Adrenaline

Since I'm still pretty sick with this cold/virus/plague I'm not absolutely certain where the sudden surge of adrenaline came from today. I feel like I've been sitting around for weeks trying to catch my breath (asthma) and suddenly today....despite the major migraine/sinus headache from the cold/virus/plague....decided to start a major project.

Let me explain. Carpeting is the bane of my/our existence. With three big black/nearly-black dogs and a muddy yard, having fabric on the floor is never a good idea. Ngaire and Ivy in particular, leave big shadows of hair on the carpet wherever they lie down. And paws, large and small, carry dirt. Lots of dirt. So as far as I'm concerned...carpet is evil. Almost as evil as popcorn ceilings.

The house came with thick, light colored carpet in most of the rooms. We did have it cleaned before we moved in. The previous owners were clean people, but had five cats....and I'm allergic! Also, cleaning didn't get rid of the nasty black edges along the walls. Yuck! We planned to allow the dogs to slowly destroy the carpet until such time as we could afford new floors. At least that sounded like a good plan back in August. Fast forward to today.

Not only am I allergic to this house, [which has recently been exacerbated by having the duct work cleaned (SIGH)] but one of the dogs has been feeling off and we woke up again this morning to more nastiness on the carpet. If it was vinyl or tile I wouldn't mind. I clean up after them just like I did for sick kids. But the whole carpet thing is a really bad scene. SO....

We made a sudden decision to start tearing up the carpet and live with sub-floor. Do I sound desperate? I must be. Here I am....massive headache, hacking, coughing, wheezing, nose blowing....determinedly ripping up tack strips and prying out some of the thousand staples holding down the underlay. Filthy work. That's Maisy , one of the reasons for this madness, watching me closely from behind the gate and not understanding why she isn't allowed to participate. The black blob behind her is Ivy, trying to hide from the banging of hammers and pry bars. Ngaire is probably under The Tramp's desk. Charlie thought the whole thing was great, and screeched and talked to himself in the background the whole darned time!


We did the upstairs hallway...


the stairs...


the vanity area of the master bath (yes it had carpet. Gross!)...


and the master closet.
We spent about four hours hard at it and then loaded up the truck and took the debris to a county "convenience center." [Well named since it's very convenient that they are open 7am to 7pm almost every day of the year.]


We still have three bedrooms, the bonus/sewing room/study, and living room to do but this was certainly enough work for one day for a person with a cold/virus/plague and a second one still hobbling around on a sprained ankle. Did I say desperate??

So now we're pretty much collapsed and I think I really should go to bed so I can get up early tomorrow to call the doctor....again. Goodnight.