Our New Abode - Week Three, dated March 20, 2003

Hello everyone, time for another update on the housing project.

In case you're wondering, we're still in the hotel room. As I'm typing this, I've got 3 very curious cats sniffing out the two cat carriers that I just brought into the room. I've been storing the 5 carriers in the storage unit (about 2 mins from the hotel - very convenient!), as there isn't the space for them in the hotel room. In a short while I have to take two of them (Boris and Jack) into the vet. Jack will be getting his stitches removed, remains of a fight he and Boris had before we moved from Spokane. And Boris is going in today to get his recent battle wounds looked at. Last week the two of them had a nasty fight, with hair all over the bed. Last night Boris started licking his chest like crazy. Turns out one of his puncture wounds had abscessed and was now draining. It looks fine, but I want to make sure it's not infected.

So, anyone out there looking for a very plump, one eyed orange tabby that they want to add to their household? Jack really needs to be in a one cat environment and not living with 4 other cats. He gets too stressed out and has to start taking it out on the other cats. Fixed and declawed, indoor only. Would probably be a lap cat, eventually. He's made overtures, but usually another cat gets in the way and he freaks out.

Of course Boris is now under the bed. And he's the one I need out. He freaks when he sees the carriers and hides under the bed. He did come out when I bought them out, but as soon as I opened one up (to put towels inside) he freaked. Now, to see if kitty treats will work.

Okay, onto the house update. Tonight we plan to finish spray painting in the small bedroom, computer room and living room. All of those rooms have received two coats of primer on both the walls and ceiling. Now to apply the final coat of white paint. Yes, the entire place is covered in white paint (or paint dust from the sprayer - cleaning up will be fun. HA!). One, to cover up any remaining smells and/or stains, and two, to make it brighter. Once the entry way by the front door (which is never used) was painted, I was actually able to see details I didn't know where there before, because it was so dark. Such as the fact that the door has one of those metal doors that you open so you can see who is at the door. The early kind of a peephole. That area was so dark, as well as the door (no light there), that you couldn't see it before.

The kitchen is getting there. Tomorrow we plan to start painting the ceiling, as well as putting the 2nd coat of primer on the walls. Last night and the night before I put Kilz paint on the inside of the upper cabinets, as well as around the water heater (right by the door) and on the inside of the door. The cat box (from the previous residents) was between the water heater and the range, so it rather reeks of cat pee in that area. We still need to apply Nature's Miracle to the cat pee areas. It's been too hard to do it before, with all the paint dust that's been floating down. Even in the rooms that aren't being spray painted. Plus, most of the floor is covered in newspapers right now to try to keep some of the paint off it.

I still need to work on the lower cabinets. Renee painted the outside of them, but I need to tackle the insides. I did stock up on contact paper. But I first want to paint them, to keep some of the odors down. I want every single surface in there covered up with paint, as much as possible. Most of it is getting 3-4 layers of paint, as well as some areas getting Kilz primer on it. This is being applied to the smelly and stained areas.

Yesterday I found out that the medium adhesion painters tape I was using was ripping some of the paint off underneath. Such as around the kitchen cabinets and in the bathroom. So, much of last night was spent touching up those areas that had paint ripped off. Technically speaking, we should have removed the old paint, but it was way more than we wanted to do or spend the time doing. Last night I bought some low adhesion painters tape, so we'll see how that works. I'll be using some of it tonight when I mask off the walls around some door frames that I want to paint in a color other than white.

Day before yesterday I got to grind paint into the ceiling of the bathroom. Just using a brush wasn't getting the paint into the texture ceiling, so I ended up putting paint on the end of the brush and grinding it in. The bathroom has one of those lowered, hung ceilings (not sure of the technical name) with textured panels. My arm sure got a work out, that's for sure.

The bathroom is almost done being painted! We still need to put in the tile flooring. Once that gets done the sink can be hooked up. I guess the drain is clogged, so that needs fixing, as well. Last night we put up the shelves in the small closet in the bathroom. I put contact paper on them earlier in the day. First time for doing that. Let's hope it stays in place. The brackets weren't quite the same as the old stinky, stained ones, so hopefully the shelves won't fall down once I start piling stuff on them. Hubby also needs to install the new towel racks, as there weren't any in there before. And I got rid of the icky toilet paper rack as well. But as far as painting, the bathroom is all done. I could still touch up some areas, but I have to tell myself to stop, otherwise I'll be in there for years on end.

So, the rooms that we're all through painting in are bathroom, large bedroom (which will be used for storage as there isn't a heater in there), hallway, stairwell up to the attic and the dining room. Tonight we should finish up in the small bedroom (which we'll be sleeping in as there's a heater in there), computer room and the living room. After finishing up in the kitchen (hopefully tomorrow), we can start on the laminate wood flooring. He can start on that while I'm still doing finishing work in the kitchen, such as contact paper in the cabinet and drawers, as well as on the shelves in the large bedroom.

When hubby gets finished in a room, he's been installing blinds, so it's been nice to get a bit more privacy. Fortunately there hasn't been anything to see, but it's still nice to know that no one will be able to peer in when you don't want them to.

There's still some small stuff to do, such as painting shelves, installing light and electrical outlet covers - things like that. And we need to bring over a phone. I wasn't too worried about it as anyone that needs to get hold of me has my cell number and I didn't feel like being bothered by junk calls. Plus, we didn't want the phone getting covered in paint dust. But once we're through painting, we can put in a phone. Well, rather we have to wait till we find them in storage! HA!

The flooring will be installed first in our bedroom, so we can get the bed and some clothes moved in. The bed is in the storage unit, while the clothes in the hotel will do for now. I set aside enough clothes for that reason, as I knew it would be a while before everything was found, much less unpacked.

As each room gets flooring put in, we can move more stuff over, such as furniture. Right now the TV is on an old end table that will be tossed when we're through with it. We're sitting on an old wicker rocking chair that also needs paint and a director's chair that doesn't matter if it gets paint on it. And that's about it for stuff that will stay, except for the new range and frig. I found the microwave in the storage unit, so we'll plug that in tonight.

This weekend we'll be over there most of the time, hopefully putting the flooring in. And I'm sure I'll be hearing lots of cursing from the other half. HA!

We hope to move out of the hotel on Monday. That way we'll have two full days at the house, working on it. It should also give us some time to move a few things over from the storage units, such as the bed. I should be able to move us out of here Monday AM, as some of it can be taken over to the house this weekend. We're also going to need to hire a moving truck for some of the larger stuff, such as the entertainment center, which is too large for my enclosed trailer. Or if it's not raining (HA! Yeah, right, around here a day without rain hasn't happened since we came over here!), an open trailer.