Why am I still awake? Sheesh.

Isn't it funny how the aches and pains you get from hard work feel so different than those aches and pains you have when you're sick? I'll take those that I earn, thankyouverymuch.

We got the entertainment center/bookcase finished up and put together in the basement today. It took awhile to get it together, because the top half of the unit comes apart. As in the 2 shelves, the 2 sides, the very top piece and the back. And while we didn't put the shelves in until after it was all assembled, we'd forgotten how difficult it can be to get the other 4 pieces put together and squared up. We had gotten it all together and then had to install the stabilizing bar that also squares it up to the back of it. It took a few minutes before we got the top of it square enough we could line the screw holes up for the stabilizing bar. We eventually got it, though, and I'm thrilled with how it looks. I'll be taking pictures soon and posting them. I'll probably wait until I get the other little unit done and downstairs, though. It may be as soon as tomorrow.

I was able to get the first coat of the oil based paint on the majority of stuff I have left to finish up. The doors for the hutch are a little tricky, if I want to paint the insides of them, because it means painting both sides, which would take 2 days per side to finish up. I just got day 1 out of the way on them. I guess I have to figure out whether or not I need to paint the other side. It won't show unless the doors are open, so it's not entirely necessary. Hmmm. What to do. What to do.

I was also able to get the primer on the back of the headboard we'll be cutting down to use as a footboard and the second coat of primer on the last piece of Bugster's old doll furniture I'm painting for Scooter. While I may not get these two pieces finished up tomorrow, I should be able to finish everything else, and I'll put the last coat on the footboard and doll furniture later in the week. The temperature is supposed to be 20 to 30 degrees cooler Monday than it is tomorrow, and it won't warm up until the end of the week. If there's anyway I can finish them up sooner, I will.

I was thrilled to be able to get one last thing finished up today. Several years ago, we were given a super heavy duty air cleaner/purifier. The people who gave it to us used it to clean the air in their home where they bred birds. When I brought it home, I took it apart and vacuumed it thoroughly. I've taken it apart a few times and cleaned it out with the vacuum over the years, but it needed it again. We'd had it on full blast when the basement was being drywalled and textured. It was absolutely full of dust. So I pulled it apart and used the air hose on it until I no longer saw any dust coming out of the filter. It took about 20 minutes. Did I mention it was really dusty?

Now that it's clean and ready to use, it will be turned on full blast to run for a week or two downstairs. It does a pretty good job at removing odors in the air, so I'm hoping it means we can bring in the furniture I've painted for the basement, even though it still smells a bit of the oil based paint. We'll let it run for a few days with just the bookshelf/entertainment center down there and see, if it makes a difference. I'm really hoping it will.

I really should be in bed by now. I've got so much I'd like to do tomorrow. Not only do I have finish up my painting projects, but we'll be hanging new plastic on the porch, too. What we have out there right now is a hodge podge of different sizes of plastic and a couple of tarps. Unfortunately, it's not real conducive to keeping the dust out, because the plastic flaps apart where it overlaps with the next piece.

The Hubster bought some plastic today that is 10ft wide by 100ft long. We will only use about half of it, but it will be so nice to know that it will cover from floor to ceiling and all the way around in a single piece. Not only will it keep the dust out, but it will keep the rain and snow out, so we should be able to use the porch as a work shop all winter. We might not be doing a lot of painting, but if we need to use the table saw or the router, we'll have a fairly good place to do so. And if nothing else, we'll have a covered, dry place to store some of the stuff that's in the pod until we can get to it.

Works for me.