you think you know.

Best. weekend. ever.
Goodness, I don't even know where to begin.
First things first.  I was visited by one of my all time favorite friends, Courtney.

Courtney and I met freshman year at Lee U and went on to share some pretty perfect memories.  We were tap sisters in Delta Zeta Tau and our last semester in, served as president and vice president together.  Unstoppable pair. She's a forever friend.
Anyway. She had the week off and was visiting her fam in Abbeville, SC [yes, hometown to THE Marty Baker] and decided to make the little trek over to see lil ole me. We went out with Stu and his gf Maddie to Rooster's Beak [def recommend. quaint little hole in the wall with wonderful/unique tacos] downtown followed by a movie, just us two- The Switch.  Of course, we were tuckered out after this and called it a night with some girl talk.  In the midst of all this fun, I did give her the grand tour of the new place and she is a fan!  Court is a visionary like me and has an eye for beauty- so her encouragement and opinions came highly appreciated.
Well, after our fun, the work began.  I clocked in around 10:30am Saturday morning.  We continued scraping and painting ceilings.  My two brothers came to assist.  Now- they are precious and mean well, but aren't really keen on the manual labor thing. I think Stu was overwhelmed and Sammy was just not into it.  The two raided my shed and I caught them playing some baseball in the backyard.  They did eventually get to pulling the carpet out of several bedrooms.  [Due to the arrival of Cliff.  He is all guy when it comes to projects like this house and eagerly tackled some tasks.] Now talk about progress.  Of course, with 35 year old carpet comes 35 year old carpet padding.  Talk about disgusting.  It fell apart so easily and had to be persuaded off the floor.    But the good news is, the elderly smell [somewhat] left with the carpet.
After the floor removal, Maddie and I tackled all the closets in the house with a new coat of paint.  What was seemingly a simple task turned into an all day affair.  But the change was incredible!!
Ok, so on to day 2.  Have I mentioned that when we put a contract on the house, Dad was highly considering removing the wall that divides the kitchen and living room?  [He is the risk taker/visionary of the family, as I have mentioned]. Well...his plan came to fruition yesterday...much to my surprise.  We had somewhat ruled the idea out, assuming the wall was load bearing and we'd be bighting off more than we would like to chew.  Then, I had the brilliant idea of inviting my friend Dustin over to help.... he is a contractor.  Well, he and dad got to chatting without me and before you know it, the wall is deemed safe to come down so why not!  Cliff arrived soon after and that wall didn't stand a chance.
Well, with the lose of the wall, we also removed all paneling [which originally, I had planned on painting and embracing] and a couple light switches.  Ergo, we've add to our list of things to do.  Electrical and dry wall hanging.  Perfect.  Don't believe me? Before, during, and after.

Of course, in all honesty, I am thrilled.  The room will exceed expectations.  
Now it's Monday- and I am exhausted! My voice seems to permanently have taken up camp in the hoarse/raspy stage from inhaling the debris and wearing myself out.  And on top of that, muscles I didn't know existed are aching.  So I guess what I am saying is, any faithful readers out there want to contribute to any of the following: physical labor, demolition clean-up, mani/pedi, massage?
Well, back to work.  Side note- Stuart just came to my office and sang a few lines to a song on his heart, after which he said, "Man, the acoustics in this room are incredible". Translation: Man, I love listening to myself sing.  Ah, a day in the life... Like the Real World intro- you think you know, but you have no idea... I think that everyday about living/working with my family...
Ok- enough for now.  Peace.