They all look alike

Football season started. Trevor has been in conditioning for weeks now. As a Sophomore he has been assigned all three teams. He will be playing on the Freshman team and the JV and dressing down for Varsity, though he says he doesn't expect to get much play time, if any, on Varsity, but he gets to stand on the field in uniform at the games just in case.

He told me his number. Last night was the Freshman game. I sat in the stadium watching his number get a whole lot of play time. That number even was on special teams,  on kick off and kick off return. Now, Trevor is not fast, so it surprised me greatly to see him out there.

After the game I waited to pick him up, after he had changed and left his gear in the school locker. He got into the car and I told him how impressed I was with how much he played. He told me yes he did play a lot but I had the wrong number. Not that he didn't get a lot of play time on the field but on the Freshman team another boy has that number. The number Trevor told me was for Varsity. I watched the wrong lineman all night. He said he tried to text me before the game but coach made him put his phone away and get on the bus.  I did see Trevor's correct number playing, but I did not pay close attention as I assumed the boy in the number I thought was Trevor was my son. I couldn't tell these boys apart once the pads and the helmets are on. They all look alike.

Rough game. The other team has a very talented Quarterback and receiver. We lost,  but Trevor got to play a whole lot. Our team only had 21 players dressed to play. I counted seven boys still in shorts on the sideline from either injury or hadn't made the required conditioning sessions yet. That is a very small squad. Trevor will get to play a lot. He said all the Sophomores are playing on the Freshman team.  I am told there are only seven Sophomores in football. The Juniors have a big turn out, but Sophomores are few. As a result Trevor will be on all the teams and get quite a lot of experience.  

I had this same problem on scrimmage kickoff day. The boys were in practice jerseys. The blue jerseys didn't even have numbers on them. The Freshmen were playing and the JV and Varsity were playing each other. I had to ask another injured player on the sidelines if he knew my son and could he point him out to me please. Trevor was practicing with the Freshmen and the boy knew his position so was able to direct me to the right scrimmage and once I had identified Trevor I could relax and watch him play.

Trevor was a Tackle on Defense that day. Good thing as the coach kept chewing out the offense for not being able to count and being called off sides four times in a row. Saw that issue at last night's game a couple of times, 15 yard penalty. It is a really young team. Trevor plays C gap both offense and defense. I guess I will just have to watch the position not the jersey numbers. He had better warn me if his position changes or I will again be watching the wrong child.
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school shopping

Today I planned on getting the boys' school supplies. Trevor works best with an accordion folder rather than a three ring binder. Both boys are back pack stuffers of loose papers. Riley at least keeps track of the papers. Trevor's work ends up a crumpled mass in the bottom of his back pack. Both their back packs were in tatters after last year. We had used up all the spares. They needed new everything.

We have discovered that with accordion binders that Trevor can stuff his work in a file slot and find it again later. I was able to find accordion binders in multiple colors so he can even dedicate a color to a class. Trevor also wanted graph paper in spiral notebooks, one for each class. He said it helped line up his work and keep his writing tidier. Anything to help him succeed in school. He had a backpack he liked last year that was an attache style fold over but with shoulder straps. We hunted  four different stores unsuccessfully. It took three stores to find the graph paper in spiral notebooks.

The boys also convinced me to buy them graphing calculators. They have been using the school supplied ones, but there is a limited number.They are encouraged to have their own and have been pleading with me for several years. Riley said it would have helped tremendously last year, so I caved in and bought them both graphing calculators at $95 each, ouch. Modern technology is winning. I made them swear on pain of tourture that they would not lose or break or have someone else vandalize their new calculators.

We went to Denny's as I had buy one entree get one free coupons that expire next month. It was our way of toasting the end of summer. Everyone likes Denny's as they serve burgers and breakfast all day long.  We brought a friend of Riley's with us since I had two of these coupons, two ate free.

 Denny's has a new order form for building your own burger and shake. I warned the boys it would take longer, but Trevor was in heaven as he built his dream burger with a chicken Patti and a hamburger Patti and onion rings and hash browns all piled on the bun with his lettuce and fresh tomatoes. Both boys built their own shakes. Riley did a vanilla shake with pecans and Carmel added. Trevor's shake was a strawberry with Oreo cookies.

 Riley's shake arrived and he took a straight whip cream bite right off the top. The shake went along with his banana Carmel french toast meal he ordered. I was impressed that both boys did full justice to their meals.

The shopping trip was a marathon as not one store had everything we were needing. That graphing paper and Trevor's special backpack were both issues. I still have two or three more stores I could try for that attache case style back pack. We have yet to go bike shopping either. Just buying school supplies cost us four hundred dollars, including $200 for those graphing calculators, and still without the backpack for Trevor. Riley found a backpack for himself that cost $50, ack. That seemed to be the going price this year as I was able to do a little price comparison having stopped at Rite Aid, Target, Walmart, and Office Max. We had the best success at Walmart. Walmart had the backpack Riley liked, and the graphing paper in spiral notebooks Trevor wanted. I bought seven of those spiral notebooks as Riley wanted a couple for math and science. Trevor asked for five. He said they were good for band and all his other classes. Seven may not be enough, but that was all Walmart had left. I bought every one.  

Everyone was exhausted when we headed home. Trevor had about twenty minutes to rest before he needed to head to football at 3:00 pm. I need to head to the store for ground beef and more apples and bananas. Last night I made chicken drumsticks for dinner. I could tell Tom wanted something else. Chicken is not cow. He likes his red meat. It was scout night so I had to prepare something quickly. Have to figure out what we are serving tonight for dinner.
   

Busy day

golf just bites into your day between the couple hours it takes to play a round and the lunch afterwards, it is well past 1:00pm before I get out of the club house to run errands. I shot a 59 with 17 putts. Great round for me. I had an Asian salad for lunch which was delicious with marinated beef strips on top of a bed of lettuce and sweet peas and Mandarin oranges and red peppers, with a sesame seed dressing,  delightful.

I went straight over to Habitat for Humanities to see if those last cases of vinyl were still sitting on the shelf. Bought four full cases and an open case  all totaling for $60. Sufficient to replace the upstairs hallway.

I headed home and parked in the garage. Riley came down to unload the boxes for me and carry everything upstairs. I told him to put the cases of flooring in his closet for the time being.

While he did the unloading, I looked at my garage and decided it was time to use those shelf brackets I had purchased the other day for 50 cents each. I had the door panels that hadn't worked on the kitchen project. You cant return anything back to Habitat for Humanities. You can re donate but not get your money back. It is a charity and for a good cause. So I had whoopsed on the door panels, they hadn't worked as I had hoped. They would make great shelves.

Took about a half hour to hang the shelves in the corner. I now have my coolers off the floor. I also created shelves for the golf accessories above the spare golf bags, three buckets of spare balls. I will be buying more shelf brackets and door panels so I can get the big dog kennel off the floor and a few other items that need a permanent  home.

Tom wanted Flank steak for dinner. I didn't have any meat in the house so got in my car to go to the store. By the time I got back and had dinner ready for tom it was almost 8:00 pm. Bed time was approaching since Tom gets up at 4:00 am for work. The day just whizzed by. I felt like I barely had time to breath. I didn't even get started on the floors. My garage was looking better though.
tomorrow I do the floors.

school clothes shopping

Riley cleared out his closet of all unwanted clothes. I told him he needed to make room if he wanted new clothes. I had a 25% off coupon for a one day sale at Macy's. You give $5 to the sponsored charity and get a 25% off discount for one day only shopping at Macy's.

It was a busy day, the day of the discount. The city was having an event that I had volunteered the boys to help. A friend of mine was involved with one of the booths that was supporting meals on wheels, food delivered to home bound seniors and the disabled. She had made cookies to give away with donations. The boys had bagged the cookies the night before in preparation. They had bagged probably three or four hundred. Trevor's best friend and a couple of other children I had roped in had helped. They got it done in about an hour and a half. I had to wonder what would have happened if I hadn't scrounged for helpers. That  mom and her family would have been up all night bagging cookies and getting the booth set up.

Trevor had football, in the morning, the first scrimmage and a BBQ afterwards. It was the kick off to the football fundraiser. They sell discount coupons at $20 each for local stores in the area. The cards are reusable and good for a year. Papa Murphy's Pizza take and bake is on it with $3 off a family size pizza. I can easily make up the $20 just at Papa Murphy's throughout the year.  Subway gives a free cookie to your sandwich meal each time you flash the card. Trevor feels that pays for his card. I buy us both one in support of his football. The goal is for each player to sell a minimum of 10 with hopes of selling $20. It is a one day blitz. The players come back at 4:00pm to turn in all the money and unsold tickets.

Trevor worked hard hustling those tickets. Riley and I both helped by selling a couple a piece. He got his ten done. He also had to be at a park to present the American flag for scouts in an opening ceremony for youth soccer. We had to swing back by the house to pick up the scout uniform and appropriate pants. He threw the uniform over the football uniform to present the flag.Trevor carried the state flag and another scout carried the American flag. They posted the colors. Trevor forgot to turn around before  the Pledge and ended up Pledging to the state flag rather than the American flag which was behind his back. Practice will take care of that next time.

After the flag ceremony, Trevor whipped off his uniform for scouts and went back to selling football discount cards. We headed back to the city center to the charity booth to get Riley who had been selling cookies and water. I dropped Trevor off so he could make the 4:00 deadline at school and took Riley to Macy's to get his school clothes.

We were both tired but today was the discount day. Had to shop now to get the 25% off. Riley wanted new pants, a couple of tops, and a pair of shorts. He tried everything on in the dressing room . After much discarding and hunting for just the right items, he found two pair of pants, one pair of shorts, and two tops. I probably would have bought more but it was hard to find anything we liked in the right size. I was surprised at how picked over Macy's was and how hard it was to find the right size for Riley.

The bill came to $139 after the discount. I was appalled. Usually spending that much involves bags and bags of clothes. Well, no one will say Riley is not appropriately dressed now, when he wears his new clothes, he looks very handsome. Everything is exactly what he wanted and fits, so no excuses not to wear these new clothes.

Riley had me trim his hair. It does not look nearly as nice as when we go have it done by our friend at the salon. He said he wanted me to do it.  I was getting desperate as his hair has grown below his collar and next week is school. I just did a quick cut with the #7. I wish he had wanted to go to the salon. It looked so good last time. He asked for his tip of $5 when I was done. I tell the boys I will give them $5 if they let me cut their hair. Saves the cost of the salon. Now I am not going to be so generous. Next time  I want Riley to have that nice professional cut. He may even get a girlfriend if he had a decent cut. It will grow and I will take him to the salon. Meanwhile, it is off his face and neck. It will grow again.



 

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Hospital buraucracy

Had one of those frustrating moments. We received a check in the mail from the local doctor's office. I may have over paid a bill. Probably crossed in the mail so I paid it twice, but they couldn't tell me over the phone when I called to inquire about receiving the check. Since we pay our medical bills out of an HSA, health savings account, it would be fraudulent to cash this check, like laundering money through an IRA before turning 65. I took the check back to the billing department to return it today . I figured they could credit the account towards our next visit.

I had called the Doctor's office and been told to bring the check in or mail it with a cover letter. I brought the check in to the doctor's office, but was told they couldn't accept it, I needed to take it to the billing department at the hospital around the corner.

I find the billing department. There is a waiting line. When my turn comes up I hand over the check. The clerk says she cant accept it as it hasn't been endorsed. It is their check. After discussing it with me she hands the check back. I take my pen and scratch a messy T on the signature line for Tom as the check is made out to him as the primary, even though I do all the bills and accounting in the house. I hand the check back to the clerk who proceeds to process the check as I wanted, crediting our billing account.

When I asked exactly why the check was sent, which date I had over paid, the clerk pulled the "I can't disclose that information". I told her the Hippa's were all signed and on account. She said only the local doctor's office keeps those records. I had to ask the doctor.

Problem with that answer is there are four of us. We have seen multiple doctors over the course of the year. I have no idea which doctor we double paid, who to ask. If they had put a reference on the check receipt I could figure it out, but they weren't even that helpful. I am not even sure they could tell me why they sent us the money. Just as well I returned it before they sent us a letter saying we owed them the money as the check was sent in error. Who knows. I just know with an HSA I could not cash that check. I was surprised at how difficult it was to return the check. You would think they would want to keep the money.

pictures of the new floors

Trevor's new laminate floors. the room is clean and smells clean.

Riley's new vinyl strips floor, no more walking on the subfloor with it's exposed seams.

Riley's closet where I want to move the laundry. See how big it is. Plenty of room. Now with it's new clean vinyl flooring.

 

The new hall floor in vinyl strip since we didn't like the beech colored laminate I put down which was from our old house. Wrong color and just didn't go with  this house so I put down the vinyl strip in natural oak. Love it!!

 

 

Interesting how the light makes the floors all seem different colors but they are all the same color .

 

Took a dump run yesterday with my car full of stinky carpet and pad. Had to ride with the windows open and the fan blowing so we wouldn't smell the carpets in the back seat. Cost me $3 to dispose of all that aweful carpet. My garage looks so much bigger with the rolls of carpet gone.

 

 

 

  

 

 

pictures of the new floors

The toe nail

Got Trevor up early today. Not for football but to give him time to soak his foot. Today we see the doctor regarding the huge infected toenail on his big toe. Last spring another doctor removed half the toe nail. Trevor had  an infection that would just not go away. He was kicked out of the pool one day in swimming when the pussy mess burst in the water.

We are again at a similar impasse. After a week at scout camp Trevor came home so filthy from head to toe, the toe was a nightmare. A purple bulbous mess of blood and puss on one side and the toe itself looked stretched and discolored with infection. Trevor has been soaking the toe every day. The soaking helps but the infection never quite goes away and his toe smells, not a good sign.

He finally told me to make the appointment at the doctors, he wanted the toe nail gone. He wanted it cauterized so the nail never would come back to bother him again. I called the doctor's office and explained our situation. They found the doctor that specializes in the toe nail issues and set our appointment in the surgery room.

Tom didn't like us arbitrarily removing the nail without consulting to see if that was the best option. I asked the doctor his opinion. The doctor initially wanted to just take a portion of the nail and then rough up the nail bed to encourage the nail to grow properly forward when it returned, not dig into the side. He did not want to cauterize the toe nail bed. The nail protects the toe especially with football. Once he took a good look at Trevor's toe, he saw that the infection was on both sides of the nail. He opted to remove the whole nail and rough up the bed on both sides. This will put Trevor out of commission for football for five days. Doctor said he could play again on Monday if he could tolerate the pain. Keep the toe wrapped in the surgical bandages for 24 hours to let the wound scab over. Then just wrap it to keep it clean and protected.

  Rather do this now in the preseason warm ups than later. Trevor will be ready for the first game, just miss the practice scrimmage this weekend. A little sorry we didn't get to this earlier, but Trevor really had a busy summer. Hard to catch a time when this wouldn't have been an issue with activities.

The doctor used three needles of pain killer and really worked over the whole toe to deaden it for surgery. Trevor had said the last time the toe was not numb enough. He was worried about the pain. This time this doctor made sure Trevor would be pain free while he excavated the toe nail.

We stopped by subway on the way home as a treat. Now we just have to wait and give the toe time to heal.

New flooring

I have been busy laying the new floors upstairs. Trevor's birthday was Saturday. He has been wanting his carpet gone for a while. I figure I can give him a present of new floors. Trevor has opted to miss football practice, two practices on Saturday, to go with the scouts water skiing. I would do water skiing  over football practice myself. He will be gone from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm, potentially enough time to get his room done.

I have been to my favorite discount home improvement store and picked up enough laminate to do his room in a similar look to the vinyl I am using in Riley's room. I forgot to tell you I finally motivated and earlier in the week got to work on Riley's room. He has been without flooring since we moved in. I ripped his carpets out first thing for a clean room. Even so he did get sick on new germs from school. I had his filter going all the time for the first few months we lived here. Now that summer is upon us, he just keeps his windows open for fresh air and breezes.

I was back at habitat for Humanities to buy more of that vinyl I like. It goes in so easy compared to the laminate. It looks lovely. though, I have some concern that it wont stay glued down.  Poor Riley has been walking on his subfloor for  a year. The seams between the boards were obvious and ugly. I layed the vinyl down right over the whole sub floor, seams and all. It took an afternoon. You can cut the vinyl with an exacto knife. It snaps when folded. No running downstairs to the saw on the deck for cuts. Even the difficult cuts were easy. I loved how quickly it installed. Riley's room looks so much better.

I did not have enough of this stuff to do Trevor's room so I found enough of this laminate I used instead. Someone had torn it out of another home. It was used, but there was enough to do Trevor's room, and it was a near match in color to the vinyl in Riley's room, enough that I don't feel like I have different flooring in every space upstairs. Besides, when we do have enough money we'll hardwood everything and this vinyl will become a nice padded subfloor, not wasted money.

Trevor's room seemed to take forever after working with the vinyl. Tom left to have a guy's day in Portland. I could be noisy with my tools with Tom gone. I had to cut a piece for every row and Riley had to help me install the lengths. It goes much easier and faster with two people laying the rows. By 8:00pm we had reached the closet and the door way, special cuts. I called it a day as doing special cuts requires time and thought and not rushing. Trevor will like what we did. 95% of the room was done.

In one day I had removed all the carpet and the staples and the tack strips and layed the new floor. Riley was my runner he carried the carpets out and emptied the garbage cans regularly as I filled them with debris. I did all the cuts. Riley had no interest in learning how to use the miter box chop saw. Trevor loved playing with the tools when we did the hallway, but Riley was happy to just carry gross carpet out of the house, well happy may not be the right word. He was glad to have the carpet gone as much as I was. Touching the carpet was not his favorite thing, but he did the work. He asked if this was a pro bono job. I told him I would give him $15 again for his hard work. He did not grouse about touching the carpets.  

Other than just dust and dirt, Trevor's carpet was in pretty good shape. Only one spot looked like it had been used as a bath room. Just having the carpet gone though, made the room smell fresher and cleaner. There is always that grainy sand under the carpet needing to be swept away and confirming my reasoning to rip it out.

I bought an upgraded pad for the underlayment, remembering the pad this time, which I forgot in the hallway project, when I put in my old stuff,  Trevor being such a big boy with loud feet. His room is over the dining room area downstairs. I had to laugh as I left Home depot with an upgraded pad. The underlayment pad cost more than the flooring did at Habitat for Humanities. $60 for the flooring, $100 for the underlayment. I could feel the difference in the upgrade, it was worth the extra money.

I finished Trevor's floors  Sunday morning, doing the closet cuts, which as I had guessed took a long time to get right. I wasted two boards making mistakes that I could ill afford with my limited materials, but I ended up with a few spare boards in the end when I was done.  The end result was worth the sweat equity. Trevor had me move his furniture around a little to try different locations for his monster big desk. The nice part was everything slid easily across the smooth floors. 

Trevor is happy about his floors and the fact that Riley and I did all the work and surprised him on his birthday. He is still looking for his bike, which I also told him I would get for a present, But we will do that later in the week.

Trevor is having his foot surgery on Tuesday for his ingrown toe nail on his big toe. Tom is mad we didn't get it done before football season but football season just exacerbated the problem to the point where we now have to deal with it again. The nail grew in at its own pace. Can't help that it came to a head while trying to fit into football cleats. Trevor is ready for the nail to be gone and the toe cauterized so he doesn't have to deal with the infections anymore. He has been soaking that foot every day for months. The nail just grew back wrong.

I have been wandering into the boys rooms admiring my good work. Riley and Trevor are both happy with their new floors. We have decided no one likes the old laminate that we put in the hallway. I am going to see if I can get those last boxes of vinyl at the discount store and continue with that flooring in the hall.  Rip out the stuff I just installed, wrong color, too modern, just doesn't go well. They had enough boxes for the hall but not enough for Trevor's room last time I checked. Hopefully it will still be there. You never know what you might find. Even something for my next project inspiration.

I bought shelf brackets for 50 cents each to organize the garage. I think that may be up there on my to be tackled next list.
  

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A day of Prep

Tom and I were lying in bed watching the news. He asked me what I was thinking and I said I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the upstairs hallway carpet. He said, and I quote, "Rip it out and put down what ever you want." Now of course this is with a budget of zero. He went on to say eventually he would rip out  temporary fixes but for now just get it done.

I have the really nice cherry hardwood, about 100 square feet. Enough to do the space but the wrong color. Too dark for the other woods visible and it would create the problem of a different wood or surface in every bedroom upstairs potentially, tacky. So I am  saving the good stuff. It is Sunday night so of course my favorite discount store is not open for another two days to see if they still have the vinyl strip fake wood that I used in the family room. I still have several boxes of the cheap laminate I put upstairs in the old house. Paid 39 cents a square foot at the time. I did the whole upstairs except the master suite in this stuff. Not good with water if you let it sit but otherwise good stuff.   

 Putting in the laminate would be free as I already have it, decision made. I wouldn't have to wait two days but could get right to work. I could even use the dinged up crappy boards knowing eventually it all will be ripped out again. Meanwhile the floors will be smooth sold surface and clean clean clean. I just love the fresh clean, always clean of solid surfaces. That was one of the little side bars that Tom admitted to me. He said I had finally convinced him of the superior benefits of not having carpet. It is so easy to clean his man cave so it sparkles like a magazine photo. Carpet still shows the spots or quickly returns to dingy after cleaning. Tom's man cave looks lovely even when it isn't very clean.

Monday morning Tom left for work at his usual 4:45 am. I was tempted to get up and start right to work, but I remembered my poor neighbor on oxygen who begged me not to start projects before 8:30 am if at all possible. I drifted in and out of sleep until 8:00am  then got on the computer to kill another half hour. by nine I had gathered my wonder bar and hammer and pliers and flat headed screw driver, and my exacto knife. I started pulling and cutting carpet and pad. Trevor was out of the house so I had Riley carry the carpet out to the carpet pile I am accumulating, which I will deal with later. By the time I had removed all the pad and carpet, my garbage cans were full of pad and I dragged the cans up onto the street for garbage day.

Garbage   day is still a couple of days away but Trevor was gone last Friday and we forgot entirely to take out the garbage as that tends to be his chore. Riley had to do the dirty deed this time. The carpet and pads were filthy and stinky. Underneath looked like someone had again dumped out a sandy shoe onto the floor. I had to sweep and dump several piles of dust from the dust pan. Once the there wasn't so much nasty grainy stuff to stick to my knees and seat of my shorts I could go to work. I was still pulling grunge off my knees but it could have been so much worse. In order to remove the tack strips and staples that held down the pad in place, you have to scoot along the floor,  hammering the wonder bar under the tack strip to lift and pop it up. Each staple has to be pulled out in order to avoid it popping u under the new floor. Laminate wont snap into place if there is a bump under a board.    It took a couple of hours to do the whole prep work. That meant I had time in the day to start laying the floor.

I found the laminate harder to work with after laying the vinyl strips last week. The vinyl was so flexible to work with, it just slipped in where ever I needed it to fit.   This time I had to take off the molding so the laminate could get in close to the wall. I also had to periodically hammer down  nails that stuck out from where the molding had attached to the wall to get the nail out of the way of the flooring, so the flooring  would snap into place.

 I set up the chop saw on the deck, which meant running up and down the stairs. I could do a couple boards at once to save trips, but you can't get too far ahead.  Sweat poured off my brow, but I was excited with the project. It was nice to be finally using up that laminate that I had dragged all the way up here during the move last year. It has been a full year now as of August 6 since we moved.  

It took two days to do the space, lay the laminate. Just under 100 square feet. They weren't even full days, just a few hours each day. I ran errands with the children and grocery shopped in between.  Tom came home and admired my work but wanted to know why I hadn't laid down the foam pad that goes underneath. I gave him a startled look and said that this was a free project and I would have had to buy the underlayment.  $25 for 100 square feet of underlayment. I totally forget the underlayment in my excitement. So the floor creaks a little when you walk on it. I can hear Trevor when he sneaks out of bed to play x box or go to the kitchen for a snack. But the floor looks lovely, and the nasty carpet is gone, and it was free, other than my sweat equity.

I could pretty easily take the flooring all up and lay the pad down, then relay the floor. It is one of the advantages of laminate. It is reusable like Lego's. Everything is cut now, the pieces could be numbered and put right back in place. I think I will leave it though, the creaking isn't bad. If it does begin to bother me, I will fix. It may settle with time also and be imperceptible. I wont forget the underlayment again.

Today, the discount store Habitat for Humanity is open. I am going to see if they have any more of the vinyl. I think I will use the vinyl in Trevor's room. Get rid of the carpet in his room.  Riley wants something different. Maybe I will find some more laminate for Riley. He likes the laminate better than the vinyl, the feel of it under his feet.

All this flooring is temporary. It gets the carpet out of the house, which is my goal. Eventually, after the gas is brought in and the laundry moved upstairs and Tom gets his dream kitchen, I will order enough real hardwood to do all the upstairs myself in one beautiful choice.

FRom the upstairs hallway you can see the yellow Oak of the living room floor, I am tempted to use  a lighter color upstairs than what we did in the man cave. I couldn't help checking out the stores I surfed when I picked the man cave floor. I could find what I like for well under $4 a square foot, and have a decent selection. I am dealing with less than 1000 square feet total. Add it to my wish list. Meanwhile, I am having a blast getting all the carpet out and practicing my floor laying techniques.

           

Back from camp

Trevor arrived back from camp yesterday. He was coated in filth. Streaks of dirt ran down his face. His new navy blue work out pants were a faded shade of brown. He had a huge smile on his face, but even his teeth were brown. I doubt they saw a tooth brush all week.

I had dropped Trevor off a week earlier. As I drove Trevor to the pick up spot to join his troop go to camp, he was a captive audience in the car, I told him how proud I was of him. He is a good citizen. He helps people and steps up as needed. I did tell him that I worry about his going to college. I told him if he didn't go to college he would be the first person on my side of the family to ever not go to college for generations. I told him his Great Great Grandfather was a Judge. Even further back than that we have family that established a famous school on the East Coast. Everyone in the family for generations has been to College and finished. He responded with "Oh, Wow." I think I may have touched a deep nerve, something for him to dwell on. I hope so. He did say he knew his Father was the first in his family to go to College, which I responded with "All the more reason not to break the chain."

We were to meet at a McDonald's by the freeway to connect with the troop. Since Riley had driven us into the forest service resort I had misjudged the time it took to get back to town. We were an hour early. Trevor goes up to the counter to order breakfast. He order four breakfast burritos. I order one breakfast burrito. I laughed as he tells me he thought we would be sharing his meal. I knew better. He ate all four without missing a beat. We wondered down to the river nearby while we waited. It was a lovely day. I saw a place where you could rent wave runners. I would love to bring Tom up for boating. He would do boating if it had a motor. There were only row boats and paddle boats on the lake where we had been vacationing. One of the reasons we like it. The children can swim without fear of being run over. 

As we are loading Trevor's gear into the trunk of the car and I am trying hard not to breath standing close to the unbathed body, I ask how the week went. As we got into the car I rolled down all the windows. Trevor tells me he had a blast. He got his merit badges for horsemanship and riflery and swimming. He wasn't sure he will get his environmental badge. He did the overnight trip riding out on horseback camping out.


For the Environmental merit badge There was a 500 word essay he was supposed to do. His essay was half that length. I asked what his topic he chose. He said he chose the polar bear and with their growing population in Alaska, and adaptability to scavenging and that their fur was slowly becoming more brown to match new forage areas, he argued that they might not need to be on the endangered species list anymore. I laughed, and mentioned how an environmental geek might have trouble with that essay, but that I was proud of his thinking for himself and looking at the evidence. I asked how he got the information. He said they had an Internet access with a room of computers to use for research. So much with being out in the wilds with no communication.

When the boys started the trip one of the rules is no electronics, including cell phones and electronic games. Trevor handed his phone over to one of the adult leaders. I had to explain to Tom several times this week, not to expect Trevor to check in. Trevor was having a good time at camp. We would only hear from Trevor if it were serious.

 The first day Trevor put together the chore roster for the week. He is slowly being groomed and taught leadership skills. The leadership spots in the troop will be available in a year, once he passes the next two levels. With these merit badges he now can move up a rank. He is no longer a beginning scout. He just has to do the recitations, which they practiced at camp, and explain what certain terms mean in his own words to prove he understands what it means to be a scout and a good citizen and how he lives out these obligations in his every day life.



He did the overnight horse trip. He said his gear was so filthy afterwards and itchy, that he accidentally on purpose dropped his sleeping bag in the lake for a rinsing. The weather was so hot and dry that the sleeping bag was dry before nightfall. 

He said in swimming he won his race in his group of 10. He was the only one who knew a proper racing dive and got a good head start. Those days on the swim team finally paid off. Trevor is not fast but he is a solid swimmer. He said one boy almost caught him but the rest were way behind.

Trevor said he learned how to clean his weapon and worked on accuracy in riflery. He said he was a pretty good shot. I forgot to ask at what distance.

 He has been wanting a blade, three inches is the limit allowed. They sell them at the trading post on site. He saved up his money and chose the blade over a T-shirt for his souvenir. The blade is a fold over three inch blade with a wooden handle. He wont be allowed to carry it except to camping trips. I will add it to his mess kit and put it in storage. I found it sitting in the office where he had shown Riley his new accessory. Nice thing about leaving your stuff lying around is Mom gets to put it away where dangerous toys  can stay hidden.       

Trevor said his group was one of the few that got hot meals as the area was  on an open fire ban. His troop has a big trailer with all sorts of gear in it, including two propane cook stoves. He guessed there were around 250 scouts or more. He said his troop had him on cooking once they realized he had some experience. Another boy under cooked the burgers and made another scout throw up from food poisoning. After that Trevor said he did most of the cooking.

Clean up involved a hollowed out stump that chlorinated water was poured into. Trevor said the bottom drain hole got clogged and he had to reach in and clean out all the dumped food before continuing to wash dishes. Forgot that detail of no disposal in the sink.

Not all was glowing fun.He said the out house was disgusting and almost full. There was a plan to dig another hole next month, but from the boy's discription, one was due much sooner. Some one pooped on the path in front of the outhouse rather than use it.  A couple of the scouts in the troop got a little stupid. Two boys used their new scout knives to slice a sleeping tent, probably just testing out the blade's sharpness on fabric, who knows what they were thinking, but the destruction was done. They were caught and all knives were confiscated until the end of the week, so no one else could misuse their blade. The story makes me want to read Lord of the Flies again. Trevor was at the shooting range with a friend at the time so they had an alibi and were totally uninvolved. There will probably been a review of the chapter on safe blade use coming up for everyone.

Once home, Trevor wanted to get right on the computer to catch up on his missed programs. Riley wanted him to come straight up and play Minecraft with him. I yelled at Trevor not to sit down on anything, but to go straight up to the shower, toss everything into the wash. I could smell Trevor's trail, where he had been before he got into the shower. It took a few minutes to fumigate the the house with open doors. He and Riley played for a while then Trevor did get to watch is missed programs.  At bed time he came into our room and sat on the bed to watch the Olymics until Tom started snoring and I turned the TV off. He is growing into a solid citizen and a handsome young man. I just hope that he can keep up the grades in school.  We missed him this week.

Wearing glasses

I am a reject for lasiks surgery. My eyes have too many problems; stretched retina, thin cornea, dry eye. Suggestions have ranged from putting silicon plugs in the tear ducts to help with the dry eye to waiting ten years for technology to catch up with my problems. I was told that there would be so much scar tissue after a repair that it would look like I was seeing through a  broken glass window.

I have opted to give up my contacts due to the dry eye  and wear a very thick pair of glasses. My prescription is so hefty that I can't even wear the rimless frames as the lenses are so thick it would look like I had cut the bottoms off  old Coke bottles and stuck  them over my eyes. I am about due for a replacement pair of glasses. The investment runs easily several hundred dollars between the lenses and the frames.

I bring this topic up because this weekend while camping I put my glasses down when I went to bed. I was sharing a room with four other young people. I say young as they are teenage and tossed all their stuff willy nilly and kick things out of their way as needed.

Soon after lying down I needed to go to the bathroom. I felt around for my glasses, but somehow they were not where I thought I had left them. I went over to Riley but he was already sound asleep on another bed. I couldn't budge him.  It was just getting dark so I  carefully negotiate the shapes of the room and make my way down the stairs and outside. There were many people settling in for the night at this cluster of cabins, just past dark. You could hear the voices from the buildings.  There was a wait at the out house.

 I decided to sneak round to the back of our building and find a private spot, like men do. I hope I am out of sight in the dark seclusion I have chosen. I can't go far as I am feeling my way in the dark using the side of the cabin as my guide. I look up from my spot I choose just in time to see a man going by on the path on his way to the out house. All I can make out is the shadow of his shape. The only cabin from that direction is my sister and her boyfriend, so I figure it is all in the family anyway. He either did not see me or pretended he didn't see me. Not much I can do at this point while squatting by the building. Hopefully my derriere does not glow as white as I think it does in the dark against the dark building.

 I made it back inside, hoping who ever had passed by in the night wont know who I was in the morning. Could be any one of many women camping in the cabins. I lay down and fell asleep for the night. In the middle of the night I needed to use the facilities again, which would still entail walking to an outhouse down a dark path. I fumbled around for my glasses in the dark. I still can not locate them. Unwilling to wake the whole room in my search by turning on the big overhead light, I use my hands to feel around on the floor and under my bed to no avail. I finally use my sense of touch to stumble carefully and quietly as possible  down the creaky wood stairs and out the front door. I turn right and carefully feel along the side of the house in the darkness to the far side to my favorite personal spot, where I drop my underwear and pee in the dirt, hopefully hidden from view. You can hear me, the sound seems to echo off the building in the quiet.

 There was no way I could have made it to the outhouse without falling over a tree root in the dark and unable to see two feet in front of me. I wouldn';t want to be stumbling around inside an outhouse.  I was grateful no mosquitoes attacked my unprotected skin in the dark.  

In the morning, I awoke and used the hand rail to negotiate the stairs once more without my glasses. My sister was up and preparing breakfast. I asked her if she would mind going upstairs and having a look around. she gets to the top of the stairs looks to the right  to my bed, where I had been sleeping, reaches down and picks my glasses up from the base of the wall next to the bed. Right out in plain sight for anyone to find if they could see worth a darn.



 

The lake

The cousins love this lake in the middle of no where, Lost Lake. Twenty of us were able to make it including all the children. Trevor could only stay one day and night, but he made full use of that day with swimming and capturing knuts and splashing in the clear cool water with all his cousins.  Every family contributed a float, either a rubber boat or an inner tube. There were three paddles and lots of life jackets. I left my dog at home as I heard that other dogs were coming and it just would add to the chaos. I would have more fun not stressing over my dog.

Riley hadn't packed a swim suite as he had no intention of getting in the lake. He had brought a big thick book to read. The next thing I hear is my sister laughingly telling me how Riley was out in the middle of the lake fully clothed in his shirt, shorts, and hat, and still wearing his white socks while sitting in the inner tub. She convinced Riley to hand over his socks so he wouldn't look quite so dweeby. She presented me with the wet sodden evidence of his socks for me to find a place to hang them dry. The next day he did exactly the same thing though without the socks. Fully clothed in his signature hawiian shirt and a pair of shorts, he was out playing in the inner tub. His face was pink from the sun. The last day he sat relaxing with the big book he brought, wearing long pants. I doubt he had any dry clothes in his bag. Everyone else had lived in a swim suite the whole weekend.

Day two I woke early to get Trevor delivered to his scout camp. It was a long drive back to civilization to deliver Trevor and then to turn around and drive back to our camp site. We had breakfast with Margaret and Hugh who were early risers by several hours, hard boiled eggs and fruit. Margaret waited impatiantly each day for 9:00 am when  she had been told would be the wake up time for everyone to have breakfast at the cabins. She was the only one with a watch and counted the time towards each meal when everyone would come off the lake to eat and she could see them.

The last night I switched rooms with my brother's family as they hadn't been able to keep their cabin for the final night. It had already been reserved. My room could fit them with their extra air mattress. I took Trevor's vacated bed in the big cabin. It turned out to have a better mattress than the futon bed in the lodge room, which had a big lump in the middle from the couch fold.

At 9:00 am we all heard the cabin door open and Margaret walk in . After walking around and banging on some dishes, she finally said in a regular voice, which was very loud in the tiny uninsulated space, "Well, everyone seems to be still asleep." In the silent cabin there was no mistaking the message, it was time to rise and have breakfast. We all rolled out of our respective beds, this tiny cabin has beds for nine and someone was in every bed.  Jen started cooking with a grimace on her face, but once the coffee was served the morning mood improved.  The cousins were soon dragging the rafts down the path to the lake for another day of play and diving for knuts.

We split the meals. Jen was on for breakfasts at the cabin with eggs and bacon and fresh fruit, coffee and juice. Tory was snacks and suplimental food. Heidi was lunches, devine meals with fancy sauces that had the bowls scraped clean and fingers licked to get the last drop out of the sandwiches.  I was on for dinners: hamburgers and hot dogs. I bought brautwurst and sausages and burgers and buns along with a bunch of cheap hot dogs and some special chicken hormone free sausages that were really expensive, but that my nephew could eat with his special foods issues. Everyone had something that would please them as long as they ate meat. Those with specific needs had been told to bring their own special foods.

I had one heart flipping moment when one sister brought out macadamian nuts forgetful that my nephew on the other side is so allergic to these nuts, it would have been a disaster had he gotten his hands on the bag. His reactions are those of a peanut allergy with epi pins and visits to the hospital. In the middle of the wilderness that would have been a disaster. I told my sister to take that particular item and lock it back in her car, bury it deep where no one would stumble on it by accident. Crisis averted without incident.

I got the fire going the first evening and cooked up a storm. Getting the fire started involved having the boys bring me the briquettes from the car then trying to start the coals with a small cigarette lighter I had swiped from Tom before we left home. This method was unsuccessful, so I went into the lodge store and purchased a bottle of fire starter fuel. Poured the chemical all over the coals and up the fire started without issue.

 Trevor was still with us for that first dinner. While my back was turned busy cooking for everyone, Trevor managed to eat at least two brautworst, a double cheeseburger and a regular cheese burger, before everyone else had made it through the line the first time. I got worried I hadn't brought enough, the way the food disappeared that first meal. They made serious inroads into my supply of dinner meat. By the end of the evening I had cooked up fifteen brauts and fifteen hamburgers or cheese burgers, plus half a dozen hot dogs. I had brought my own oversized fry pan to cook in, which was a blessing as I kept tossing food on as I removed the last round. It made cooking on the open fire a breeze, no messy sticking to the grill.

The pan was black from the fire. I learned an incredibly cool cooking trick from my brother in law. As the pan filled with grease and baked on cheese from the many brauts and burgers burgers, it became sticky. A thick crust formed over the bottom of the pan and food started to stick.  The trick was to take the cheap wine I had brought and throw a cup of wine into the pan, the wine cut through the baked on crust allowing me to scrape it clean easily and continue cooking without having a sticky mess on the bottom. It made a great saute, but mostly what I loved was at the end of the evening when I was done cooking I was able to quickly scrape the pan clean so it would be ready for the next use at breakfast without being a huge hard crusty production to clean. That wine boiled in the bottom of the pan and the gunk just scraped right off. The pan needs to be hot when you pour in the wine,but it worked like magic cleaner.

The next night I served the same meal but the rest of the family added stuff to build out the meal. I was greatful as I had thought I had brought plenty but we really went through the food, even after Trevor left. All that swimming and activity on the lake made everyone hungry. We added some chicken patties and more chicken brauts and cooked almost all the meat. Only half a pack of  the cheap hot dogs were left. Another nephew had a reaction to the cheese that was in the pan used to cook all the meats and burgers. He reacts to dairy. I should have cooked his food first or scraped the pan clean before putting his food on. I'll do better and remember next year. 

We did a fire in the firepit next to the lodge to cook smore's.  I had a room rented in the lodge with a real shower and a flushing toilet. It was a big upgrade from staying in the primitive cabins that share an out house down a dark path at night. Everyone came to my room at one time or another for use of the bathroom. Next year we may all be in the lodge with bathrooms. The rooms aren't fancy, but just having a sink, and flushing toilets makes me smile and everyone sigh with relief.

There was a pile of wood next to the door of our room. I had been told by the lodge that a log would be provided. I borrowed the logs. Turned out that my neighbors had purchased that bundle. She made a comment when they returned to their room and found us cooking up their wood. The next day I appologized but also told her the rooms get wood free for around the cabins and lodge. She hadn't known.  For fires at the lake pits you have to buy wood, but for the lodge it is part of our package, like the free parking we got. We didn't have to pay for our cars like the day campers or tent campers do. Saved $25 over the weekend. She apologized back for her comment the night before. Jen brought over her spare log from her cabin for us to give them as a replacement. They must have thought we were aweful the night before. Stealing their wood. They had also collected a bucket of knuts that the lodge staff found and returned to the lake. We were the ones to break the news of the dumped bucket of knuts. Then one of my nephews who is obsessed with balls kept trying to play with the beach balls they had sitting on the communal deck. It all turned out ok, but I did feel a bit like the Grizwalds' relatives in National Lampoon's Vacation.

My sisters want to make this destination an annual event. We all love Lost Lake. I am just so sorry Tom doesn't like it. He might like it more if he stayed in the lodge and brought a really good book to read. He doesn't do water much, and he is addicted to TV. Lost Lake is much about communing with nature, swimmng, long walks and quiet meditation.  Tom stayed home, working one day, and watching the Olympics on another, having a quiet time to himself. He did have the dog for company, but he was missed at the lake, at least by his family.


When I got home Monday night, it was Tom's birthday. I asked him what he wanted for dinner. He had made a big pot of chili and asked for chili dogs for dinner. I smiled  when he said he wanted regular hot dogs in his chili dogs. The regular hot dogs were all I had left. For the third night in a row we had hot dogs for dinner and everyone was happy.

Kidnapping

I was in the office when there was a knock on the door around 10:00 am. Riley answered it in his bathrobe. It was a police officer. Riley had mentioned earlier that there were police outside the house and at the neighbors. I told Riley I would talk to the police, find out what they wanted.

The officer asked if I or the boys had seen anything this morning. Two men had broken into the house across the street and stolen a six month old baby. I went bug eyed, scared me so much I started tearing up. I was freaked.  The officer went on to calm me with saying that they thought it was a domestic dispute over a restraining order on the husband. It relieved me so much to know that it was a family issue, though why it should when family violence is just as ugly and can happen just as much, but there is something so much less scary with the known,  a family squabble versus than to think some wacko just walked into my neighborhood and snatched a child.

I haven't met this particular family. They have lots of children of varying ages. I figured it was a blended household, hers, his, and theirs kind of home with that many children and some  of similar ages. I have been impressed with how they play outside, riding bikes, and walking the dog, and just being outside, unlike my boys who sit and play the x box all day inside, and have tantrums over the thought of being restricted from the TV or x box.

Trevor had been soaking his big toe in the bathroom at the time of the incident. No windows in the bathroom so I knew he had not seen anything. Riley was still in bed at 9:00 am, sound asleep. I woke him shortly after nine. His room faces the valley so he didn't see anything. I felt bad we were of no help. The officer was hoping someone might know the make and model of the car that was used. They wanted to get out a bulletin on  the kidnapping.

A few hours later I was driving Trevor into the city to play with his cousins, who were visiting from New York. Trevor is off to scout camp the next week so would otherwise miss seeing them. On the big traffic bulletin signs over the freeway,  was the Amber Alert asking people to call with information if they saw a car with the description and license posted in the bulletin. The police must have identified the car eventually.

Freaky to know that the Amber alert was for my neighbors. Trevor asked what an Amber Alert was. He did not know the expression so I explained how it is a mass bulletin using all media sources in the event of a missing child, because the first few hours are crucial. If everyone in the general public knows to be on the lookout, and you have every driver on the road aware and looking, it is hard for a criminal to escape notice since all eyes are watching out for the missing child.

We heard on the news later that the child was found. The car had been identified. The child was safe. The Amber Alert worked. Tom called me wanting to know when I would be home as there was a media van camped out in front of our house. He had been accosted when he parked his car after work, in hopes of an interview about the neighbors and the child snatching. He said they were really pushy, so he had volunteered me. He said I might be willing to be interviewed and would be more attractive on camera. I told Tom that I didn't want that to be my 15 seconds of fame.  I didn't know the family. Had I been in their shoes I would appreciate everyone minding their own business.

When I got home I drove straight into the garage and shut the doors. I didn't dare go out into the front yard, even though I had wanted to water my plants. The plants would have to wait. I noticed all the cars that usually are parked in the driveway or on the street in front of the neighbor's house were missing. The family was keeping a low profile. They had all gone into hiding elsewhere. That is what I would have done. That media van sat outside for hours. Around eight pm another car arrived with two people in it, a blond woman and I assume a camera man. I watched through the curtains as the woman already here went over the details with her replacement. The two that had been waiting all day in the van left in the car and the new news crew settled in. I could see a couch in the back of the van, the side door was wide open, with all the camera equipment and a TV screen going. The camera man settled on the couch to watch the TV.

We went to bed at our usual time around 9:oo pm. During the night I got up to go to the bathroom. It was dark outside, middle of the night. The van was still waiting. I have no idea how long they sat and waited. The van was gone when I looked out at eight in the morning. The family did not return until late afternoon. They kept a low profile and stayed inside the next day. I didn't watch the news. I didn't need to see if the family was paraded in front of the media. I was just grateful the child was safe.

I did tell the boys that this is why they needed to choose their girlfriends carefully. They needed to make sure the person they fall in love with and marry and have children with is well balanced. The fact that this guy broke a restraining order, and kidnapped his own child, shows that perhaps there was a serious need for a restraining order. He must have been either really mad or incredibly stupid to think he could get away with stealing his child and that the mother would not call the police, when she had already put a restraining order on him. Now he is really going to jail. Supervised visitations for the rest of his life, idiot. He even crossed state lines before he was caught. He is in deep doo doo.  People can be so stupid.     

The finished floor.

The floor came out great. I was impressed with Riley's help. He stuck with the project until we were over half way then took a break, but came back later to help some more. He definitely earned the $15 I promised him. I am hoping the flooring is still there at the store, so I can go buy it all for another room in the house. Only one spot is questionable. The sub floor had been laid with four boards meeting at a big joint. Not recommended for laying sub floors. You are supposed to lay them randomly with scattered joints for strength.

 Accidentally, I didn't measure out that particular row, I ended with a seam close to the joint, creating a weak spot with a predisposition to peal up. I may need to use my finish nailer and just pop a nail in the vinyl at that joint to keep it down.

Tom came home while I was out. He said he stood and stared at the room trying to figure out what was different. He is so observant when it comes to the house. It took him a while to see the new floor. Which is exactly the reaction I wanted. I didn't want the change to be obvious other than the smell being gone.

I was so grossed out when I rolled up the carpet and saw the very dark coffee and tea colored stains on the underside. There was gritty sand in the corners and along the baseboards  that no vacuum could have reached. Hidden dirt is still dirt. Carpets hid such filth beneath the surface.

 I was bitten by a spider while working. There was a nice small web in the corner behind a side table,  the bite started to get a swelled up area around it, but I took a cotton pad with hydrogen peroxide and soaked the area over and over. That worked in keeping the infection from exploding.

Now I am on to the next project, taking measurements.

In need of a project

Wonderful day. I went golfing with the nine holers and shot my best round ever. No cheating, no mulligans or putt again, I shot a 57 for nine holes. That was with landing in two sand traps, and shooting 20 putts for the round. Slowly my game is coming together. 

I was in such a grand mood after golf that I went browsing. First I checked in with Trev to see if he needed a ride. He had walked over to an Eagle scout project after being dropped at weight training. The project was to put in a new garden for a local church. The Church had auctioned off its large azaleas and rhododendrons for a fund raiser and were replacing the plants with small ones. The scouts were the labor crew and the Eagle had raised the money for the plants and new dirt. One of the parents volunteered to drive Trevor home later as they were not done yet and he was a hard worker they did not want to lose until they were finished for the day.

This left me free to do a little hunting. I have been looking on the Internet, Craigslist, for 200 square feet of inexpensive solid surface to replace the carpet in the family room. The carpet is, well, gross carpet. Well used and abused. The color hides a lot of sins. Everything I found was a bit more than I wanted to pay on my strict budget that I am trying to maintain. My credit card bill came yesterday so I knew I had to be really frugal and good. That bill covered when my friends were visiting and we went vacationing. I am cheap, but you just can't take a family vacation and not spend anything on food and souvenirs. The bill hurt my budget, yet I really need to do this carpet. It grates on my nerves the feel of it and the faint odors, even after cleaning.

.  I stopped in at one store without any luck, then realized Habitat for Humanities would be open today. Talk about bargain hunting, you just never know what you might find. I was in luck. It wasn't hardwood, but I hadn't found enough on line either. You can get 100 square feet pretty easy because that is what is usually left after a project, 5 to 10%. I needed 200 square feet. The store had just received the same kind of flooring my Mom has in her beach house. It is strip vinyl that looks like hard wood. They had well over 200 square feet. Enough to do the room, cheap. Each box was 30 square feet and $13.80 a case. I could get what I needed for $100. It is vinyl, but within the budget.

I came home with the flooring. To lay vinyl I will need to pull up the tack strips and any staples or nails that might pop up. The floor will need to be pristine clean. I call for Riley as he is home playing video games.I  bribe him with  $15 for the whole project. He takes me up on the price. Little knowing it will probably be several hours of crawling on the floor, but I will be there working right along with him.

We pull up the edge of the carpet all around the room and remove the tack strip and edge staples. Riley does the tack strips with a miracle bar and hammer,  and I do the staples with a pair of pliers and a flat head screw driver. Once we get all the way around the room I vacuum the edge then tuck the carpet back in place. All this takes about an hour and a half, just removing the tack strips then hiding our work.   I don't want to start the big part of the project until we have the whole day tomorrow so we can start and finish before Tom gets home.

Tom doesn't want to deal with the mess of moved furniture and I don't want to hear comments before I present the completed finished product. I get a much better response when everything is done from Tom. Of course, I wish I was installing real hardwood, but this is a nice substitute and a cheap fix. Budget budget budget.        

There are the problems I see developing tomorrow, though, which I will need advise or thoughts. When we removed the tack strip from the doorway going outside, I found the fiber board sub floor to be swollen and puffy and tending to crumble. There was water damage. Now, do I fix this by cutting out the rot with my circular saw and replace the sub floor or do I just lay the vinyl over the top and pretend it is fine. I know what I should do and what my friends that are particular would do but they are not here. 

The other problem is the seams between the sub floor boards. Do I fill these gaps with caulk or just lay the vinyl over the gaps? Don't know the answer to this one. The next problem is do I remove the base boards or not. I have found to do a good job it is best to remove the base boards. The vinyl is thin compared to carpet. There is a gap. I will need to hang  the baseboards lower or get extender pieces, which they had at Habitat today.

There is also the problem that two different heights of sub floor were used. It is subtle, which the carpet hid. Vinyl will not hide that small difference. Riley suggested laying two courses on top of each other of the vinyl, which just might work to raise up the small area that is so slightly lower than the rest of the room.

Tomorrow, Riley and I  go to work. I hope it turns out beautifully. It is vinyl, but at this price it is worth a try. I can always come back later and do something else. Meanwhile the carpet and smell will be gone and clean up will be so so easy. If this turns out well I am going to tackle the upstairs hallway. Perhaps even buy the rest of the cases of vinyl for Riley's room, if he likes how this turns out. 

Can't wait for tomorrow.