So what did you do this past weekend??

So I have been whining, complaining and basically being a pain in the you know what for a while now because our carpet in our den is shot! The reasons I wanted new flooring go on and on.. from it is just plain worn out to it collects dirt and I just HATE it.
Well this past weekend the carpet and I had it out.. I won!

Here is a basic before shot: 

Now you will have to forgive the paper on the coffee table and the horrible angle.. but these photos were taken with my iPhone as a quick way to document this. 

So what to replace the carpet with?? Replacing with carpet would have required us to move half of our house outside for the duration of time required to install new carpet...Which in turn meant on our deck in the heat of the summer... now this did not appeal to me. We considered ceramic tile.. I was worried the weight would be too much on the crawlspace... and the idea of installing all the backerboard that would be necessary... agh hard work! We considered laminate options...We have hard woods in another part of the house and if you can't match them... don't put more in... real or laminated. So that left us with...

Vinyl Tile! Yes that peel-n-stick tile.. kinda like Lee Press on nails for the floor! 

Gotta love under $1 a sq foot, Armstrong 25 yr warranty from Lowe's! 

So first things first.. Out with the carpet.... Easiest way... cut into 2' to 3' wide strips and roll it up.. tie with some twine and toss the roll out side.. Repeat for that strip of padding underneath! 

Yeah so under that carpet padding was a lot of dust, silt and well dirt.. and we vacuum a lot!

After  cutting, rolling, tieing... all the carpet and all the padding..We ended up finally seeing the floor under the carpet.. which turned out to be fairly decent quality vinyl sheet... but it was old and dull. 

Before a mopping

After mopping!

So what is the first rule of DIY projects?? Anyone?? Anyone???... 

Something unexpected will be uncovered and will add time,effort and probably cost to your project!

This time it consisted of a corner with water damage. Years ago there was a leak and the particle board which makes up the subflooring got wet. The leak has been fixed for as long as we have had the house... but the particle board had disintegrated... and thus a new patch of subflooring had to be installed. 

Nothing like digging out a little particle board!

Clean sweep!

And patched!

Now to get up the ceramic tile that was in front of the door. We were grateful for small favors... it was not laid on backerboard.. but it was laid on 1/4" plywood and apparently who ever did it though it needed a bunch of screws!

A new form of anger management.. Tile Removal!!

(Trust me I was NOT angry when I was done.)

Now the plywood was a different story.. serious anger with all the screws.

 Small spot where the old vinyl came up but the prep-cement will take care of that.

Obviously there was existing vinyl flooring that we didn't want to rip up. Hey it was "stuck down" really well... and it doubles as insulation and a moisture barrier... why bother taking it up. Well if you leave it down you have to use a cement type product mixed with a latex liquid to smooth out the embossed pattern in the existing surface AND provide a better surface to stick the new stuff to. So we mixed and spread via a trowel... the entire floor.. The best way to describe this is think peanut butter and a saltine cracker.. goal: get rid of the bumps without adding any more peanut butter then necessary...

The fully peanut buttered floor.

Finally getting to the good part.. actually laying the tile... which is pretty basic.. find the center of the room... drop a chalk line... do one quadrant of the room at a time. 

1st quadrant. (we removed the moulding before laying the tile.. then replaced it)

Couch back in it's proper place... much better then having everything on the deck.

So we aren't sure what this little wire goes to.. but it is still there. 

We discovered that if the DirecTv main box has no power.. the 2nd box has no signal.. TV got power quickly.

And in exactly 36 hours of hard work we have a new floor!!!! YEAHHHHH! Now if our poor pup will jsut remember that she spins out on it everything will be good to go!

 I am a happy camper and we still need to paint my office and put tile in there.. but that will have to wait until this summer (major work project . cant take  any chances of having my pc down!)

....... until the next time I get a bee in my bonnet.....

A day of procedures....

Procedures…Love them or hate them we all live with them daily… whether we realize it or not.

I work on computers and I found myself today with the task of writing procedures. A task that no matter how important I loathe. I can never fully decide where to start, what method to write in and being a highly visual person, the desire to take screenshots and make diagrams is overwhelming. Then there is the audience and how far do I take the description of each step.

So you don’t work on computers...So you don’t think you live with procedures? Betcha ya do!

Ever made pancakes? Isn’t a recipe a procedure? Ever ask a parent or grandparent for their meatloaf recipe? Try to write that down..a hand full of this and a pinch of that… easy to photograph even easier to learn by watching .. but try writing it down ... or have them write it down. 

Write down how to iron a shirt… and have those instructions work for every single type of shirt that person may ever encounter…

Ever explained to someone how to get to your house... yup another procedure.

Ever tried to write down what you do every morning?

Example 1:

1. Preparing wake-up. Set alarm clock to desired alert time. Note: Calculate approximately how many times you will hit snooze tomorrow and remove appropriate time from alert time.
2. When alarm goes off hit snooze appropriate amount of times based on previous night’s calculations. When done turn off alarm.
3. Navigate to bathroom. Use facilities (see does one describe this or not??)
4. Shower, dry.
5. Brush teeth. (again how far do I go?
6. Grab toothpaste with left hand (unless left handed then use right hand) remove Cap with what ever hand is not holding onto the toothpaste tube,
7. Grab the tooth brush with right hand (unless left-handed then use left hand)
8. Squeeze approximately ¼ inch to ½ inch of toothpaste onto toothbrush bristles.
9. Insert Toothbrush into mouth and using a back and forth motion “brush Teeth”…
10. If male continue to dressing step.
11. If female begin hair product script (see page whatever, depending on outside humidity, temperature and overall feeling for the day).. then continue to dressing.
1. Running Hair Product Script. See Reference #1 Page 235...

Dressing Step….And you can see how difficult this is….

Example 2:

Alarm Rings!

Get up!

Shower Etc...

Get Dressed..

Both are correct but depending on the user one will prove to be VERY difficult to follow if the end result for a female desired is straight hair, business suit, high heels and black coffee. And alternatively the end result for  a male is jeans and a t-shirt….

Now consider writing down something you do almost every single day without thinking about it that involves complex problem solving skills, a computer, specialized software in a CLEAR CONCISE manner that anyone could follow??

Welcome to my day! 

So again I say I fully understand the importance of procedures but I can't stand trying to write them. 

In the Beginning.....

So I have decided to blog. Sort of. Kinda.. Well it is a definite maybe!

What is the purpose of this "blog" you may ask? Well it has many. From posting the progress of my gardening skills to showing off pictures of our dog... it will consist of  whatever is going on in my little 'ole head.

And why would you want to know what is going on in my little 'ole head you may ask? Why not?

I will post more soon... so check back often!