Remodeling with Mom and Dad

Mom is 76 years old. Dad is 81. They're remodeling machines.

Give Dad a paint roller and he'll finish a room before I've got my roller wet. Give Mom a screwdriver and she'll have the outlet plates on or off faster than a cheetah.

So far we've painted all of the basement except the small bedroom and the hallway. We've added shelf supports, shelving, and closet rods in the closets in the bedroom and the hallway.

We have about 500 square feet of laminate flooring to install. I don't think that's going to be enough to do the entire carpeted area downstairs. We might have to buy more or leave the bedroom carpeted. We won't know until we start laying it all out.

Today we're removing the carpet in the big room. We're going to roll it up in four foot rolls and tie each roll off with bailing wire. After that we've got to get the carpet pad and tack strips out. I really hope the pad isn't glued and the tack strips come up easy. If so we can start on the flooring this afternoon.

We're all worn out. Each of our backs hurt. The next few days are going to really hurt because it's all floor level work on our hands and knees. But we agree it looks professional so far. The paint job turned out fantastic.

We're on schedule so far. Things are going well.

Mom has been cooking for me and it tastes like my childhood again. The way she does fried potatoes and eggs and hamburgers hasn't changed a bit. It took awhile to shake the feeling she was feeding me kid's food. It's adult food that I haven't eaten since I was a kid.