Still more floors
Woot! Check out the progress on my new desk! I got the monitor shelf stained, and I’m loving the way it came out!
I’m waiting on staining the desk until we get the trim in and can make sure everything fits, but it is looking great too!
This weekend was also the start of the living room floor. The start here was rough, because we not only had the two floor vents near the windows that needed extra cuts to fit, but there was also the area at the stairway that needed to be done just right to line up with the finishing trim. It took about 4 hours to get the rows in around the vents, and then the rest of the day to get things in around the stairs.
All very exhausting, but it looks so good!
We did more work on Sunday to get things rolling down the hallway, but again, there was a lot of extra work in lining things up for the doorways and stripping the pieces to fit down the hall. The floor nailer doesn’t fit and can’t be used for the first two rows near the wall, so it also had to be drilled and hand nailed all the way down the hall.
With row, it was becoming more and more obvious we were getting tired. As Martin was cutting the last board for the third hallway row, I put an end to the work (unintentionally) by tripping over the nailgun hose, then knocking over the drill and breaking the drill bit. Woot!
It was unfortunate, but probably for the better. I can be stubborn sometimes (wonder where I get that from Dad…) and really just want to push through to get something finished, even when I know it would probably be better to stop and start fresh later after a break, or maybe even another day. Getting the floors in isn’t a race. We all (cats included) are anxiously awaiting the end of the work, but it’s better for us to take our time, not burn out on the work, and be careful about getting it done right. Not to mention being careful so we don’t get hurt!
This is true of so much in life. It’s not a race. It’s so easy to get carried away and stressed out about things needlessly. I’m trying to be a little better about following the advice I give my students:
Self-care is important. Eat, sleep, drink water. Remember to do all the things a human must do to live.
When we forget to do these things we aren’t doing our best work. Plus, it gets in the way of enjoying our everyday lives too. With the full schedules that so many of us have these days, it’s no wonder happiness is such a big topic these days.
Many of you know I was on a complete burn-out path before switching jobs a year ago. Things now are so night and day different that it’s easy to get complacent with the status of better. There is no doubt that I am much happier. However, I’m still not doing all the things that I want to do, so there’s still room for improvement. I’ll get there, though. One thing at a time, and the first thing is this darn floor…
Oh, and it was, to quote Martin, “a winter wonderland” outside this weekend.
I’m really tired of the winter wonderland. So I’ve got Fruit’s Basket on my mind…
“When the snow melts, what does it become?”
“It becomes water, of course.”
“Wrong! It becomes spring!”