Slowly, very slowly...

Originally the title for this post was going to be "Hello from Laminate Hell", but then things magically got easier, or I picked up on how these things are supposed to go together.

Now, while most people would just spend a whole Saturday or entire weekend on this sort of project, probably with someone else helping, I like to work alone and DRAG IT OUT FOREVER! Oh yes, it's much more fun that way!

I spent the evenings of last week painting the walls of the room and clearing out the junk, except for the dresser, which I simply don't have a place for.

Sunday night I started putting down the laminate pieces, and let me tell ya, it was a rough couple of days. I was in tears after the first row because I simply could not get rows 2 & 3 to go down. Every new piece I tried to put in would pop out all of the previous pieces in that row. I spent hours on just those two rows, and I had to wear my tennis shoes so I could get enough traction to push the pieces into place.

I also screwed up a couple of the cuts and got upset about that, but then I late re-used the pieces and that made me feel better about that goof.

Now that I'm about halfway done, things seem to be going more smoothly. I think I may be able to finish this part, or at least get very close, by tomorrow night. Then comes what I'm really scared of -- doing the doorways!

Here we go...

I've been wanting to do something -- anything -- to cover up the mess that is my bedroom floor. Of course, the whole reason it became such a mess was because I tried to pull a Trading Spaces and paint the floor...white. Ugh. It turned yellow within no time at all (this was, I think, the clear coat that I put over the paint). It was like yellowed newspaper on a grand scale.

I rented a floor sander to take off the paint. I learned 2 things: a) floor sanders are insanely heavy and b) it's nearly impossible to get all the paint off an imperfect surface using a sander. What I was left with -- although you can't really see it in the picture -- was an awful floor with with paint embedded in the cracks and crevices.

So, here I am with stacks of laminate flooring in my bedroom, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I can really install it. I'm doing all the pre-installation work now, plus I got the late idea to paint the room, too, which has set me back even further. I hope to get this all done in a couple of weeks.

We'll see...

So, which is it -- news or a promo for your website?

I was in the land of no internet this weekend. Oh, there is internet access in the land, but not in this particular house. So, I had no connection.

I did, however, have access to 24/7 news, and among the breaking news was the "expanding pet food recall."

Yet it seemed like on Saturday no one would say or put on the screen PRECISELY what was being recalled, nor would they add a PHONE NUMBER for the companies.

Instead, it was, "Check our Web site for the brands!" I get it. This story generates a ton of interest from people like me who consider pets to be part of the family. Right. But how about just putting a little text on the screen with the list of products?!! And then if viewers have any in the house, they can cease using it or call the customer care number that's usually on the back of the package.

It was maddening to keep watching news shows and not get the KEY PIECE of the news story. I thought for sure the 6:30 p.m. NBC newscast would give a list of the products, but no. Didn't see one. "But check our Web site for all the latest information!!!"

It wasn't until the next afternoon that I finally saw a list on one of the cable news channels. Thankfully, it didn't include any of the brands I fed the animals the previous night.