Why oh why?

I pulled up to the Granger residence at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, dirty, sweaty and exhausted. Now, almost 10 hours later, even after showering, I'm still "dirty" -- or better yet, just call me "painty". There are still specks of paint all over my arms, and I'm not certain I got the whole streak off my neck, either.

Remind me again why I decided to buy a house. Oh yea, I'm an idiot. That's the only explanation I can come up with for jumping feet-first into the heaps of debt, responsibility and flat-out work that is required with home ownership. And that's before we even move a single thing into the house. Well, check that, Elizabeth and I are now the proud owners of our very own refrigerator, which her father and I moved into the kitchen yesterday. Nevermind the 6 inches or so of cabinet that still must be sliced off to make the refrigerator actually fit into its hole.

Yesterday was a rough day. Another sports-free day. Heck it's going to be a rough week. Perhaps even a sports-free week -- something I don't know has ever happened before! I guess that's the price you pay when your immediate supervisor is out on vacation the same week you are trying to move into your very first house! Needless to say, I have responsibility everywhere this week -- more at work, and even more at home.

Even with all the "complaining", my 4 hours of painting yesterday yielded -- after Elizabeth's work all day while I was at work -- an almost finished living room. Much thanks to Our Lady Peace, the Supertones, Sixpence None the Richer and Jars of Clay for helping me through the tedious, arm-tiring work of using painter's tape and then actually painting.

Elizabeth and I love Ruston. We can't get away from it. Even after moving away, we decided to bring a piece of my home with us. Our living room will be Peach Ice -- a beautiful color that is very similar, in fact almost identical, to the color of our apartment in Ruston. After another long day of too much responsibility at work, I will get to go home and finish the few touch-ups I have left in the living. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and her mother will begin work on the dining room -- employing a concept I don't truly understand. I believe the term is glazing, and it looks very pretty in the pictures I've seen. Hopefully, it will turn out pretty on the wall. I'd explain to you what they are going to do, but I don't truly understand. All I know is it requires the Peach Ice as a base paint, along with some Mineral Red and a color in between. That's as good as you're going to get from me.

Oh the joys of home ownership. And I haven't even gone to buy my lawnmower yet!