The right tools

It's amazing how having the right tools makes things happen faster and better.

On Monday, when my guy started sanding the floor, we didn't have the right sander, and after 3-1/2 hours, he barely "scratched" the surface. Having the right diamond tipped grinder worked so much better and faster. And the difference was amazing.

Then, once the dust settled and we saw what was needed next, we grabbed the tools at hand and got to work scraping the edges along the baseboards. We used trowels, 5-in-1 tools, chisels, whatever we could get our hands on, but we weren't making any progress. Finally after 3 nights, we realized we needed a sander. Of course, we knew that, but we were hoping a couple would fall out of the sky. When they didn't, it was up to me, so again, off to Home Depot I went. My car has been there so many times, I think it can go without me next time. I bought a RIGID 5 rotary sander with a dust bag to cut out "90% of the dust in the work site." Yea! It was amazing how fast and easy it was to get rid of the paint on the edge. But the dust was almost as bad as having the big sander or grinder. If that's 10% of the dust, what would 100% be like? I was told that the secret to dust collection was having the proper holes in the sandpaper. Why didn't they tell me that? Well, they might have if I had read the instructions. We pulled it out of the box, put sandpaper on it, plugged it in, and went to work. The 4 of us were fighting over the sander. We still have lots to do before we can start staining.

The deadline to return the POD is looming very closely at hand. I have a picture of my furniture in the house upside down, with boxes on top of it, whatever could be done to get it out of the POD as the rig is backing up to take it away. I have a week! Pollyanna here thought we'd be using the POD to clean out my garage this coming week because everything would be back in the house, done. Wow! Was I wrong!

But, I still have a week . . .

Another tool I found was an amazingly comfortable bed at a friend's house. I can't believe I didn't bug her the first night. She offered her extra bedroom, and, although I've been a "lone reed" for almost 4 months, I took her up on it. First, I had so much fun talking and catching up. And she has a furry family that I got to pet. I love animals; I miss having something to pet - I just won't have any in my house again - except to visit [well, maybe a housebroken (not litter box) cat]. Once I was showered and I climbed into bed, I knew what heaven was like. That bed was so comfortable and I slept so soundly that I didn't realize my arm had gone to sleep until it was beyond painful. Once that was relieved, I was right back to sleep. Awesome! And that amazing night's sleep was followed by coffee and conversation on her back patio this morning - something I've wanted to do, but never started. Maybe I'll sell my house and rent a room in hers.

Not only did she offer her amazing accommodations in her well-appointed home, she mentioned that I could have borrowed her sander. Well, I couldn't pass up that offer. Now I have 2 sanders! Watch out world - I'm armed and dangerous.