TNR

Finally, today I was able to set my computer and printer up after the painting project! The room looks really nice and I almost have it all set up the way I want it. So let's see... After my last post a lot has gone on that I must report.

The middle of last week was pretty much just spent preparing the walls and room for paint, including pushing all the furniture to the middle of the room, removing the wallpaper border, filling the holes with spackle, washing the walls, and then taping the edges and putting newspaper down. Then on Thursday, we finally got to paint the walls! They were white before:

And now, they are pink!

On Friday, my mom and I did some shopping for the weekend, when my sister and her boyfriend were coming for a fun family activity.

Saturday and Sunday, the room was put on hold for said “family activity”: putting up insulation and wiring in The New Room (From now on The New Room will be referred to as TNR.) So the majority of the morning was spent getting TNR to a point where further activities could be done, since the first task was required for further progress. All this first task was, was to drill holes for duct work. Not as easy as it sounds, because in order to drill a 6-inch hole, they had to use a 1-inch drill, but drill a ton of small holes until the finished hole was the 6 inches. AND, the holes had to go through the whole wall, which meant that the drilling had to occur on both sides of the wall at approximately the same spot. So, to make a long story short, it wasn’t until about 3 PM that my job was begun.

My job: With my sister, put up insulation under TNR. Also not as easy as it sounds.

Job Description:

1 Crawl around on hands and knees to various locations under TNR. Eventually, you will begin to not care whether you are directly crawling around in filth rather than on a tarp, because you will be so dirty it won’t matter anymore.

2 Staple “cushy” insulation to space between joists. Observe that some spaces are too wide (Widies) for the given width of cushy insulation, while others are narrow (Tighties). Use times when you have a tightie to your advantage and tell everyone who will listen that you like the tighties.

CAUTION: In areas where old deck used to be, wear safety goggles to shield eyes from various debris, including cicada outer shells, old doggy poo, and unanticipated drill bits (this last one cannot be shielded by safety goggles, so you might want to just run away.)

3 Observe the fact that all other requirements would be made easier if you had the appropriate tools.

4 When you have finished placing “cushy” insulation in all appropriate spaces, continue with the rigid boards. Place as many holes in the boards as it takes to find the studs underneath. Don’t be alarmed if it takes 10 or 12 tries before you find the spot. Use hammer upside down to pound the nails in once you find the spot. Observe that some people do this for a living, but that they probably have nail guns.

5 Once the above tasks are completed, two days later, you may find that you no longer feel pain. This is normal, however you still should try not to sit on sharp objects.

I figured out the second day that my knees would have hurt less if I did the “monkey walk”, like my sister, but it was too late. I already had all fifty bruises. However, despite having less bruised legs, she still suffered pain in the form of about fifty bug bites. You can’t win all the battles.

So after that fun family weekend, I continued my room project, and today I am nearly finished organizing. Check back soon to find out what happened with Fun Family Activity Part 2.