Spring Break Project

Ok, so when most people are hitting the beach, relaxing and vegging out as much as possible, I (36 weeks preggers) along with Wally and his parents decided to paint the outside of our house. I'm loco, I know. It's something we've wanted to do for a while, but couldn't get the weather to cooperate with our time off. So, over the break, we finally tackled it. Wally and I started early Tuesday morning and actually got a good portion of the house done by the time Wally's parents got there. Which was a good thing, because the trim is what took FOREVER! And I have to say a HUGE thank you to Wally's parents for driving all the way up from Naples to help a son and his hippo wife. Anyway, by about 5 o'clock on Tuesday, I was D-U-N. At least for that day. I would have liked to continue working, but honestly, I felt like I had gotten run over by a truck. Rolling, painting and lugging around 5 pound paint buckets - NOT recommended for 36 weekers! I remember the following morning, Wally was complaining that he was so sore and how awful his parents must feel after all the work. Wait, am I pregnant or did I just swallow a basketball whole. Ya think your wife might be a little sore too? :0)

Anyway, the next day, we were at it again. Wally and his dad finished up the trim and some other work around the house while Regina and I hit up the stones. Ok, I don't know if you remember, but the stones originally were this super ugly shade of orangy pink. Not pretty and definitely not what stones are supposed to look like. So, my idea was to sponge them three different shades of grey so they actually looked like stones. (Wait, why did I think to do that?) Oh yeah, because I'm a masochist and like to choose the option that takes the most work... Anyway, we spray painted the rock one color, then I sent Regina ahead of me to sponge in a different shade, while I followed behind sponging in the final color of grey. Every...Single...Rock... It took forever! I should have counted how many there were.

Anyway, by late Wednesday evening the house was finished and I must say that I LOVE it. My only hang up is the roof. It's brown and so kind of clashes with the house as of now, but it's ancient and needs to be replaced soon, so we'll just darken it when it comes time. So...after two days of hard work, here is our finished product. Whohoo! Oh wait, I gotta put up a before pic so you can see the full transformation...

Before...

And tada! After...

Are you ooohing and aaahing yet? Just check out those stones!!! :0)

Again, a bajillion thank yous to my in-laws and my crazy-hard working husband. A lesson reaffirmed - the harder you work, the bigger the payoff. :0)