Sandpaper Pit

We heard it all when word got out what we were doing. "Wow... Well! Good luck!", "Why don't you just tear it down and build from scratch?" "Why don't you tear it down and put a trailer out there?", "You know... you think you'll be able to do it for $ ... It's going to be more like 5x's $...", and "Not only is it going to cost 5x's more than you plan for, but it will also take 5x's longer."

We were not dissuaded.  But eyeyey... this morning, like other times, I think it might have been the wise thing to do... to have been dissuaded.

Here we are, with less than a month to get it live-in-able, and the mom, dad, and every child in our family is sick and has been sick for the entire last month, plus some.  Sicker for longer than any of us have been... ever!  The last few days have been looking up though, and I thought the veil of illness was lifting.  Silly me.  My 6 year old daughter woke me up early this morning to tell me her "ear hurts".  Needless-to-say, my sick, yet selfless Ben has been doing all the work the last few weeks on his own. (Much thanks to those two great guys who came to his aid!)  He's gotten all the hardwood floors sanded, the bathroom gutted, the septic line completed, the pipes to re-case the well cut, a wall demolished, and an exposed beam and supports installed, not to mention all the non-mentionable tasks he's finished, as well. 

Wait.  Did I say the he got all the hardwood floors sanded?  No, actually, that is not quite the truth.  Yes, we did return the belt sander to the machine rental shop since we no longer had a use for it; however, that doesn't exactly mean the sanding is finished.  There happens to be a three or so inch stripe around the edges of each and every room that is quickly becoming a thorn in our flesh.  Or should I say, Ben's flesh (since, remember, I'm not helping at this point).  He has taken to a hand held belt sander, but after two full days and three hours after work last night (he doesn't get off work until 9:15pm), he has only half of one of the three bedrooms and half of the living room done.  The appearance of no varnish whatsoever is deceiving.  Apparently, there is some super heavy duty something that is coating the floors that, when sanded, rather than bursting into dust, melts to the sandpaper.  It's only time and money, right?  Burn, baby, burn!

Was not being dissuaded the right thing?  I shouldn't be so rediculous... I am sure it was.  But after a month of taking care of four sick children, a sick me, and a sick hubs, and running into unbelievably stupid set backs such as not being able to take care of a few inches of flooring and not being able to just weld two feet of extra casing to the top of the well, my doubts and frustrations are mounting.  So, unless any of you can give us ideas to handle this sandpaper trap, we may face the solution of mismatched flooring.  Lets hope not...

Good morning all!
Alicia Grace