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The ingredients for this explosion were pretty simple 1) a house more than 120 years old, 2) on hand tools for the using and 3) the crazy thought that you should add just one more thing to the list.
Okay, so the whole explosion started thanks to my husband who decided we needed new furniture in the living room. Not a bad idea but the aftermath well that is “the rest of the story.” It started with me having the goal the next morning of getting the new furniture into the house. As I was cleaning to move the old furniture I had the bright idea that I should shampoo the carpet while there was no furniture in the room. Well that entailed a trip to town to get my Mother’s-in-law carpet shampooer and soap and take some items to church. (Not so bad yet but hold on to your computer.)
As I was shampooing the carpet in the front living room (not what I was planning but a first good suggestion from my husband) he says since you’re going to all the work cleaning the carpet why don’t you clean the windows too. Me: Well okay, they do need it and I can do that while I’m waiting for the carpet to dry. While cleaning the windows my husband comes over and says, “Wow the outside of the windows are really dusty how about I power wash the outside of them for you.” Me, “That sounds great and while you are at it why don’t you power wash the rest of the front porch too.” (I guess that could be taken as me getting back at him for the window comment right? ;-)) Husband, “Okay, help me clean the porch off.”
So while I’m waiting on the less dusty windows and for the carpet to dry back to town I go to get more carpet shampoo, as there was only one tank of shampoo in the bottle. Keep in mind this is the first time I have ever shampooed a carpet in my life so I had no idea how much shampoo I was supposed to use in the first place.
Okay so I get back and my husband stops power washing the porch long enough to help me move the furniture back into the front room. Whew, one room down for the most part. (I still have yet to clean the outside of the windows.) And off to shampoo the main living room, two rounds later I take a break from that project just in time for me to run off and pick up little one from daycare. My husband disappears to the basement and returns with several cans of white primer paint to put on the porch after the wood floor dries out as I’m getting ready to leave. Now don’t miss interpret this that the porch washing was the goal at this particular time. The primer is old oil base primer that has been around for a while.
By the time I get back my husband has started slapping primer on the porch railings. Back into the house I go to shampoo the carpet one more time and after this round I’m calling it passable. Sigh…. As I’m finishing I hear “Will stay out of the paint.” coming from outside. I grabbed some paper towels (handy from cleaning the inside of the windows) and clean little ones hands.
Now it’s off to the porch to clean the outside of the windows. After scrubbing at the windows for quite some time they are clean. Now to clean the windows of the screen door and front door and to realize most of the day is gone and the new furniture is nowhere close to being in the house yet. Break for dinner, bath, story time and bed for little boy.
Another big sigh…. And vacuum the floor before running out to the truck to back it up to the porch to bring the new furniture in (mind you it is dark outside now) the house. Take the packing off the furniture complete with the crumbling Styrofoam and put it in place. Vacuum the floor again this time to clean up the Styrofoam and have husband decide we need to switch the couch and loveseat around. So move them again call it good for now and…… collapse.
Sigh, get back up and rummage through the fridge for dinner and call it a day. Several days (or maybe a week) later we finally got the porch completely primed and some detailing completed and we again have a useable porch.
As I write this I know there are lots and lots more of these project explosions coming our way (we are still in the middle of the back porch explosion) as we have all three of the necessary items to cause it. I just hope that we are not the only ones that suffer from the dreaded project explosion from time to time.
Later, Stephanie
The Moderately Involved Kansas Farm Wife
