Party on

The party was fun. Here I had thought I had bought plenty of food with twenty brots, two family packs of chicken, thighs and drumsticks, about 24 or more pieces, and two racks of ribs singly cut, 25 ribs. There was no meat left over at all. People ate and ate and came back for more. One couple arrived late, I had to scrounge off the platter the children had in their game room, to find one last piece of chicken.

 I loved again how easy this house flows for a party. We had three glasses of wine spilled at least, and one broken glass. I announced how much I loved having the carpets gone, each time I quickly wiped up each of the spills, with a paper towel,  until people started saying how they got it, that I love my new floors and how easy they clean up a spill.

Some one asked what I had done to the house since we moved in, someone else responded with "What has she not done". It has been a busy year. In one year, our first year, we did new hardwood floors in the man cave with new furniture, our first project. Ripped out the carpet in Riley's room, even before the man cave.

Tom did a dump run with a friend with all the carpet, the beat up pool table that came with the house, and some items left by the previous owner, including the demolished hot tub with carpenter ants from the deck. I steadily plugged away at the blackberries for two months. Hand clipping them down to the ground then spraying crossbow with sticker solution to suppress. Now I need a weed eater to keep the grass down.

 The kitchen island was my summer  project this summer. The carpet gone in the family room came next, which lead to the hall upstairs, ripping out carpet, and the completion of finally putting a floor down over the sub floor in Riley's room.   The laminate in Trevor's room and the replacement of the laminate in the hall that I didn't like after all, with the same flooring as Riley's room came right after. I was on a roll that week having come upon some great flooring.

   That flooring looked so good a party goer mistook the floor for real Oak until I told her to reach down and touch it. I may never do laminate again when the vinyl is so much easier to install and a similar price. It can be laid directly on concrete also. I will probably do the basement with vinyl eventually.

While shopping , i.e. browsing Home Depot, I had a conversation with an employee who showed me the next generation of flooring  products. There is now a vinyl that mimics  12 x 12 tile squares that you can grout the seams for an even more authentic look of real tile. Soft edges on the vinyl squares give the illusion of depth. No heavy tile, the squares stick down without mortar, just grout the edges for the look of a tile floor. Though why you would want grout to clean is a consideration. You can also lay these squares close together without the grout seams. No worry about the weight of tile on a structure when using the light vinyl tiles. No reinforcement,  no.special sub floor, easy easy install. But I am all about the deal so I will wait as the price is still in the new product range. Just thinking if I could use one square to cover a broken tile, it would make for an easy fix. Hm.

I can tell my next ambition will be to get the plumber in to move the laundry, with an electrician for the wiring. Just waiting for a complete drain clog so I have an excuse.

Meanwhile, don't stress any spills, they wipe up easily. Even the last dog sit was easy. First day I had a friend's dog for the weekend, her dog that was not house broken, left me a liquid present, or maybe she was marking her territory.  I just wiped it up, no smell no spot, no  bother, no crankiness. Love not dealing with carpet.

For Tom's birthday this year we had the pool table we brought with us completely rebuilt with new rubber bumpers and new felt. It was great success for the man cave durring the party. That room has turned out to be just lovely. Tom has some things he would still like to do to the space, but it works beautifully now. I am told it definately adds value to the house.

Trevor carried the slate from the old table into the back yard where I used it as patio pavers for the basement doors. Recycle, reuse where we can.  Slowly we are making the neglected huge monster of a house loved again.