Ripping out carpet

Ripping out carpet is actually pretty easy. It just takes cutting it in small sections and pulling it up. The carpet pad is barely glued down so it comes up pretty easily as well. Of course I've only removed about a 10X3 ft area, but it's a start. The real pain is the nail boards that the carpet is attached to on the edges. They have been nailed into the cement. I've been using a pry bar, mini pry bar, flathead screwdriver and a hammer to get it up. It is slow and tedious. The carpet won't take much time. The boards, however, may take the rest of the summer unless I can find an handier (stronger) person than myself to do it. (Yeah, right.) There is still laminate flooring underneath the carpets except on the edges where it meets the tile of the kitchen and hallway. I think it's in decent shape other than the glue spots, paint splotches and dirt. I have some cleaning stuff that will hopefully get rid of all of that. The laminate is supposed to look like stone which is o.k. I was willing to live with cement floors for a while. The best thing is that much of the smell is gone (hallelujah) and the dogs didn't pee on it last night. So today will be spent continuing to rip out carpet and pulling up the nail boards.

Josh and I had a nice trip to Amarillo yesterday. First we stopped by Sonic and he used his debit card for the first time. (He's really growing up!) He even bought me a coke. Then we went to Lowes where I got a carpet knife and some blades. We then looked around a bit and we both loved looking at the new front doors with glass in them. We looked at tile samples and got some ideas as well. Next we went to the mall so Josh could get a hair cut. I went to Penny's just because. He ended up getting his hair shaved which is a first, I think. He didn't want it to grow back too fast. (Hair in our family grows really fast.) At Penny's I tried on a few tops and a skirt but didn't buy anything. Josh, however, found a shirt he liked (that wasn't a t-shirt even!) and so I bought it for him because it was on sale. Then I bought him lunch. After that we headed to Barnes and Noble so I could find some ghost story books for one of my students that is going to Nationals. Next we went to pet smart to see if they had any of the patio dog doors in stock. They didn't have the medium size in stock and even if they did, it was priced almost $20 over what it was being sold for online at the same store. So instead, I came home and ordered it online. Shipping was free other than a $4.00 surcharge and even with tax it was less than what I would have paid at the store. As soon as it comes in, I'll call my brother and have him install it.

No, I haven't started on the garage but it would be pointless to do so until I am able to block the animals' access to it. But Summer, I would love to help you with your garage because then I would get to see you... maybe next summer? Well, I guess I better quit wasting time on here and get myself busy.