Pretty amazing friends have we

As many of you know, we've spent a lot of time over the past couple of months attempting to paint the majority of our house. We started on Memorial Day weekend with the rather over-eager expectation that we would be able to paint the kitchen, hallway, kids' room and living room over the course of three days. Even if Carrie hadn't needed an emergency appendectomy on that Saturday, just the process of taking down all of the (badly installed) hardware was enough to convince us that we were in for the long haul.

Amidst all of this, I drove down to Eugene, Oregon for training one weekend, and then drove all the way back up from Roseburg (which is a small town about an hour south of Eugene) (don't ask) all pretty much in one shot and royally messed up my back in the process (note to self: when driving long distances, take plenty of breaks to stretch out, and set the seat back a bit so that you're not driving in a ramrod-stiff position for hours on in!). That combined with the insane amount of reaching up that I had to do in order to paint the ceiling pretty much did me in this past weekend. On Saturday afternoon, Carrie and I had to go to U.S. Healthcare so that I could get a prescription for muscle relaxers, pain meds, and anti-inflammatory medications.

U.S. Healthcare – remind me to tell you about that place...

Anyhow....

This is where my pretty amazing friends come in. One weekend, Carrie's friend Alex (who served as one pretty kick-ass DJ for our wedding) helped us paint, and for two weekends, her friend Refugio and ex, John, chipped in as well. Recently, Carrie's sister, Carla, came up for nine days to help us out. Not only did she help me get virtually all of the painting done in the aforementioned areas, she also caulked the trim, cleaned up the major messes, helped Carrie put a tarp over our leaky shed, and helped Carrie clean out and organize the studio space, freeing up 400 square feet for exercise, crafts, and guest quarters. This is the same woman who, during our wedding a year ago, wrangled the caterers and cafe employees so that our guests would get fed and had plenty of drinks to quench their thirst – so that Carrie and I could enjoy that wonderful evening without a worry in the world.

I'm personally grateful to Alex, Ref, John and Carla for her help, and Carrie and I are breathing much easier in our newly painted residence (pics to come soon), knowing that, at least for now, the big projects are out of the way. I've a list about a mile long (and growing) of items that I need to do, but those are all smaller projects that I can tackle on nights and weekends.