We Got Wood

This weekend we put in the first part of the hardwood floors. They are bamboo and that was important to both of us. I love wood floors, but not at the expense of old growth trees. Leave the trees and give me the bamboo. It takes 3 years for the bamboo that they cut for my floor to grow back. After taking into account processing time and shipping, I would suspect that they are almost there now. That is something that we can all live with.

Some of the magickal bits going on as we installed the floor were a bit more challenging to explain to my parents. So in true family fashion I explained as little as possible.

The process came to a screaming halt on Saturday when my artistic diva mom realized that something "wasn't right" about how the floor was going together. This was shortly after the magickal working bits. While she never ever gives herself enough credit she is way more intune with what we do than she would like to admit.

We went to the flooring store and asked some pointed questions. We found out that this type of flooring must be glued or nailed down. No one had mentioned that minor detail before. This would have been useful information. That set us back a day and $300 bucks in glue. Yet better right than pissed after all that work.

So at the butt crack of dawn we got to work. It took about 12 hours and 4 bodies to get the first area done. It is a TON of work, but it is beautiful.

The process requires a great deal of working with things until they come together perfectly. It is a study in how to apply forces in a minimal way for a harmonious outcome. We had fine tools and corse tools. I prefered the fine tools. The corse tools literally tore holes in my hands. With a bit of planning and some appropriately applied pressure I was getting at least as good of a result as my artist supervisor. Her prefered method was to beat the hell out of it until it yielded. That was way too much effort for me and I don't really want to be at war with my floor. I wanted it to flow together and for the most part it did.

Even the glass table exploding under the saw wasn't that bad. It shattered but in a really controlled and minimal damage kind of way. All in all it was not so bad :)

My sister came over after we were finished and we all went to dinner. I was explaining the story of the china to her and she was amazed. No one can figure out how my mom ended up with it. Go figure.

I have determined that I will take Lavanahs advice and have tea with her soon using that china. Since she missed many of the family stories of how that china came to be here, I think it would be a perfect opportunity to catch her up on some family history :)