Sanding floors

Almost five years ago, Helen and I purchased the empty house next door to her mother. It needed a lot of attention and we wanted to control who lived next door. Since that time I have been working on the house in my (spare?) time. (Helen helped some at first.) That has meant that several other things have had to take the back seat (or the trunk), like golf, visits with friends and relatives, etc.

Last week I decided to try to get some donated cabinets out of the way by working on the kitchen. This meant I had to get the wood floors in shape before setting the cabinets. There was just one problem. We had removed a wall to extend the size of the room, but the old kitchen had linoleum flooring attached to the wood with something like tar, and then had a vinyl on top of that. Originally most of it came up, but there were a few areas, about 12-16 square feet, that did not come up. So, I broke down and rented a sander and got started. I now have a very sore blister on my ring finger.(Yep, I forgot to take off my wedding band as I worked.) But the good news is, with a litte more sanding, the floor will be ready to finish and it looks great! And, I finished setting the cabinets. Thanks to our friends, the Jenkins, I will only have to purchase one 36" wall cabinet, and new countertops. (They donated the cabinets when they renovated their kitchens a few years ago.)

The question I get most often is, "When will you finish?" I really don't know, but I hope it is in 2009.

Here is what we have gotten accomplished so far: removed part of wall in kitchen to enlarge to the back door area and eliminated one doorway leading out of kitchen, completely rewired the house (with very able assistance from my electrician brother in law, Buck), tiled two bathrooms and one laundry room (had to level the floor here), completely insulated the attic, plumbed for new cutoffs in kitchen, completely reworked every window (well, a few are at home waiting their final work) and painted all windows, added storm windows, installed vinyl siding on all outside walls, soffits, and garage, tore off rotting porch on back and completely rebuilt, replaced flooring on front porch, removed unsightly shed over underhouse access, had kitchen and closet re-drywalled, installed new toilet and lavatory in front bath and put in beadboard walls-painted that entire bath, replaced some exterior fascia boards (rest need to be replaced), patched and sealed chimney and painted it, put in handrail for back porch, build new steps between house and garage, tore out fixtures in back bedroom bath and removed window over tub, reworked hall closet to make more space, enlarged scuttle hole to attic in middle bedroom closet(where I fell through and hurt my knee), and kept the yards in order (mostly by Buck).
I am sure there is more, but I really don't want to think about it now. It makes me tired.

What's left? Finish windows, replace fascia boards, reroof, have central heat/AC installed, sand and finish all floors, paint all walls, tile countertop in laundry and paint cabinets, paint and rework closets, install one ceiling fan, route dryer vent to outside,put tub surround on rear bathroom and install toinlet and lavatory, patch and sand walls where needed (lots of places)-pour driveway and repair side porch. Install new doors in a few places and finish redoing door facings, put quarterround down on all baseboard after finishing floors and probably three dozen other things. Any volunteers?