Day 133

I got up early this morning. I didn't sleep good because I was anxious to see how today would go. Before I fell asleep last night, I remember thinking that I needed to get some more batteries for my camera so I guess it prompted a crazy dream. I dreamed that I found pictures of my floors before I sanded them and they were already perfect, so I was even more upset at them being painted black! And then I forgot to get more batteries this morning; however, I really don't care because I do not want any reminders of how terrible they looked!

I started with the lamb's wool applicators, but all they did was spread the stain around after the paint thinner did it's thing. So, back to square one - hands and knees. Tess had volunteered to help me. Oh, she is truly my BFF all the way. I've promised half of my lottery winnings to her and she to me if she wins; however, I think she just wants to pay me off to get lost because I always drag her in on all of my lovely projects...LOL! I called her and she stopped and bought more rags, sponges and paint thinner. I had picked up some deck brushes that screwed onto the end of the poles. First, we poured the paint thinner directly on the floor. Next, we took the deck brushes and scrubbed it around. Then, we took the sponges to try and soak up as much stain as possible and squeeze it out in buckets. Last, we would take the rags to wipe everything up. Steps three and four were on our hands and knees and it was messy to say the least. We had on gloves, but it still got everywhere and we were filthy by the time we finished. Speaking of filthy, so was our language. The more we did, the madder we got! It was also impossible not to get the paint thinner and stain on the baseboards and it even splashed onto the wall in a few places. With every little splatter, my heart just kinda broke at all the hard work I put into painting those over the last couple of months. It's a real shame, but I'll use this week to try and clean up the baseboards, repaint them and touch up the walls. You would go to get up out of the floor and put a hand up against the wall or lay your pole up against the wall - both of which were black from the stain. The good news is that by 4:00 PM, we got it done. There were still lots of places in the floor that looked pretty black, but they simply looked wet instead of oily with stain. I set up fans and left. I stopped back by about 9:00 PM tonight and I could actually walk on the floor - it's actually drying!

My hand and arm are on fire tonight and Tess's fingers are killing her. With her having RA, I feel really bad for her - she's always so willing to help me, but she really pays the price. I need to go buy a lottery ticket...love you BFF!