Post-Interlude

I took the night off from home-repair so we could take our girls out trick-or-treating for the very first time last night. We chose to comb our new neighborhood, though we have yet to move in. It's fortunately only ~3 blocks from where we have been renting this past year. Marley was a lobster and Michaela was originally going to be Boo-in-Monstersuit (from Monsters Inc.) because so many people comment on how much she resembles this Pixar character. Sadly, time to construct/sew this costume was not present, mostly due to the circumstances outlined in HorrorShow previously. Plan B was for her to go as a spider, but she DID NOT take to this costume one bit. Plan C was to mention the word 'princess' to her, and her immediate response was 'okay' (this means an emphatic 'yes' in Michaela-speech: example- [me] would you like to play Bombardier with your wood blocks and the cat waterbowl? [Michaela] okay).

So off we went to their first trick-or-treat session, as we introduced ourselves to our new neighbors. I have to say that we were duly impressed with the kindness with which we were received and genuine sense of community we felt. Our eyes glazed over idyllic as it hinted at what we always hoped for. Michaela seemed a bit less impressed opting to hide behind me, until she saw all the chocholate she was being given. 'Thank you' and 'bye' immediately followed. I think she was starting to get it. Now we'll see if she asks to go trick-or-treating every night...

So after that interlude, I look forward to resuming the paint-stripping after work for the next two weeks. I *hope* I can get enough done so that we can move in mid-month. Next post will show some pictures of my progress, and perhaps a quasi-tutorial of how I strip and how long it takes to get it down.

One question: What's the most effective way to get rid of Tobacco odors that permeate the house?

My guess is to scrub every surface with Lysol and papertowels. Any better ideas out there?