Sorry I haven’t posted more recently. I have been pushing myself to finish a short story to meet a deadline I set for myself. Then my stairs happened.
That’s right. They happened. Or rather fell apart.
We live in a split level home so the stairs are very necessary to moving about the house. The bannister for the upper portion of the stairs has been loose since we moved in. A few weeks ago the newel post came loose from the rail.
I begged my husband to reattach it until we could afford to do all the repairs needed. When he didn’t, my mother in law who does so many wonderful things for me, decided she would fix the problem.
First things first, the newel post had been installed (if you can call it installed) on top of the carpet. This is not a good thing. Secondly after they removed the newel post but left the rail, removed the carpet covering the stairs and left the unfinished wood underneath bare, my daughter tripped at the top of the stairs.
She must have the quickness of the ninja because she not only caught herself on the remaining newel post, she knocked the railing loose and with her free hand caught it and held it until someone could come help her put it down safely. Wow.
So now the railing is completely off and the old boards were pried up. Boards which were two thinner pieces glued together and installed, nasty stuff. The new treads are placed on the stairs now but not quite attached, so everyone is being very careful ascending and descending in my house.
Myself? I am being most careful of all. I am freakishly phobic of heights and so I go out to the deck and wince and cringe my way down those stairs and come in below the stairs-under-construction.
Today the construction should be complete and the hammering and noise and worry about someone falling should cease with it. Then I hope to frantically finish this short story and polish it as best I can and send it off. I will let you know how it goes.
