Well, it took a bit more than we had anticipated (I think that will be the title of our book when we're all done with this) but the house is finally painted ... almost.  Since we had rented the hydraulic lift our main focus was on the second story of the house and we can happily say that that is complete.  (A special thanks to our color guru, Colleen for guiding us around the color wheel!).  All we have left are the windows/doors on the first floor and installing the trim to the lower portion of the house.  As exhausted as we were, we actually enjoyed doing it - like Sheelagh said every day "we GET to do this"!!  The past 6 years have been a labor of love and even with the aches and pains and frustrations we know that we are SO fortunate to have this opportunity.  And we've had LOTS of help and support along the way  which is what keeps us going!  (A special thank you to our guardian angel and biggest supporter, Denise - we wouldn't be where we are today without you.) As we finish up the painting, our focus returns to plumbing, electricity and HVAC.    Stay tuned ..

We're a couple of days behind on the prep work for painting the house (thank you kidney stone - NOT!) but now we're back on track.  We're still in the process of putting the trim around the windows and caulking every crevice imaginable but we should be able to finish that tomorrow.  Then we need to prime the bare wood (window sills and eaves) and cover all windows and doors with plastic.  And, oh yeah, spray the sawdust/dirt off with the compressor hose ... and then we should be able to actually apply some color!  Here's a photo of Sheelagh and her sister Denise installing trim on the window at the top of the stairs in the master bedroom.  We rented the lift to save ourselves from having to move scaffolding and/or ladders around the house - smartest decision yet!!  (Thanks Denise, for filling in for me while I gave birth to my 4th stone!)