Countdown to Cork Time....

....and only two more days to go!  I've made progress today:

• Finished putting together the Skil Workbench, and we're friends again.  I can't wait to use it, and it really will come in handy to cut this floor.
• Cleaned up. It has gone from this to this; and I've moved 17 x 36 pounds of flooring twice already;

yesterday

today...this 1/2 will be floored first

• Finished hammering away at the tile grout; it's not perfect, but I think it's between good enough and won't make a difference;
• Swept and swept and will have to sweep again; there is a lot of dust down there from taking out the grout;
• Filled up the trashcan outside completely on a Tuesday; trash day is Monday (yesterday);
• Was able to fill said trashcan with all the tack strips* without having to call for a tetanus update;

I was trying to figure out how I was going to tie the flooring to the entrance of the garage, and realized I just needed to take out the doorjamb between the landing and the garage. It was just held in with 4 screws, but darn if one wouldn't come out (and I was following the lefty-loosey-righty- tighty rule**, but it just kept feeling like it was getting tighter).
 Enter the most exciting part of my day: I used my Dremel tool from Christmas for the first time! This was exciting for two three reasons: 1) I found a use for it, and figured out how to use it;
 2) it sliced through that screw like it was butter!, and 3) I was given a light show like I've never seen before. The sparks were so amazing I turned around to make sure there was nothing flammable near me....sparks probably spread out for a good 8 inches! Awesome! I wanted to take pictures, but realized the safety issues involved in that didn't amount to a good decision.







Metal stripping at doors; and yes....I find nerf bullets everywhere!

 The to do list is shortening, but not very quickly.  Adding in the "need to do list" though should include removing door jambs,  buying and staining (or painting?) quarter round for finish, and buying the remaining tools I need for Thursday. 

I remain gleeful and excited; I even brought some upstairs so I could just stare at it any time I wanted. Hmmm.....that looks pretty good compared to 6 year old carpet! (hmmmm).

Another exciting "step" today was putting a first coat of primer on the bottom stair riser. Since the flooring will butt up to that I had to paint it, and I love how it looks just with primer!  I cannot wait to rip up the rest of that carpet. 

Tomorrow: work meeting (day job kind of stuff); pick up paint for baseboards (and paint it?), lunch with the Dad since it's his birthday (yay!); take the boy to see if we're in need of a tonsillectomy (boo); church dinner (don't have to cook!) and home by seven.  Oh yeah, and all those nagging little details like grocery shopping and laundry still need to happen.  And I need to get by Sherwin Williams to get the paint for the baseboards before it can be painted. 

I think I need a new list.

But then?  Get ready for Cork Day! 

* Tack Strips are the strips of wood nailed around the outside of a room when carpet is installed.  It's evil because there are nails sticking out in both directions; there is no good way to get a grip on it


** A great mental rule to remember when removing screws....I still say it most of the time!