Almost as spoiled as the dog

I'm having one of those weeks that is truly testing my ability to hold my shit together. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

In other news? Last night my laminate floors were completed!

Dining room

Living room before and after

I couldn't be happier with them. I just added up all the costs for reimbursement purposes and the total spent, including last-minute purchases including some molding and an extra package of underlayment, was less than $700. To put it into perspective, the estimate I was given to have a contractor do the work? $3,120! The amount I was going to be allowed to use out of the account I pay into every month for replacing home systems was $1,786, so there is $1,100 in the account that wouldn't have been there if I'd gone with having the contractor do the work!

Being incredibly cheap is awesome, right?

The other plus to not having a contractor do the work? I got company for four days; company that joined in with my bad "that's what she said" jokes and 12-year-old boy humor. Score! I now owe my friend Dan and his dad, Jeff, my right arm and first born child because Somehow I don't think some pizza and beer is quite enough of a payment.

These two are my heroes.

They let me take the first whack at the old floor, and lay the last piece of flooring, which Pippi supervised.

After removing the old flooring in the living room, why wouldn't you trace a body on the floor to freak out some future tenant?

One thing I learned throughout this process is that the walls in my house aren't straight. Apparently this is common. Even though the walls are wonky, when laying the floor we (ok, "they") ended up not having to do much trimming to the length of the "boards" until the very end, which was good because as it turns out, I didn't measure for the area in front of the stairs or the closet when I ordered materials. And  yet? There are four full boards left over. Win!

Chuck's impressed. That's good enough for me.

Progress in the living room

Progress in the dining room

Pippi supervising

I'm sure Dan and Jeff are glad to be done, have their tools back, and be free of Pippi, who they deemed to be a cross between pit bull and meth addict.

Last night when they finished the floors, Dan so kindly cleared my gutters for me since my HOA still had not done it. Yeah, I'm spoiled. Almost as spoiled as the dog. 

Almost.

Operation #RAGE

You know that stuff the dentist shoots into your gums before drilling into your teeth? This morning I had three shots of it put into the muscles of my lower back. Shockingly, it did nothing for the pain in my SPINE. Last week my chiropractor let me know that he was sending me to another doctor to prescribe inti-inflammatory drugs to try to help heal my back. I don't need freaking PAIN MANAGEMENT. But that's ok, because it didn't stop the pain anyway. Throwing money away? Not really my thing. So frustrating!

Pain management at its finest.

In good news...

Looks what's sitting in my dining room, waiting to be installed!

That, my friends, is 17 beautiful boxes of laminate (fake wood) flooring. My building manager finally approved for me to use funds from my stewardship account to replace the nasty carpet on my first floor. My friend and his dad are going to install it and I can't wait. (FYI: For the flooring, quarter rounds for around the walls, and the padding, the total was less than $600. Need a deal on just about anything? I will find it!)

 Case in point:

I smell a cheap lunch.

Now, where to find affordable rugs?

Don't spend too much, mom. I need more new toys!

Also, know what I found out today, by accident? Friday is a work holiday! I didn't even know! Best news I could have ever hoped for today. Four-day work week FTW!