How I spent my summer vacation

I am on vacation this week, and instead of heading to some tropical locale south of the border and drinking some fruity drink with an umbrella embellishment, The Rev. and I (with much help) have finished demolishing the first two rooms of our house. The kitchen cabinets are still attached to the walls, but I keep whispering to him "Home Depot, 12 months, same as cash." in an attempt to shorten the amount of time that I will be sticking to my kitchen floor and washing dishes in the bathroom sink. He's not biting.

The Rev. knows that if it was just the two of us working on this project it would turn into a vacation that can be likened to one that stars Chevy Chase and is titled with the two words "National Lampoon's." I would also most likely have checked myself into a rest home after the 35th trip to Home Depot. A trip to Home Depot at our house is not like running to the store to pick up a gallon of milk. That would be way to easy. It's more like taking a shopping cart and going up and down every single aisle touching every single item and mumbling about the pros and cons of each object. And that doesn't even include a trip through the garden department.

The impetus for this project is because our two dearest friends in the world offered to take THEIR vacation and fly to San Diego to help us, with their daugther (our godchild) in tow. I once wrote that if you wanted to test a friendship, ask a friend to keep your cats for over a year. I have another one to add to that litmus, ask your friends to help you demolish your house and then put it back to together again. In less than 24 hours, we had the living room emptied, the popcorn scraped off of the ceiling, the carpet removed, and every stitch of trim ripped from the walls. We also scraped our vomitous floral wall paper off of the kitchen walls. You want an example of attention to detail? The previous owner wallpapered EVERYTHING, down to the air vents and the light switches. And she did it so that the wallpaper pattern was seamless across the entire wall. You want gross? Try scraping wallpaper from behind the stove. I'm surprised it didn't come off in one greasy sheet. However, there is something very emotionally satisfying about taking a shop-vac and sucking up every speck of detritus that crosses your path after you have reduced the room to a hollow shell.

Now, the living is empty and ready for paint. However, our sofa and chairs are in the dining room and every book, movie, cd, framed picture, knick-knack, and tchotcke are scattered in random piles across our house. I only clawed my neck in frustration once, and that was last night at 9:15 at Home Depot. We also have more company coming tomorrow, and we still have to paint the outside of the house and tile the living room floor.

I am very grateful for the company of Nate and Steph, because we all work together really well. Especially since there is a four month old infant in the picture. We take turns holding, feeding, burping, and getting puked on, which adds an interesting twist to scraping wallpaper. We also invoke the "No Scolding Rule" when we are together, which means no picking on your spouse, even if they talk to themselves at Home Depot. We also make sure there is a nice meal at the end of the day, a glass of wine, lots of laughther, and a bowl of ice cream while sitting in the hot tub.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to paint.