The paper that protects the areas we don’t want to get paint on kinda makes the hallway look like a haunted house setup. What’s lurking behind the door?

That would be Romeo who put himself to bed to get out of the way of the painting.

It’s spooky, really spooky.

Being ambidextrous is really handy when you’re painting.

Painting is easier once you just accept that fact that you’re going to get messy.

More painting, new cool toys, obligatory #whoneedsatruck picture

This is the baseboard under the kitchen cabinets.

This is David on his new spiffy ladder

The new spiffy ladder works on stairs! This is so Batman.

I just post these to freak out other convertible owners.   #Mustangabuse

Just in time, too.  My carb count has gone sky high 😉

I guess this means I have to start cooking again.

Here’s a peek at the living room floors. They’re all done and we’re just about done painting the living room. Holy cow, once you start painting one thing, you end up painting all the things.

I know this will all be worth it, and someday I’ll internalize that.  For now, all I can think about is how badly I don’t want to move. This house was my haven. It sheltered me when I escaped a really bad situation and I don’t want to leave it. It will be better for my loved ones if we move and that’s what’s important. It’s what one does. One does hard things for the sake of loved ones. Lots of crying happened during the painting and cleaning today. David is out of town, the girls were at work, and I had the place to myself so I could really let my emotions have free rein. And reign they did.

Once you start painting something in the house, everything else will suddenly need to be painted as well.

Being ambidextrous is very handy when painting.

Being on my feet while painting hurts.  A lot.

Advil is a beautiful thing.

We eat out a lot when the kitchen is holding stuff from the living room that is being painted.

Stainless appliances are hard to keep clean and hard to get clean. Why on earth are they The Thing to have in kitchen?

Black top stoves – ditto.

I found a stray post that I forgot to publish. These were taken before we started painting the cupboards.

The microwave has been installed.  The kitchen now looks like this:

When it isn’t torn apart while trying to clear out the pantry.

The new stove makes cookies and spaghetti like a dream.  I’ve passed on the Sacred Sauce Recipe to the next generation.

I also made some really fabulous butterscotch pecan cookies but there aren’t any left to take a picture. That’s just how fabulous they were.

This poor little door, mauled by a child that shall not be named, has been replaced by this lovely door:

The House Upgrade Thing continues to progress.

But the kitchen isn’t exactly reopened yet.

Working on one room

often requires cluttering up another room

and putting furniture in odd spaces

Utter chaos.  One room at a time.

Have you ever had one of those days where the song “It’s a perfect day” just plays in your head all day long? I have.

I thought my birthday was going to be a quiet hotel room stay with a soaking tub and then the next day continuing to spend working on the house. I got the quiet hotel room with roses, a soaking tub, a nice dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and Pellegrino.

What I also got was a huge surprise party that my family had been planning for a year.

There were friends. In party hats. And a neck brace, dear Daryl came the day after his surgery! I love how Wendy wore her orange shirt for me 🙂

There was family flown in from out of town. In party hats. I don’t think they actually flew with the party hats. Even Daddy had one on. I don’t think anyone tried to put one on Dawn.

There was a princess theme:

There was a tiara.

And a pinata

There was a beautiful cake and fantastic food. Oh my gosh, the food.  If you need something catered, you need to call Chynna’s friend Randy. She’s amazing.

There were pedicures.  Wendy’s was very patriotic.

It was an amazing day. Thank you to all that planned and attended. Thank you to my darling Danica who started the idea and then did the decorating. Thank you to my darling David who took the plan and escalated it. Thank you to my fabulous family who flew in from Houston (Mom, Daddy, Danica – love you!). Thank you to Chynna, Joshua, Stanley, Stefan, Stuart, Eliza, Adrian, and Sean for attending and making things so much fun.  Thank you to my friends. You are all amazing.  I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from you all.

I feel a little silly for photographing some of my birthday presents like I’m 12, but they’re just so much fun.  You only turn 50 once.  I promise to be much more dignified from now on.  Look how gorgeous the gift bags are! They make me want to scrapbook so I can somehow preserve all this stuff.

I’ll edit more pictures of people in as I get a hold of them, but for now I have to get this published.