I have to keep telling myself that! If you're wondering where I've been....it's HERE:

This is what WAS our front porch! I'll spare you the details but, suffice it to say, one thing leads to another.

Anyhoo...since there are only so many warm days left, I'm getting a bit worried about getting this project done. I'm trying to work in the mornings and sand/paint in the afternoons.

Here we are with things getting even worse. Did I mention I'm the only one doing this? My husband is in harvest now, so the porch will remain that way until late August! lol Actually, I finally broke down and hired a young man to help sand, but he's working on the massive wall on the left side (that you can't see) This is all my "handiwork".

This is the nifty bench handy hubby made me so I can reach up to the corbels. Unfortunately, it is about six inches too short. I can reach everything except the front soffit board, which needs sanded as well. I'm just going to ignore it for now, though.  Oh!! And there are birds in that hole on the left, so we can't cover it up until the babies fly out. They freak me out because they rustle around when I'm working there and I always think they're going to come out and attack me - or Momma Bird is. She's not happy about this whole thing. But I'm not happy they're there, so we're even. lol We'd covered the rest of the holes w/fiberglass long ago and it held up well. This one still had a plug, which fell out.

 I painted the bottom front. Yay! I've decided that, for my mental stability as well as physical well-being (sanding is HARD, hot, dirty work!) I'll have to see progress and paint as I go.

Here are the colors. The body is Mochachino, trim is Chocolate Cupcake, Accents are Port and Porch rails and inside windows are Creamy White.

I actually got the body coat on the top front last night. Between MORE sanding, scrubbing the filthy corbels and moulding, priming and painting, I was on the porch from 2 - 8:30 pm!! I didn't take a pic yet, because it doesn't really look that good w/o the window trim done. Today is shot with activities, but I' hoping to get the rest of the top completely done this weekend. May be overambitious, but one can hope! lol Actually, my family was making fun of me last night because I wouldn't come in until I had the front painted.

There are times when a small house would be infitely more desirable. This is one of those times. :-) Still, I know that by doing this ourselves we are saving between $20,000 and $30,000. (Is that CRAZY or what??!! I think I'm in the wrong business. No. I wouldn't want to do this for a living)