How much can you do in one weekend?

We have neglected the gym lately.  Guilty.  L Guilty. L Guilty. L

I love exercising.  I especially love the relaxing swim after completing the 5 miles on the Elliptical.  Ahhhhhhhh.

(I know my sister is rolling her eyes at this point.)

Our normal routine is to work until 4pm, head to the gym, then home for dinner and working around the house.  Fridays include the same thing, but often a camp fire and guitar playing are in the mix instead of an evening of chores.

This week was totally different and crazy busy.  Never made it to the gym. 

Not. Even. Once.

Friday we left work and picked up a truck load of lath from House #1 (this will be truckload number 3) and headed home to have a nice big "recreational" fire.  Add drinks and food and a fire that would be illegal becomes recreational.  Burnt about half of the pile and saved the rest for the Saturday morning non-recreational burn. 

Now if you're not familiar with old houses, they used lath and plaster on the walls.  This was before the use of drywall. Here's a photo from the backside:

Each of the boards is nailed to the studs in multiple places.  When I think about the time it would take to install this type of construction...wow! 

Saturday morning Walt Kowalski and I burned the rest of the lath, made our first of 4 trips to Home Depot and headed to House #2.  We have been dividing our time between the two houses. 

Never in a million years did we think we would find two houses to suit, let alone buy them in both in the same week.  

House #2 needs less structural work and more plumbing.  Long before we purchased the house, thieves broke in and stole 75% of the copper pipes.  Even worsre, they cut the pipes so close to the walls that the pipes left were not even accessible to make a join.  The pipes have to be removed and new put in place. 
Thank you thieves.

Water is a wonderful resource.  You don't appreciate it until you don't have it. 

Here's Walt Kowalski soldering new copper pipes overhead.  You can see his handy work in the background, new plastic drain pipes.  He spent Thursday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday getting the kitchen sink, hot water tank, laundry, and laundry bathroom functioning.  We've still have a ways to go.

While he did that, I ran between the basement helping him and painting on the 1st and 2nd floors.

This is the before photo of the master bedroom.  It had wall paper that had been painted over and painted over and painted over.  The wall paper came off easily to reveal uneven plaster that needed lots of spackling.  5 gallons of paint later, the master bedroom, the 2nd bedroom, and the living room have all been painted. 

White.  Simple.  Clean.  Done.

The kitchen, not so easy.  There is more wall paper.  It's not coming off as easily.  Peel. Peel. Scrub.  Peel.  Peel.  Scrape.
 

Things I learned this weekend:

1. Running between floors makes your legs tired.
2. Painting ceilings and walls with an extension pole makes your neck and shoulders tired.
3. Painting the trim and cutting in the corners takes as long as painting an entire room.
4. Blowing through an unattached 1 1/2" drain pipe sounds like a rhinoceros.
5. Water is wonderful.  I think I said that already.
6. I could use that relaxing swim right about now.