Work has begun!

Day 1: 

We ripped out the carpets!  

We started out not really knowing what we were doing, and not knowing how long this would take.

So we started just pulling back all the carpet in the whole room at once, as well as the padding, then struggling to get it under control to roll up.  

Right around that point Blake had a meeting he needed to go to for the new job, so I was left to man the carpet.

Eventually I learned to just cut and roll as I went.

MUCH easier!

I was making super progress while Blake was gone (due to my new technique) so I decided to rip up some of the stairs to see what was under there.

They are pretty bare bones.

No hardwood. 

Just soft pine or something.

I'm still in a total quandary over what to do with them.

It's not a fun musing quandary either.  It's kinda a helpless quandary where I can't seem to find the right thing.

I'm of course wanting hardwood on them,

but not sure how much the wanting and the money are gonna get along.

Time and investigation will tell. 

Then I moved on to the smelly room.

I knew the animal that once lived in the house had spent a lot of its life in this room -- the air whispered boldly announced the tale.

So I was excited to get that carpet out.

When I pulled it back I found stunning colors and delightful scents.

Mold and pee.

mmm.

Pets.

Not always a good thing.

There's the damage.

It should sand out, but still... eww.

Here's my growing pile of smelly carpet.

If there is anything yesterday showed me, it was that carpet can really hold a lot of dirty.

I may just put a permanent band on carpet in my homes.

(We are in fact leaving one room of freshly laid carpet for now... but I had wanted to take it out at some point before I saw this mess... now I REALLY want to take it out at some point!)

Blake and I started singing an almost-Taylor-Swift song called "We are never ever ever putting carpet in."

After Blake got back and I proudly showed him how fantastic I was doing, getting the whole upstairs cleared out, we moved downstairs.

The Living Room

But by this point I was starting to feel kinda tired.

Pressing on was definitely a mind over body thing.

Blake did most of the sunroom.

Then we moved on to the stairs.

Stairs are HARD to pull carpet off of.

They staple those babies like they think they need to use all the world's staples up in one stair case.

My body was physically trembling at this point.

I would pull as hard as I could (after Blake used a hammer he kicked under the edge of the carpet and got it started for me) and after I made it budge a smidgen I would rest and shake. (I was getting post-baby tremble flash backs.)

Eventually we got it all off of there.

That spot was smelly too.

It smelled like wet dog -- intensely.

And then there was just one spot left.

The crazy square of carpet surrounded by wood in the dinning room.

That came out in a flash.

So now the house is carpet-less.

(Not counting the family room)

And all the carpets are in the garage.

So Blake and I headed back to my parent's house.

They are an hour and a half north.

And they are watching the girls for us while we work.

I'm so glad they can do that. 

We couldn't have bought this house if we didn't have help with the girls!

It was pretty rough on me that night getting back to them after all that work.

We pushed our time as far as we could.

So poor Ruby was past her bedtime, and NEEDED me when I got here.

But I was trying to talk to my parents, and Jasmine was wanting my attention too, my body was physically exhausted, it was hard to hold them.

I got pretty overwhelmed.

But we made it to bed.

Thank heaven!

Day two, we head back:

I finally install our new fancy toilet seats.

Thought I'd show you in case you have small kids and might want these.

I found them at Lowes.

I wanted one downstairs and one in the main upstairs bathroom.

We have one round and one elongated. 

Here's how it looks.

It's really cool -- it has a strong magnet in in the lid.  So if you aren't using the kid-sized seat it won't flip down.  And if you close the lid and then lift it back up, it keeps the kid-sized part stuck to it -- so the adult size is the "default", if you will.  

And here is the kid seat.

So handy!

Since I was doing that I, of course, had to clean the bathrooms -- they NEEDED it!

I would have done it sooner, but this was as soon as I could get to them.

The rest of the day was spent pulling up carpet staples and tack strips.

This task is much more tedious and feels much less rewarding that the removal of the carpet.

For the life of me I will just never concede to understanding why anyone would desecrate hardwood with carpet.

Look what those staples did to you!

Once I got restless, I went to the stinky room and scrubbed those pee spots with soapy water.

And then I got out our HUGE bottle of Nature's Miracle. 

My mom said they used it on a rental property and it worked great, so here's hoping it works for us too!

We got it at Pet Smart. And this huge bottle ran us $50.

Kind of an ouch.  But worth it if it gets the house smelling better.

I sprayed and sprayed.

I sprayed the whole house's floors.

And came back and re-sprayed the pee room and the stairs.

It seems like it's working. 

It's always hard to tell while you are in the place if it's starting to smell better, because you get used to its smell.  But it did seem to be.

Tomorrow will be the real test.

(I'll respray till the jug runs dry no matter what.)

Blake kept on working.

Poor guy, those tack strips are NO fun.

And one room had them installed with really long staples instead of the more usual nails. And those were a beast to get out.

We made pretty good progress.

We got most of two rooms done and half of the hallway.

All of the staples and tacks gone here!

 We are getting quotes on having the hardwood refinished.

We had one guy come out today and two more will come on Monday.

We are trying to decide if we want to have someone do it, or if we want to DIY.

I'm trying not to let emotions rule me on this and make the best choice -- but we are still weighing it out.

Before it happens, we need to get rid of this silly thing:

The hardwood in there wants to come out and be dolled up too!

So yeah.

Here we are.

It's a lot of work.

But I am actually loving it.

I was telling Blake that it's like spa time for me.

It's just the introvert-mommy not-mommying-in-silence-and-accomplishment time I've been craving.

It's good.

And I'm getting better at the getting back to the girls at night, without the totally overwhelmed feeling.

It's just all new and we are getting use to it.

But yeah our house is gonna be really good!

I get more and more and more excited.