Sis is moving into the house, and will be taking over the room upstairs next to mine. This is fine, but she has a problem: the little cats (Abby, Bob, and Meg) have been living in the room for a year, and, while we've done as much as we can to keep the carpet tarp covered so the carpet isn't ruined, the cats have done so - particularly Abby, who pees everywhere, but especially on the edges next to the baseboard. Sis has decided that there is NO WAY that she will live in that room with that carpet, even if it's seriously deep cleaned several times and then given a rug on top of that. So we've been trying to figure out how best to replace the carpet. Keep in mind that this room is probably somewhere about 10'x12'.

Mom thought that she could have someone out to install new carpet - we found a coupon for a local company that had $1.39/sq ft carpet with free pad and installation. It turns out that they have a minimum of 250 Sq Ft to do the free installation. Otherwise, it would cost $150 for labor on top of the fee for the carpet. So, our choices were to redo her room, the landing, and the stairs in carpet (which the cats, in the last year, have turn up somewhat, particularly on the stairs), or find something else.

I had a brilliant idea yesterday that we could self-install carpet tiles instead. Turned out that the process would be more difficult than I realized. And also more expensive... about $2.50 a square foot (per tile!). That was nuts. Also it seems we would have to glue those down, and that would be not so good.

So then I had another thought: self-install a floating laminate floor. The ones that just click together. I've explained the process of installation to Mom (I watch a TON of HGTV and DIY, so I know exactly how it works), and she thinks we can do it. We've figured out that it will probably cost about $200-$250 to get all the supplies.

Mom's off this weekend, so we're going to tackle the project then (!!!!). We're going to Lowe's and Home Depot to find the better looking laminate (they cost about the same). If this project goes well, then we'll some time tackle doing the landing and the stairs. I'm cautiously optimistic about this. Sis is totally cool with it. (I'm just thankful that she doesn't want to paint the walls... that would complicate things some.)

Wish us luck, send good construction-y thoughts my way, pray that we won't cut our fingers off using the circular saw, etc. If there's a patron saint of DIY projects (or construction, or laminate flooring), let me know so I can say some prayers prior to Saturday and during the process itself. *is nervous*

Our a/c is dying. The freon has leaked out almost completely, according to the first guy that came yesterday. Mom talked to Richard, the landlord, and he will replace the whole system, compressor and air handler and everything, but can't until July 17. This isn't a random date, but when the warranty he has on the system matures. It turns out that the house is 10 years old, and we're using the original a/c system. He knew at some point it would die, and so when he bought the house, he took out a warranty so he could replace it at some point. That point has been reached. Until then, we have to limp through on the freon left in the system, and, if it stops cooling, a couple of window units - one in the living room, and one upstairs (because Mom thinks it would be a bad idea for all three of us to sleep in the living room, because it might cause fighting). I'm hoping that the a/c lasts for most of that time. I've got the ceiling fan on upstairs, and I'm praying that I can limp through for most of that time with just the fan.

I will probably sleep more since it is a little warmer up here than normal... which is kinda bad, since if I sleep during the day in the heat, I get nightmares. Hmm.

I thought I would share my pain... a picture of the brace I'm wearing all day long (I go to a long ace wrap at night). It makes typing a real test. I can't tell you how many times I've backspaced just in these two sentences. this is an expammle of my typing when not using backspace. it's amess.



It's pretty awkward to type with, mainly because I have to torque my whole arm over to the left to flatten it out enough to type. and the way the brace sits on my palm, it makes it really difficult to hit certain keys, like the right shift and those on the lowest row. annoying. so i think i'll be typing like e.e. cummings for a few days. it'll be easier.

Last night was really funny in the Bored household. After the alien woman impregnating the last man on Earth dance on So You Think You Can Dance, we started making jokes from MST3K: The Movie. The first one, of course, was "Well, I'm going to jam my ovipositor down your throat, BUT I"M NOT AN ALIEN!!" That got us started on a funny kick, but it kinda died down for a while.

Then, we were talking about what all would have to be bought in order to do the flooring in Sis' room and the porch enclosure (we're screening and lattice-ing the back porch so we have somewhere to put the kitties that are currently in Sis' room). I mentioned that there was a combo kit that had a drill and small circular saw. Mom: "But I already have a drill, it's just in the dining room." Me: "But you don't have the batteries or recharger, do you?" Mom: "No." Me: "So, we kinda need a new drill, huh?" Mom: "We can buy new batteries for the one we have." Me.: "But if we both had one we could do twice as much drilling and screwing!" Sis: "Umm... we don't do that here." Mom: "I'm not planning on screwing any time soon." Me: "Well, you haven't ever drilled either, and if you somehow have, don't tell me about it." It got worse after that, where I had to amend each phrase I used to that it couldn't be in any way taken as dirty. Mom mentioned a "battery-operated apparatus" to replace the word drill, but we decided that a battery-operated apparatus was in fact something else altogether used for drilling of a sort.

My family has really dirty minds sometimes. Then Sis got back on to the MST3K quotes... "Are you boys cooking up there? No. Are you building an interocetor? NOO." Etc. Good times.