Phase one of house renovations...

This weekend was... eventful. The country has shown some pretty hilarious sides of itself since we started this weekend. I'll begin with Friday night...

Friday, we took off work at 2 and headed to the house to unload my car and his truck full of boxes and stuff. We got Lily acquainted with her new backyard, which she LOVED! She was on cloud nine. She just ran and ran and ran. Next door, there is a little black puppy that came over and ran along the fence with Lily. Their tails were just wagging... the black dog would pee on the fence and Lily would pee on top of where the other dog peed, haha. They were so cute together. So glad she already made a friend. After all that, we went to pick up the paint from Sherwin Williams, then went back to the house to finish hauling out the carpet and to start removing base boards. We took an hour break to celebrate Misty's birthday with the family, and then went right back to the house for more work. I went to Walmart, got some stuff we needed, picked up a late night meal, and went back to the house to continue going at it.

At 1:00 a.m., as we were straightening up and getting ready for the next day, we heard Lily bark for the first time! We darted outside to see what in the world she was barking at, to find a massive horse and donkey just roaming our drive way! We stood there baffled, wondering what to do. We brought Lily inside, praised her for barking, and went back out to stare at the two beasts eating our grass. We didn't know who they belonged to, who to call, nothing... so we just went to bed and hoped they'd find their way home.

The next morning, we got up at 7:30, showered, and got ready for the painting to begin. We finished removing all the base boards, primed all the trim in the dining room, living room, kitchen, and almost down the hall. We started painting the trim and got the dining room completely painted (except the base boards). It looks like a room from a totally different house now. The trim in the kitchen is done, as well as the doors to the pantry and laundry room. They are now white and look SO MUCH BETTER!! The guys spackled the holes in the walls and removed all the wall paper in the foyer.

We didn't start on the walls in the kitchen or living room yet. In fact, we can't do the living room at all until the ceiling is painted, and the person who was supposed to paint it blew us off so now Glenn's dad is going to do it for us instead. He's very helpful. The kitchen cabinets and counters are going to get removed so we can paint more efficiently and can tile the floors without anything in the way. We have more than enough tile for it. I just haven't decided if we're going to go ahead and get new counter tops in the kitchen... I definitely don't have enough and need to add some on the other side of where the stove will be. But I just don't know yet. We'll see.

To top off our weekend in the country, we heard gun shots and of course, Lily got scared. We thought, "hmm... houses are too close for someone to just be out there playing with a gun." We look to see who was doing it, and sure enough... our neighbor was standing outside in a bathrobe shooting at a tree. Um, okay... so we watch him for a while... he walks down his porch steps, goes over to the tree, and grabs a can. He was shooting at a can, in his bathrobe. Not sure when we'll decide to go introduce ourselves to this character. To top it all off, he looks like Charles Darwin. Natutrally, we had a good laugh.

So this coming weekend, we have a LOT more to do. We have to finish painting the trim in the hall way, prime all the base boards and start painting them white, and prime + paint the doors that go to all the rooms in the hall way, because right now they're just off the hinges in the garage. Glenn's dad is off work the all next week, so he's going to paint the ceiling in the living room then and I'll start painting the walls. The red accent wall in the living room has to be painted gray before we paint it red so that the red comes through properly. We'll be at the house some this week over the holidays and may do a little more then. Plus, I know Lily was bummed about having to go back to the apartment, haha. She liked her back yard. I can't bring the kitties to the house yet. They will just be in the way... so they'll have to wait. Good thing we have the apartment as a second home until Jan 31.