Tag Archives: remodeling

Paint, and such.

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So I can finally move my arms and legs without pain. That’s a nice start.

Last Tuesday we moved into the 2nd bedroom we finally finished in January so that we could start working on our bedroom.

Our bedroom is 18×14, with a walk-in closet that’s at least 6×6. It’s freakin’ huge. Literally half the 2nd floor. And it’s lavendar. With lime green carpeting. So of course, that had to go.

And since once a year the condo association parks a huge dumpster outside for the whole development to use, and that “once a year” was last weekend, well, it had to go then. With the help of my dad and Nighthawk’s parents, we tore out the lime green carpet and the used-to-be-white yellow shag carpet that we found underneath it. We scraped the remains of the carpet padding off the flooring using a flat-nosed shovel, and filled at least two garbage bags. Then, just to make sure we were thorough, we tore out all the door trim and baseboard.

So needless to say, the first time I woke up this morning (at 4 am) I could about move.

This evening I bought the primer, ceiling paint, and wall paint necessary to go from lavendar to cayman blue (to match the second bedroom). Sometime this week I’ll patch the wallboard where necessary and sand so that I can paint this weekend.

In the meantime, today’s life lesson came while I was driving to work. It’s a twofold lesson, really.

Part one: While driving safely but at a brisk 75 mph pace in the left-hand lane down the highways of Pennsylvania, do not assume that the black car you just passed that looks like a Lincoln Town Car / limousine with the tinted windows and the heavy frame is in fact a limousine, because it may be an unmarked police car.

Part two: If you happen to be driving safely, but at a brisk 75 mph pace in the left-hand lane and pass an unmarked police car that looks like a limo, it’s handy to have some other idiot weaving through the much-more-crowded center and right-hand lanes going at least 80 mph, because the officer of the law is much more likely to go after that guy.

Or, to steal a phrase from my uncle, “Drive like an asshole, you’re gonna get hurt.”

Now it’s almost Tuesday and I just uploaded Saturday’s comic, so I’m going to bed. Sleep well, and drive safely.

Finally finished the 2nd bedroom.

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Well, after two years of work, I can officially declare the second bedroom refinished. Sure, it could use some more furniture, and I need a second set of curtains ’cause the current ones aren’t wide enough, but the floor, walls, and trim are done. The heater vent’s been replaced. The closet’s been refinished and reshelved. The bed and end tables are assembled. And most amazingly, all the trash is out.

I’m beat. We assembled the furniture and hung the curtain rod and curtains tonight. I bought the curtains and the blankets and washed everything. My feet hurt and I don’t remember having actually eaten dinner tonight. I still need to get a shower.

I bought loose tea tonight for my teastick but if I have it now I won’t be able to sleep. I got decaf chai for Christmas – time to crack that open.

Sooo tired.

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So let’s see, since the last update, I’ve:

  • put together the compound mitre saw only to discover that it doesn’t run. Still have to investigate that.
  • baked a total of five pies and four custards, two of which have already been eaten by the crowd at work
  • painted the baseboard
  • wrote around 6,000 words in the novel, leaving me with only 22,000 or so to go
  • procured Bob. Bob is this year’s turkey. Bob is sitting on the bottom of the fridge sulking at the moment.
  • gotten way too little sleep.
  • locked myself out of the house this morning such that I had to wait for my husband to drive home from work and unlock the door so I could get my keys, so that going to work was even an option
  • been damn cold, probably because of all the unexpected outside time today
  • decided to go to bed early.

It’s not looking likely that I’m going to succeed at NaNoWriMo. That isn’t to say that I’ve given up, but with just over a week to write just under the allotted word count, and totally knowing that I’m too tired tonight and too busy Wednesday and Thursday, it’ll be one hell of a challenge. But then, only 6,000 of the 42,000 people who tried last year succeeded, and I’ve already written well more than I have on any other piece of fiction I’ve written ever, so I’m not going to kill myself either.

Floor!

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So I didn’t write today. I didn’t work out. I didn’t draw comics. I didn’t watch TV. I didn’t clean the house.

I, and two very close and wonderful friends, cut and hung crown moulding in my 2nd bedroom, then put down the laminate flooring.

We started out at around 11 and finished up about 10 hours later.

I ache everywhere. I feel like someone’s driven a railroad spike through the center of my back.

And we haven’t even done the T moulding or put the baseboard on. (Hell, I haven’t bought the baseboard.)

Tomorrow I think I’ll be catatonic. That sounds nice.

So, it’s done.

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My last class is finished.

My professor assures us that we’ve all passed.

I’d party but I’m too tired to do much more than eat a celebratory bowl of ice cream and sit like a lump on the sofa. Very shortly (once we’ve determined if Nighthawk’s car battery is dead) I’ll be going to bed.

All at once I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and that the whole world is open to me… and also that I’ve lost a little something, not having class to go to anymore.

They say that these are not the best of times
But they’re the only times I’ve ever known
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own
…
For we are always what our situations hand us
It’s either sadness or euphoria
(billy joel)

I’ve been assured that this will wear off… I’ve also been assured that just because I’m a Master Engineer I won’t necessarily be allowed to drive a train. (Apparently, Conductors do that. I pointed out that I’m mostly water and trace minerals, and they’re both pretty good conductors, but that was not enough.)

And despite fears that I won’t have enough to do, it looks like I’ll be pretty busy. A webcomic to re-buffer, a website to re-revise, my brother-in-law’s birthday / high school graduation party this weekend, Virginia Beach next week, visits from some ideaphiles the week after that, and so on and so forth. And then there’s the floor to finish in the 2nd bedroom and then bathrooms to remodel, etc. etc. it goes on and on. Still, graduation frees up about 10-20 hours a week of my time, so I should be a little more relaxed.

Next Monday my shift changes – I’ll be working 5 days a week for the first time in a few years, 10:30am-7:00pm. Very odd.

To all of you who’ve helped me stay sane these past three years, thank you!

I did it! It’s done.