Some people take ski vacations during the winter break. Some plan elaborate family get-togethers that may or may not resemble a Griswold family Christmas. Some take the opportunity to relax and do nothing while they have time off work.

We? Turn the house upside down and start a project that will make us battered and sore for months. Happy Hall-idays!

Refinishing a floor is a backbreaking job. Having a Lord of the Rings marathon in the midst of it adds a degree of complication, but reduces the suckage quotient by a factor of three.

Home Improvement calculus...not for first year math students.

In which we drastically underestimate the time and effort involved in removing old paint.

In other words, pretty much a regular old day at Hall House.

We both love puzzles and games of skill.

Although more in the form of entertainment and not so much, you know, home improvement challenges.

No one believed us when we said one of the rooms in our house was painted Pepto-Bismol pink.

All that hard work -- the floors, the trim, the paint, the unseen repairs -- but it's the finishing details that'll make or break your project.

Hardly seems fair, does it?