Accomplishments:

• Painted second coat in family room.
• Touched up dining room.
• Painted basement bedroom.
• Painted window and doorway trim in kitchen.
• Painted window trim in upstairs bathroom.
• Started putting together IKEA bench. Still need to put legs on.
• Removed contact paper from linen closet and bathroom vanity shelves.
• Scrubbed duct tape residue with WD40 in kitchen.
  

People Hours Invested: 20
To Date: 183

Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 11

Tears: None.
Tears to Date: Twice.

Freshly painted living room, with half a floor.

Newly painted walls and door trim in the kitchen.

Newly painted walls and window trim in the upstairs bathroom.

Newly painted guest room.

More photos here.

Homework, 1/25

I didn't work at all at the house today. I have been cleaning the apartment, doing dishes, washing sheets, etc. because Alissa and Mike and baby Reagan are coming for the weekend. Can't wait to get some baby therapy. Even though I didn't work on the house today, I can still chalk up one more Tears occurence. I don't do well pulling double shifts like this! I'm looking forward to getting back to a routine, and getting back to a decent night's sleep. Soon.

In the meantime, the contractor called to let me know his help didn't show up today, so the floor's still not installed. He's not working over the weekend, which means the good news is I don't have to worry about Reagan breathing dust from the sanding. But I'm getting nervous about it being done in time for moving day next weekend.

On the agenda for tomorrow:

• Lots of baby snuggles
• Second coats of paint in living/dining room and family room.
• Coat of primer in basement bedroom, then first coat of paint.

Other stuff I'm thinking of doing:

• Painting the basement bathroom. It's not hurting for paint, but there is one nasty spot where the paint is peeling up.
• Removing all the shelf paper in all the closets and cupboards. I hate shelf paper.
• I'm dying to clean, but until the sanding is done, there's no point.
• I'm also dying to get rid of all the construction trash and carpet that's taking up the whole garage, but I'm waiting until I have a truck so I can haul it all to the city dump for free. Free is better than paying for a dumpster.

Back to making Grandma Rita Sandwiches. The Hope for 2008 CD is helping with the cleaning and preparing. Good job, me!

Homework, 1/24

I'm exhausted, and don't even want to think about packing, but the move feels like it's in sight. The contractor started laying flooring today. Kate and came straight after work and stayed later than I'd planned, but we got a lot done.

Accomplishments:

• Painted first coat in family room.
• Removed the masking tape in the kitchen and put all the appliances back.
• Ate some tasty take-out Chinese food.
• Finished painting coat closet.
  

People Hours Invested: 10
To Date: 163

Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 9

Tears: Once.
Tears to Date: Twice.

Homework, 1/23

Wednesday's Accomplishments, with the help of Simon, Sarah R., Carlito, and Michael:

• More sanding and mudding touched up in the family room. This job is never ending!!!
• Two coats of primer put up in the family room, except around the fresh mud. The coral color is persistent, though! It will be interesting to see how much of it shows through after the primer dries.
• Second coat painted in the kitchen.

Surprises:

• None today that I can remember!

People Hours Invested: 9
To Date: 153

Total Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 10

Tears: None.
Tears to Date: Once.

Homework, 1/21 through 1/22

On Monday, I had help from Kate, Simon, and New Sarah W. Today, Kate and Sarah R. (Finally! 'Bout time she starts walkin' the talk).






Accomplishments:

• All carpet and padding in the bedroom removed. All tack strips and staples removed.
• Family room mudding touched up.
• Family room ceiling painted and second-coated.-bathroom painted and 2nd-coated.
• Kitchen painted.
• IKEA and Home Depot visited for final days of The Winter Sale and the MLK Day Event, respectively.
  

Surprises:

• There are a couple of patches in the bedroom where there's no hardwood, between the room and the closet. I'm hoping an extra wide threshold will cover it
  up.
• The basement bedroom lights are on a dimmer. Pleasant surprise.
  

People Hours Invested: 27
To Date: 144

Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 2
To Date: 10 (including some I forgot from last time)

Tears: None.
To Date: Once.

Homework: photos from the weekend

Here are the photos to accompany that last post.

Homework, 1/18 through 1/20

I didn't get much done on the house for the rest of the week, because I had pretty booked evenings. Kate is so addicted to physical labor that she went and worked on Friday evening while I was off getting my hair cut.

Saturday was huge. My mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law, and Kate all came to help. My neice and nephew were there as well, keeping us all entertained and making sure the decibel level was at an acceptable high all day. Cole assured me a couple times that he's the best worker and the best painter. When they left, Brynn instructed me, "Tell me thank you for helping." I did, and she graciously responded, "You're welcome! Now tell me thank you for coming to your house." I did, and I got a "you're welcome!" and a hug and a big wet one in return.

I forgot my camera at the house, so photos will have to wait until tonight. In the meantime:


Accomplishments:

• All carpet and padding in the family room removed.
• Baseboard heaters in the family room removed.
• Family room closet ripped out; outlet re-routed to south wall, with extra outlets added.
• All paneling in family room removed.
• Drywall added where closet was attached.
• All family room walls sanded to remove imperfections and paneling glue.
• Door and window trim removed in family room.
• Ceiling patched with popcorn.
• Nail and screw holes patched throughout.
• Bedroom primed, painted, and 2nd-coated.
• Bedroom outlets and cover plates replaced.
• Both toilets repaired.
• Both bathrooms scrubbed clean.
• Leaky tub "JBwelded" in upstairs bathroom. Still a little leaky, but less so.
• Faucet aerator replaced in upstairs bath.
• Lots of time was spent on the kitchen sink, and I think one leak is fixed and one is not. Guess I'll have to call a plumber on that one.
• Most outlets in the garage are now live.
• Front living room primed and painted (one coat).
• Coat closet almost painted. It's so tiny, I have to have my back up against the wall in order to paint, so I painted three walls and the ceiling, but will have to wait for those to dry before painting the final wall.
• Office closet painted.
• Hallway painted (one coat).
• Beautiful dining set purchased and picked up from a craigslist posting.
• Two lovely meals (chili with finger sandwiches, lasagne with caesar salad) prepared in advance and served to the hungry masses.

Surprises:

• The shiny layer that I thought was some kind of extra insulation in the family room carpet pad was also in the bedroom pad. Guess I was wrong about that being insulation. I decided the floor definitely doesn't get that cold in the family room above the garage anyway, so we'll move forward with the hardwood without any extras.
• My dad and brother in law know a lot more about electric and plumbing than I expected. Thanks guys!
• My deck door is frozen shut.
  

People Hours Invested: 112
To Date: 117

Need to buy: Trips to Hudson's Ace Hardware & Home Depot: 5

Tears: Once.

Homework: The Mother of All DIY projects

I've gone and done it. I bought a house. After some setbacks related to closing (Countrywide Bank was the owner of the house, and very irritating to deal with), I've finally taken ownership. First order of business was an inaugural toast with some friends. I found some lovely raspberry flavored champagne at Edina Liquors after leaving the title company from hell, First American Title. Then it was time to get to work. Tonight Kate offered to come help.

Accomplishments:

• tore down most of the paneling in the family room, except around baseboard heaters and shelving brackets. It looks like we'll be able to sand and patch the drywall without having to hang new stuff. In my humble opinion.
• removed shelving in family room, including shelving in closet
• removed closet doors in family room
• tore up some of the carpet in the family room
  

Surprises:

• paneling glue is black! Who knew?
• the pad under the carpet has a shiny aluminum foil-like layer. Probably an insulator, which makes sense, since that room is above the unheated garage. Wonder what the implications will be for the new hardwood flooring. Wonder if I can afford heated flooring.
• The closet wall has an outlet on it. That's going to make tearing it down a little more challenging.
  

People Hours Invested: 5
To Date: 5

Need to buy:

• twine to tie up carpet chunks
• ladder to finish unscrewing shelving brackets (and generally reach high things)
• another flat head screwdriver

Before Photos:

During Photos:

After Photos:

With any luck, part II

You may recall that I started looking at houses in August. I was convinced in my price range I'd be "buying a tin shack next to a crack den." Well, I sure did see some real gems.

At one viewing, I was peering into a little sunporch attached to a garage, when I noticed a pile of what looked like clothes or blankets on the floor. At first I thought the previous owner had just forgotten some stuff. Then I realized it was a homeless person sleeping. Scared the living daylights out of me! I was practically on top of the guy. We left quickly.

One of the houses had the strangest, most unexplainable damage ever. The wood floors were so warped they literally had waves the size of speedbumps all the way across the room. In some spots you could see through to the basement. The entire house was like that. And strangest of all, the blades on a ceiling fan in the dining room were hanging down like a wilted plant. What could possibly have happened in this house?

At another house, we stepped over a used condom on the front porch. Here I was thinking some stupid teenagers were using the space, when my realtor, a sweet little blonde-haired mom, says ever-so-gently, "so there's been some prostitution here...."

At one house in the Corcoran neighborhood, we found an air mattress, toothbrush, contact case, and remnants of a couple blunts on the floor. When we called the realtor to let him know someone was squatting in the property, he said he had been staying there. I guess times really are tough for realtors. So tough he couldn't even clean up his drug paraphernelia before we came to view the place. I was even willing to forgive this indiscretion and made an offer on this house, and the guy took his sweet time responding, finally letting me know he wanted about $13,000 more than I offered. Funny, that house still has a for sale sign in front.

ANYWAY, long story short, I have bought a house! Or rather, I will buy a house on January 11. There is certainly some work to be done, so keep an eye out for HGTV-style DIY projects in the near future. Oh, and the best part: my new house will have a craft room!

Hope for 2008

A couple days ago, I worked on a mix CD for a friend who's going through a rough patch and needed a little optimism in her life. I started thinking about how it seems lately that there are a lot of people in my life who are going through rough patches. I've certainly been looking for reminders that life is good. So I decided to make a handful of the "Hope for 2008" CDs as New Year's gifts for my friends. And I got crafty and made gifty CD cases made out of fabric scraps left over from my pillow project.


The Playlist:

1. "This Will Be Our Year" OK Go
2. "I'll Take You There" The Staple Singers
3. "These are the Days" Van Morrison
4. "Angry Any More" Ani DiFranco
5. "Blackbird" The Beatles
6. "The World's Not Falling Apart" Dar Williams
7. "Three Little Birds" Bob Marley
8. "My Song" Brandi Carlile
9. "The Long Way Around" The Dixie Chicks
10. "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" The Eels
11. "Just A Ride" Jem
12. "True to Myself" Ziggy Marley
13. "Love Train" The O'Jays
14. "Let It Be" The Beatles
15. "Into the Mystic" Van Morrison
16. "Growin' Up" Bruce Springstein
17. "I Hope" The Dixie Chicks

The Crafts