not quite the exciting friday night that might be implied

Wednesday and Thursday nights after work I dry lok-ed the bricks in my crawl space. I've been meaning to fix it up since I moved in, and it's my last official project for my house (got my front outdoor light fixed on friday - no more projects until something breaks!!!!).

Yesterday after work I decided to put down the plastic sheeting I got to cover the dirt floor. It's a special plastic that lets the ground breathe but keeps the dust down. I had envisioned a certain look for the plastic, and even bought a nail gun to hold it in place on the wall.

That, of course, didn't work.

And my idea for neatly laid plastic didn't work either.

In any case, I ended up doing what was recommended on the This Old House blog, and duct taped the plastic to the walls. Of course, half way through I ran out of duct tape so I ran down to Guiry's and got there 5 minutes before closing.

Obviously they wanted to get rid of me in a hurry so they could close, so as I walked in the store the guy behind the paint counter asked what I was looking for. Without thinking really, I said "I need duct tape! And knee pads!"

There was a slight pause and more employees gathered in the paint department area, looking at me strangely. It made me nervous so I said "And, I need two rolls. Of duct tape." (I didn't want to run out again and not get my project finished last night - I have other stuff to do today and will be working at the british bulldog tomorrow for world cup)

There was a burst of laughter from the paint department people. One guy said "sounds like a fun friday night for somebody!" Another guy said "maybe she's just duct taping people up tonight". A third guy said "you know, duct tape is rated to 80 MPH, so if you need to duct tape someone to the hood of your car, don't go over 80 MPF".

Ech.

This jeering continued and got worse when I tried to explain that I was putting plastic sheeting in my crawlspace. And as I walked out of guiry's the first paint guy yelled "have the BEST friday night ever!" and, as I headed toward the corner of Park Avenue and was accosted by two homeless guys wanting money, the third paint guy stuck his head out the door of guiry's and said "I'd stay away from her dude! she just bought a bunch of duct tape and she works for the CIA!" (note, I have NO IDEA why he would have said I worked for the CIA except perhaps to make fun of my huge sun hat and dark sunglasses which I didn't take off in the store because they were making fun of me and I go there a lot and am afraid they will recognize me again and make more duct tape jokes).

Anyway, I finished putting down the plastic sheeting around 9 last night. Heading to IKEA (oh dread, IKEA on Saturday) to see if I can find the same bamboo carpets I found there in 2001 to put over the plastic sheeting. Then I'll post pictures.