While owning a home can be a really, really great thing - you're not sharing a common wall (or two) with anyone, you've got more privacy and less parking issues than with an apartment, not to mention the freedom to have a pet or decorate as you wish without losing an expensive security deposit when you move out - it does have its drawbacks: replacing the hot water heater (which I've already mentioned), dealing with the yardwork (which is continuous in the summertime), and painting. This was the year my mom and I decided we'd better get the white trim and contrasting blue trim on the house painted. The light blue colour on the main part of the house still looks really good, but the white trim was dirty and shabby, and the contrasting blue, which started out a dark navy, like in this picture of the shaded little peak over the garage:

had faded severely over the main part of the house where it gets the hot, hot sun almost all day every day:

So, it was time to paint. While I would've been perfectly happy to go with the dark navy accent colour again, my mom disliked it, and since it really is her house (even though my name is on it, too), we went with a lighter colour. We also decided to hire my cousin HAJ3 to do the job because neither of us was confident enough to climb up really really high to get the peaks. HAJ3 was more than happy to do it, and we paid him handsomely for his work. He arrived at 10am Thursday morning, and he and I ran down to Home Depot to pick up the paint - 1 gallon of Behr Luster White exterior flat and a quart of Behr Madras Blue exterior flat. Once we got back, he immediately went to work on the white trim. I spent the day following him around making sure he didn't fall off the ladder, and doing some much-needed weeding around the front of the house, and trimming of trees and shrubs in the backyard. After a while I noticed my cousin was being very cautious - impressive for a 19-year-old kid - so I didn't watch him like a hawk anymore. I did stay out and do yardwork, however, as it was better than the chore that was awaiting me in the house: spring cleaning of the kitchen! (insert dramatic horror movie music here)

Lord Almighty what a dreadful job! We pulled out the refridgerator and cleaned behind it for the first time in several years. Man, that was gross! The stove/oven was pretty horrific as well. We don't use the oven very often, and I didn't think I'd spilled over much when I did use it, but between the few spills I did have and the splattering that naturally comes with baking, the oven was a disaster! I knew the stove top would be bad - I'm the worst cook on the face of the planet and tend to make a mess of things - but it looks awesome now:

please ignore the clock/timer dangling out of its socket on the stove; i broke that a long time ago, and we haven't been able to fix it.

The funnest part of the whole thing - if one can find something fun about cleaning a kitchen - was purging! Mom and I went through each cupboard and drawer, and either threw out or gave to Goodwill a TON of stuff! I feel ten pounds lighter just from doing that! We'd been hanging on to a lot of useless junk as well as useful stuff we never used. We removed everything, wiped down the shelves, applied new shelving paper, organized the contents, then put back what we decided to keep. Our cupboards and drawers look fabulous now! I wish I'd remembered to take "before" pictures, but I didn't, so you'll just have to take my word for it that these "after" pictures show a major improvement!

As for the house, it looks fabulous, too:

HAJ3 finished the painting job in only 14 hours! That kid is a maniac!

Anyway, Mom and I are taking tomorrow off, then starting in on more cleaning, organizing, purging, etc., projects. We really need to hit the den - I start classes in less than four weeks, and will need a nice, organized place to study. I'm looking forward to these classes (Corporate Law and Intellectual Property Law, in case I've forgotten to mention it); not only do they sound interesting, but it'll give me something to do while I take the summer off from working! ;-)