Mission Accomplished

I just read in the news that the Apocalypse is upon us

and at six o'clock tonight the world is supposed to end.

That will really tick me off if it happens

because THIS MORNING

we finished our weeks long

LOUD, dusty, dirty, cruddy, exhausting,

irritating, messy, icky, ucky, acky

home renovation project I told you about

a few blog posts ago,

and I'd like to enjoy it for more than a few hours.

To refresh your memory...we finally bid farewell

to this horrible carpet that greeted guests

as they walked in our front door.

We hired Carpenter Tom Terrific

who immediately ripped up the ratty rug

and rolled away twenty years of memories.

As if that wasn't enough to drop me into depression,

He started POUNDING...

and POUNDING!

Building a French door into our new office

and laying a hardwood floor.

Painters and dry wall people POUNDED

and filled the air with dust and fumes.

Seems like they built several large skyscrapers

with the pounding I endured,

but the results were

ASTOUNDING!

The front rooms of our house went from

THIS ugliness:

To THIS:

"Is THIS our house?" Sonny asked as he breezed

in after completing his freshman year in college

complete with his entire freshman year's worth of laundry.

The transformation was truly stunning!

Here's Hubby's new office:

I'm going to take some photos of

his favorite golf course to hang in his new

MAN office (NO mauve!)

(Click on photos to see them bigger.)

Our front hall was always empty

except for the carpet.

I had a grand time buying new rugs...

And a new chest!

That finally adorns my Grandma's

treasured mirror.

The dining room is still naked

except for Sonny's desk.

That will have to wait for me to win the lottery

or after the Apocalypse...whichever comes first.

When I finally thought the POUNDING had

stopped, the carpet guy came to

fix up the edges.

I asked him about some simple yet unsightly

ripples in the carpet behind our Lazy Boys.

You KNOW nothing is ever SIMPLE!

"Sure, I can stretch those out for 150-bucks," he said.

"But you'll have to empty the room first."

UGH!!!!

Click on this picture to see what had to be moved.

Moving the wall unit was like

moving the Empire State Building

The heaving almost gave Sonny a hernia.

The furniture was crammed into the kitchen.

I had to watch the semi-finals of American Idol

from the Lazy Boy in my breakfast nook.

Mr. Stretchy told me the carpet and thus furniture dents

 could move up to 3 inches.

My friend Dianna thought he might be able

to stretch out the wrinkles on her forehead.

"Your nose could move 3 inches," I cautioned, but was secretly

wondering if he could stretch the ripples on my big rear

and shift things 3 inches north.

Stretchy man managed about one inch of stretch.

But seeing the room empty,

it was clear the carpet was cruddy.

In 20 years, dust bunnies behind the wall unit

had multiplied like....well, rabbits!

"GOOD GRIEF! Will this project EVER end?" I grumbled

as we rented a Rug Doctor machine from the grocery store.

My hernia helper and I

cleaned the carpet...

And now, we're collapsed like zombies in our

repositioned Lazy Boys staring at

the beautiful front hall...

just in case the Apocalypse hits at six...