Archive for the 'movin' on UP!' Category

two steps forward… *now with picture-heavy goodness*

Published
by
ESC
on Monday, May 29, 2006
in daily, family, movin' on UP!, photos and weekend warriors
. 12 Comments

…one step back.

Well, we were all set to finish off the living room and dining room, and then put a big dent in the sunroom.

We got most of the way across the living room/dining room yesterday, and noticed there was a spot where the floor dipped down, and the laminate sunk when you stepped on it.

Yesterday, we tried to fix it by putting another layer of the underlayment on it. Didn’t work. Today we tried to figure out just how big the uneveness was. Pretty big. We ended up removing most of the boards we’d put down yesterday.

Trip to home depot #1: buy paint for bedroom and floorboards, and some sand? maybe we can put sand in the uneveness?

Sand is a no go. Kevin decides it’s too risky.

Trip to home depot #2: pick up quick drying quickrete

quick drying quickrete dries a little too quickly for comfort. first off, the direction seem to be way off on the amount of water to add - barely enough to even stir it. By the time Kev decides to add MORE water, it’s already setting. it won’t spread on the floor. I am frustrated. Kev is downright pissed. Note to quickrete people: expect a call.

Put in a call to Ace. Oh yes, they have something that will work. That is fast drying, but not SO fast drying, and it’s only $10.99 for 25lbs. Oh good, how late are you open today, sir? Umm…we’re closing…now.

It’s 5:00, we’re getting desperate. We call another Ace. They’re open until 6:30. We get there and find something specifically for uneven floors. We buy two boxes. It mixes up smoothly and evenly, and Kev gets it on the floor with minimum trouble. The downside? You have to let it sit overnight before you lay flooring on it.

So instead of laying laminate today, we went to the pool.

And then I picked up some Mrs Winners chicken.

They forgot to give me the biscuits.

I was not taking that crap. Not today.

Back to Mrs. Winners. For the biscuits. I am triumphant. I am full of chicken and biscuits and sweet tea.

tomorrow, I will go into the lab for half a day, then come back and FINISH THIS FLOOR.

And if ANYONE thinks I will be doing this for them any time soon? THINK AGAIN.

But there is some good news today. My darling brother, who never officially graduated because of a class he failed his sophomore year and never made up, and SHOULD have graduated 4 years ago…FINALLY took the art history class and got an A!

He is now officially the best educated tattoo artist in western pa. Boo-ya!

victory dance

Ok, so I found my camera’s USB cord in the pile of furniture in the sunroom. There are more over at the flickr site. Click below for PICTURE GOODNESS!

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uurrrrrggggghhhhh

Published
by
ESC
on Sunday, May 28, 2006
in daily, movin' on UP! and weekend warriors
. 2 Comments

got much done

not done yet

will finish(?) tomorrow

pictures coming soon

hurt….so….much….right…now….

urrrggghhh….

schedule? WHAT schedule?

Published
by
ESC
on Saturday, May 27, 2006
in daily, movin' on UP! and weekend warriors
. 4 Comments

It’s Day 1 of our floor installation weekend. Acutally, we’re halfway through day 1. Ask me how much we’ve done. GO AHEAD, ASK ME!!!

We don’t even have the stuff taken to storage yet. The carpet it still in place. The condo is a mess.

Now ask me why we are so far behind.

WE BOUGHT MORE FLOORING!

*insert cackling maniacal laughter*

Yes, in our spare bedroom is stacked the 600 square feet of the 69 cent/sq foot flooring we bought earlier in the week. But last night, we’re watching TV, and a commercial came on for a flooring warehouse. I am half out of it, but Kev is somewhat paying attention.
“Did they just say wood laminate flooring for 49 cents a squre foot?”

“huh, wha?”

We check out their website, and yes indeed, laminate flooring for 49 cents. But are they way outside the perimeter? Up in the burbs? Well, yes, but then there’s also one REALLY close. Right off the I85 access road - about a 10 minute drive. So yeah, it’s worth it. Overall it would save us over $120. It’s at least worth a check out, to see if it’s comparable to the Ikea flooring.

And…it is! In fact, it’s NICER than the Ikea flooring. It’s a better interlock system, and it’s contructed a little nicer. And it’s a cherry wood finish - much more realistic looking than the Ikea stuff.

We bought it. In fact, we bought MORE so we can go ahead and do the entryway and kitchen.

It’s now stacked in our bedroom, and now we’re completely wiped out from lugging it around. And we still have to haul stuff to storage. And goodwill. And move furniture around so that we can pull up the carpeting. And PRAY that what we find underneath the carpeting isn’t horrifying.

owwwww…my feeeeeet

Published
by
ESC
on Saturday, May 20, 2006
in conversations, movin' on UP! and weekend warriors
. 4 Comments

Phase 2 of “getting the condo ready to sell” has been accomplished: cleaning out our rental storage unit.

It was not easy.

The unit was a disorganized mess. While things were stack neatly around the periphery, everything in the middle had just been thrown in. We organized everything in piles - throw away, donate, keep and repack neatly.

Kev pointed out that most of the things in the donate pile were mine. Insinuating, perhaps, that I have more stuff than him. This is not the case. The TRUTH is, HE WON’T GET RID OF ANYTHING!

here is how many conversations went.

ESC: do you want to keep this [insert useless item that hasn't been used/worn/read for as long as I've known him, and perhaps longer, judging from the bad shape it's in]?

Kev: hmmmm…ehhhhh…uhhhhh….yeah. Throw it in that box over there.

ESC: dammit.

The rats have been active in our unit as well, judging by the massacre of some of my old beanie babies (shut UP, my MOM bought them for me, OK?), and the complete shredding of a very old Tolkein paperback of Kev’s.

We had Sadie with us to keep us company, though she spent a good deal of time barking threateningly at the parade of very large great dane and great dane-like dogs belonging to the very nice lesbian couple working at their unit a little ways down from ours. They were very chatty and nice. They even had a pond in one of their units - one of those plastic pond forms - which they filled with water and let their dogs play in. When they were done, they let Sadie play in it. She was a little uncertain at first - “is this a BATH? I don’t like BATH. This feels like it might be a BATH.” But then there were little floaty ball toys she could bark at and beg us to throw…uh…two feet to her left, so she could dig at the water and pick up the ball and fling it out of the pond. She was in doggy pond heaven.

Kev got to the storage unit around 1, I joined him after my workout and working in the lab for a bit, around 2:30. We finally finished work around 9. We threw away a truckload of trash, and now we have a truckload to donate to goodwill. There is plenty of room in the unit now for the additional furniture I want to move out of here.

Tomorrow we’ll pack up stuff and furniture to move out there.

Next week, the flooring goes in.

In the meantime…I need to take a bath and soak my feet. They are SORE from standing on concrete all day.

but it feels GOOD to have all that done!

***UPDATE****

ahhhh….that was WONDERFUL. And epsom salt bath soak with my eukalyptis bubble bath and gel. I am clean and smooth and good smelling. And my feet feel SO MUCH BETTER. Especially since I attacked them with a pumice stone. Take THAT callus!