Housepainting for Dummies

Thats right, folks! This is the much-anticipated housepainting adventure post that you have been waiting ever so patiently for. As I discussed here last spring, our major home improvement project for 2010 was painting the exterior of our house ourselves. This big undertaking began on Memorial Day Weekend and was finally finished...

...wait for it...

...four months later.

Do we know how to drag out a project or what? Now, I could use a few excuses, like the fairly constant rain we had during the month of June, the flooding incident that occurred two days after we started painting, our ten day trip to Alaska in July, and the three summer weekends already booked for attending friends' weddings, but I'm not an excuse kind of gal. The bottom line is that we had a wonderful summer, and the painting was eventually completed.

Would I choose to paint the house again by ourselves? (We will likely have to in a few short years.) Probably not. But then, I was never an advocate for painting it ourselves anyway. Yes, it is the cheaper option by far. But let's be honest here: Justin and I both work full time and we have a very busy toddler to keep up with. I would just as soon pay someone else the extra money to knock out the painting in a few days, while I relax in my back yard with a lemonade, admiring their hard work.

On the other hand, Justin is convinced that, all delays considered, he would still paint it himself before hiring an outside party to do it for us.

Suddenly vinyl siding is sounding pretty good, don't you think?

As owners of a fixer-upper, we are constantly learning the ins and outs of home improvement projects. Here are just a few of the lessons learned with this project:

DO get the prep work done prior to painting day. It will take you longer than planned.

DO whatever it takes to complete the project while your mother-in-law is available to watch the kiddo.

DO buy the bulk of your paint the same day you plan to start painting (if you can), because trying to shake/mix a 5 gallon bucket of paint by yourself, after the paint has settled for a few weeks, is an abs and arms workout of hideous proportions.

DO expect your paint job to get smudged or dirty as soon as you have it completed (Murphy's Law), and be ready to let it go. A praying mantis pooped on the white trim of our front door not two days after I finished painting it. (Up until then it never occurred to me that bugs actually poop.)

DO follow the directions for removing the masking tape as soon as feasibly possible.

DO NOT be surprised if you leave the masking tape on for a few weeks and it pulls off a layer of your new house paint when you finally get around to removing it. Or better yet, when you pull it off and it leaves all it's stickiness on your fresh paint, which can only be remedied by sanding down the surface and painting it all over again.

And you wonder why it took us four months to complete this project?

And now I will shutup and give you what you are really after - the before and after pics:

We love how it turned out!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Wow! I find myself at a bit of a loss for my Ten post this week, so I apologize if this one is a little drab.

2. Isn’t this an adorable photo of my little man?

Its another one taken by Auntie Andrea – she snapped it just before Kendry accompanied me on a training run a few weeks ago. He is, after all, my favorite running partner.

3. No, my husband does not get hurt feelings when I declare someone else as “my favorite running partner”. Justin and I love to go on hikes together, but we have agreed that running will not be a joint hobby in our marriage. Its for the best.

4. The half-marathon on October 2nd went great! (more details to come)

5. I am headed for a three day weekend. Hip hip hooray for Mr. Columbus!

6. Disney Movie Trivia: "Welcome to "Albatross Air: A Fair Fare From Here to There." You get it? "A fair fare." It's-It's a play on... never mind."

{Last week's trivia answer: Lady and the Tramp}

7. I am pretty sure I have eaten more candy corn in the last two weeks than any one person should eat in their lifetime.

8. Only three more weeks until I absolutely have to have Kendry's costume completed. Time to dig out the sewing machine and get to work!

9. My sewing machine may be out from now until Christmas because I just found some fun ideas for Christmas gifts. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!

10. This Week’s Blessing: spending the day with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Amanda. Granted, for part of the day we were both running in the half-marathon – we have a knack for finding crazy adventures to do together. I love you, chica!

More Fun Firsts

We have taken Kendry to a few “first” experiences over the last few weeks:

{First Parade}
Farmer-Consumer Days is an event held in early September in the small farming community of Quincy, WA, where Justin grew up and where my in-laws still reside. Attending the parade on Saturday was actually a first for me too. There were vintage tractors, floats, farm implements, classic cars, dancing horses, the entire high school cheerleading team riding John Deere lawn tractors (I told you this was a farming town), and LOTS of candy. Kendry didn’t care for the loud horns and sirens.He did like the candy.
Even amidst all the activity, Cousin Ava was ready for a nap.


{First Football Game}
No fall season is complete without taking in a hometown football game. Two weeks ago we cheered on Clarkston High School in their game against Moscow. Kendry was even decked out in his Clarkston Bantams t-shirt, which I found at a yard sale this summer. GO BANTAMS! In true toddler fashion, Kendry was more content climbing the bleachers than watching the game, but he behaved incredibly well. And every time the announcer said “First down!” Kendry would shout “Touchdown!” with both arms raised. Its probably a bit early to explain the difference to a 16 month old, but you know his daddy won’t postpone that lesson for long.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Please allow me to flash my pearly-whites at you while I gloat: I had my 6 month dental check up yesterday and got my first “no cavity” report in two years! Yes, I am simply THAT good at dental hygiene. Or at least I have been that good for the last 6 months.

2. I have become one serious coupon-clipping mama! But the details on that endeavor deserve a separate post, so stay tuned.

3. Kendry’s greatest new word this week, and probably his longest word yet: cucumber.

4. Kendry’s new sign this week: “help me please”. If you only knew how amazingly frustrated my kiddo gets with the simplest task you would understand why I am so excited about the addition of “help me please” to his sign language vocabulary.

5. Disney Movie Trivia: " 'Tis time you knew the truth, lassie. It shouldn't have happened to a dog, but... well, Trusty has lost his sense of smell."

6. T minus four days until the big half-marathon in Leavenworth!

7. My kiddo currently has a fascination with grown-up shoes:


8. The housepainting project we began in May is finally coming to a close...four months later. It looks soooo beautiful! Pictures to come VERY SOON!

9. Kendry helped me prepare dinner the other night - an occasion that most certainly called for his adorable little apron. For Justin's first Father's Day in 2009 I made my boys matching aprons.

Obviously the apron fits Kendry a little better these days.

10. This Week’s Blessing: My hubby being an incredible motivator for my last few training runs - actually, for even more runs than that, but who is keeping track? If I try to sleep in and skip a run in the morning, he is right there pushing me out of bed and out the door. I love you, babe!

The Laws of Working Moms

A girlfriend of mine shared this with me shortly after I returned to work last fall.

We've all heard about Murphy's Law (whatever can go wrong, will). And the Law of Averages (everything evens out in the end). And Newton's Third Law of Motion (every action has an equal and opposite reaction).

Well, The Laws of Working Moms incorporate a little bit of each -- and then some. To wit:

1.) If you have an early meeting, or if the children need to be at school early for a field trip or other event, someone will be up at least twice during the night -- which means you will be, too.

2.) The toddler will sneeze mightily in your face the day before he comes down with a ferocious cold.

3.) Your kids' school or daycare will shut down due to Swine Flu the week after your kids have been out sick with a cold. (Corollary: Your kids will not have the H1N1/Swine Flu virus.)

4.) You will spill coffee (hot or cold, doesn't matter) on yourself if, and only if, you wear a freshly pressed white blouse to the office.

5.) If you are the working mom of an infant, you will discover a cascade of dried spit-up on the back of your jacket, but only after you've worn it for at least two hours (or to at least one meeting). [This one has happened to me more times than I can count]

6.) Any electronic device that's absolutely necessary to your sanity will be a.) missing or b.) out of batteries when you most need it.

7.) If you carry a purse, you will always have some sort of kid-type food in it, which you will discover when you are looking for something, like your ID. What you will not have in it is whatever you were actually looking for, like your ID.

8.) You will slave over an amazing meal that the kids won't touch, and you will throw together a last-minute "gotta get them fed" meal that they devour.

9.) Your kid will have severe Mama Drama on the mornings when you most need to be at work by a certain time. (Corrollary: You will be late on those days.)

10.) You will go to work more than once with a sticky, kid-applied kiss on your cheek -- and you deliberately won't wash it off.