Fun and Frolic With Long-Term Love

[Bluebird]

So, I cried all morning but managed to struggle into the shower and only arrive ten minutes late to my appointment. I cried the entire time I was at the dentist, and they wrote me a prescription for a single Valium for my next appointment in 2 weeks. They told me to take it the night before so I can sleep, and then to come to my appointment 30 minutes early so they can either give me some harder stuff (I forget the name) or hit me with some gas. I was told I should definitely have a driver. So yeah, that happened.

Unable to spend the rest of my day huddled up in bed, I left the dentist and picked up Conlan and Fergus and took them to the clinic. They both had strong negative test results to the ERISA snap test, so they do not have stage 1 Feline Leukemia. So relieved. That said, they are 8 weeks past contact with their mom, so they have had enough time to move to stage 2, and this test doesn't detect stage 2. Sigh. They are still foster cats, but the shelter won't pay for further testing. My vet is willing to give us the next test - IFA - with the shelter discount. I have to call tomorrow to set it up. I think it will still be a little over $400. The issue now is that if they test negative, the shelter will pronounce them FeLV free and will make them available for adoption. However, if we don't test them soon enough, it is possible for the disease to have gone into a latency period between stages, where it isn't detectable at all. That is rare for kittens though. We are just going to go by what our vet says is the best course of action.

I came back home after the shelter visit and picked up DarkKnight. He was donating double red blood cells today, so I got to sit in a waiting room for a little over an hour. I have a runny nose and sniffles, so I decided not to donate. DarkKnight is type O negative, so the blood places are always excited to see him! By the time he got out, I thought I was going to pass out. I hadn't eaten all day and it was like almost 6 pm. So, we went right around the corner to our favorite Mexican place and I had fajitas, as always. They were the best ever because I was so famished.

Then, we went over to the new house where we both half-heartedly pulled up the kitchen floor. Me, because I was exhausted and still emotional from my traumatic morning, and DarkKnight because he had just given away a crap ton of blood! But, together we got the job done. DarkKnight scored the linoleum with a box cutter and then pulled it up. When he would finish a bunch, he'd stop, take a break and drink a bottle of water. While he was resting, I'd go in and use a scraper to get rid of all the sticky bottom papery parts of the linoleum that were left behind on the subfloor, and pick up and bag all the chunks he pulled away. Teamwork!

Thankfully, there's only the one water-damaged section of plywood, in front of the dishwasher. We will have to cut that out and put down a new subfloor there, but that should be relatively inexpensive. Hopefully we don't have to replace anything else. I have never put down peel and stick tile, so I don't know about what the rest of the floor needs to be like. It is relatively smooth, but sticky. Ha! Like me! Lolololol

 

[Bluebird]

Well, farts. Apparently all the sticky glue left on the subfloor is a bad thing. Rather then spend all week trying to scrape it off, we're going to buy more sheets of luan and nail it down overtop. Then we'll have a smooth clean surface for the peel and stick tile. Fuck a duck. I really didn't want to spend even more money on this, but it is what it is. I am not fully awake yet this morning, but someone is going to have to math out how many sheets of underlayment we need, and that person isn't me! If I remember correctly though, I think the kitchen floor was like 90 sq ft, and the luan is sold in 4x8 sheets...so 3? Make it 4 because we have to cut out and then double up on that one section...and at $11.99 a sheet. $50. Sigh. I guess I can math in the morning. I think we need special nails too.

I think we will have time to go buy all of this, but I have to get to the bank and order new checks for my son and for my own polycule shared account. Also, my son owes me $230 so I should transfer that over. I also need a quick stop at Sam's Club for cat food. PunkRock has the day off and he needs to spend it painting the kitchen ceiling and I guess painting the walls too, if he can get to it. At 4 pm we have blood tests for our life insurance policies, so we will have to stop for that and then dinner. Yeah, I think this is doable. I guess we will see!

 

[starlight1]

Your housing renovations are so motivating and exciting! I can't wait to see the end results. I'm totally one of those "obsessed with your blog" people. lol

 

[Bluebird]

Ok, fun morning. I researched washer/dryer sets and it looks like those are on sale right now for about as low as they will go for a while, so we are going to pull the trigger on ordering new ones tomorrow. I also called to schedule a dumpster to be delivered to the new house next Friday. I need to fill out some paper form, which was emailed to me, but so am at the new house and can't print it. So, I will do that later. I will pay cash for both purchases, so say goodbye to another $1500.

PunkRock is painting the ceiling in the kitchen and he took down the one light in there. The dining room light is still hanging out, but the cover is off the ceiling, so it won't interfere with his paint job. Apparently our 5 gallon bucket of ceiling paint is almost gone - he's hoping it will last through to do the coat closet and the basement landing ceilings as well. If not, I guess I will be buying another gallon. Oh, and PunkRock agrees that we need to buy underlayment and such for the kitchen floor so that is now on my to do list for tomorrow morning, and then PunkRock can install it on a Saturday afternoon. We are figuring painting today and tomorrow, and then flooring Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully that is enough time! DarkKnight will be over after work today to hopefully unhook the old dishwasher's electrical stuff.

I made an appointment for tomorrow at 3 pm for Conlan & Fergus to get their FeLV second stage tests done. I am waiting for a call back to confirm the price. THAT is going on a credit card, unfortunately. I should be able to cover it in a few weeks though.

I am currently looking at living room furniture and rugs for there. I don't have cash for it but again, President's Day sales. If we can get a decent set for a good price I will charge that too and pay it off in June when Chemistry class payments roll in. PunkRock says he is ok with that idea, but I have to run it by DarkKnight. Everyone has to be on board for that to happen - I am not going to acquire even short term debt if it causes anyone stress. Though, now that my daughter is getting a storage unit for her stuff, she can put the loveseat we currently own in there since she wants it, and we could then sell the couch and get the stuff I really want. Did I mention that I am impatient? Lol

 

[Bluebird]

So I did order the dumpster and it will be delivered next Friday between 4 am and noon. $325. Ugh. Very necessary though! PunkRock didn't run out of paint and the kitchen ceiling is finished, as well as the landing and coat closet ceilings. Yay! Today when he gets off of work he is heading straight to the house to try and get the plumbing squared away on the old dishwasher. DarkKnight can't unhook the electrical, because the box it is housed on is put on backward, on the bottom of the dishwasher. So it is effectively blocked unless you can move the entire appliance out of the cabinet. Except we can't do that because there is a big pipe still attached to the bottom. The threaded section won't budge and it's at an awkward angle, so the plan today is for PunkRock to hit it with a hacksaw. Then, when DarkKnight is off work later, he can come over and do the electrical, and then the damn thing can get out of the kitchen. Lol I did have a call last night from someone looking to buy it, so I hope we can get this completed today!

I haven't posted much lately about my weight loss attempts, but so thought I would update. I have gained exactly 20 pounds since WarMan and I started having issues last summer, and that was on top of the 10 I gained after a year with PunkRock. So 30 total in the last 3 years. I don't feel healthy and nothing is fitting anymore. I'm seriously gross. I got a call early this week from Johns Hopkins that I qualified for a research study that I applied for in 2015. I had forgotten all about it, but they have me coming in today at 8:30 to do some testing and then I will go back in on Monday for follow up. If all that works out and I still qualify, I will be given even more tests and then put into the program. It isn't a weight loss program, but it does involve being fat. Yay? I am stoked to get some testing done today for free at least, because it involves my A1C and that hasn't been looked at since way before I started dating PunkRock. Like 4 years ago, I was told my number was borderline for pre-diabetes, and I lost a lot of weight because I was motivated. Now I've gained this weight back so it's kinda important to see where that number is now. It is worrisome, but just getting retested is motivational, I think. I have to get this shit together. I miss my sexy self!

Anyway, I have testing this morning and then I have to go to the grocery store. I am meeting a friend at 1 pm because she wants to buy some storage cabinets I own, and then at 3 pm the kittens go and have their stage 2 testing down at the vet's office. Busy day! I hope to have more time this evening to look at rugs and lighting and living room furniture, but I also still need to go buy the underlayment for the kitchen.

 

[Bluebird]

I'm chilling at the new house, waiting for PunkRock to finish what he's working on, so here is some new house porn for peeps! I will have to break this post up.

So I made it to Home Depot today and bought all the underlayment we need to redo the kitchen subfloor this weekend. The 4x8' sheets were way too big, so I got them cut down.

Success! Everything fits in my car. This is what $52 looks like in my world right now.

PunkRock got the plumbing sorted and DarkKnight cut the electrical wiring. Teamwork! The dishwasher is now in the living room, awaiting sale. You can really see the old asbestos flooring - super intense, huh? The moldy subfloor will be gone soon - see previous pictures of the new underlayment.

View of the dining area. PunkRock finished painting the ceiling, but in the interim, the vintage light fixture had to come down. We still need the light though, as we are awaiting the replacement part for the new Sputnik lamp I bought. Sigh.

PunkRock started painting the soffits tonight. They're supposed to be "Whitewashed Oak," which is a light gray. I can't wait til the stencil is gone, but it's going to take a few coats. I am freaking out a little bit because after he got a little further along with the painting, the color is starting to take on a purple tint. I can't have purple in here! Hopefully it mellows once it dries and we get more coats on it!

 

[Bluebird]

Two more lighting pics! First, the old vintage kitchen light. There are two more just like it in the basement.

I think this is ugly as all hell. I love my new light MUCH more!

 

[Bluebird]

Okay, I am about to call it a night now, but I wanted to finish up with my entries today with my living room stuff.

You can see the fireplace work has come to a full stop. It should restart on March 5, as before then we are just too busy in the kitchen. However, today I was messing around with living room furniture placement. The long board is an 80 inch couch. No, really. I ended up pushing it back closer to the window.

Yeah, we bought a new couch. It's a sleeper sofa, so when my kiddos or other family visit, we have a place for them to crash. Also, we host couch surfers from time to time.

The throw pillows will be tossed. They don't go with my room.

I really liked this style. It's mid century but still, well, modern. It was funny - PunkRock and DarkKnight went with me last night separately, and they both thought this was too soft. I went again alone this morning because a new couch style has turned up online and yep, the store had it. So I liked it ok, and took both my guys together tonight to sit on it, and they both decided that this first couch was great. I'm like, are you guys fucking with me right now? Lol

We ended up buying the side chair from the other living room set. The pattern was kinda ugh at first, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked it. The guys both liked the feel of it, so yeah, ours now.

Here's a close up of everything:

The couch color is perfect with the fireplace tile, I think, and the accent pillow shows the graphic print of the chair better, I think. The paint swatch got whitened out by the phone but it's the living room wall - Light Drizzle. It's a muted blue.

Oh, I will end with some lighting. We bought this arc lamp too.

 

[Bluebird]

Today looks like it will be another busy one. We had a guy show up at the house this morning, asking our last name and when it was confirmed, he said our table was delivered to his house. At a street that starts with the first two letters of our street's name, but otherwise not even close. He wanted to tell us that the delivery company has been stalling picking it up, but that it should get to us today. Holy crap. Lol

I need to shower and then go meet someone who is buying an extra blanket I have in storage. Then DarkKnight and I have a bunch of stuff to do at Home Depot! We are finally going to order our washer and dryer, and we are going to delay our appliance delivery for a week. There is just too much to be done in the kitchen and I don't want to rush things. This means I also have to delay the plumber and the dumpster delivery too. Fun times! Anyway, also at Home Depot, I am returning the vinyl kickplate I bought for the kitchen. I decided I wanted actual wood trim. After removing all the existing vinyl, I thought it just made sense to replace like with like, but really, it looks cheap. We should be able to get 4" baseboard molding for about the same cost, pre-primered. I am going to buy some individual strips of the vinyl kickplate to go under the cabinets though. I also want to look at bathroom sink tops. Oh! I also just remembered I wanted to look at linoleum for the inside bottom of a couple of closets. They are supposed to be getting new styles in soon, and I want to make easy-clean areas for litter boxes to live.

DarkKnight has a mile-long list. Today he is replacing all of the closet light globes, removing all of the drawers and doors in the kitchen, taking off the blinds and window hardware in the kitchen, and putting on wood putty on the remaining cabinet frames, so that PunkRock can sand them tonight. DarkKnight also needs to pop on all the switchplates in his office and our daughter's room, since those are painted.

 

[Bluebird]

Lots of business going on at the new house. All of us are tired but things are getting done.

Yesterday, we bought new stuff.

I am a little afraid to even use these. They look so futuristic! The best part is that I saved $400 because we got the floor models and there is a small dent on one. Uh, I don't even care about that. It's a freakin washer and dryer and it will live in my garage. Lol Well, room that used to be a garage. Can I just get a huge hurray for a house that has the hookups on the same level as most of the bedrooms. I am so psyched about that! Anyway, we bought the set yesterday and PunkRock and I rented a truck today and brought them to the new house.

Okay, okay, I know I said we weren't working on the master bath until after we move in, but this popped up in my Facebook yard sale feed. Seriously - $50 for the vanity AND the sink top. Freaking PERFECT. What's crazy is that DarkKnight actually went to look a different cabinet yesterday, and it was JUST the vanity part, for $50 and it wasn't brand new and in great condition like this one. No top. I am pretty psyched. But yeah, it's going in the basement storage area and I promise no work on the master bath! For reals.

We didn't buy this yet, as DarkKnight picked it out prior to us going to purchase the vanity. What is hysterical is that a couple of days ago, PunkRock and I had a conversation about how he wants a waterfall faucet in the bathroom. And then DarkKnight and I went and looked at faucets, and he was ALL about them. I had to ask him if we had just had a conversation, but no, it was definitely PunkRock. They are sometimes the same person, and it makes me laugh but it also sort of scares me! Anyway, I am on purpose not buying this until later because if it were here, I would be tempted to whine and have PunkRock install everything. We don't have time to do it though, so I am trying to just put it out of my mind for now. But it will be ours. Just not in February. For reals.

Y'all believe me, right?

Yesterday DarkKnight did a TON of odds and ends at the new place. He created a shared honeydew list, and so I just add stuff on it and when he goes to the new house, he has a list of chores. This is him replacing all the closet lights with closed globe fixtures. We were told it's against code to have bare light bulbs in closets, because if they break, well, glass in your clothing isn't exactly exciting. So, we bought these back when we bought the house and it's about time they went up. He also filled lots of holes in the kitchen cabinet framework with putty, prepped the kitchen windows for primer and removed the under-cabinet kickplates. We've decided to do all new wood baseboards in the kitchen. What was there was ugly brown 4" vinyl strips. I bought white vinyl, but seriously, whenever i priced out 4" molding, like regular big baseboards made of wood, it came out to the same price. So I returned the vinyl stuff yesterday.

Oh! I just won an eBay auction tonight for a clock, that will go in the living room.

 

[Bluebird]

And some more house porn. Honestly, it's the only kind of porn you'll get from me, because I haven't had sex in what feels like ages. PunkRock promises some good loving tonight, so I am hoping he still has energy later! He and I were peas and carrots today since DarkKnight had to work a 12 hour shift. We came home for dinner, but then PunkRock went back to do more painting since we are behind schedule with that. DarkKnight and I got caught up with season 2 of The Expanse and it was nice to just chill out for a bit. I spent over an hour today totaling up receipts and I am missing a few so that is not good. Tomorrow will be a paperwork day, and I am going to help my daughter with renting her a storage unit.

Okay, so painting. The color I picked for the kitchen looks fucking purple. It's supposed to be gray. It's called Whitewashed Oak. It's bullshit.

PunkRock spent yesterday painting half the kitchen this color, only to have me come in and freak out. It is waaay too blue. That picture was taken with one coat done. I told him to stop and we thought about it for a while. Today we bought some 60 watt soft white light bulbs and that helped, but I also had PunkRock slap up some of the gray paint I bought for the hallway - called Classic Silver. It was darker, but it looked much less blue based. So today I went and ordered a gallon in a satin sheen so it will match the other wall paint in the room. I mean, the cabinets are a semi gloss, but if you remember, I am wanting a graphic wall on the other side of kitchen, like in this inspiration pic.

I know I have posted that before. Anyway, the Hallway paint was eggshell sheen, and with the white and green on the wall being both satin, I had to get the Silver in a satin as well, or it would be shitty.

Here is PunkRock making me so happy by repainting half the kitchen in Classic Silver. In this photo he's just done the edging, so you can see the old gray there too.

Honestly, I don't think that is a good photo because it looks kind of washed out, and the light bulbs have been replaced, so the gray on the bottom doesn't really look as blue. Trust me though, it was BLUE.

I guess I will round out this entry with the taping I did for the graphic wall. It was REALLY crooked on the gray line, but it didn't matter, as PunkRock just wanted me to show him how I wanted things. The tape got ripped down afterward. Right now this is what PunkRock is doing - repainting that gray to silver, and then doing the green as well. That way it will be dry tomorrow night and we can tape things off again and paint the white.

I can not even explain how excited I am about my kitchen.

 

[Bluebird]

Ok, 3 of 3 entries tonight! I will stop, I swear!

Finally, my chimney cap is up. I ordered this ages ago online and it was like $200. We have a double flue and you have to order these suckers to size. Almost NONE of our neighbors have a chimney cap. I just can't fathom that - birds and bats and rain and shit can get into your chimney and build nests and ruin everything! Why would you not have them protected?? Our immediate neighbor has chicken wire over each flue, which I guess is better than nothing. But everyone else is wide open to Mother Nature. I am sad for me, because the years have not been kind to our chimney - the crown is cracking and as soon as Spring is here for real we are repairing it and sealing it up nice. It is water damaged and needs some love. We were told the inside of the chimney is not so good either, so we are going to have to hire someone later on to come and look at it. I am not sure if we will end up repairing the mortar or having a liner installed. Either way, that part of the job will go to a professional, but it does mean several thousand dollars, more than likely. However, with the cap and the crown repaired, there won't be any further neglect going on, so we will be good for a while, anyway!

Here is PunkRock, assembling and installing our chimney cap:

Wasn't it just a gorgeous day?

 

[Bluebird]

Great news! I didn't qualify for the medical research study. I spent the weekend with all these tubes and monitors on, and it showed that I am better off than expected. The study is ongoing with Johns Hopkins to see if there is a relationship between sleep apnea and diabetes - if they fix the sleep apnea, does the diabetes get better? Well, I definitely don't have sleep apnea (yay!) and I am also not diabetic. Lol So, no medical study money coming my way (it really wasn't a lot) but I would much rather be kicked out of the research. Lol I am still considered pre-diabetic though, but I was just relieved that my weight gain and eating habits as of late didn't push me over the edge.

I have been on a low carb diet the last 2 days and have managed to do okay on it. I hope I can keep it going.

As soon as I get my official test results, I am going to schedule an appointment with my doctor to see how I can improve things and get my A1C number going down again. It's good news that it hasn't hit the tipping point yet, but it makes me scared for the future if I don't get my shit together.

Haha though, the nurse told me there is no sign of apnea but lots of evidence that I need more sleep. The reason I am tired is because I dont get enough sleep. She said that I am clearly out, but not long enough.

I have to be giggly about this because PunkRock and I were up til the wee hours of the morning last night/today, having mind-blowing sex. Holy crap, y'all. We are sooooo compatible. I had the vibe he bought me for Christmas on and he is so amazing with his hands! I got some deep anal and we hadn't done that in so very long. I forgot how much I love it. The sheets were a mess when we were done so I have some laundry to do today. Lol

Right now I am heading to the grocery store to grab some things my daughter missed on the list this weekend. Then I am going to focus on packing this afternoon. PunkRock called out of work so he is sleeping now but this afternoon he will prolly pack some too or do work out at the house.

True story - my son was over for dinner last night and I asked him if he had requested our moving day off since he is helping. He was like, that date is a month away. You're moving in a month? Because I saw your house and it looked like WAY more work than one month!

Lmao but crying too, because he is correct.

 

[PinkPig]

I love your kind of porn It's good for motivating me...there are so many things I need/want to do to my house!

As for your son's comments, I think it seems like the three of you are powering through everything fast! Part of that is, I'm sure, the fact that there are three of you...but also the three of you are making me exhausted just reading about what you're each doing, lol. I can't wait to see the before and after pics side by side in a month

 

[Bluebird]

Squeeeeeeeee

 

[Bluebird]

This is going to be as short as I can make it, because my hands hurt so very much!

Today I had all sorts of errands in the morning. I met up with a guy and sold our kitchen island, since there is no place for it in the new house. It's freaking weird to have a big open space in our rental house, but we have less than a month to go with the move, so things are leaving! Another guy stood me up so I didn't get to sell a Star Wars poster. Whatever. Let's see, I had to transfer cash from my son to me, because of taxes. I mailed out our very first mortgage payment too! So exciting! Only 359 more to go. Gah! We have one more rent payment to make, which is lame, but I am happy that it's just one and there wasn't much overlap between our housing costs.

I bought PunkRock some new cargo pants for work today too - I had hoped to hold off but his other pairs are riddled with holes and covered in paint stains. Not acceptable. I also picked up more supplies for the new house - some touch up paint and some sandpaper. Oh, sandpaper! Do you know why I hate that shit so much? My first sentence alluded to it - I have been sanding pretty much on and off from 4 pm til 10 pm.

Yesterday, I helped PunkRock paint the inside of the kitchen cabinets, but painting the outside framework was impossible because the sanding job the guys had done previously was not up to snuff. So I spent today with the electric sander, doing something I have never done before, and breaking my hands from the vibration and hurting my ears from the noise. Ugh. It was terrible. Shit looks good now though. Let me show you the math - 27 cabinets x 2 hinges each = 54 hinge marks x 2 screw holes each = 108 spots that needed to be sanded. FML seriously.

PunkRock is currently working on the space behind the sink again, trying to get that sanded down and ready to be painted tomorrow.

Heh. Sorry not sorry! Damn, I love his butt something wonderful.

He says he hates the sink now. I kinda agree - the other thing we did together tonight was scrape the remaining contact paper out from the cabinets below the sink. Completely fucking awful.

My Converse are all dusty from sanding. That shit was everywhere. We had to wipe down the cabinets multiple times. We will probably do it again tomorrow, to be honest. Thursday is our last full day to get all the painting done. I think we can knock it out of the park.

DarkKnight surprised me with my completed Sputnik light this evening when he got off of work! Apparently he finished assembling it during downtime during his day. I was so very happy! We are keeping it in his office at the new house until all the sanding is done and the dust is cleaned up - no sense in having to clean this thing up constantly.

It's almost midnight now - PunkRock is touching up our graphic wall in the dining area but he will have more to do on that tomorrow.

Didn't I say this would be short? God, my fingers fucking kill right now!

 

[Bluebird]

My hands feel much better today, though my left arm still has a lump in it. A muscle knot, but it only hurts when I push on it, so I guess I won't do that.

It's interesting to read comments on my Facebook page about my remodeling efforts and about my house. I absolutely love my kitchen and how it is turning out, and I feel like it's got personality. I mean, I love the look of modern kitchens, but this just feels right to me. I had someone yesterday ask me why I don't sand off all the paint on the cabinets and then stain them a dark color, and then get some granite. Just, no. That's been done a million times and it isn't what I want with this house at all. Also, ouch! Just the little bit of sanding I did yesterday is enough! I might eventually get new countertops, but I was looking at a gray quartz with glassy elements interspersed with the stone, not granite.

Apparently my sister said some stuff to my mom about my house as well, but that doesn't irritate me, it just makes me laugh. Yes, my house is just a little over 2000 square feet. We are DOWNSIZING. I no longer have a house full of children, and I don't want to clean 3.5 bathrooms like we have now. It's too much. Yes, we could have bought more on our budget - we qualified for much more - but that's not what we wanted. I wanted small but with spaces for all of our hobbies. We got that. I guess she was saying how ugly the inside was too, but she must not be paying attention that everything is getting overhauled. Also, I don't want her aesthetic - every place she's lived is not my taste. *shrugs* I guess it comes back to "you do you." This is what I searched for, this is what I got. She can have her 2 story colonial with fieldstone fireplace and 5 bedrooms. There's room for both in the world. I could have bought that if I wanted.

Anyway, PunkRock and I are at the house today. We got the contact paper all cleaned up and now he's sanding the window trim. After he's finished we'll both wipe down everything again, and then he will prim all the trim and I will paint the cabinet frames that I sanded yesterday. He still has touch ups to do on the graphic wall, which will happen while the primer is drying. I think we are on track to finish all the kitchen painting today, so we can start laying floors tomorrow! Well, repairing/replacing the subfloors.

 

[Bluebird]

Today was the remodeling day from hell. Seriously, anything and everything was full of problems!

The good first, since that will be shorter. Lol

I got a load of laundry put away and two more through the washer/dryer and folded. One got hung up even. (I know, right? Bizarro world.) I spent some time in the morning out with my daughter, and we signed her up to rent a storage unit. The best part is that the first two months were free, so she won't have a bill until May 1, and she'll be moving out in July, so she won't be paying very much at all.

Ok, shitty stuff. Sigh.

PunkRock had stayed at the house and worked til midnight alone last night, painting the trim in the kitchen. The top level of molding across the cabinets had been taped off, so I pulled it down. BAD IDEA. Half of it tore into tiny pieces, and big parts of paint came off with it. Apparently you need to score the tape with a knife before pulling it off. Maybe I should LifeProTips that on reddit. Ugh. So anyway, now PunkRock has to redo that entire section.

(Yes there are spots on the ceiling - I am not worried about those, as we haven't done touchups there yet. We figure we'll hit the entire house in one go on those.)

While I was out with my daughter, DarkKnight went to the house and worked on his honeydew list. He managed to scratch the fuck out of the kitchen window, scraping paint off. I haven't talked to him about that yet, but apparently he used a scraper, not a razor blade. Sigh. But also, he had MAJOR trouble with the Sputnik light today. I swear, he took that thing up and down at least 4 times. He had to do a complete rewire on it, at one point. I made him stop to take me to lunch, and when we got back and finally got it hung for the last time, one light wouldn't work. It was wired correctly, and it wasn't the light bulb. This was the piece that the seller had to ship us a new one, because it arrived cracked originally. Looking closely at it, we could see it was from a different chandelier - all the other sockets had stickers saying 60w only, and this one said 40w only. So now I have an amazing light with part of it not working. The seller has been contacted and I guess we wait and see.

Oh, that reminds me that I have to do my own letter writing, because my eBay starburst clock arrived today. Thank goodness it was in one piece, because the box was a mess! It was not wrapped securely, so in transit, all of the starburst points punched holes in the box - it looked like Swiss cheese! One corner had been totally mangled. The clock was fine, but I am pissed that I was charged $31 shipping for that.

So after all that nonsense, I was thinking just giving up on the day, but instead I did return to the new house later to help PunKRock lay down the new subfloor. You know this isn't going to turn out well, right?

The hideous green and yellow linoleum is NOT the original floor. Color me shocked. I didn't get a good photo, but you can see a hint of it there - the linoleum stopped halfway over and a red and white checker pattern appeared a level lower down. We totally didn't disturb that, I can tell you! But, that meant more rearranging of the new underlayment, to make sure things stayed even and level.

Which brings me to the fact that we ran out of subfloor. Back when I went shopping for it, I didn't have the size of the kitchen on me, and I thought it was 90 sq feet. PunkRock had thought that sounded right, so i bought enough plywood for that. Laying it down now, NOPE. We were off by more than HALF. So now tomorrow I get to go shopping for more underlayment with money I don't have. Cry me a river because I'm all dried up here. I had a moment of panic thinking that maybe I did the same with the peel and stick tile, but a quick check showed that I was ok there. I bought them previously, when I had the figures in front of me. So that is good news - I don't have to shell out an additional $225. Actually, I was one box short because I forgot to factor in the adjoining foyer, but that is okay because the alternate was way worse!

Edited to add - oh, and another thing - we didn't even get to nail down the underlayment we did have, because after all the crap going on, it was 10:30 pm by the time we got the wood all cut. The sounds of nails being pounded in was something I didn't want to inflict on our neighbors, so we just left and went home.

 

[Aquamarine]

Sputnik

I just need to say the Sputnik light is SO cool! I've wanted such a light for years, but haven't had the chance yet. Looks awesome!

 

[Bluebird]

Doesn't it look amazing?! I really love it. I think it was only like $100 on Amazon, but there are 12 light bulbs, and we bought the Edison style LEDs, which are $8 a piece. Crazypants! Still, I think the light fixtures in this house are huge part of what pull it all together for me.

OMG y'all - I am dragging ass today. I need to get in the shower here soon and get over to Home Depot. I have at least $100 worth of stuff I have to pick up for tomorrow. Also, PunkRock got less than 3 hours of sleep last night before leaving for work, and he left without a lunch, so I need to put together something and take it to him. His lunch is at 10 am.

Today is our day off from the house, and though we REALLY should be there working on the floor, down time is so important. We're back to playing Pandemic today and I am psyched to get it to the table again. We've not been playing for the last two weeks because our 4th player has been on vacation. Now he's back and it's time to play! Except I am sure PunKRock will be exhausted, so it'll be a short night. We start around 2:30 pm and then eat dinner together, and then play some more. We prolly will end after dinner, so everyone can sleep. I need rest too - but at least I got more hours than PunkRock!

I wanted to mention that DarkKnight was pretty teary yesterday in the morning. We had a talk that he initiated, about his low sex drive. Apparently our lack of sex lately has been bothering him, in that he thought I was frustrated and upset. The honest truth though is that I am so stressed and tired all the time, my drive has plummeted and it hasn't been an issue right now. Even PunkRock and I have tapered off to about once a week. He was really relieved to hear that. I told him I didn't love him any less and that I wasn't feeling deprived of him. Mostly at night now I just want cuddles and sleep, both of which he is good on letting happen, and I definitely would not be quiet about needing anything else. My poor sweetie. I love him so much. I think we need to communicate a little more about this, but I can see that me suddenly having a downturn in my sex drive would be a completely new and unexpected thing.