Blargh.

I have a headache. It's probably not helping that S.J. is pounding on paint cans with a screwdriver right now.

*grumble*

But. On the good side of things, I got a lot done in the dining room today! It is my goal to get the dining room completely done (painted!) this week and coming weekend. Today I managed to get all the scraping done... and wiped down the baseboard. Tomorrow I sand everything then wipe it all down again.

(This is the current state of the dining room once I pulled just about everything out of it. This is basically how it was when we bought it. We've only ran new wiring in this room and added a new ceiling fan. So far, as you can see, I've scraped the trim and made a small test splotch on the wall. I really dislike the light yellow paint that's in there right now. It makes the room way too bright... and doesn't go well with the fireplace. I wanted a nice, warm color... so we're painting this room "toffee." Once everything's painted, we're going to put a nice cover over the fireplace, too, since we have no plans on ever actually using it.)

When we bought our house 9 months ago, we knew it needed work... but I had no idea we'd still be working on it almost a year later. But we've come so far with this house that it almost looks like a completely different place. And more importantly, we've made it a home. But wow... we've done lots of work... and still quite a bit to do.

Another goal of mine is to have the downstairs completely done by September. The main reason being I want to be able to help Mr. H. get the biggest portion of work done before I get pregnant (hopefully!). The other reason being that if we get everything done downstairs and put back together, we can have S.J.'s birthday party at the house instead of at the park. We had her party at the park last year and everyone was hot and miserable... and the park was already so full of people that we could only find one empty table... which didn't fit everyone. So... it would be ideal to finish the downstairs before then so we can have the party here... inside... without bugs and heat... and with plenty of places for people to sit down. (It'll also be nice to have a bathroom readily available.)

Ok. Time for me to go find some headache medicine. *ouch*