I was talking with a new acquaintance recently and she said "I checked out your blog. How's the house renovation coming?" and I realized I have been terribly remiss in posting before/afters. And remiss in posting at all. But I won't let it become an orphan, I swear it. There are at least three people who would notice.It's early in the summer but it's already jam-packed with art festivals, screen printing, poster shows, house renovations, husband-making-a record, maybe a little light traveling, and worry about the future of our planet.I swore when we moved into this house and tackled yet another renovation project, that we would not jump into new projects until existing projects were complete. What a funny joke that was. We have a minimum of four incomplete projects right now that show no signs of imminent completion. I was thinking about the house and this post and realized we have made great strides in the exterior of the house (repointing, fence, deck, glass doors, planting, pruning, etc) but not a ton in the interior. I love color and mixing inks and picking paint colors but for whatever reason this house has proven to be a wooly-bugger in terms of picking wall color. Not much works. Maybe it's the light? The color of the pine floors? Not sure but nothing works. I've been stumped and, as a result, crabby about painting. So all of that is on hold. Currently we're thinking about ceiling fans and dishwashers - I miss the finer things in life like an energy-efficient dishwasher. Or any dishwasher. I think this horrific oil spill has me sensitive about all the areas in my life where I am less than gracious to this planet. Hand washing dishes seems water-wasteful to me. I digress.So, I have one wee little before/current (I won't call it an "after" as we still plan to paint the trim and downspouts, plants more stuff, add railings or "cheeks" to the front stoop, hand a light fixture, yadda yadda yadda) of the front of the house. I promise we have been working on the rest but this is what I can offer you right now. And now I have to wrap up - the boy just announced that he is "a crabby man."Cheers to summer and you and yours.ps - it always bothers me in those weight loss (or any) before/after photos, the model is wearing some crummy outfit with greasy hair in the 'before' photo and then all dolled up in the 'after' photo. You can't help but think her extra pounds wouldn't have looked as bad if she'd washed her hair and replaced the NFL jersey in the first place. So I know the "after" picture above is sort of cheating: the peonies are in bloom, the front beds are filled in, etc - but it DOES look a little warmer and lived in, right?