Ow.

I know, I've been suspiciously silent lately...and we all know that's not a natural state for me. What I've been up to is DEMOLITION. And prep work. We (and by "we" I mean "my other half") scraped popcorn off of the ceilings in our master bedroom, office, bath, closet, and dining room; we (I) cleaned up the mess wearing a respirator and goggles; we (both of us, really, but OH mainly) removed carpeting from those same rooms, then pried up the tack strips; we (I) then pulled the nails that were holding the tack strips to the concrete OUT of the concrete; we (I) patched each and every little hole, sanding to level when dry; we (I) then wet-mopped the concrete, then mopped it with an etching acid, then mopped it with a neutralizing cleaner, then washed it down with water, all in preparation for staining and sealing. Man, "we" have been busy! O.H. has also replaced the screens on our back porch, which actually involved framing it out since the original screens were not made to be removable. But for scraping the popcorn alone, which is a sweaty, difficult job that I couldn't do without gouging the ceiling (unless I got some robotic shoulder implants), O.H. gets the Husband of the Week award.

So I am now re-evaluating my relationship with Advil, Tylenol, and other OTC pain relievers. I think I under-appreciated them until now. Additionally, we have rented a buffer/sander to do some of the scrubbing work tomorrow; if memory serves, one of these threw me across the room in basic training. Should be fun.