second working weekend

Friday, Jan 13 (Friday the 13th)
Headed back down to paint. High hopes that we can get the whole house done, but who are we kidding? Picked up 10 gallons of Linen White (should be enough?), and an extension pole for the roller. Got to Cape Charles in the later afternoon, unloaded at the house, & headed for the Best Western Eastern in beautiful Exmore.

I'd packed sandwich fixings so we picnicked in our room. J-- caught up on work e-mail and we plotted our next move. The plan is to start on the main floor & get two coats of paint on the walls & ceilings. If we get that done we'll start on the stairs & 2nd floor.

Saturday, Jan 14
Headed out to the house, with a stop at Clay Werks to touch base with them on the tile work we want them to do (shower & countertops). Got to the house by 10am. Brought scatter rugs to put on the floor, everything is covered with drywall dust & I was hoping to get Blue to stay on the rugs when she laid down...in that house she's a serious "duster dog." She acted like I was punishing her by "making" her lay down on the rug instead of the floor.

I started sanding the walls & ceiling while J-- got set the paint set up. The primer had been sprayed on by a painter, but he had a lot of splatter. All the rough spots had to be sanded before we painted. I stayed ahead of J--- and finished the sanding, then did the cut ins on the corners & edges. By late afternoon we had gotten one coat of paint on the downstairs wall & ceilings. We wanted to start a 2nd coat but the day had turned cold & rainy...things just weren't drying quickly so we called it a day.

Back to the hotel, caught part of the Redskins play-off game (they lost!), cleaned up, & headed for a fabulous feed at El Maguey. El Maguey's food is so good, the service attentive, & the price so reasonable that we really haven't been interested in venturing elsewhere since we discovered it. Although, ESVA does have lots of interesting restaurants (besides the usual fast food places.)

Sunday, Jan 15
Up early, packed the car & back to work. Got the 2nd coat on the downstairs by 11:00 am. While J--- finished up I went up to Hubbard's Home Center on Mason Avenue to get an estimate on appliances for the house. Had a nice visit with Sharon Barber, she said that Rick Hubbard would put together a quote & she'll e-mail me the numbers. As Sharon put it they'll set the prices so that they make some money & we'll save some money.

We were packed up & headed home by 11:40 am. The downstairs looks nice, so much brigher now that it's painted.