Well, hello everyone!  Mom conquered a grueling 18 hrs on the road just so I could put her to work and make her eat nothing but bologna sandwiches.  That's love.  Her incentive was getting to play with the boys.  However, after tackling the kitchen, I don't even know if repaying her with grandkid hugs is enough!  First she said, "we have to paint the ceiling". I nodded politely but internally was kicking and screaming.  Does anyone really look up?  The house has that lovely popcorn ceiling. Has anyone tried to paint that?  If not and you eventually do...wear safety glasses, the popcorn pops off the ceiling a little and can/will get in your eyes.  I'm so glad we painted that ceiling though.  It looks sooooo much better.
Here is a picture of where I stopped and still have to pick up when we reach the dining area.  Which will be after the cabinets.

Okay, so the cabinets.  As of now they have been cleaned, sanded, wiped, and got a coat of antique white.  Today we are going to get some color, all be it  very slight, on them.  The worst part was sanding them, I talked mom into just leaving them on and we did it by hand.  I just couldn't imagine having them off and two little boys resisting the invitation to get into everything.  I finished up the coat of white on 3/4 of the cabinets last night at 11pm. here is a before and
mid transformation pic

This was two days worth of work.  We work when the boys are napping, here and there after they wake up, and for about 3 hours after they go to bed.  I can't wait to get color on the cabinets! 

Oh but, like with any home remodel project, you come across something that stops you in your tracks and makes you say, "ew".  Mom popped off the fridge grate at the bottom. Now, I vacuumed it when we moved in and a lot of crap came out.  But when we looked to see the coils, we couldn't!  It was so full of pet hair/dirt/whatever that we have no idea how it was still working.  Gross with a capitol G!  I wish I took pictures.  I wanted to vomit and shower immediately.  For sure it was never cleaned out since it's been installed.  FYI, like 90% of all service calls for fridges ends up as just needing to clean it!  Some depending on what type of fridge you have, I order you to go pull it out, pop off the grate, and VACUUM!!!!  Okay, I've said my piece. 

Back to work for us!  More pics to follow.  We should (fingers crossed) be done by the end of tomorrow.  I hope, I hope, I hope!