Basement Bonanza

HolyCrapOnAStick I'm tired.

Brian and I were in rare form these past few days working like slaves on the basement. For the record, yes, I'm aware that the Great Flood Of '08 and subsequent Soggy Basement Massacre of '08 happened in the middle of December and yes, I'm aware that we're STILL working on the basement even though it's almost April. We've been busy, ok? Don't judge.

Getting the basement back to par was not an easy task. First of all, turning the concrete walls from a dingy beige to brilliant white took not one, not two, but THREE freakin' layers of paint. That was all done sometime between late December and this weekend and trust me, painting porous, well-textured concrete is no walk in the park. This weekend, we decided to attack all the borders and trim that we (ahemBriancough) wanted painted tan to match the carpet we planned on one day installing. God what a nightmare. We spent 9 hours yesterday painstakingly outlining all the trim in blue painter's tape, then applying 2 coats of brown paint. Did I mention I was painting with my left hand? Yeah, I have skillz. And I'll admit - it looks fantastic, but more than anything, I'm just happy that I'll never have to paint that sonofabitch trim again for as long as I live.

Here's a shot of Brian taping like a MF-er and me trying to paint with my left hand (do I look unhappy? Well, that's because I was. It was a long day)

I woke up exhausted, considering all that painting took probably ten times more effort than I've had to put forth since breaking my wrist. I also woke up with a cold, which was not conducive to work. But...we were on a roll. So after stopping to pick up carpet adhesive (and PANSYS!!!) we laid a significant amount of carpet today [get your mind out of the gutter], which went pretty well except when I walked through the adhesive in my slippers (because I'm an idiot) and knocked over one of those new-fangled, mercury-filled lightbulbs (because I'm a clumsy idiot).

Observe the basement in all its (half-finished) glory:

So, other than the mercury fall-out, I'd say the basement is comming along pretty darn well. Our goal is to finish carpeting by the end of the weekend, and then this project will FINALLY be crossed off our list and we can focus on the million other things we have to do to the house and yard. As for the rest of the night, Brian is out playing soccer (I don't know WHERE he gets the energy), so I'm thinking a hot shower and a cup of tea might just hit the spot...if I could just keep my nose from dripping snot for, like, 5 whole seconds. Eew, gross.