Painting, Day three

Today was Saturday, and another long and busy day.  At this stage I am willing to admit (once again, as I did recognize this from the start) that it was a lofty goal we were trying to accomplish in five days.  Realistically, we will probably not complete the whole house in our five day "party".  We will continue to get as much done as possible in the two days we have left and then Shane and I will continue working as much as we can until it is complete, along with the "fifty" other projects we are trying to get done :~)  The joys of an old house. . . . .   Having said all that, today was a very profitable day, although we have little lavender to show for it. . . :~|.  We had tons of amazing people here helping us.   Randy and Marina spent the night and were raring to go first thing this morning -- they both did more than I can even say.  Marina is responsible for most of the lavender that is showing at this point, and spent most of her day actually priming and painting.  Randy was a one-man work crew and took on a number of very important and difficult projects single-handed.   Shanda and Stephen were back today, bless them both.  Shanda was runner -- to town; to Mama and Daddy's; to town. . . . She also kept the food rolling out of the kitchen for everyone, (including a delicious pizza pasta salad) and meals running smoothly, and clean-up.  She has also been our photo-journalist throughout the process.  She was also trouble-shooter for the paint sprayer today.  Stephen scraped, scraped, scraped, and scraped. . . .he also did some other projects, including making us a sherbet for afternoon cool-down.  Yummo!   My dad came and worked so hard all day, not leaving until just after dark.  He caulked, primed, scraped, replaced siding, and tons more.    My mom made it  today as well!  She scraped, worked on Victorian trim, caulked and tightened siding, along with helping with KP and bringing popcorn for snack.   My brother was back today!  He came for the afternoon -- scraped, caulked, primed, and operated the paint sprayer -- even up on the roof!   We had two couples from work who came to help today.  Jonah and Wendy Doeller came, scraping and caulking.  Also Joey and Tonya Whitley came.  They scraped and painted, and were kind enough to leave us their ladder til we get done with this madness :~) (And when they left us, they still had tomatoes to can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)   Rachel and Randy were here with all three kids for a big part of the day.  They scraped, hauled, took out foundation vents, primed, Randy and Daniel both ran the paint sprayer.  David caulked.    What a blessing to have them today -- they were a work crew within themselves!   Late in the day, my two aunts -- Aunt Dusy and Aunt Gwen came and helped.  They scraped for a while and spent the rest of their time with us cleaning up the Victorian trim.   Shane's done a little of everything today, as have I.  We have run, made sure everyone had their tools and whatever else they needed.  We have scraped, painted, primed, caulked. . . . .I even found a way to work in a little more pressure washing today :~) LOL    We have the entire foundation primed, the first coat of lavendar on the porch wall, much of the prep work done (this has been the most time consuming part of the process, and the part that I underestimated. . . . .it seems to never end.. . there is always more to scrape, sand, or caulk. . .or siding to replace. . . .sigh . . . .)  We made TREMENDOUS in-roads in that area today!!!!  I don't know what else to say -- it may not sound like a lot, but we had a lot of people working hard today and we couldn't have gotten as far as we did without their help!!!!!  They have all been such an incredible blessing to us, as have you for keeping our effort in your prayers and thoughts.  Thank you!   Love and Hope, Tonnye