In The Middle of Difficulty

As mentioned in a previous post, the first photo is of the two flats of fifty-five boxes of hardwood flooring that was delivered (dumped) in my driveway that I had to carry into the garage. Although it was challenging, one musters the strength to do what one has to do and feels good about it once done (although a little sore).

"Life only demands from you the strength you possess." ~ Dag Hammarskjold ~

The second photo is of the hardwood flooring in bedroom number two that I had to remove. It was perfectly good flooring, but it ran the wrong direction and it also was difficult to match. The photo below shows all the nails in each of the boards I removed. All the nails had to be ground off with the rotary grinder so that they could be stacked and ready to reinstall at my brother's duplex someday. 'Can't waste perfectly good flooring like that.


"Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein ~

If you've looked at my profile, my profession is in the fine and graphic arts so I am definitely stepping out of my comfort zone with this project. But I am enjoying stretching my boundaries, learning and doing new things and I've noticed a spring in my step going up the stairs. Is it hard? Very! But, I've learned that I can do it. And, that's a pretty good feeling....

Images of Probabilities

"The moment of enlightenment is when a person's dreams of possibilities become images of probabilities." ~ Vic Braden ~

As promised, these are the floor plans and design changes that I submitted to the city for the building permit. The first floor changes include all the overhead lights, chandelier and pendant lights I am installing and the location I managed to squeeze a half bath into (which required moving the entry closet to the left of the front door).

The second floor changes include radically enlarging the closets in bedrooms two and three. The original only bathroom in the house will now have a whirlpool tub. The former master bedroom closet will now become the master bathroom by breaking through a wall and incorporating part of the space in the three season porch for the shower and the master bedroom closet. All floors will be covered either in 3/4" prefinished oak hardwood or ceramic tile.

Another economical success was shopping at an appliance liquidation sale where I purchased a french door/bottom freezer refrigerator, five burner gas stove, microwave rangehood and dishwasher, all in stainless steel, delivered, for the price of a refrigerator in the regular marketplace. That scored some wiggle-room in my budget, which I was quite happy about.

"Every man is the architect of his own fortune." ~ Sallust ~

Catching Up

I hate to admit that I traveled once again ... but what can I say? When the opportunity arises one must go with the flow. I went down to St. Petersburg, Florida, to visit two very good friends. I've seen each from time to time individually, but this is the first time in ten years we've all been in the same room together. Besides reminiscing, walking the beaches, making more memories, and eating out every meal, we went to the Dali Museum in Tampa. There's a music video I love that shows a drawing of a telephone with a lobster as the mouth and earpiece. I always wondered about that. I was

elated to know that it actually was a nod to Salvador Dali.

I've been working like crazy on the house. 'Had to get the building permit from the city inspectors office which took some time. I will try to scan the floorplan and the changes I am making to the house that I had to submit for approval. It's a little ambitious but, God willing, the house will be absolutely wonderful once complete.

"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." ~ Aristotle ~

I did find the prefinished wood flooring I was shopping for and at an unbelievable price ... two entire floors to be done for $3,000.00. That's unheard of! I once spent that much for a hallway (installed of course). This price is for material only and I will do the installation. I did pay for it in another way though .... when they delivered the flooring, they simply left two bundled flats of fifty-five boxes in the driveway and drove off. 'Couldn't leave it there, so I cut the bundles apart and carried each box of about seventy-five pounds into the garage. Once again a test to my physical endurance. Everyday life wins out against the trainers at the gym!

So much more to cover. I've been working sometimes until 9:00 at night. I've got a lot to catch up on but I remembered to take pictures so it should be fairly easy to recap! Later.... !

In Time of Need

'Sorry for the lapse in posting on my blog. It surprises me when I find other people behave differently than what I expect ... perhaps I keep my face turned so much to the sun that I fail to see that they are looking at the shadows. But, it's alright because you can't get through life happily without being "oft forgiving~most kind".

"Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness." ~ George Sand ~

Snoqualmie Pass, WA and Couer D'Alene, ID

So, that lesson learned, I was immediately tested on my commitment to a family member. Without boring you with details, the end result is that I spent a month and a week assisting him in rejoining his wife and child.

"We are not put on this earth for ourselves, but are placed here for each other. If you are always there for others, then in time of need, someone will be there for you." ~ Jeff Warner~

Missoula, MT and St. Joseph, MO

It was both a trying and memorable experience and resulted in much happiness. Since I had the only valid drivers license, I was enlisted to drive a 14 foot UHaul truck with a flat-bed car trailer towed behind from Tacoma, WA, to St. Joseph, MO. This meant going over two mountain ranges to get there, but I have to hand it to UHaul, their equipment was excellent and performed beautifully. The first day was a little nerve-wracking, but the second and third days were as if I were driving a family van. The scenery was astonishingly beautiful, and the company was held hostage to companionable discussion, shared experience and comfortable silence. I will never regret putting the house on hold in order to have this memory with him. Thank God I wasn't locked into a nine to five job that would limit my ability to go.

Neighborliness

"Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together." ~Johann von Goethe ~

It seems I got lucky as far as neighbors go. The first few days I owned the house the neighbor across the street came over to talk and shovel the driveway with me. He managed to give me quite a bit of history about the neighbors...chatty storytelling. Apparently, one of the neighbors (she's in her nineties) was one of the first residents more than seventy years ago. She was newly married and hanging wash out to dry when a cow came up and nudged her in the back. Then who adopted and from what country, etc. Who got "frisky" after their kids were grown and ended up with a surprise baby at menopause. Well, I was thoroughly charmed by the conversation as he had such a matter-of-fact affect and colorful language (not in the swearing sense). And, I had assistance shoveling the snow to boot!

"He does good to himself who does good to his friend." ~ Erasmus ~

My next door neighbor came over to meet us as my brother, Mom and I were walking in one day. I introduced him to my brother and then he said he knew our mother (my brother and I were shooting a look at each other like - yeah, sure!). But, it turns out he drives bus for the adult day care that Mom attends and he did indeed know her. Well, Mom ended up in the hospital this past week (she's out now and recovering) and then it snowed. So, my brother and I came to the house today armed with shovels as we figured we would need to clear the snow to get the garbage bin filled with cement and tile out to the curb for pickup tomorrow. What did we find? The driveway was cleared. We could tell the next door neighbor had cleared a footpath for the postman to walk on from house to house and then continued on into my driveway and cleared that as well. Was it because he knew Mom was in the hospital and that I was busy caring for her? Perhaps. But it most certainly brought a smile to my face and filled my heart with gratitude.

"We are primarily on this earth not to see through one another, but to see one another through." ~ Peter De Vries ~

No More Popcorn!

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." ~ Zig Ziglar ~

Happy to say that by now I have managed to scrape all the popcorn texture off the 2nd floor ceilings and the lower level ceilings on the 1st floor. The first photo shows the tools I use, the most important of which is the garden mister. It has a continuous spray button on the spray lever and being that the water comes out as a mist you don't get all those drips falling back down on you. So, just moisten the popcorn and let it sit a couple of minutes and then start scraping. You will end up with a nice flat surface ready to be skim coated, sanded and painted.

"When we show respect for other living things, they respond with respect for us."
~Arapaho Indian Proverb ~

I do have to add that as I was spraying the ceiling I did notice that I was destroying the habitat of a very small spider. I figure the mist gave them fair warning to vacate the premises. And, I would prefer to live in a spider-free environment if possible. Those of you who have popcorn on their ceilings might want to check closer and see if these little creatures are watching over you as well.

"When a person is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself."
~ Sir Alexander Paterson ~

I always keep a couple of projects going at the same time so when I tire of one I can move on to the other. My other easier project is to remove all the carpet tack at the borders of each room. Won't be needing that anymore! I am shopping for hardwood floors which I should be able to get for half price if I do the install myself. So, I'm off to do some shopping!

Grateful!

"Perseverance is not a long race: it is many short races, one after another." ~ Walter Elliot~

With a lot of perseverance and some help on Sunday from my brother, we accomplished in one day what I anticipated would have taken three days on my own. I must say I have a mighty nice brother to have sacrificed his Sunday off for hard labor, but we've already arranged that I pay him back in sweat equity. He has a house full of popcorn ceilings that I will be more than happy to scrape for him. Again, thanks a ton! Literally!

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

~ Chinese Proverb~

So now I have a mountain of cement crumbles and broken tiles in twenty-three contractor bags and a mound of tile, cement and wire mesh in my garage. I figure it will take a couple of months to get it hauled away in the regular garbage.

In renovating a home, you uncover a bit of the social history related to the time it was built. In 1946 the United States was in post WWII, a time recovering from rationing, doing without, "waste not, want not". And these tin cans are indicative of that mentality. Have a hole to cover? Don't run off to the hardware store to buy sheet metal! What do we have here in the garbage? Sure! A tin can will do it! We could all use a bit more of that innovative frugality these days considering our current environmental concerns. So, I'll leave these charming bits of history as they are under my flooring doing their job just as good as the store bought kind. Perhaps our ancestors internalized the following quote and the importance of our actions:

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results." ~Herman Melville~