Day 2 - Stud-less-ness

Yesterday I got the door and the rest of the door frame down but not a lot more. I scattered a few things around so that it would look like I'd been working in there during the day but I really didn't accomplish much except cleaning out the linen closet and sorting and washing twin sized bedding to get rid of.

I found 6 twin mattress pads (one of which was too old to pass on, so I tossed it.) I found 16 twin sized sheets in various colors, two of which joined the tattered mattress pad in the trash. The others I'm taking to Girls Town.

Sorting the sheets was fun, it reminded me of all the different decor/wallpaper schemes we've had going in the kids' rooms over the years. The sheets are all solid colored.. the oldest ones were dusty rose, and then a light teal. After that came the dark colored years. There were forest green, navy blue, and maroon. (I never even went near white.)

Most of them still look pretty good too, which is amazing considering what they've been through. Not only have they served as sheets, but also as tents, room dividers, table cloths and bed skirts. I realized long ago that if I wanted a large piece of plain colored fabric, the most sturdy and cheapest way to go is by buying a flat twin or double sheet. I have two dark green ones now, hanging from the ceiling in "MY Space" (in the garage room) to hide the water heater and softener. I got rid of old plastic "pee pads" which I kept for emergency use if needed for overnight company with weak bladders as well as a twin sized plastic mattress cover. I got rid of curtains I'd kept for "just in case" and king sized pillow cases that I'd made (from sheets) for various kids who liked those huge pillows. We no longer have any of those in the house. My linen closet has a lot more space in it but I still need to go through the queen sized sheets, of which we have two many. With only 2 queen beds in the house, we surely don't need 10 sets of sheets, especially when I wash sheets and usually just put the same ones right back on the bed. We have way too many old comforters (several of which match those twin sized sheets) and other types of blankets too... but blankets are harder for me to get rid of than that other stuff. It just seems that there will always be a use for blankets for one thing or another. Besides... I guess I just LIKE blankets.

After all that sorting, I figured I'd done a day's work. I'd still have to take the piles of cast offs to Girls Town, Amon, and would save some of the mattress pads for Rachel. I called it quits for the day.

Then... last night... just about the time I was settling down to do some serious TV watching, Jay decided to check out the electrical lines and figure out the sequence. He fiddled with the breaker box and determined that all four outlets and the ceiling light in Amon's room are all on the same circuit. He disconnected them. I was a little confused about his timing... and figured oh, well... I guessed I'd be working in there without lights until he got around to doing more, which I didn't figure would be anytime soon. BUT I was wrong! Not about not having lights, but about his time frame. After he disconnected the wiring he started knocking out studs! Now there's a wide open stud-less space there.

I really didn't expect him to get involved this soon and I'm really glad he did. I have to admit, it would have been really hard for me to get those studs down. (BUT I would have found a way.) It was hard for him. He had to use a big pry-bar and swing a heavy sledge hammer to knock them loose from the 3 inch nails that connected them to each other and to the ones that went across the top and bottom. Jay really seemed to be getting into it. The 2x4 across the bottom was attached to the concrete floor with special long nails. He pried it up and then broke the nails off even with the floor. Like I said, it would have been very hard to get this done by myself, so I was really glad that he jumped right in there so willingly to help.... and I didn't even have to ask.

It became obvious that I was going to have to figure out a place to stash stuff like door frames, baseboards, and doors. They were quickly accumulating and they were in the way. I moved them to the "kids computer room" where there is already a chaotic mix of items that I don't know what to do with yet. I had to move a few things, but found a nice spot for them. I'm already thinking about the two extra doors that I'll have. (We'll need to buy a new one to get the right "swing direction")... and what I'm thinking is that doors make GREAT table tops for workspace. I was going to buy a nice long table, but I might refinish one of those doors instead.

After last night, the room is filling up with tools. Jay always likes to use a variety of tools. Sometimes after a simple project, putting away the tools is more time consuming than the project. I noticed that we have FOUR different sizes of pry bars in there and four different sizes of hammers. But hey, he got the job done, and quickly too, so I'm not complaining. The main thing I did was hang around, look supportive and impressed, and hand him whichever tool he wanted.

Today, my to-do list includes removing all the nails from all those 2x4s so we can store them somewhere for future use. Jay suggested that if I'm "up to it" maybe I can haul them up to the shed. (hummm) I also hope to remove the dry wall from Amon's side of the wall that divides the two bedrooms. I never thought of that... it was Jay's idea that reomving it from the side in Amon's room wouldn't cause any dust and crud to go into Esther's room and get on her stuff. I also hope to remove the wallpaper from the two walls in Amon's room that will be staying. I was pretty proud of myself for finding the wall paper remover (liquid) as well as several tools that are specifically made for that task. I had put them all away... and actually found them! Amazing.