so got a cup of coffee and went back to bed with her book....

But alas, this is not how the story really went. No, she cleaned up a small neat pile of dog poop, after taking the three dogs outside, feeding and watering them, giving Duke his antibiotics and joint medicine...then wiping down the counters quick, making a pot of pumpkin spice coffee...I decided to just stay out here and blog...there's no school today, so kids are sleeping in...Margaret went to work, Paul went to work, and one of our vans is in the shop...Paul tried to fix the brakes, but one of the calibers got stuck, so it needs a professional, ha. That leaves me here with no vehicle. That means that no matter who wants to go where, I cannot take them, which is rather a nice thought. Because...today...is Paint The Living Room Day.


This is Evelyn Joy, with me. She is seventeen years old, and she is a wonderful girl. She is also, by her own admission, a witch with a capital "B", just ask her sisters. She is the middle child of the five-girls-in-a-row-in-five-years. She is hardworking when she wants to be, but she shares my affinity for books, and has no problem reading for hours at a time. She does her homework religiously, and is one of those rare competent children, who can actually think on their own, completing tasks without a step by step narrative. She can come into a situation, take charge, and get it done. Her people skills need polishing, she has a good heart, but like many capable people, she has no tolerance for slackers. This is a recipe for some pretty good arguing matches here in the home, as she has demands on her normal teenage sisters that they step up, they don't like listening to Evelyn rant, ect. But, I am thankful for Evelyn. She gets things done. She knows I want to paint, so she set the date weeks ago, which is now today. She decreed that none of the kids go anywhere no matter who invites them for what, that they all pitch in and get it all done in one day...ceiling, then walls. Of course at least one of her siblings said, "What? I never heard that. I made plans!"


So yesterday afternoon, she accompanied me to Lowes. Or rather, I went with her, she likes to drive. We started with a pumpkin spice coffee, then went to the dollar store, as lots of paint supplies are much cheaper there. We did end up with chocolate, too.

Lowe's. I love home improvement stores. I generally try to avoid them, as they make me want to, duh, improve my home. There has to be a balance between improving what can be improved, and being discontent and wanting to burn the whole thing down and start over, ha.

Anyway. We decided on paint color, picked out some nice ceiling paint and new rollers, and headed home.

It had been a very busy day. Mirielle was in her first half marathon, so Evelyn and I got up at 0-dark thirty, and went along, Emily too.

She was too cute. Milling around with all those 1,100 runners made me want to be an athlete too.


But...we spent our 2 hours and 17 minutes doing other things...those pancakes came with my scrambled eggs and bacon..pumpkin spice pancakes. They should be illegal. I thought, "Oh, I'll just taste them." ha. Do I not know myself by now? I did exercise sufficient self-control, I only ate a small amount, then saved them in a foam container, along with lots of that bacon, for Mirielle after her race.


Emily was trying to study for a big exam. She is extremely busy these days with college classes, she works full time and is studying to be a Nurse Practitioner. So Evelyn and I tried to talk quietly, looking on pinetrest for good shades of gray for our living room.

Then...we left the restaurant, and lo and behold, right there near the race finish line near the stadium, was the regional market flea market! Oh, the treasures! We were in love! As we were browsing, I heard a man say, "I saw you put that in your pocket Mam!", and it was my brother Joe! I haven't seen him in months! He said he often goes there on Sundays, (I can see why!) There's a fresh donut stand (it's all you can smell), he gets a coffee, and walks around. Anyway, it was so nice to talk to him...then Mirielle texted and said she was done with the race, and OOPS! We weren't there at the finish line! We hurried on over, and congratulated her...

I was proud of her! She didn't come in last, as she feared she would, ha, she did fine, and I am totally impressed that with her busy schedule, she has been training enough to run that far. She is also in school, working towards her Master's in nursing, while working full time. Oh, the bragging I do..sorry!

Anyway, we walked toward the car, wandering back through the market, we stopped and got a few fried doughs, I told Mirielle she earned it after all those miles. We bought some fresh local Alfalfa honey for the Emily.

Anyway. Here I sit. We have to move all the furniture into the middle of the room and cover it with plastic covers, then the fun begins. Painting ceilings is not my favorite, but we finished building this house in 1992, and the ceiling hasn't been repainted in here yet. (And remember our old oven leaked that sooty awful stuff?...)

It would be nice if the kids said, "Oh Mom, you just go get in bed with your book, we'll bring you coffee and Ezekial toast with butter and honey, we'll do all the painting. And we won't fight or argue at all! And we'll remember to take Sunny out every half hour or so, and we'll make lunch ourselves without making a huge mess! And we'll keep the dishes done and the kitchen clean too! And of course we won't splatter on the freshly painted window trim, nor will we paint a white skunk stripe down the back of Suri's sleek black..."

So tune in tomorrow to see if we actually accomplished all we set out to do...:)