November 30, 2012

oh boy!

just got back from arkansas and i have to say that i had so much fun. i didn't sight see, i didn't explore the beautiful nature trails...i painted walls and spring cleaned.

i know.

i'm weird. i get a great kick out of cleaning out my children's places and painting walls. i know where i get it.

my mother.

when i told her i was going to arkansas to help daughter michelle paint walls, she said, "can i come?" so, i got the great idea of roping my mom to help paint and my dad to install shelves. 

it was a working vacation.

daughter michelle and son-in-law dru moved to a beautiful part of northern arkansas. since they are employed by the state park, their living quarters are provided. right now, it is a trailer home. since there is a chance that in 2 - 4 years, they could be living in a house, one doesn't want to spend too much in fixing up the home, but as my mom says, "make your home a home, even if it is just temporary". 

i was going to post a lot of before and afters, but when i uploaded the photos from my camera and phone, they were mostly this:
























and this:
ooooops!

there is a leetle bit of paint on the cutest muzzle ever.





















so here are is a before and after.
i love before and afters. i wish i had more.

here is a before:

here is an after:

nothing is hung up, yet. daughter michelle is thinking about her possibilities. i think the painting should go back up, but at a lower level. she is thinking about some shelves. mom is still in her painting/cleaning gear and you can see on daughter michelle's lap the reason for the great big kennel. the granddog is just a pup, not nearly full grown.

here is another before:

this is the inside one of the kitchen cabinets. all 7 (yep, just 7) cabinets had no shelves. so, it is pretty frustrating to use.

not to mention all that wasted space.

or the fact that it is painful to pull anything out of the cabinet.

my dad installed just one shelf in 5 of the cabinets and it doubled the storage space. DOUBLED!

one of the cabinets, we put in a lazy susan for her spices and another lazy susan for oil, vinegar and bigger bottles of stuff. it was so much easier to find stuff.

of course i didn't take an after photo and i should have because the shelves, dad put in were exceptional. they fit perfectly and were super smooth.

i have the best parents in the world! who else would drive 8 hours to their grandaughter's home and clean, paint and build. 

AND come back saying they had the best time...ever? 

not many. 
not many at all.