I'm Back!!

Yes, that's right...I've started up the blog again. It's been awhile, but the only thing thing that's happened around here was that I finally removed the coffee table from the middle of the living room to the garage. I haven't been lazy though. I started college! It's proving to be much harder this time around so all my free time has been spent studying my ass off. But a few days ago I realized that Thanksgiving is not that far away and for the first time ever I'm supposed to be having dinner here in a dining room that looks something like this right now...
This just isn't going to work for the first time my family sees our house. And this picture doesn't even show all the crap that's covering the table or the ceiling tiles that are still stacked 6 feet high or the paneling that's leaning against a wall because it still hasn't made it to it's final resting place in the burn pile.

Here's what I have to do before Thanksgiving:
Remove the rest of the paneling
Take the panels and the ceiling tiles out of the house
Figure out something to do about the curtains (they're pretty gross...they came with the house)
Sand the glue off the wall (otherwise known as removing the artwork seen in the picture)
Fill in about a thousand nail holes
Paint walls, ceiling, trim
Maybe figure out something to do about where the plaster is crumbling from where they removed the top trim pieces to put the drop ceiling in. I have no idea what to do though...any suggestions?

I really don't want to paint the trim, but it's going to be awhile before we have the time or money to strip, repair, stain, and poly the trim so paint is the only reasonable short term solution. We already have the paint so the cost will be $0...which is in our budget.

I'm thinking about gray walls...any input? Other suggestions? I'm clueless about paint but I'm loving gray walls with white trim.

Oh, and that's our new chandelier. I don't think I posted any pictures of it since it's been put up. We were trying for a look that fits our little Victorian farmhouse. I think it works. As I make progress I'll show more pictures...it really looks better than it does in the one. And I can't help the bulbs, we only use the long life fluorescent and they stick out the bottom. When they burn out I'm hoping to find the new ones that aren't as long.