Visits and fun

I'm wayyyyyy behind. I know, and I'm sorry!!!! :) Here's the catch up..
My mom is here visiting for a few weeks. She got here last Tuesday. Before she came I was trying to finish up some projects. I got the wallpaper down in my office and painted the walls I could salvage. Down the road, I will need to replace one of them that is not in good enough shape to patch. Eventually, we'll be taking down all the plaster on the first floor and sheetrocking, but for now we're trying to salvage what walls we can. I'm painting everything with a heavy duty primer so that when we do put in the sheetrock on the bad walls, everything will be white. I will then have a clean slate to paint colors on. But at least it looks better with white than with wallpaper or plain plaster. I also tried taking down wallpaper to do the same in the dining room, but discovered those walls are in worse shape than I though. That whole room will have to be redone, so I decided to not waste time on it now.
Mom came on Tuesday and things have been busy since then. Melody had a dentist appointment which she came out of with NO cavities!!! Yay for her!!!!! (She had cavitites in the past, so this is a good report for her.) Then there were errands to run and a few details to take care of. This was a good opportunity for us to show mom the area. We spent a lot of time in Plattsburgh showing her the "sites". The leaves are changing and it's really pretty around here.
Last weekend, I went to NYC to meet Tiffany. She was there on business, so I packed up and drove myself to Manhattan. I was pretty proud of myself in this venture. I drove all the way down to the place they were staying. I've never driven in Manhattan before and it was definitely an experience, but I handled it and would be willing/able to do it again. We went clubbing Friday night, then had brunch at a great place in the village saturday morning/afternoon. Tiff and I went down to Central Park and watched some street performers and enjoyed a little while in the warm weather after the crazy rains of teh week before. Then we headed out to West Haven CT. This is where Steve and Tiff lived after they were married. The bought a foreclosed house on Long Island Sound and redid the whole thing. As I've been working on this house, Tiff keeps telling me how much it reminds her of the CT house. We went and stayed with her friend there and even were able to take a tour of her old house. The new owners were kind enough to let us in to see. It's an amazing house and was really fun to see. I've heard about it for years so it was fun to see what everyone has been talking about.
Sunday when I split up with Tiff and her friend, I went to IKEA and shopped. I found some great curtains at a good price and was proud of myself for that trip. Then I headed back up through CT, MA and into NY. It was a good weekend and I totally loved the opportunity to go.
On my drive I discovered that between here and Albany the leaves have changed more and there were some amazing spots. So after Melody got on the bus Monday morning, mom and I packed up for the day and drove down to Lake George. She took 200 pictures on the drive. It was fun. Tuesday, mom and I spent in burlington. Then yesterday we spent hemming and hanging the curtains I bought. Today we will be finishing the curtains. She's also helping me hang plastic over the windows to help seal in some warm air and keep the cold air out.
So...all in all, that's what's going on here. Been busy, but good. I'm getting anxious to get back to work on the house. I think I'm going to tackle the master bedroom next and pull the wallpaper. (it's gold/orange circular patterns right now).
I'm off to shower and get ready for the day. It's cold and rainy here, so it's a good day to stay in and finish the curtains. Will post again soon, I hope.