I love paint colors that remind me of food.

Welcome back, me! I've been absent from the blogosphere these past couple of weeks, mostly because I've lacked the time that it will take to do these posts I have planned justice. Plus, after the marathon post of my Memorial Day Weekend adventures with my family, I was a little tired of blogging. Let's hope this post is a little shorter, but there's a lot of ground to cover...

As some of you may already know, last weekend my mother and brother came up to visit. My mom arrived Friday afternoon and the sweet woman cooked Doug and me a wonderful dinner of roast beef, sweet potatoes and green beans. Anytime she wants to come back to cook for us we'll welcome her with open arms, because there's still something very comforting about a mother's home-cooked meal. But my mother didn't come up just to cook us dinner... no, we had other plans. After dinner we started to clear out the cat/sun room and also the kitchen to prepare for our transformation weekend. While we painted the cat/sun room last year during our painting week right before we moved into the house, I've never felt totally satisfied with it. Same with the kitchen, though we didn't actually paint that last year. I've just never felt satisfied with the yellow color; wasn't a shade I'd have picked myself. So, in an effort to get more of my life in order, I solicited my mother's help to get these two rooms painted (and we wanted to paint the kitchen wall, too, because thanks to the federal government we bought a new, fully-functioning refrigerator, microwave, and washing machine and wanted a fresh start with our new appliances). Here are some before photos of the two rooms in question; you'll note that my mom and I seem a little tired already... we're well aware of the work we have ahead of us:

My mother and I woke up early on Saturday morning to get started on our painting. Not only did we have to paint the sun room and the kitchen, but we had to wait around for all the appliance to show up. Our table for the cat/sun room was slated to show up first, so we wanted to get as much of that room done before the table was delivered. Luckily we had an extra pair of hands to help with the painting:

Once we got the first coat of the latte-like brown (called Shabby Chic) on that room we moved into the kitchen. This color was not so easy to paint - why again do I gravitate towards the deep, rich colors that require tinted primers and multiple coats? Thank god we were only painting one wall and the little entryway area. The color is called Raspberry Blush, and I thought it was going to be a lot more orange than it actually is - it is definitely in the raspberry family - but it works very well in the kitchen. Here's me painting with the tinted primer: We had to work faster in this room because the microwave was scheduled to be delivered and installed between 1 and 3 and refrigerator between 4 and 6, but we didn't start in the kitchen until about noon. No matter - my mom and I can be efficient when we have to be, and the microwave guy was late. This meant that the whole coat of primer was on the entryway, and I was able to get most of the kitchen wall done before the guy came with the microwave. That was a perfect time for some lunch, so here's a view of what we got to look at while eating:

Once the microwave and refrigerator were installed (and the new washer, which deserves a section all to itself), my mother went back into the cat/sun room to finish the second coat and I stayed in the kitchen to finish the primer. Here are photos of my mom doing a bang-up job with the paint brush, the refrigerator and the wall with the primer on itThe refrigerator is a bit blinding - and none of our magnets stick to the front of it! You can also see the new microwave in the photo of the primered wall... also very shiny.

The next morning my mom and I put the first coat of paint on the entryway and the kitchen wall, but because it was a beautiful day and because my bother had arrived, we decided to head over to the Blue Hills for a hike and then take in the new Star Trek movie. Both were great fun. My mother and brother love to hike, and I think they liked the trail we chose to go on, but I will say that Doug and I are terribly out of shape and were eager to stay on the easier trails. All trails are good, though - there are great views from this reservation.I don't know why we don't go there more often. Oh wait, yes I do. We try to cram too much stuff into our weekends, but never exercise and nature.

When we got home from the movie (loved the Spock character, and thought the Kirk character wasn't bad, either) I put the last coat of paint on the kitchen wall, and while that was drying and while my family was eating I started to put the house back together. It's amazing how disordered it got that weekend. We put the new table into the sun/cat room, so now we can sit there on the weekends and enjoy the windows.I also did an inaugural load of laundry in the new washer. This was really my favorite part of the weekend. Here's the old washer:Here's the new one:Yes, I do love my new washing machine. It's so much bigger than the old one, and it actually spins the clothes around and gets them clean! Miraculous!

Even though I have much more to write about and so many more pictures to show, especially of the finished rooms and the curtains I made for the kitchen and the pictures I hung on the walls in the sun/cat room, I'll end today's post with this video of my mom, Doug, and me watching the first load of wash in the new washer (can't use up all my content in one post!). We stood there for a good half-hour watching the clothes wash, even after the lid fogged up. It really doesn't take much to amuse us down here, and I will say that even after my 4th or 5th load of wash in this thing I am still a captive audience. (Warning - for those with young ears there is a perhaps age-inappropriate word at the very end of the video...)