I can't move my hips or feel my big toe. . .

but we made amazing progress on the house this weekend.

On Friday we took a bit of a home improvement hiatus and went to see "I Love You, You're Perfect. . . Now Change," as part of our season package. It was the quiet before the storm, it seems.

Cynical's family came by on Saturday for their official viewing of our newly renovated bathroom. After what I am sure were multiple accolades, we visited a while and were entertained by Princess M and her prancing ways.

Upon their departure, we knew it was time to dig in. The new quarterround (or shoe mold) was screaming for paint. We had lots of touchups to be done throughout the house and the main task on our list was the painting of the trim and door frames leading into the bathroom, our office and the daunting linen closet. You see the closet louvered doors were going to be a chore, a chore that we'd be cursing for years to come.

My first item was caulking each and every crevice in our house. . . and yes, there were many. Then I was to crawl around on my hands and knees painting the shoe mold. If you ever, ever want to know know how clean your house is, crawl around and watch the dust fly. And then take a gander at the knees of your pants. Ugh, and I thought I was on top of things.

At that point we realized that our true trim brushes (I'd been using a much smaller brush than what we'd need for what lay ahead) were no longer and this facilitated a run to the home improvement store and some last minute shopping. We originally thought we'd come home and just relax with plans to finish up on Sunday. However, a second surge of energy set in and we decided we had a little more left in us.

So, we tackled the trim; Cynical battling the bathroom door. I took on the trim work in this land of doors (It's a bit of a strange little area, with doors on two sides and the closet on the other). His hard work paid off and it's amazing how shiny and new it is.

And there stood the linen closet, begging for paint. . . and paint we did. I gave one door a first coat last night; the other got a new look this morning. Cynical gave the first another go this afternoon.

We scraped paint off our hands, faces and feet and I collapsed in bed. Cynical, I believe, stayed up a bit. I am not certain, as I think I saw sleep before I even settled in.

As I mentioned I was greeted with a few more painting chores this morning. The linen closet doors will take the better part of my free time this week as we determined that three coats would be necessary. Thus far, however, I feel the hard work is well worth it. . . worth the time, worth the soreness, worth the fact that my cuticles are going to permanently be China White in tone.

We've spent most of our Sunday on clean-ups, a nap and cooking. The smell of oil-based paint is thick and I suspect contributing to the headache and overwhelming need to sleep. It could also be the fact that I used muscles yesterday that I never dreamed were there. No workout could touch them. I literally wince each time I attempt to stand or sit. I caught myself soaking in the tub this morning until my skin was literally puckered.

Whenever I have more energy and maybe more faculties about me, I'll tell you about an open house we attended, how we fell in love with said house; I might tell you how excited we are to have a new vacuum and that I purchased a coffee maker for work. But right now, the fumes are too much and "The Bourne Supremacy" is on tv.

I should be posting photos of our before and after work. But, you see, our woodwork was white and we painted it white, so you can see very little change (save the wooden closet doors). Instead I am using a photo of Freddie. Freddie, you see, is apparently our outdoor cat. He came to us some time back and hasn't left. I am certain that has nothing to do with the fact that he has his own food bowl and bed on the front porch. We think his original owners have now moved, so using the principle of "possession is 9/10ths of the law", I think he's the newest member of our family. That and the fact that I did some major doctoring on him post his last cat fight.