Slow install

Riley was up all night coughing. I called the clinic. No cough suppressnat recommended. Benedryl is OK. They want the kids to cough it up. Riley didn't sleep well with all the coughing. He is now missing his fourth day of school and it is not even October yet. I may end up taking him in to see the doctor.

I took the manual in to Lowes to find the right nails and return the wrong ones. They didn't have the ones I wanted. Not only that but the employee jambed the one on display trying to show me how they did fit. He couldn't get it to work. I told him to use the needle nose pliers to get the jambed nails out. That worked best for Tom. I left Lowes feeling a little frustrated.

Stopped at Ace to return the claw I didn't like. Ours had a suction cup on it. This one just slid right off the bulb. Ace didn't have the nails either. Used to, but they didn't move enough to keep carrying in stock. Ended up back at Home Depot talking to the guy in the rental shop. The most knowledgable person I had found. He told me to remember our conversation from the day before about nails not fitting staple guns and visa versa. Lowes had sold me a staple gun and given me nails to go with it. He showed me the difference again and he was right. I bought a case of nine thousand staples from him.

I almost bought a used staple gun but it looked pretty beat up. He wanted $278 for it. I had paid $400. It would have taken me going home getting the gun and returning it to Lowes and then coming back to Home Depot to buy the used one. I opted just to keep the one I bought. We will eventually do the upstairs bedrooms and the basement, if we raise the floor in the basement which is what Tom wants to do anyway. Or I could just resell it on Craigslist.

It is a cool tool and now that we have the right staples for it, the floor is going in nicely. It is a slow and steady process. I wait on Tom's opinions which slows us down. but he likes to contemplate the project, make sure of every phase. I just wish he had waited for the bull nose so we could have started at that end first. I will love to see how he will resolve that meeting of the boards.

I am now on hold waiting to see what he wants for the doorway openings. He was contemplating doing tile entries which would mean going around those spots. Last night he wanted me to move furniture and toys. I told him I had already moved the furniture and toys once. They had been put back out again. He called the boys up for clean up and then banned them from the room until the floors are done. We will see how long this install takes, if the boys can hold out that long.

I would just rock and roll on it and get it done, but Tom has opinions and thoughts. I can only work as fast as his planning allows. It is pretty though.

I am also ripping out the carpet in Riley's room. We loaned out his air filter to our friend who needed it more. I want to get Riley's room less dusty and do what we did at the old house with solid surfaces and no carpeting.

Lots of projects while we dwell on what to do about Riley's cold and the amount of school he is missing.