A lot of people have seemed surprised by my calm attitude regarding my rappel down Illini Tower this weekend.

The truth is, my thoughts were on other things. Like the fact that Rob and I tore up the majority of my kitchen floor Saturday afternoon and found linoleum from the 1950s underneath. (You can see him in the first picture below, with the floor mostly intact.)

I should have expected the linoleum, but still - half-century-old gummy material adhered to my beautiful wood floor is much scarier than the idea of lowering myself 17 stories on a beautiful spring morning.

Lucky for me, the floor underneath the linoleum is the same beautiful pine as in the rest of my house, save for a couple areas I'll need to patch. It's also convenient that my kitchen could probably compete for the smallest in my neighborhood.

Before I started, I consulted with my mom, who spent a summer scraping old lino off the kitchen floor in the house I grew up in. It was a much larger project than mine, and she said she tried things like paint remover and stripper to try to get it off. She found that scraping is really the only way.

So when I wasn't adventuring for work or attending a family birthday party this weekend, I was holed up in my kitchen with a selection of putty knives, scraping up the black, sticky mess. I even woke up an hour early this morning to work on it.

I pulled out my collection of CDs, which have been gathering dust since I got my first iPod a couple of years ago, and turned up the volume. I've found taking breaks is important, as is good air circulation. I get pretty warm when I'm exerting that much energy. I set a goal last night to get to the wall opposite where I started and got there last night, as you can see in the second photo below.

I'm hoping to have the square area I'm currently tackling scraped by Wednesday, but we'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, the floor has gone a long way in helping me prioritize. I picked up the paint chip of the color featured in that kitchen I love so much and realized I didn't want it in my house. For now, I'm going to scrub down my yellow walls and keep them, which will save me a ton of work.

Also, I had to share an estate-sale find I purchased yesterday (OK, I guess I did that, too!). I've been looking for shelving for my kitchen and especially needed a home for my microwave. It had been sitting on my compact refrigerator, but I'm buying a full-size fridge.

I bought a green cart for $10, scrubbed it down and have found a way to make most of my small kitchen appliances fit on it. (It's pictured below.) I love the fact that if I get sick of seeing all those electrical cords, I can always display dishes or plants on it, instead. And I love the fact that my blender and rice cooker are no longer on a shelf in my hallway and that the bread machine is off my floor.

Now I have to ask - what's the most disastrous home-improvement project you've ever found yourself involved in?

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