After 3 very busy and successful days of yard sales (the local resort has a fall craft festival and the entire area has yard sales to take advantage of the traffic) I go back to the house to meet the solid surface installer and make paint decisions. The paint crew has cleaned and caulked all exterior surfaces that can be reached by ladders. We will have to rent a man-lift for the gable areas, but they will clean, caulk and paint the gables in a week so we need the paint before they're ready to start. After another morning of waiting for the installer, I decide to go on to the Kelly Moore paint store in Fort Smith and leave notes explaining what solid surfaces I want a bid on. He finally calls me on my cell phone about 3:00, and he is at the house and I am in the middle of mixing paints! He can take the measurements he needs and will get me an estimate later in the week. After about three hours of working with a very patient and knowledgeable paint mixer, we are both pleased with the results. I'll take the samples back, paint a corner of the house and hope for the best!

Tuesday, Oct. 1: I make a final inspection of the paint in the morning sun and agree that it is OK. Judd is working on the upstairs vanities and window seat and will continue with trimming the windows and installing interior doors this week. I head to the airport and home to Houston. I had planned on a four day stay and now two weeks later, I'm ready to sleep in my own bed and put on some different clothes! Charlie has only a few days off before he goes to Salt Lake City for another trade show, so I'll be back next week as they start to paint the gables. (I couldn't resist buying a pumpkin and gourds to decorate the porch for fall!)