Thursday, December 01, 2005

Operation Weekend Progress

Okay, so I got a phone call yesterday that my Dad, his GF, my Brother, his wife and 3 kids might be coming to visit me this christmas. Now I usually go where they are (florida) for christmas because:

  1. almost all my family is in SoFla so I can kill a bunch of birds* with one stone by killin-errrr, visiting them all at once.
  2. it's easier for me to go there than for all them to go come here (especially since, 6 months ago I was living in a 450 sq. foot studio).
  3. spending week in december in Miami is much nicer than spending it in NY or DC (trust me on this one).
  4. I can work on a natural tan while I'm there, which will probably give me a less-malignant form of skin cancer than I would get from fake-baking in a tanning bed.

This presents a dilemma though. Although the ninja fortress is, theoretically, 1800 sq. feet, it needs some work to get it in livable condition. The 3 BRs upstairs have floors installed, but there is no such footish luxury in the living room/dining room or kitchen. If they come for a visit, I'm wondering if they (especially) my dad will question what progress I've made in the last 6 months. I could tell them stories about my numerous floods and show them the many holes in my walls and floors where I acquired a Ph.D. in plumbing, but I think some tangible progress on the visible areas of the house are in order this weekend. Therefore, here is the workplan for this weekend:

  1. install, ummmm, 10, that's right, 10 rows of hardwood flooring in my living/dining room. (I knocked out the wall that separates these two rooms. I am wondering if "the Great Room" or the "Grand Hall" is pretentious enough to capture the feeling that I have towards this room).
  2. Install the funky track lighting I bought (8 months ago) in the masterbedroom (Using my 1000 wattt worklight to look for a t-shirt at 3am is kinda ghett0).
  3. finish mudding the walls in my bathroom and prime it for paint.**
  4. get organized and burn, errr, remove from BRs and file all my old my papers.

*before I get any PETA nuts writing me, let me say that "killing two birds with one stone" is just a metaphor. I don't advocate killing birds with stones. You should only do that to kittens.

**this is the bathroom where I installed marble tile everywhere. I'll make a separate post about it with pics soon. I did this with my brother some time ago so it will be like a flashback blog post. If you want to get the full flashback effect, like in the movies, hold a lavalamp in front of the screen when you read the post...or take some LSD.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, after being the first non-known, non-advertising person to read and comment on my blog (alternate realities) I felt compelled to visit and read yours -- though i'm mightily suspicious that such may have been your intention all along - getting hits -- And though I must say that I enjoy your narrative style -- I feel a bit disassociated with the whole home improvement issue -- and don't envy you one bit -- Did laugh out loud at the killing two birds / kittens comment -- very lawyerish of you to cover your tracks in such a fashion. Hope you survived the christmas with family at the house - and have found in my own experience with small boys - that a nice ear tug often gets the message of don't do that across and most often can be done so quickly and in such a fashion that no one sees it -- though perhaps fat ninja won't be too fond of that.

HomeImprovementNinja said...

Actually, his mom got upset that I mentioned his ummm energy level on my blog. But, like I said, he's a cute kid, it's just that I'm used to a little more order.

Thnks for the positive comments. I showed your blog to the toolbelt diva. She LOL'd at the "no, I don't like their cooking" comment.