Done with the floors, moving on...

Finally finally finally the floors are done. I almost cried the other day when we walked in and found a big polyurethane gloop in the middle of the living room. My dad came and sanded it down and we were able to fix it, but oh did I feel sick at first. These floors have been hard work but they look beautiful!

Tomorrow, I paint. I got enough paint to do the bedrooms and the living room and all of the trim in the house. I just spent $160 at Home Depot. Somehow, I suspect that I will be spending more time at the Home Depot that I will at work or with my loved ones. Maybe I can pick up a hunky contractor who loves to paint. Stranger things have happened, right?

Boys and big machines...

Today I finally figured out why guys like using big machines. It is because they are so very much easier to use than little ones. It has nothing to do with penis size or anything like that-it is pure laziness. Think about it-Bulldozer: Big machine, Shovel: Little one. Which one is easier physically to use? Bulldozer. Floor sander: Big machine, Palm sander: Little. I can very safely say, after three days of crawling around on my hands and knees on hardwood floors, that anyone who would rather use the little machine than the big one is totally on crack.

My floors are looking beautiful. The first coat of varnish is on. My knees, hands, legs are black and blue.

Sanding and sanding and sanding...

I sanded floors for 12 hours today. 12 hours. Everything in my body hurts. Even my fingers. But those floors are going to look beautiful when we get done tomorrow some time. There is still more sanding to do tomorrow. I am fairly sure that I will be shedding dust for the next 10 years. And I think my breath is coming out in sawdust puffs-sort of like a dragon.

Tomorrow, we sand more, wipe down with tack cloth and start the first coat of varnish. Then it is time to start picking paints.

Owning a house is exhausting.

It's official, packing sucks...

I woke up today feeling crappy. I vegged most of the day away watching HGTV and finding ideas for my new house. I apparently want to pack my house so little that I am willing to make myself ill to avoid it. Scratchy throat, sore ear, cough. Yep, I am a total headcase.

Now that it is 8 pm I am finally feeling a bit better and have found some motivation. I packed for 30 minutes straight and was surprised by how much I got accomplished. The laundry room is ready to go. Now on to the kitchen.

Part of the difficulty is that I still need to keep enough stuff out to live so I can't pack an entire room at a time. Mostly I have been focusing on the crap catching areas so far. Maybe that is part of the problem. Much of the stuff I am putting in boxes should be going to Goodwill or the used book store or the trash. Maybe I'll just leave it in boxes when I get to the new house and see what I really need in all of it. If it sits for six months without being missed, it won't ever be will it? I need to continue focusing on a more simplistic, material-free lifestyle. Too bad I like clothes and shoes and books so much.

I did do some searching for paint colors yesterday. I think I'll keep the living room neutral-tanish brown with cream trim and a lighter tan ceiling. The extra bedroom is going to be a pale gender-neutral yellow. I don't want it to be too girly. I am thinking blue for my bedroom but can't find a shade that has appealed to me so far. I like the idea of a light blue but everything looks too much like a baby bootie. I want something peppy and cheerful for my office-maybe red? Or, I could do it in pink. I have always wanted a pink room but have been afraid to do it. It's small. I could make it pink. How cool is it that I can finally do whatever the hell I want and no one else can say anything about it. I may just start an affair with Mr. Sherwin Williams and see where it takes me.

I'm in (kinda)...

Today's big realization is that cleaning a house you almost own is really no more fun than cleaning a house you are renting. In fact, it is quite a bit more disgusting. The previous owners let the funk grow in the bottom of the fridge. I think I puked in my mouth a couple of times while cleaning it. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. I got the ice maker working buy rigging it with a piece of bread tie-I think I may need a part there. I cleaned the funky-dirty stove and self-cleaned the oven. Cleaned the windows, wiped out cupboards, scrubbed bathroom which was in in a surprisingly pristine state.

The best part is that I have the most amazing family ever. I stopped by the parent's house to borrow their shop vac and then ran a couple of errands around town. By the time I got to the new house, my dad pulled up with the lawn mower, trimmers and chain saw and worked on the yard for four hours. It looks MUCH better than it did yesterday and he even got all but one of the sprinkler heads working. My mom came by a bit after that and helped clean. My grandma even joined in and-while she was really in the way more than helping-cleaned her little heart out all afternoon.

I do feel loved today.

Now I am writing this instead of actually doing any of the cleaning or packing that needs to happen in this house. I need to get moving but I just don't want to. Maybe I'll take a nap and will feel better after that.

Finally, It's happened to me...

IT has been weeks-WEEKS since I thought that the house buying process was almost done. I was so wrong. FInally, today, 29 days after signing my buy/sell agreement, I have signed the papers. Now they need to be filed with the county and the mortgage funds need to get to the seller and I will be the proud owner of a large mortgage. Actual ownership of the house comes 5 years down the line when some equity builds.

I was able to get in it though and measure and look around. Tomorrow, I'll clean.

As I was leaving tonight at almost dusk, I did drive by a yard full of cholos. I have never been there after dark. On a Friday. This could be a mistake. Those boys are up to no good too much of the time. And they are the 20-something variety, not the 15-somethings. The kids I can deal with, the adults are kind of scary for me.

Guess I need to start packing now. Yuck.