DUST
March 2nd, 2012
Well, the ceiling is down. I am finding out more and more that the hard part of remodeling isn’t tearing shit down, it’s carrying shit out. Holly and I drove halfway to Lawrence last night to meet Elliot at a McDonald’s and give him some Symphony tickets I had for his Dad. By the time we got back, Paco had the whole ceiling down, but Jesus tits the dust and the insulation and the MOUNTAIN of sheetrock. I changed my clothes and we started hauling ceiling to the dumpster and it was awful. The insulation was so dusty we had to wear masks, but then I felt like I was suffocating and Paco was all, “Breathe in deliberately!” and I’m like, what the fuck does that mean, I just breathe like I breathe! I will say that since both of us started exercising, it’s a whole lot easier to haul piles of shit to the dumpster.
Make no mistake – my husband is doing most of the work here. I will pick up five chunks of ceiling and head out to the dumpster and he picks up 300 pounds of insulation and ceiling and wood and laps me. But he seems to appreciate my help, so I keep doing it.
Once we got the pile of big chunks out, we swept up the loose insulation (I don’t know what it is, the stuff they blow into the walls as opposed to the big rolls with the Pink Panther on them) and the smaller pieces of ceiling and that’s when I yelled for Holly to come up from the basement and take our picture. She took the first one and went “Hm,” and I said, “What’s wrong, not enough light?” and she said, “No, there’s this…cloud, let me take another one,” and then I decided to be a good parent and said, “Oh, shit, gimme that, get away from this dust!”
While we were sweeping it up, Paco said, “This must be what it’s like for Matt Paxton!” and I said, “Yeah, except there would be dead rats and poop everywhere and smell horrible,” and he replied, “And he’d be getting paid bank to do it.” Oh yeah. That.
Paco took the day off today and rigged up some kind of pulley system to get those beams down. He sent me a picture a few minutes ago of the room with no beams, no ceiling, no walls, no floor and now I hate the fireplace. But fuck replacing that.
Who commented that I should keep the beams? Whoever you are, NO WAY. You just don’t even know! They are huge! They’re literally railroad ties! They lower the ceiling by a good foot and they’re rough sawn so you can’t dust them very well and and and…just NO. I want a boring McMansion living room with dull walls and dull floors and dull furniture and dried fucking flowers in glass vases and black and white photos on the wall. I want to be able to dust everything with a Swiffer and wipe up cat barf with a paper towel.
Running shit: I had never heard of stretching afterwards, but it does sound like a good idea. Although I walk five minutes after I stop running so isn’t that kind of like stretching? I don’t know. And look at all you naysayers, all, “You can’t keep this up, your ankles/feet/hips/shins whatever are going to go!!” I am not going to injure myself as long as I keep it steady and don’t fall down. Whoever asked, YES the new shoes made a difference. My ankles bothered me a lot when I first started and they completely stopped hurting once I switched shoes. My hips were sore-ish last night, but they are fine today. I think the deal is: you aren’t going to run for an extended period of time and then have your legs and other running apparati feel just dandy. If I were crippled the next day, I would worry.
I have to run another two miles tonight. Here’s hoping it gets easier. I need to throw another song or two on my playlist because I almost ran out of music last time, and I can’t think of anything worse than running in silence. Well, running to classic rock, maybe.
Matt Paxton would be mother-effing proud right there – although he can never keep his mask on. Also, I second you on the taking the beams down and wanting a dull living room. My parents had rough/rustic woodwork throughout their entire house (all baseboards, door/window frames, etc). It was a nightmare to keep clean.
Hee! I said keep the beams but I’ve only ever seen them in older homes where they looked great.
You’re not gonna go McMansion all the way with columns and tacky chandeliers, right? Oh, and Palladian windows.
What’s wrong with your fireplace? If you go McMansion with that it’ll have to be wood framed with plenty of leaks.
Sorry, I’ve been talking to too many contractors lately. They’ve been scaring the hell out of me.
I think your fireplace is nice. Something that people are doing these days…just plain ripping the metal piece off and having brinks only. I honestly thought this was crazy when I first saw it but now I really like it when I see it at my friend’s house. It looks really clean. They use their fireplace all the time with no issues and put one of those cascading candle holders in the fireplace in the summertime. I put this project on the list of things I want my husband to do. It’s either that or maybe paint the metal piece a heat-resistant black. But that seems like even more work.
Here’s an idea for your fireplace- cover it in sheetrock and finish it like the rest of the walls will be finished. You can even create a mantel for it, if you wanted to. No tearing down brick and what not.
Jane – how do you feel about electronic-y/techno-y/dance-y music (with some Rihanna remixes thrown in)? I can bring you a CD to GB.
Oh yikes, the dust sure did show up in the photo. I always think it is fun to tear things up on purpose but it does get old after awhile. We have a dark brick fireplace in the corner with the outside wall of the family room in the same brick. You just don’t see too many fireplaces these days with all that brick, so I like it. New ones just look slapped in the wall and are boring. I think you will like yours once the room is finished again.
I am wanting hardwood floors in my living room and dining room. Are you doing the floors yourself or hiring them done? I am still working on the husband for this. He thinks he likes carpet. But I am tired of cleaning cat barf off of carpet.
You guys look badass in that picture, I love it! My husband and I have the same dynamic when we work together, he does so much more than I do, but he really seems to appreciate the help. I also think he just likes the company when he is working.
Don’t let the naysayers get you down on the running, I am totally impressed by your progress. I always stretch after exercising, years ago I read where it is better to stretch when your muscles are warm. I think it works, although I am in the surprising situation of having screwed up my knee while swimming! How I did that I am not sure, but I am laid up with a bum knee, having to elevate and ice. Truly, congratulations on your running, I think it is inspiring. I love the whole surprising yourself with what you can do, especially as we get older.
Don’t stretch before exercise. Your muscles are cool and static stretches (where you don’t actually move the muscle like you do when walking or whatever) aren’t going to warm them up and get you ready to run. Warm up with movement, like walking the first five minutes, which you already do, yay.
Walking the last five minutes to cool down is great. It stops blood pooling when you stop running, which is a fancy way of saying “it stops you feeling dizzy and falling over”. There is something to be said for static stretches after training, but like anything, it’s best if you know what you’re doing. No kidding, I see so many (okay, ALL) people doing hamstring stretches and quad stretches (which are standard “hey, I just finished my run!” kind of stretch) who, instead of sttretcing their hamstrings and quads, are doing shit to their lower back that could end up in a disc rupture. So let’s pretend you’re my client; Jane, I’d rather recommend NOT stretching at all to stretching any which way, you know? For now, at least. We’ll discuss this further asyour mileage increases.
Except! What you can do for now that’s awesome for runners is this: kneel on your heels with your toes tucked under, so you’re propped up on your feet. Great for stretching the underside of your foot, as well as your calves, both of which assist in keeping the rest of you all tickeyboo.
and the pic just loaded. I’m with Maureen. BADASS.
We were going to strip the paint off of our brick fireplace (1920′s house) but it wouldn’t budge. My husband covered it in the same wood as the rest of the house and added some marble tile around the opening. It looks beautiful, as if it’s always been there.
Your running impresses the shit outta me and after getting weighed at the gyno today I may just follow your lead. (Me = Tub o’ GOO.)
I LOVE THAT PICTURE.
Best picture EVER!!!!
You guys look like a home improvement show. I’m pretty sure my husband and I didn’t look nearly that awesome taking down tile and seventeen layers of improbable wall treatment from the bathroom in our old house in August with no air conditioning (why didn’t we just wait until fall? No clue.) That project was how I learned that you should really wear shoes while doing demolition. It was really, really hot and I convinced myself I’d just be very careful. I ended up making a trip to the doctor for a tetanus shot.
That is such an awesome picture!
How cute are you two?
Paint the fireplace white? What we did in our older home mind you our fire place bricks were way hideous. You might find you like the FP after the rest is all done.
take out the insert and that fireplace will rock…
That photo is HOT. Now I know who I’m hiring to dig out our basement.
Love that photo! We had our basement finished years ago. NOT by ourselves–you brave people! The thing I remember most is the dust. We added a full bath and they had to use a jackhammer to drill down to add a new water connection. Plus the general dust from all the carpentry going on. It was dusty for a couple months, even though our contractor was a super neat guy–always sweeping at the end of the day, and arranging things neatly. It’s great to have the finished product. I know you will really appreciate it when everything is done.
We have ceiling beams and I hate them for all the reasons you mentioned and because they make the room so dark. But we are far too lazy to remove them. We also have a brick fireplace that I don’t love, and lots of dark woods – doors, trim, stairs. My dream is to someday paint everything white
Paint the fireplace!!