Weekend (Some productivity at last....)

Well, I can't say our entire weekend was productive, though it was all fun. However, we did end up making a LOT of progress (as you'll see....). Friday we ran errands including to our brand new Home Depot to get paint for the baby's room. We're so excited as there is a new HD right down the street from us (maybe 2-3 minutes away) which is great as anyone who is like us knows that sometimes when you start a project, you get half way there and realize you need to run out and get something else... Now we can! We're very happy as the new paint department person is sooo nice which is WAY more than we can say for the lady at the old Home Depot. We spent the rest of Friday making apple pie and pasta salad and then headed over to Sarah and Kevin's for food and fireworks around 4. Sarah's parents were in town from ATL and we were so excited to see them (especially considering they brought tons of amazing food-brisket, pulled pork, sausage-plus Dave's home-made brew). Sarah's friends Torry and Toni came over, too. All in all, a great Fourth!
Saturday, we spent a lot of time catching up on sleep. Not sure what that was about, other than our schedules had been a little thrown off with dog sitting and such, but we got up, ate breakfast, watched tv and then took a 2+ hour nap. Winners! However, when we did get up that afternoon, we got down to business and did all the laundry we needed to (we're leaving town on Wednesday) and then cleaned out all the drawers in the baby's room. Which was something along the line of 14 drawers. We also put the Queen mattress on Craigslist as we're planning to switch to a futon in the guest room to save space. Then, Sat night, we ran some errands...
Which brings us to our major work. While running errands, we got a call from Craig and Kari (two of our good friends). We've been counting on Craig's expertise for things like chair rail, crown molding and assistance building a cabinet in the kitchen as I'm not sure there is a home improvement project Craig hasn't done. Well, they'd looked at their schedules and realized if we didn't get cracking, we were quickly going to run out of time this summer. So we planned for them to come over Sunday.
In a bizarre twist, not only did they come over, but they brought a bunch of food so we had a nice lunch before we got to work. The guys ran to Home Depot to get supplies to build shelves in the shed (important as it clears space in the basement for my crafting stuff which had to relocate from the baby's room...) and Kari and I began to contemplate our painting... Just in case you need a reminder, here is the "Before" shot of the guest room...
So we got down to business.... I'm not sure how many of you know that I've been struggling with the fact that I'm not supposed to paint while preggo because of the fumes. Well, Kari had been in the same predicament when she was pregnant as she and Craig had just moved into a new house and were remodeling, so she got this fancy, schmancy mask.... It's a bit hot at first, but you get used to it and moreover, it keeps you from breathing in the fumes. Plus, you get this awesome deep breathing sound and kind of have a Darth Vader thing going.....

First we did the bottom brown, and then we did the top green. I was a little worried about the green, but I'm so happy with the way it came out. I think the dark brown really balances it out somehow. I made it through most of the painting, but at some point, Turner and Craig came in and Kari and they decided that I didn't make as much sense as I used to so I was sent out of the baby's room and got to hang out with Corbin and watch Elmo ("Melmo") and a fascinating movie about dinosaurs. Did you know that there's a dinosaur fairy that you can call and have turn you into a dinosaur? Uh-huh. Good stuff! Oh, and Corbin and I ordered pizza. A dynamic team!
Then, Craig and Turner got to work on the chair rail and crown molding that they'd painted in the yard while working on the shelving in the shed. No pix of the shed right now as I was way more focused on the baby room...

So they measured and measured and cut and cut. And in the end, we wound up with...

An almost finished room! We do need to touch up the green and caulk the chair rail and crown molding but considering that yesterday morning we didn't have anything done, I'm kind of amazed with us and with Craig and Kari! The room looks amazing (at least we love it) and I can't get over what a difference the chair rail and crown molding make.
And Kari who is a WAY less sloppy painter than I am (though she maintains she is not) did all the detail work that I would have completely messed up (though, I did still manage a few splatters onto the baseboard). If any of you have been desperate to paint, don't worry, there's still more to do, but I was starting to feel a bit bonkers about not having made a dent and this all came together amazingly!
And, Bernie is MUCH closer to having a room!