Day 16: Work, Work

As promised, the finished bathroom from yesterday:


I think about my mother constantly. Growing up I did not think as highly of her as I do today. She made us clean every single day and on Saturday mornings we had a huge list of duties (normal kids call them chores) to complete before we could do anything fun. In the summer we had to weed and mow and water plants and clean the bird bath and pick berries for homemade jam. We alternated cleaning the entire kitchen every evening, which not only included dishes, but also cleaning the counters and table and sweeping. "We" being my brother Drew and I - we didn't really grow up with our older 6 siblings. None of the neighbor kids had to do any chores and THEY got allowance.

Since being on my own and now married, I can honestly appreciate all the things my mother forced me to do growing up. I know how to deep clean a kitchen each spring: remove everything from the cupboards, clean the cupboards and put everything back; remove everything from the refrigerator and freezer, take out what parts you can and clean everything, then put everything back before its ruined; how to clean the floor on your hands and knees, even taking a toothbrush or scrub brush to tiled flooring. I know how to sew clothing and how to quilt. I know how to cook and how to teach myself new dishes. I know how to remove wall paper and how to paint a room a new color. Hopefully I remember enough to start a garden this year or next. She also tried to get me to learn how to can (peaches, homemade jam, etc) but I honestly don't remember a thing - Adam's mother is going to teach me this summer when we make spaghetti sauce.

What I'm getting to is that I feel like I accomplished a lot recently. I painted the bathroom which took a painstakingly long time. (did I say that right?) Today I got some hot, hot deals at Hobby Lobby. And I started a disgusting project to paint our spare bedroom. It's currently my workout and scrapbooking room, but hopefully will be converted to a nursery within the next few years. Adam says I have "mad skills" but it seems just like a lot of work. He said to me tonight something to the effect of "I didn't know that regular people can make a room look nice, I thought you had to hire someone to make it look nice."

Before:

(Closet doors with awesome Halloween and construction stickers!)

(Disgusting window sill, complete with dead spider!)

After:

(Squeaky!)

(Clean{ish}!)

I used my ever beloved Goo Gone to remove the stickers off the closet doors. This stuff is freaking amazing. Although I still did feel like a crack head scrubbing the same spot over and over... I also wiped the walls down. Who knew walls could be so friggen dirty?
And my spackling paste came in handy when I had to cover OVER 100 holes in the walls.


Here's a full view of what the room looks like. Hopefully after a few days I won't dread coming into this room.

(Took this several months ago for a "tour" of the house for my friend with Adam's phone. I think that was like twenty fragments in one sentence.)

On a side note - does anyone know anything about masonry or siding a house? Where to get quotes on things like that? How much (several hundreds, several thousands or like 15k+)?