Carpet!!!

I finally got new carpet!!! Well, new to me but not new to the planet. I was not under any circumstances paying $800 to carpet 250 square feet and it would be another month before it could be installed. One small living room and a tiny hallway and I did not even pick out the carpet that I wanted. Kiss my ass, I will paint the plywood floors before I cough up that money.

I randomly checked the want ads over the last three months and found two incredible deals. The first one was a solid oak futon with the mattress and a cover for $200. I priced them in April. The frame alone would have been four hundred and another three to four hundred for the mattress. Now I have a place to sleep when Nikki is needy and I actually have room to breathe.

Then I found the ad for carpet and padding for $150. The carpet needed some cleaning, according to the seller. So I went to check it out and it was in a NICE neighborhood. The carpet was the REAL cotton/mix thread and soft and plush and in incredible shape. The padding was not even dusty. Oh yeah buddy, this is coming home with me. We loaded on the truck, it hung over the cab and off the tailgate and I drove 25 mph home with my hazards on. I was not going to risk anything flying out and the carpet ran the gas mileage down that it would be pointless to hurry home.

So we got it in today, we rented a stretcher, bought the tack strips.
I think the hardest part was making sure threshold plates gripped the carpet. But we saved $600. I looked at independents that will install carpet and they all wanted $500 or more. Nope nope nope.

It was hard and hot and god awful tiring. But now I know how to install carpet, so that adds to one more thing on my " I must learn" list.

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Update on the kitchen-- Plaster of Paris sucks up paint. Where one quart would have painted three walls, one plaster of Paris textured wall will use the entire quart. I bought the paint before I saw the h*me Depot commercial with the primer mixed in with the paint.

Garden Update-- So far we have picked 23 freezer quart bags of green beans. I have another 10 bags waiting to be picked. This will practically cover our green beans intake for the year. I just need someone to teach me how to can the things and I will be so much better off. And spiced peaches.

Tomorrow I am going to learn to use the arc welder so I can make my silverware people!!

Nikki is doing really good. She has weaned herself from milk. She gets very agitated when you try and make her drink it. She knows the letter A and O on sight and can make the sounds. She tries to dress herself. Can open and get into the car by herself. Feeds the cat and puts her bowl where it belongs. Opens the fridge to get her yogurt out and then gets a spoon out of the drawer and sits down with it with her little box I made her.
When she is done eating she tells you she is done, goes to the garbage can, scraps her plate off and then puts it in the sink. She is not even two yet!!
My family is pushing me to have another child and I know I will go from being a mom to a crazy lady. So aside from her older brother and a hell of an accident, she will be the only child Donald and I have together. Which on some levels is disappointing but on a practical (money. clothes, food, SANITY) level, it is a good thing.
Having a child almost destroyed us, having another one will obliterate this relationship.