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.