with paint all over me

today i finished the second coat of primer in the basement. last october 3rd, kelly went to town hall and purchased a permit to finish our basement. he planned on being done in a month.







(pregnant pause)






you might look at your calendar and note that october 3rd is just 2 weeks away. we are coming to the end, it's been a long road, of which kelly has done the majority of the work. he's a very good man. he knows how to all these amazing things, like finishing basements. he's had help with the electrical, HVAC, drywalling, and mud/taping, but the rest he's done on his own. i haven't been much help up until now. i know how to paint and i'm pretty good at it. so i get to prime and paint. yesterday my friend linda came over for a couple of hours and helped me get the first coat on. today i finished the 2nd coat and am going to paint the ceiling tonight. i LOVE fast drying paint! tomorrow is the add color day. we're going with toasty grey. it's more toasty than grey, it's a creamy light brown, we have it throughout the house already, so we decided to continue the look. better for resale. not that we're thinking about selling, but moving as much as we have, we think that way. annie would love to paint the whole room aqua or orange, but i think i may paint my exercise area aqua or green, to add interest. i'll take pictures when it's all done. the carpet should be here end of next week, early the following. i'm SO excited to have this room done. kelly's reward for doing all that work is a large flat screen and surround sound system. he has yet to settle on which particular tv/system he wants. we're really looking forward to having a place the kids can hang out with friends, that was the impetus.

but that's not what prompted me to write this. i had a couple of really neat experiences today in between painting and i just need to record how grateful i am for friends. for friends who come to read my blog and leave comments, i say thank you. for friends that are willing to forgive and rebuild a relationship, i say thank you. for friends who share their reasons behind their choices, i say thank you. for friends who conspire with me and follow me on my wild hairs, i say thank you. for friends who get me, i say thank you. for friends who share their work with me and expect me to do the same, i say thank you. for friends who i didn't think would want to be friends with me, but they insisted, i say thank you. for friends who let me worry about them, i say thank you. for friends who share ideas, links, thoughts that reminded them of me, i say thank you. for friends who are always there, even when they are so busy they can hardly think, i say thank you. for friends who believe in me, i say thank you. i'll stop now :) i am just really blessed to have such good friends.