DAY THREE - SUNDAY

So we hired the two guys to help again. They will scrape and strip on the edges of each room/closet/etc. while Chuck uses the floor buffer and I use the wet vac and mop behind him.

The key to buffing is LOTS OF SOAPY WATER!!! We also started adding TSP (tri-sodium-phosphate) to the soapy water. You can buy this at Home Depot.

We found that the buffer couldn't really get all the way to edges, so the guys hand scraped and scrubbed the edges, Chuck buffed the centers and I was on cleaning detail.

After 3 days of hard work, we had the kitchen, living, dining, and hallway ready. We still have to work on the two bathrooms and empty the 3 bedrooms so we can do them.

Now we need moving boxes.

Night! (exhausted)

T

DAY TWO - SATURDAY

1. So we hired two workers to work with us on the scraping!

2. We used a JASCO Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover, it is in a gel solution. You paint it on, let it sit 5 minutes, then scrape it off. It's a miracle worker. (most important is it's water rinsable)

Now that we had help, we started in the other rooms. Living, dining and kitchen.
Scrape and scrub! Elbow grease! We felt overwhelmed till we hired day help, we were talking back and forth about just using tile, but we persevered! Once we had the paint remove, things started looking up. We could see areas of beautiful concrete, very nice smooth floors under all the crud! This is when life started to seem bearable, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Then it started bugging me that even the scrubbing takes so long. I told the guys to stick to the borders/edges of the room, but that I wanted to look into renting a floor buffer! A new tool!

Went to Home Depot and rented a floor buffer! We came home and tried it out! It's a MIRACLE worker, now you can really see the beauty of the natural concrete once it's cleaned! We played for about and hour then went to bed EXHAUSTED!!!

T

DIY: How to go from carpet and linoleum to BEAUTIFUL stained concrete floors!!!!!

I am going to try to journal about going from rags to riches with my floors!!! We have 6 kids and 4 dogs and carpet and linoleum just can hold up to that beating, trust me!!! Well NO more shampooing carpets, we are done with that! Out with the old and in with the new!!!

DAY ONE - Friday

STEP ONE:

Emptying the house. This is the hard part, moving out of a house you live in. We moved the dining room first, then the kitchen, then most of the living room. We also did the master bathroom and closets, then the hallway and 2nd bathroom. We left the 3 bedrooms since that was going to require KID HELP! Ugh!

STEP TWO:

We thought we would start in a room that had BOTH carpet and linoleum, just to see what our floors look like under both. Oh, it was horrible!!! The painters oversprayed everything!!! I don't know how we'll ever get all this paint off the concrete!!! Help!!! Under the linoleum is a layer of glue or mud or half the thickness of the sheet of linoleum. (what is this crap?) Once you pull up all the flooring (carpet, pad, and linoleum) then we had carpet tack strips to remove. We used a small pry bar and a hammer. Note: when the nails come out of the concrete, they pull up some of the concrete, too, so you get little holes or gouges in the concrete. Now we have to figure out how to fix those, too! You also have to pull up the quarterround, over all the linoleum BEFORE you try to pull up the linoleum. We used a razor knife on the caulk lines to separate the quarter round from the baseboards.

STEP THREE:

Soak the floor in a soapy (dishwater) solution. Then use scrapers to peel up the paint and junk under linoleum. (putty knives, joint knives for sheetrocking, etc) The soapy water soaks into the surface of the concrete and makes it MUCH easier to scrape up. Get down to as smooth and clean a surface as you can. Use a wet vac to suck up the water. (way easier than a mop) We got down to a smooth surface, but it still had paint everywhere. You can scrape the paint, but it takes LOTS of elbow grease, so we decided there must be an easier way.

1. hire help
2. find out what kind of "chemicals" can help you accomplish the job. (beware of any type of acid cleaners, they will ruin the cement for staining)

Went to bed a little discouraged and exhausted!

T

Happy Halloween!!!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/ux14CzNmWyMWawAS ~ clicking here will play a video of our family in a halloween fun video!

tanya

Getting Stuff Done

Okay, I have placed a new exchange student today! Yeah! (lucky girl, too)

I have finished the newsletter for the POA Board in Terlingua Ranch, my first! Yeah!

I have sent my hubby off for a Jeep Jamboree Wheeling Weekend with the boyz! Yeah!

I ate breakfast! I am going to lift weights again today, third day in a row! Yeah!

I finished the website for the Austin Jeep Club! Yeah! http://www.austinjeepexclusive.org/

I have washed a LOT of clothes, etc! Yeah!

I cleaned out my husband's closet! Yeah! (he is such a darn slob!)

I have a new book to read, starting today! The Shack by Wm. Paul Young! Yeah!

I am posting on my blog! Yeah!

I am going to rent some chick flicks for the weekend! Yeah!

My girlfriend is going to hang out with me, it's her birthday! Yeah!

We are going roller skating! Yeah! (i think? my knees think ooooh!)

We are going dancing! Yeah!

I can't wait!

love,

t

Wow is it March already????

So here we are in 2009 and I am so busy, life is flying by at 10x the speed of a normal year. It's practically xmas again! yuck!

I have had some cool stuff in my life lately!

A trip to Germany and Slovakia to visit my exchange students from last year!

A trip to Santa Fe to work for Geoteaming and I got to take a sweet friend with me!
Spending more time in Big Bend on my land now, it's really coming along!

Life is good, I just wish it would slow down a little bit, so I can enjoy it!

love,
t

ps. I added a pic, for those of you (including her) who don't know my sweet friend I took to Santa Fe, who then took me to Taos!

Big Bend Deck building Oct 20,2008

Sunshine (our lab) on the mountain.

An AMAZING moth on the screen!

Water collection tanks. And the view looking at the deck from the front.

SUNRISE over Mexico!!!

This is a view overlooking the cabins.

This is our awesome view from our new expanded deck! A view of the Christmas Mountains!

A new member of the family is BORN!!!!

OMG! We have the cutest, newest member born to the OHL lineage!

Myla Elizabeth was born on the morning of September 9th! What a joy to be part of this special family addition!

Here's pics, she's perfect!

Tanya

Wow, I am not very regular at this, am I?

Okay, today sucks! Well it's still early so maybe I can change the course. Yeah, that's a better attitude!

Today:

1. Do my PT exercises for my knee

2. Grocery shop

3. exercise (pushups) (some cardio)

4. eat healthier

5. clean house (this is the maids off week)

Okay, that's enough, don't over do it, or you will get overwhelmed and do nothing.

Oh, one more thing, get off the damn computer and start working on your list!

thanks,

Tanya

Our sweet little cabin in the mountains!

We love our cabin, our trees are growing and things are coming along!

We were there for about 5-6 days after Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Tanya

Big Bend after Christmas!!!

We had so much fun in Big Bend this year! We met up with some other geocahers in the park and took a great hike. Of course we thought we were going up CASA GRANDE, but when we got to the top, we looked out the back and saw the REAL Casa Grande out and UP in the distance! Not today, maybe another day!
Enjoy the pics!
Tanya

Seattle Christmas Party with GEOTEAMING!!!

I had a great time in Seattle, both with my company at our meetings and party and with my friend Bill playing and caching!!!! Enjoy the pics.

The snow in the pass was awesome, when we weren't stuck in it! ha ha.

tanya

Snow in the Pass - Seattle Washington Area

Snow in the pass! On the hunt for a cache!

Wow, 2007 has come and gone, almost!!!!

It's getting cold in Austin, but I am travelling to someplace much colder soon! Off to Seattle Washington on Monday for a company Xmas party! I can't wait to see everyone, it will be a lot of fun! I guess I might see some snow, too!

We just had a jeep xmas party at our house tonight! It was a small group, but great food and company! We did a white elephant gift exchange that was fun, too!

My friend Julie and I ran down the street to help celebrate a friend and neighbor's 50th birthday right after the party at my house, whew, back home to clean up a bit, now I am almost ready to get to bed, we have another BIG xmas party at our house tomorrow!

Love,
T

view of the Chisos Basin in Big Bend National Park 

Our outdoor shower at the cabin