home is where the couch is

I'm currently laying on the couch drinking something full of glucose-fructose and vodka, trying to rest my aching neck. I have been painting all weekend and it's been great! Even though I'm sore and hungry and wish someone would feed me, I look around and sigh happy sighs cause it's starting to look like a real house!

When the Man started mudding and sanding, I thought, "Oh, this will just take a week or so and I can paint next weekend." Hahaha. Three looong weeks later...I was finally pulling on my painting clothes and painting!

I have to say that he did a pretty good job - actually an excellent job - but we are never doing this again. Any mudding and sanding is going to be hired out. It causes so much stress and frustration and more than too much swearing at each other and it's not worth our marriage. Frustration for me because I want it done faster and I want it perfect. Stress on him because I'm pressuring him and he also wants it perfect. He does, honest.





And gave the ceiling one more coat, filling in the cracks that didn't get painted. Filling in allll those cracks. Reaching up and looking up and pushing paint into the cracks. That's where the sore neck came from.


When I was done, the Man went out to buy some 2x4's so he can get started on the fireplace surround AND flooring guys are coming soon to give me some quotes. That's another thing that I want to pay someone to do. They'll be able to do it in a day (is that an unrealistic timeline?) but it would take us months. And we'd have to rent tools for multiple days - like that thing you smack with a hammer. By then end of it, it would've been cheaper for us to hire someone and we would still like each other. Which is the final goal, to continue to like each other through this reno. :-)

How do you motivate someone to do something that they don't want to?

This is an issue I've been having. The Man needs to finish the drywall and he's stalling and although I do a lot of things, this isn't something I'm good at. I'm good at broad, not needing to be perfect things. Like painting and sandblasting, destroying things and dreaming up big ideas. Mudding and sanding is finicky and a better job for a perfectionist.

So I've been trying to 'motivate' him. Nagging doesn't work, leaving him alone doesn't work. Neither does crying, begging and pleading. Threatening to do it myself kind of works and I think I'm going to have to get out the tools for it to actually happen. 

I realize it's summer and it's so beautiful out there. You want honesty? This is what I'm tired of.


It looks like I'm a hoarder.



I'm not.

I like stuff, but this is crazy. This is my empty back room all shoved into my dining room. This is all our tools and construction stuff. Look! There's even a path, just like hoarders have.

I have even debated hiring someone, but number one - we're cheap. Number two - the majority of people we hire, we are not very impressed with their work and end up fixing it.



This is our floor that we paid to make sure it was level along with rearranging our walls. Something else we have to fix.

So, if you know an amazing, cheap drywaller and you actually have seen his work and know that there's no bumps, the tape is not visible and there's no bubbles in the finished product, let me know. I'm getting desperate and may actually put out some cash for this to get done.

I have beaten the painted brick wall.

 It was hard work. I scraped with metal scrapers, used chemical peels, used a wire metal drill attachment and even telekinesis to try and strip the paint from the wall. The paint fought hard but I finally beat it with sand. And a sandblaster.

The sandblaster and a few bags of empty sand

It wasn't my first choice. Obviously I tried lots of things and when the only soda blaster guy I could find around Peterborough quoted me $1200.00 (whatever!) I finally gave in and used the thing I didn't want to use. Sandblasting leaves pits in the brick, especially when the brick is over 100 years old. And it leaves buckets of sand all through the house. But I really hated that paint and I was desperate.

I went in to the Rent All place to order the sandblaster. A guy showed me how to use it. Easy peasy. I asked that it be delivered before I got home from work at 3. I get home and what do I see? Nothing. I was not impressed. Finally at around 4:30, my compressor and sandblaster are here, set up but not quite running.

The Compressor finally in my driveway

The delivery guy leaves and I start up the air. Nothing is coming out from the sandblaster. I move stuff around, wiggle valves around...nothing but air. I begin to have a small conniption. I call the Rent All place. They're closed. How convenient. Deliver it late and then I can't call for help. Unimpressed Me is stomping around, trying to figure this out. There are phone calls to my Little Brother because he's good with machines and a bit of screaming at the Man. I am heartbroken. I just want this to work and I want the paint off the wall. I don't care how dirty and sore I have to get but I want it done today. (I may or may not be going through perimenopause which according to Dr.Oz, can cause rages. Or I just may be kind of crazy. Whatever the case is, my rages are kind of funny, but not really if you're getting the brunt of it.)

Just one of the many piles of sand IN MY HOUSE.

Suddenly it worked! The Man had fixed it. My hero. He saw that the delivery guy had the hoses in the wrong place, switched them around and voila, sand blasting out from a hose. A few hours later and the paint was gone.



The End.

Some things I've learned:

• Sandblasting is fun. 
• Sandblasting is really messy.
• If you sandblast in your house, you will need to take breaks because you will not be able to see anything due to the amazing amount of dust. It will look like your house is blowing smoke out its windows.
• You should probably wear ear protection even though you think it's not that loud. The zinging of the sand makes your ears ring like you've been at a concert.
• Sand gets everywhere. But I'm sure I knew that from previous beach experiences.