The Projects

Hi Hubby,

Hope your four-day business trip to Chicago is going well?  Seems like there was something I had wanted to talk to you about before you left; But I can’t think what it was now.  Oh well.  So I guess I better get back to my big stair project. 

And yes, the kids ARE helping.  They seem downright happy to help if you ask me – and not just because I threatened to never feed them again if they didn’t.  Summer reading assignments pale in comparison to the fun that this project is. 

And we’re all wearing safety glasses too.  That was a big brainstorm I had after Sissy was standing 7 steps above my head and got poked by something INSIDE her gloves.  (They were my leather gardening gloves because I thought it would be important to protect her hands from all those annoying “tack strips” all over the place.)  So when she turned the glove over to see what was inside, about 5 pounds of woodchips poured out onto my head.  Just that one woodchip got in my eye – and it wasn’t really even directly related to what we were doing – but it gave me that great safety glasses idea nonetheless.  ‘Cept I couldn’t find any safety glasses, so we’re doing more of a “sunglass” thing and less of a “safetyglass” thing.  Sonny is wearing a pair of his old wraparound Spiderman shades and Sissy has an old time-y pair of black sunglasses with purple tinted lenses (remember those?) and I’m wearing my old sports sunglasses.  So if you happened to peek into the open front door, it might look like the three blind mice are ripping carpet off the stairs. 

Why is the front door open so that all the neighbors (and everyone who has to take that main road detour through our neighborhood) can see the craziness within, you ask?  Because the front porch is where we’re housing the garbage cans, which is where we’re putting all of the nail-filled, extremely poke-y, stank ho carpet we’re ripping off the stairs prior to us sanding then painting said stairs.  Duh!  But we covered up the front door with a baby gate so the dog – and others who might be tempted to escape – can’t.  It’s almost like a living “diorama.”  A diorama of people whose futures are so bright they gotta wear shades.  While they do hard labor.

But the BEST part of all of this?  Is that we found out where that dog pee smell (that permeates the entire house despite repeated professional carpet cleanings) is coming from.  I can’t even IMAGINE what kind of personal challenge the dog took on with that.  But it seems like he got just about every stair with his…er…challenge.  What a weirdo.

Anyway, hope you’re having fun.  And no, don’t worry.  We’ll save most of this project for you to finish when you get home.  Because we’re nice like that. 

Love & kisses, Me and your merry band of child laborers

P.S. Do we have a crowbar?  I thought we did, but I can’t find it.  We have GOT to get that garage organized.  We should plan to get to that when we’re done with the stairs.