Another Recombobulation

Ah, yes, it seems some project never end.

We've been working on two rooms in the basement, primarily the study, fixing things up and generally trying to update the look of a few things, namely getting rid of the orange shag carpeting on the study floor.

But because at the same time I lamented about the small size of my computer desk, my wife and her mom went out and bought me a new, larger model, which means we've spent a good porton of today trying to figure out how to make everything fit in this room, which is not an easy task, given that we've got one wall taken up with windows, another with closets, and a third with bookshelves. After some tinkering we finally came up with a layout that, for the most part, suits us. We had to make some compromises between functionality and aesthetics, with functionality winning in some parts and aesthetics winning in others. We've basically ended up with two l-shaped work space, which, I think will work out pretty good for the both of us. I have had to make a solemn promise, however, that with greater desk space comes greater responsibility in making sure it's not a total mess. That's always the challenging part. But, as Inspector Clouseau says, I am up to se schallange.

Pain? Try Apririn

I feel like I'm stuck in a permanent squat. That's what comes of working on moulding and trim for two days, followed up by two nights of moving furniture and hauling old carpets out of the house and into the alley, where we've spread one of the carpets out to kill the weeds and provide a venue for some of our more hillbilly antics, such as sitting out there in a few of those old web-style lawn chairs, gnawing on a block of cheese the size of a car battery.

Gary, our local Mr. Carpet, is coming tomorrow, and we can't wait. The house has been in a random stage of discombobulation for nearly a month now, and we're heartily sick of it. So this week, if all goes well tomorrow, we can get things put back together. Maybe then I can find my iPod Touch, which got swallowed up into the maelstrom sometime this morning.

The State of Things

Our house is in complete disarray right now, because of carpet. We decided, waaay last year, that with part of our tax refund this year we would buy carpet for the study and for the boys' room. Right now, the study is home to a horrid orange shag carpet that, according to our neighbor, was used when he installed it 20 years go. The boys' room has a rather sturdy berber carpet, meaning that no matter what they do to it, it'll never wear out. Why carpet that's indestructible also has to be beoyond ugly is beyond me. So we're getting the carpet replaced.

As those of you who own homes know, that's not as easy as it sounds. Part of replacing the carpet in the study also involves doing a bit of remodeling. We have -- or had -- some rather ugly paneling wainscotting on two of the walls. It's now been ripped out and replaced by drywall. I'm in the process now of doing the plaster and sanding, which means that most everything of value in the study has been moved out so it doesn't get dusty. That means the living room in the basement is a mess of books, bookshelves and scrapbooking supplies. We can't breathe in that room, let alone walk in it, for all the stuff that stuffed in there.

Good news is I'm closing in on the project. If I could get a full day in on it this week, it would be done. But we're not going to have that happen, because we've got Things Planned. So I might be able to squeeze in a little work between 9-11 pm each night, after the kids have gone to bed and before I turn into a pumpkin. The end product will be worth all the fuss, but it's sure a pain to have everything torn up at the moment. Add to that I had to pay nearly $12 for one piece of drywall yesterday because there's only one store in Rexburg that sells the stuff that's open after 2 pm on Saturdays. This town is so weird.