I can see!

I had lasik done on my right eye last Friday afternoon and it's pretty amazing!  It's bizarre that they can laser your eye and within minutes you can see an improvement--it's seems like it should be such a big deal that you have a big recovery period complete with eye patch and the works but, no.  They give you some drops and off you go to "recoup" by watching a bit of tv, reading a book, going to dinner, going for a run...well, OK I didn't go for a run but not because I couldn't but because I'm a lazy slug these days and it was cold outside.

The past couple years have been so annoying--vision-wise--because as my near vision deteriorated I found myself putting on my glasses, taking them off, looking around for readers, putting them on, taking them off, looking around for my regular glasses, etc, etc.  Just endless fumbling around for glasses.  I'd tried contacts but my eyes got so dry that I could only wear them for a couple hours at a time.  I'd tried bifocal contacts but the end result was that I couldn't see anything very well.

They just adjusted by right eye and that is now 20/15--I don't think I have ever had such good vision in that eye.  My left eye was pretty good for near vision so they left that alone.  Between the two, I can see distance perfectly and I can see up close well enough to thread a needle.

This is fantastic.  I can see.  It's a bit boring.  There is no drama, no annoyance, no caveats...just very simply, I can see.

I finally finished upholstering that f*(!-ing sofa!

I'm very pleased with it!  I have always really liked this couch...it was my parents...and I thought the original fabric was lovely; however, MJ had it re-upholstered back in the late-80s/early-90s and I must admit, I never really cared for the dusty rose fabric even if it was popular back in the day.

I've been meaning to do something with this ever since I begged it off Ken and MJ, but it wasn't until my "sabbatical" this past year that I looked into learning how to re-upholster.  I started taking lessons this summer but then I started my job and the couch got put on hold for a while.  Poor Ron, my instructor finally laid down the law and said I had to either finish working on the couch or come and pick it up and get it out of his workshop.  Sometimes I just need a good scolding to get motivated.

Here's the before:

Note the lovely rose fabric, the sagginess of the three base cushions...

And here is the after:

It's sort of a duck fabric and while the light color is a little worrying, it is a stain-resistant fabric and should clean up easily.  I love the single base cushion and since this will undoubtedly serve as sleeping accommodations when our house guests don't all fit in the guest room, I think the single cushion will be more comfortable.

Despite the time it took for me to finish this up, it really wasn't a difficult project and it probably could be done in a weekend if I had know what I was doing.

Changing the subject...don't you love the rug?  I did that.  That was a horrible project.  The rug is actually an old bamboo rug which had a big ol' red wine stain on it and just general wear and abuse.  I decided to paint and stencil it thinking it would be a fun, simple project but I could not have been more wrong.  It's a messy, tedious, fussy job and while I love the result, I am not sure I will be able to convince myself to try it again.

Here's a broader picture of the room, I'm still working on this--it is the upstairs den but it is starting to come together.

I am currently re-upholstering a lounge chair in a big, bold, blue/red/yellow print for this room but that is another post.

Going under the knife (laser)

After Ian's miraculous experience with Lasik a couple months ago, I have decided to try this myself and I go in today.  They are just going to do my right eye, and they assure me that this is going to work and I will be happy with it; however, I am having a hard time getting my head around this.  Not that I am really complaining---one eye means half the cost which makes me happy.  And I don't feel an overwhelming need to have both eyes laser-ed just on principle...still, it seems like it will be hard to have miraculous vision with one eye that is as it has always been, which is to say, less than miraculous.

I watched the procedure when Ian went it and it's not gross or scary or worrying.  I'm quite looking forward to it.

I'll report back on how it goes.

I'm back

Not that anyone seemed too distressed by my blog absence, and not that anyone has been begging for new posts...

Still, I have decided to pick this up again.

Hmmm?

I apologize for my previous cryptic post.  I was experimenting with posting from my iPhone and something went amiss.

WMAPATJAP

My Brother Greg is Getting Married!!

OMG!

We got to meet the lovely Tami at Thanksgiving/Margaret's Wedding and she seems...well...lovely!  So happy for them both and my heartfelt wish is that they always remain as happy are they are right now!  Congratulations, Greg and Tami!

 

Ho Finito

As in I am finished with the floors and I am personally finished/worn out...at least for the day.  I do have just a couple little things to do tomorrow but I am done with the powernailer and compressor and that goes back to Home Depot tomorrow AM.  I thought about  bringing it back tonight but then thought  better of it---I'm so tired and sore that I am not really sure that I could carry the compressor down the stairs tonight without a major mishap.

So here are some photos--I'll put the room back together this weekend (I must spend the next couple days focusing on my job search again!)--and then post some finished product photos but at least this shows what I've been whining about.

BTW, it's a lovely warm evening in KC.  The crickets and cicadas are making a racket and I think it is a little strange that for a person who really hates bugs, I really like the sound crickets and cicadas.  Attila and I are hanging out in the back yard and Attila seems mad at me--I think he thinks that I control the heat.  He keeps coming over to me to yell at me about how uncomfortable he is.

Sorry about the sideways photos--they are saved right way up on my computer but when I upload them to Blogger they show up sideways and I cannot seem to fix it.

The first is the view from the laundry room through through the closet to the Master BR, the 2nd is Ian's half of the closet, the 3rd is the MBR, the 4th is my half of the closet, and the 5th is the view from the MBR through the closet to the laundry room.

Everything Hurts

After yesterday's nine hours of installing the new hardwood floors in the master bedroom and walk-in closet, everything hurts.  My fingers, hands, wrists, shoulders, legs, and mostly, my back.  The sad thing is that I'm not done.  Despite my previous work on the sub-floor, I still needed to do more yesterday which took a lot of time and then all the detailed cuts around the door jambs conspired against my timeline.

Thankfully, it looks FANTASTIC so far which is the only thing that motivates me to continue despite my weariness.  Have you ever noticed that one's enthusiasm for a project is never enough to make it all the way through?  There is always that point when one surveys the project and thinks, "I am no longer excited about this, I don't care--I just want it over."

The palm of my hand is bruised from the kick of the pneumatic powerstapler.

I'll post pictures when I'm done later today.

Move in Ready. Yeah...right.

 My master bedroom. Looks lovely, no?  Note the beaten up paint- and plaster-spackled 100 year old floors with the black-tar-glued floor.  What did they have there?  Linoleum?  Did they every glue carpet down? I ask because there were tufts of BRIGHT red carpet stuck to the edges of the black and it makes one wonder...

Note Bodicea-the-Cat (A.K.A Boda-Baby, A.K.A Poopie 2) sleeping on the bed.  She didn't budge or flinch in the hours that it took me to pull up the carpet, the pad, the carpet tack strips, and the pad staples.  That cat's ability to sleep is unsurpassed.

Now...in the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my supposedly "move in ready" house was not in this condition when we bought it.  I sought out this mess.  When we moved in the walls were sort of a Tuscan yellow and the floors were covered with a dirty, beige, builder grade crap carpet.

Unfortunately, I do not like goldy yellow (I don't really like warm toned colors at all) and I really hate dirty, beighe builder grade crap carpet. My first step was painting the walls "Reticence" beige/taupe and "Turkish Coffee" dark, dark brown (colors from Sherwin-Williams), and the next step is installing a refinished hardwood floor in pecan (dark brown).

I'm also working on the walk-in closet...here's the before:

Today I took the shelves out in preparation for installing the new floor--they will go back in later--and I painted everything the same "Reticence"color as the bedroom:

 Monday is the big day when I install the new floors!!

Before then, tomorrow, I am painting the stairway and upper floor landing.

OK...right now I need to go put all the clothes back which are currently piled up on the guest bed.  Since I don't really have a master bedroom for a couple days, I'm sleeping in the lovely guest room but...not until I put those clothes away...