I'm so high on paint fumes...blast.

Well, my migraine is mostly gone. I'm wondering if it came on because I closed the window to go to bed and I'd completed the oil based painting earlier in the day. The fumes were gone, I thought...but maybe there were some still there.

It's taken an entire bucket of paint (this lot is waterbased) to do the hallway. Which is nuts, because it's a tiny hallway. But, the wallpaper the previous tenants used is textured. I suppose I should have torn it down, but so far pulling down the wallpaper in this flat has been an exercise in disaster as it is papered directly onto the sheetrock/whatever that is under there.

Here's a diy hint. ALWAYS paint before wallpapering. You'll be glad you did when it is time to pull it down.

So, I'm taking a break in between buckets...I have a bunch more to do.

Plus, I'm making a casserole to take to potluck tomorrow.

Better wash my hands between the two. :D

Right, you remember my kitchen, yes?

Okay, here's a refresher:


Right, well, the orange and white chest of drawers is down in the basement, waiting to be stripped and sanded and then carted to Alan and Caroline's so they can use it for a chest of drawers for the little ones.

That was two weeks ago (or so...). On Monday evening, I stripped down the flowery wallpaper (hate it, hate it, hate it) and hacked that horrible bench thing out of the wall.

I've painted the walls in that half of the kitchen as well as the other half and cleaned up the mess I made from the wood and wallpaper. I still need to paint the ceiling and the baseboards (blue ceiling doesn't match the hint o' mint color [not really the color's name], but my arms hurt just now).

In the space where the bench was, I'm going to put a pantry. So, I went down to B&Q and got 5x tracks for brackets, 9x small brackets, 6x larger brackets, cork fillers for the height gap between the parquet flooring and the old floor boards (long story involving the crack habits of the former inhabitants), 5 pieces of lino to put over the cork, and 3 1190mmx250mm pieces of shelf board.

So, heavy. With me still?

Well, trying to nip any problems in the bud, at 3:40pm I called the taxi people and tried to book a taxi ahead of time so I wouldn't have to worry with getting one afterwards. No such luck. 'We don't make those kind of bookings.' Fine.

Did shopping, came outside at 5:08pm. Ouch. Called for taxi. No taxis until 6:30pm. Decided I could get the lot on the bus, so far, so good.

Did well until I got to Rose Street. One of the shelf boards slipped, dragging itself along the worst of the blisters/oozing wounds on my recently burned fingers.

I'm pretty sure that no one has yelled the 'F' word that loud in the history of the Western World. Pain, oh pain.

Well, a nice little old lady managed to forgive me for that (or she's deaf) and carried my bag to the Skene/Esselmont Junction. So, I managed.

I rewarded myself with about a bathtub's worth of ice cream.

Now, back to painting/drilling.

Oh, before I write about the DIY, this story is just...whoa. The phrase 'whole lotta shakin' goin' on' springs to mind.

Ahem.

( We're moving the room around in a circle! )

The hardest part is moving the radiator. ybunny and I unscrewed it from its usual location. He is currently trying to drop the wire down the wall where it will be connected to power. I just finished painting the spot where the radiator had been.

Without any further complications, we should have a redone living room by this evening. Then, shortly, we will have a new TV and table. Woo.

That's what my grandmother said when she found me still asleep half an hour ago. Yes, I
have been spending most of my time as a post-undergraduate lying in my bed. I had great plans to get some other things done (like post pics of graduation, unload my stuff, write thankyou notes, etc.) but I seem to need the sleep.

That may be due to the fact that I have been climbing around in our attic crawl space like somekind of recluse inbred freak, yelling down, 'Is it working now?'
I arrived home to find my ceiling and carpet in my room wet. Not just a little wet, but Chatt-town flooding wet. So, I climbed up to discover that the fault lies with the HVAC unit. So, yesterday was spent siphoning the water (the buggy, gross water) out of the spill pan and placing additional aluminium pans under the duct to catch the extra water.

I actually woke up this morning and thought 'Shit. The CK is already closed. Maybe shineyquarter will take lunch early and we can go off-campus.' But then I realized that I never have to get up for work again and that Southern is a long way away. I miss having a steady income-I don't miss the gratuitous photographer abuse that was always waiting in I's office. Anyway.

Maybe I should get my lazy ass up and check for miscellaneous food type items before going up to register for German at UNC-Asheville.

I will return...but with pics. :)

Just a thought...