We live in a pit.

But not for long! The end of our latest painting adventure is in sight, at which point we will heave great sighs of relief. We owe a huge debt of gratitude (and dinner, too, once we've cleaned up this mess) to the following dearest family and friends, without whom our newly painted house would not be possible:

1. Brent & Danny, who helped clear our living room of cumbersome furniture
2. Gentry & Elaine, who have loaned us the scaffolding you see below, which has kept me from having to scamper up & down, up & down a ladder 500 times
3. Troy & Beth, who graciously delivered the scaffolding to us, and who also stopped at Home Depot on the way to pick up the lumber that is on it
4. Dave & Beth, who have loaned us the very tall ladder that is leaning against the scaffolding, which I have used to reach the many places that are so narrow only a skinny ladder will fit
5. Tonya, who has not only listened to me hem and haw about colors & complain about how long this is taking for the past 2 months, but who came last Thursday & painted along the trim in the living room and did a perfect job

Already we are able to see such a difference in how clean and bright everything looks, and we love it. Hooray for being able to have our own little house to fix and spruce up and make our own!

If anyone thinks they might like to paint a room in their house brown, we have about 10 different samples you're welcome to try. I am, as it turns out, really lousy at choosing the right color the first time (or the fifth or the ninth...)