Styrofoam again

That last sucker-thought of 'quick do the porch' led me down the familiar path of temporary insanity. The last week has seen all the porch stuff - laundry supplies, cat food & litter box, paint cans and assortment, linen storage (such as it is), books & sundry, pet supplies, fire extinguisher (it's been here awhile), and so forth piled in the living room and kitchen.

See a pattern here? I ripped out the old ceiling, neatly packing it into 3 garbage bags. Which leads to my new tip: before beginning any project of this nature, make sure you put in a supply of garbage bags. If you have dogs and use the large bags of dog food, those bags work great for wood debris and such, better than regular garbage bags.

The new gift of frames /plywood / display racks from Menard's were 'just perfect' for the floor - thanks to Pete, who I hear stocked up on about 70 of these, ranging from a mere 12' x 4' to twice as long. I couldn't move these alone without separating a few muscles from their ligaments, so I knocked the plywood off the 2' x 4's. This worked, in that I then cut Styrofoam to fit the frames and topped it with the plywood.

So... on Saturday night, when other folks may be relaxing or partying or even attending church, I was hauling plywood and stacks of Styrofoam through the living room. When I knocked the old cabinets off the wall... I tried to pry the top one off first, but couldn't get to the bottom nails, so figured I'd best knock the bottom one out. The Universe nudged me in time, so as the bottom cabinet came loose, I saw the top one cutting loose over my head - jumped in time to catch it some and get it down as it fell, rather than having a bad headache.

Did I cuss when I saw this blip? Didn't have time, my only response was "Yipes!" and leap. Wasn't sure if we should reuse these cabinets, so they were in the middle of the kitchen floor for five days. Now they're outside on the pile to go. And we all know what a Yipes! moment feels like, don't we?

I conveniently forgot about moving all the wiring aside from the ceiling light when I started. I couldn't easily understand the double-switches on the light string, so I left it be, simply running the line down to a wall outlet that is now on a switch. Ironic, in that I took out a ceiling light on a switch so I could plug in a wall lamp... on a switch. Had a few other outlets to contend with, and of course --

Ye olde favorite, plumbing. Not much, just the washer and dryer area. But that's all 'ugly stuff' and I wanted it concealed. Luckily.... Pete also dropped off 'some shower walls he'd been saving' from another project he'd torn out. 2' x 4's with sheet rock, this time. Wasn't sure where to put them, but they measured up right to form a wall behind the washer & dryer. Just had to cut a lot of notches to feed all the water lines, drains, and vents through.

Luckily, I have a sawzal. What I didn't have was experience with this type of wall-building, and it was kind of a 'learn as you go' thing. Since this is the wall I have to have access to, in that the water heater and crawl-space lead off it, and since I happened to have scavenged some wheels... It made sense to me to put these wall panels on wheels? One day I'll appreciate this foresight!

Cut & whack, try it, pull it out, cut some more, try it, repeat. Blocks of Styrofoam everywhere, beads of it everywhere, screws and nails and containers of unknowns and yes - three kitchen knives in the mix, drills and saws and tools. By George, I think I have the worst of it done!

Matt came to check what was worrying me about a minor valve leak for the washer - I worry about snapping old lines - and was able to quickly tighten the nut; I can say, my pipe wrench is missing, and I do think he's my primary suspect. It was just a little pipe wrench, but a handy thing (I notice he used a completely different wrench, probably has my red one hid somewhere). His first comment on Styrofoam was 'losing space', but then when he sensed how quiet my room is now, he understood the extra benefits of 'living in a cooler'.

Sister Becky said it sounded like I built myself a padded cell. I did - a very crowded, padded cell?

Time to roll out my bed and call it a day.