A marathon

Those of you who know me know that I've given up television...I've been off the tube for 6+ years, not owning one to watch. But I'm not too proud to take in a show or two when a TV happens to be on and I'm in its proximity. Back when I went to the gym regularly, I'd watch an episode or two on HGTV (that's Home & Garden Television for all of you sports fans) on the elliptical machine to make the time pass. I was over at a friend's house a few weeks ago and somehow convinced them to put on HGTV and we tuned into a marathon of "Renovation Realities". Well, it is really one of the worst DIY shows but not having a TV, broadcasting is now more than just a novelty, it's mesmerizing. So, we all watched the marathon and laughed to ourselves about how silly or stupid or down-right mean the folks on the show came across.

This weekend we had a marathon of our own, paint the whole house in 72 hours or less. We're into hour 48 now and while we are finding our pace, there's still a lot of area to cover. Luckily though, our troop of friends are coming through for us this holiday weekend yet again. Justin's dad loaned us his paint sprayer which applies a lot of paint really fast but requires a lot of prep. That's how we spent much of Saturday. Jill and Scott came over for the day and helped us tape & paper all of the trim and windows and put up about 10 gallons of primer. It was essential work. On Sunday, we had an even larger crew, Jill, Amy, Heidi and Scott to help us finish the priming and spray on the ceiling paint throughout the house. While that took most of the day, the gang did have time to get into the colored paint and put the first coat of the brown on for the master bedroom.

The day left us tired and sore and ready to get back to our day jobs for some much needed R&R. However, only Justin gets that perk. My employer is observing the holiday so I'll be recognizing Lincoln and Obama with another day of painting on Monday. It's a mixed blessing...we need to get the paint up but three days in a row is tough to endure. I have a fresh crew coming on Monday to help out so hopefully we'll make good progress. The cabinets arrive on Tuesday so we have our challenge!

The paint sprayer puts a million droplets of paint in the air. This photo shows Justin applying some ceiling paint and you can get a real feel for what its like in the room.

Here's our work crew on Sunday, all smiles priming the living room. Amy wins the contest for best painting clothes with her lovely pink housecoat.

Scott was so smitten with the housecoat, he insisted on wearing it for the afternoon--in honor of St. Valentine.Here's our new bedroom color, a nice chocolate milk, cake batter color. We'll be accenting the room with purple accessories.