Blood, Sweat & Tears - not in that order

SWEAT: This past weekend Mike and I made yet another effort to get our basement ready for carpet. Neither one of us wanted to call the company and push the date back again - last time we called, the company threatened to rebid our estimate and this week we found out my parents sold their house (yeah!). While their new house is being built they will be living with us so we REALLY need to get the basement done so we can actually clean out the guest room that is currently housing everything that was in the basement.

So, Saturday (and most of Sunday) we spent putting up trim. Mike spent a good portion of the time putting up the casings for the doors as well as woodwork surrounding the posts. I worked on the baseboard trim. This involved a lot of use of the coping saw. I've decided I don't like that tool - for obvious reasons explained later, but mostly because it didn't work exactly how I wanted/thought it should. I'm sure it had nothing whatsoever to do with my skill level.

This was what Mike said before I shot the above picture: "Umm...I guess I should put on my safety glasses."

These are the colors chosen by our kids for their "secret room". Wow.

But, I was in charge of coping the ends of the baseboard and after about the 6th board I finally figured out how to go about making the best fit. Of course, there was no way I was going to go and redo the previous five boards. Somewhere in the afternoon though, while making a final cut to one of the boards, the coping saw somehow managed to slide right across my left thumb.

BLOOD: Being the brave soul I am, I managed to call for Mike as I headed upstairs to stop the bleeding that I was sure wasn't going to stop and planned how I was going to play in church Sunday with stitches. This really hurt. It wasn't that I really needed Mike's help, it was more that I wanted a great deal of sympathy and attention. He came up so wisely and said, "You're supposed to cut the wood, not your finger." Let me tell you how much I loved living with a comedian at that moment.

So, I now have a cut about a quarter-inch long on my finger that when I hold my thumb just right I can see through my thumb to the wall behind it.

TEARS: And the basement? Yeah - Mike sucked it up and called the company to reschedule for next week. This is what he told them, "Our finishers just need a bit more time." When I heard this I looked at him with raised and questioning eyebrows. I got a weak shrug and smile in return. Nice to know that after all this work we at least have titles.