A Successful Strip

April 27, 2010

We rose and shone, bright and early. Someone in particular was being very "shiny" this morning. I kept calling him Guy Smiley as I whipped up his oatmeal breakfast because he looked so cute and jolly as he talked to our budgie, Turkey.

Most mornings, Ayize likes to brief our bird on the day's events. She appreciates being kept abreast of all of our activities.

Next, we headed to the house to meet Olli from Finn Pro and his two-man crew. They confirmed everything we'd discussed the day before: removing the ceiling tiles; replacing them with drywall; removing the wall panels; replacing them with drywall; painting the ceiling, walls, and trim my chosen colors (wait and see LOL); and patching the area around the dining room light switch the electricians had installed just outside the doors leading into the room.

Olli advised me to return in about 45 minutes as he was sure the bulk of the removal would be done by then, and at that point, once they visualized what was underneath the old material, we would know for certain what the next steps would be.

They got to work, and Ayize and I set off to pick them up some coffee. We took our sweet time and enjoyed a jolly, meandering ramble around our new block before finally heading in. We were almost ten minutes ahead of schedule, so we were just going to sit in the living room and play for a bit, but Olli waved us right in. Man, those guys are efficient! The bulk of the removal was indeed already finito.

What my ceiling looked like underneath those crazy tiles. This was the area that was buckling the most; it was because insulation from the attic above had been pushing down on it. Yikes!

More of my ceiling. The spots were where glue buttons had held tiles in place. That's my new (bare for the moment) light fixture. The long rectangle running in the ceiling above it is where the old track lighting hung.

A view of my ceiling, the walls - already stripped of their peeling panels - and the third door, now freed of its haphazard drywall covering. An exciting confirmation of our suspicions!

The painters were having trouble finding studs with the proper spacing to hold up the drywall. Olli, feigning irritation, got up on the ladder himself and found them immediately, then cursed his guys out. But really, you could see all three were laughing about the whole thing. Funny stuff.

Anyhow, I snapped this photo as testimonial to Finn Pro's work ethic. These guys are serious about their stuff! It's always good to see a head honcho getting "in the trenches" to help fix any problems!

Last stud located. A very triumphant Olli!

My floor was absolutely covered in these crazy glue buttons.

Meanwhile, as we sussed out the dining room and chatted about its progression, Ayize busted out his guitar and serenaded us with a little song that sounded a lot like Jingle Bells.

Predictably, the ever-faithful tools came out too. Remember what I said in the last post about him being inspired by having men at work hanging around the house??

Then he took it a step further and helped them set up their signs.

Soon after, we headed to Leahy Park to meet Jeanine and Brady to play.

The boys started in the sandbox...

...then moved on to the climbing tunnel...

...and then up to this lookout point...

...before finally ending their tour du park atop these ride-ons. This was a pretty funny moment; they both rode wildly, tossing to and fro, as they shouted nonsense to one another, and cracked each other up. Jeanine and I were very amused.

"Da!"

"Doo-da-da!"

"Doo-doo!"

(Snicker, snicker, snicker).

Suddenly, Jeanine gasped. I followed her gaze and saw this big beauty bounding across the field.

It trotted close to the brush beside the canal and paused for a moment, then disappeared a moment later. The boys were very excited about the "big dog".

Post-nap, we headed out to Mason Park to meet Tamara and Brianna. Brady and Jeanine were coming, too.

(Of course, the real star of the playdate - at least, in Ayize's eyes - was his beloved Shadow.)

The boys busted out Brady's battalion of big trucks.

Primal screams from my little spider echoed through the playground.

And Brady enjoyed a silly pseudo-snooze at slide's end.

Eventually, we all disbanded. Ayize and I headed back to the new house to suss out the scope of what had taken place in the intervening day.

Wall paneling completely pulled - whoa!

Ceiling stripped and drywall already affixed.

Last view of my trim pre-touchup.

Another view of my new doorway. Still a shocker to behold!

You can see the other side is covered in old drywall. I was still pondering about what to do...keep it versus bust it down!

A good view of my lovely new drywall-covered ceiling.

Afterwards, it was back to my parents' house. Ayize grabbed a pair of tongs off the kitchen counter and began trying to remove his winter coat with them. Too funny!

Then it was dinner, soap and shampoo time, a story and a song. And then finally, sweet sweet sweet sleep.