All Hail, Wagner Power Steamer

The weekend started a little differently than we had planned, but happily. Mr. Hubby's second cousin (or is it first cousin once removed or maybe cousin lite?) graduated from a local university, and his family invited us to celebrate with a champagne lunch. Never ones to pass up free booze, we graciously accepted.

So instead of sharpening our handyperson skills, we enjoyed fine food, fine company, and an all-around good time. Sure, we're even more behind now -- with the gotta-be-out-of-the-current-house-by-June-6 clock ticking more loudly than ever. But I don't want to get so tunnel-visioned that we're not living beyond house renovation duties.

So we needed to be doubly productive today. After running to the grocery store with LevelHead Jr. and throwing random foodstuffs in the cart, we were off to join Mr. Hubby at the house.

The Hubman bought a wallpaper steamer on his way. It wasn't love at first sight for me, but when I saw that baby in action, I fell deep and hard. I'm thinking of leaving Mr. Hubby and spending the rest of my days with my Hot & Steamy. Once you are able to remove the top layer of wallpaper, the bottom layer falls off likes snow from the heavens.

The steamer we had rented a few weeks ago wasn't half as good as H&S. The rental has left us with such pock-marked walls, we're thinking of sending them to a dermatologist. Today was also about trying to repair those imperfections. I'm working on my skim coating skills wall by wall (skim coating is spreading a thin layer of joint compound to fill in the little holes and gouges left by said steamer). By the second wall, I kind of got a rhythm going.

Mr. Hubby said he'll give me the nickname of Skim Coat in my obituary. I take that as quite a compliment.

On a different subject, I need your positive vibes coming our way tonight. Tall Drink of Water and Polar Pop are supposed to be at the house at 9:00 a.m. to start the process of taking down our load-bearing walls. PLEASE let TDW remain healthy tonight -- allow him to get a good night's sleep, eat a nutritious breakfast and arrive on time, eager to haul around unbelievably heavy pieces of steel.

It would do so much for our momentum if we can actually get those walls down. But as I have learned pretty quickly in this endeavor, contractors answer to no one but their skilled hands and break-taking attitudes.

Hope to have good news to report tomorrow ...


1) Our pock-marked walls with applied acne medicine; 2) a giant panel of wallpaper that LevelHead, Jr. was able to pull off, thanks to Hot & Steamy.