Major House Work

Right now I'm feeling the best kind of tired.  The tired that comes from working so hard for so long- but actually produced big results.  It's been a whirlwind the last 6 days!  My friends Amy and Chelsea and Amy's mom- Julie all flew out here for a week to purely revamp the downstairs apartment of our duplex home.  I haven't said a whole lot about it on this blog.  We had to evict the previous tenants and it was really ugly and the place was left a bit of a disaster.  I knew there was potential, but with a one year old, and a husband who works a lot we were moving at a snail's pace.  It felt like we would never get done.  And there were some projects that I physically and mentally couldn't tackle, like cleaning the fridge and the kitchen cabinets.  I am so blessed to have friends fly out here just to help us.  They were so generous, beyond words.  We also had family and friends watch Luna so we could all work.

It was crazy.  There were blood, sweat, and tears from the last 6 days.  We stayed up until 3 or 4 a couple of nights.  Julie surpassed us all and did a complete all nighter.  We were fighting.  Amy is my best friend.  We have lived together, we know each other too well.  We are too much alike.  We both are completely stubborn, and we both have a need to be right all the time.  Amy gets things done.  She is a hard worker.  One of the hardest workers I know and she has skills.  She knows what she's doing.  She isn't quite as much of a perfectionist as me, and this can bug me sometimes.  But she does a better job at getting things done than I do.  She was our pro paint roller.  And she cleaned the fridge.  I love her.  I can get so mad at her, but I love her.  And one day I'm going to win- we never had the arm wrestle rematch we had planned!

Chelsea came too.  I met Chelsea a few times when Amy was in college and really got to know her during Amy's wedding.  She is so much fun.  I love her.  She is also a hard worker and she is so strong.  She cleaned some nasty nasty stuff!  She learned some new skills and did an amazing job.  She did a little bit of everything.  She cleaned the kitchen cabinets and basically completely crawled into the cabinets.  She made us do push ups every morning.  I thought scrubbing 3 very textured ceilings with a rag was enough of a workout- but these girls say no excuses.  She can do 35 push ups.  We're talking real ones.  I  can do 15 pathetic ones, and only 6 decent ones with good form.  Sam showed us he could do 40 and he can still rock the one handed push up.  Amy can do 25.  Julie didn't really participate.  But she outworked all of us young whipper snappers and always started working earlier than us and always stayed up later.


Julie.  What can I say.  I love her, but she is cra cra.  She is so generous with her time and money.  She pulled an all nighter and worked nonstop on the kitchen cabinets.  She always read a devotion at meal time.  She asked two bored workers at Lowe's to be our personal shoppers.  They listened to us and walked through the whole store getting us what we needed.  Julie is the ultimate dumpster diver.  She spotted a little picnic table and outdoor car for free to pick up for Luna.

 I didn't know which knob I should go with so I picked up one of each at Hobby Lobby to try and pick!

 Sam is going crazy and starting to strip some of the molding.  That is a big job.

 Here is the ultra nasty refrigerator.

We fought, we laughed, we drank some wine, and beer.  We had a dance party.  We had a fight.  We watched several episodes of Parenthood.  We had good talks.  We listened to so much music.  We had devotions.  We prayed.  It was awesome.  I always wanted to be on an HGTV show and I think we have enough of a sob story (almost) to get on Extreme Makeover.  But I would never want to be on that show because I like to decorate and work and I would love to do the design work and the physical work.  They always whisk you away on those shows.  I now know why they always get so emotional.  It is such a transformation.  It feels like OUR house now.  Even though I threw a party down there, part of it was still gross.  It still needed a lot of cleaning.  I was tired.  We needed the help.  It was good for us to let go of control and accept help for once.  Sam and I are quick to help others, but we have trouble accepting help and admitting when we need it.  God was working on both of us during this time.  I had some convicting moments.  Moments when I knew I was so mean- why do I focus on the little tiny problem instead of seeing the big picture and being thankful?  Why do I need to be right.  Why do Sam and I always think we need to do everything on our own?  This was so good for us on many levels.  Sam just told me today that it all turned out better than he thought.  He's too sweet to admit it, but he was nervous to let 4 women take over.  He said that he was impressed that everyone knew what they were doing and were good at it.

While they were here we completely painted every surface with Kilz paint, after scrubbing every surface with TSP.  We took down all the upper kitchen cabinets and painted color in every room.  2 bedrooms, the dining room, living room and kitchen.

Update: I wrote this right after they left on Jan 17.  Right now we are stripping the entryway getting ready for the wood floors to be refinished.  I'll share more soon!