It smells like headache in here (by Kat)

After hauling the box spring up the stairs, screwing the stair treads back into place, and getting a really good night's sleep, I was forced to move into the next phase of the project--the post-demolition phase.

I don't care for the post-demolition phase of any project as much as I do the actual demolition phase. Tearing down is so exciting, so swift, so easy!

Putting back together is slow, monotonous, laborious. Also, I get too caught up in the details. This slows down my ability to get started due to worrying, and then gets me frustrated during the doing because I can't get the details as neat as I'd like them to be.

So, after the treads were screwed back down, I looked through our stash of paint. The only primer I found was oil-based exterior grade. In an attempt to be frugal, I decided to use what we had instead of purchasing a new can of primer that would languish half-empty (or half-full?) under the stairs with the rest of the optimistic/pessimistic paint hoard.

So, paintbrush in hand, I primed every other step. This way, the stairs remain operational. If you remember to skip a step. Humans are good at skipping steps. Cats do not skip stairs. You can supply your own visual here, right? Four cats should reside in your visual, by the way.

Did I mention yet that it's below freezing here? We're past the open window season. Way past.

Oil based exterior grade primer is NASTY on the nose and lungs!!!!

Yesterday, I bought a can of interior grade latex primer. So, do I re-prime the already primed stairs? Only prime the bare wood stairs? Will the topcoat wear differently or have a different appearance over the two different primers?

So what does a headache smell like, folks? It smells like partially primed staircase.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream (by Kat)

A few years ago, we bought a new mattress set.
A year previous, we bought a house built in 1910.

Those of you with older homes are already laughing. It's really a pretty common story, isn't it? It's common enough around my town that the furniture store should really post a warning. Of course, they'd sell fewer mattress sets that way, so it probably won't happen anytime soon.

Those of you with newer homes might be feeling lost about now.

I'll let you in on a secret. The staircases in older homes usually lack the headspace needed to get a boxframe larger than a twin-size up to the second floor. So for the past few years the mattress and the boxspring were relegated to separate homes--the mattress in our room, and the boxspring out in the shop, still wrapped up in its protective plastic bag.

My back has been hurting more and more lately, but stopped when I went to visit Bet last week. When I returned home, the stiff neck I've had since August returned. The lower back spasms forced me to walk like someone four times my age. I was angry.... I was in pain.... I took charge....

The stairs suffered my wrath.
The carpet was entirely ripped up. All but the top three stair treads were removed.

There was heaving, pulling, grunting, and sweating.

The treads were replaced, the artwork covered up, and now I have to paint the stairs.
BUT
My neck is no longer stiff, and my back hurts a whole lot less!