Working Man

The new house needs a LOT of work done. I cannot even stress how much. Our short list: removing not one, but two, layers of wallpaper from at least 5 rooms; washing walls; scraping peeling paint and then repainting each and every room (who knew there was such an ugly shade of green) - walls, ceilings and trim; resurfacing the wood floors. These are what we have deemed "do it ourselves" projects, unlike the kitchen that hasn't been updated since at least the 70s and needs to be completely remodeled or the unfinished basement. Since the house is new to us, we have a lot of enthusiasm about our projects and want to spend our time on the weekends working.

Today was weekend day #1 since we purchased the house. And of course Riley (and the dogs) have to be with us at the new house while we are working on it. I was convinced that this was going to be a disaster. After all, it is extremely difficult to keep a 2 year old occupied for any length of time. As it turns out, Riley is a natural. He loves the roller, the scraper, anything which allows him to mimic what Casey and I are doing. His favorite thing, however, is the broom. He has "swept" every room in the house by now, I am certain. The broom can entertain him for very long stretches of time. When he gets bored, the empty cabinets are the source of much amusement.

I can't say that the progress we've made on the house has been monumental so far, and I'm sure at some point we'll get sick and tired of spending all of our "free" time working, but for now, it is really fun working on this house together. And when it is done and we can see what we can only call "potential" right now, there is a very large part of me that thinks it will be pretty amazing to look at our dining room and know that Riley helped paint it. I think I will forever have etched in my memory the sight of Casey standing on the ladder and Riley standing on the floor below him, both of them with rollers in hand, Riley trying so hard to be just like his daddy and looking just like a miniature version of him.

Hiring someone to do this would certainly be easier, but the memories we will make doing the things which we are (somewhat) capable of doing ourselves are irreplaceable.