House is DONE

We finished the house painting yesterday after several days of hard labor. My legs are tired and sore from climbing ladders and scaffolding, and I may never get all the paint out from under my fingernails. I am very thankful that we didn't have to pay someone to do the job for us. The going rate for painting a house this size would also buy a moderately priced car. Best of all, I know that it was done well. The cracks got sealed, the windows caulked and cleaned and the landscaping trimmed. Now I am looking forward to doing something nice and relaxing. Maybe Bonnie's mystery quilt, that sounds like a plan. First though, the scaffolding needs to get disassembled so it can go back, and I need to pick up the debris so I can get an official "after" picture. Then maybe a nice jacuzzi bath and a browse for mystery fabrics. That sounds like a plan.

House Half Full

I just love the names they give paint colors. Our house is going to be a lovely combination of kitchen twine, caribou, and penny loafer. Doesn't that just put an image in your head? We almost went with baguette, eclaire and espresso, wouldn't that have been yummy?
We were lucky enough to be able to hire on some extra help for our house painting yesterday. My running partner Tom's son is in town visiting and available by the hour. With his help we powered through half the house in our first day! It was the bottom half of course, which is the easiest part. We're going to have to rent scaffolding for the top part and didn't want to leave it up over Christmas. So instead we are finishing the detail work on the bottom and letting the rest wait until after the holiday.
I went out this morning and finished up the edging and trim over the garages. I even got the carriage lights and house number put back up. I'm not very good at electrical though, and only one of them lit up this evening. I don't know why, but it makes me feel better to have one small section all the way done. This afternoon I braved the cold to go out and paint the shutters on the bottom floor. Wow, shutters take a long time to paint! All those nooks and crannies have to be taken care of one at a time.
Nothing much on the quilting front. I've started a new Christmas quilt that is meant to be a going away present for a neighbor who is moving, but I've been bone tired at the end every day recently and haven't made much progress. I'd better get a move on if I want to get it done, they are leaving before the new year.

Time Flies

Where has an entire week gone?
When last I checked in, I think I had just finished off the nursing home quilt delivery and was hosting my in-laws while waiting anxiously for the arrival of my dear husband. He stumbled in during the wee hours of the morning but still managed to be up before dawn due the the time difference. He brought a nice upper respiratory thing home with him, which seems to have missed all of the kids except Anna. (Also some beautiful sweaters for the kids I need to get pictures of still) I've finally downloaded pictures from the camera, and gotten some photos from Miss Sheila's memory card as well, so I'll share more of those tomorrow. Today I'll just zoom through the week and bring things up to date.

Last Sunday, Anna was singing in church in the morning. Her friend Sierra was dancing, and so I went and dutifully snapped pictures of them being all adorable. Kurt's mom was nice enough to come with me while Kurt laid low at home, still claiming jet lag.

The afternoon brought a lovely Christmas open house. My mother in-law came along while Kurt took Ryan to a birthday party. I'm not sure why the only picture I managed to snap was one of Anna and Sierra again.

Monday was back to work for the first day of finals. I put my nose to the grindstone, determined to have everything finished and entered by the end of the week. Tuesday was a repeat performance, followed by Sydney's class party conveniently scheduled just 20 minutes after the end of my last exam. We pasted and glitter glued ornaments, and tasted lots of frosting on these adorable little "gingerbread" houses.
By Wednesday I was finished with exams and spent the morning finishing off the last dregs. Grade calculations, comments, that sort of thing. So by Thursday I was done. Anna's class party just happened to fall in the morning on Thursday so I was able to make that as well, and helped out with "winter" themed activities of ice-cream, insta-snow, and Florida snow men made of white slime. I forgot my camera that day, so no photos of the third grade fun.
Kurt and I both off then on Friday, so we went out to breakfast together, finished off the Christmas shopping and went to the hardware store to choose house paint colors.
Saturday morning was my scheduled long run of 23 miles! I tried to get out of it, but I have these persistent running partners who wouldn't let me get away with it. Meisje was only scheduled for 18, so we started at 5:30 with a 9 mile loop. We came back for Tom and he ran with us for the next 9 mile loop. After dropping Meisje off back at her car, Tom and I did another short loop to bring the total to 23. I was tired at the end, but still functional, much to my own surprise. I got back to shower and change while Kurt went off to buy paint.
The rest of the afternoon was spent painting the house. We're going to rent scaffolding after Christmas, so for now, we're just painting the lower part of the house. I'm off to paint. I've volunteered for the low down trim work while Kurt goes crazy with the big 18 inch roller. We'll see how much damage we can do in a whole day. Happy Sunday everyone.