my secret project....

This is my secret project....I painted our bedroom! It used to be a pale lavender, which looked okay 18 and a half years ago, when we moved in. It had scribbles and smudges, and looked quite awful. But the years went by, always had babies and kids and toddlers and someone sleeping in my room....then the other day, I decided to just paint it. I sent Mirielle to the hardware store in town for spackle and sandpaper....before our bowling trip we all trooped into Walmart for paint. I chose the color in two seconds flat, and I love it. It is dark and cozy. I replaced the 18 year old green mini-blinds with new white wide-slatted wood blinds, that I had gotten at Target ages ago and were still in the boxes. (Now THAT was an adventure, using the drill...I had to figure out how to make it go the other way to take down the old blinds...Margaret was my helper....I told her that if guys could do these things, WE could...she agreed and helped me wholeheartedly...) I also painted the master bathroom, and got a new shower curtain, new baskets and towels, and a new garbage can. I also dug out a new towel bar that was under the sink in the other bathroom, and put that up....now that I can operate the drill, ...ha. I threw out my beloved car seat, the FisherPrice infant seat with a carrying strap instead of a handle, wah, and got rid of more baby things that I didn't realize I still had. I still have my lovely lavender pram parked in there, full of all the baby afghans my mother knitted for the babies....anyway, we cleaned the closet and the drawers it looks like a brand new room. It was way too much fun, it was like on the home makeover show. I got a lime green lamp-on-a-stick, and found some green round placemats with the tags still on them, got some new flowers for a vase...

I have been working like crazy to get this project all done before Paul comes home, to surprise him. It helped me deal with him being gone, kept me occupied. Of course when one is doing a big thing like this, the rest of the universe doesn't just stop and sit still and behave, no sir. Glasses get broken and things get spilled and fights break out. I stayed up into the night to do the painting, with my dear Kathryn and Evelyn and Suze as my little helpers.....they now know how to open paint, stir it up, fill the brushes and rollers, do trim....I seriously couldn't have gotten up on the top of the dresser and gotten the edges without Evelyn. They were hilarious, too. We had so much fun, and not a night went by without at least one of them slamming out and saying they quit, then coming back in because it was so much fun.

So now it is done, finished, looks great. I can safely post about it because Paul is on the way home!!! He texted me from the airport in Mumbai at 10:15 this morning and said he was asked if he would give up his seat, the flight was overbooked. He said no. Thankfully. He will land here at 10:00am tomorrow morning. That is a LONG trip.

Well.....I am tired and cannot concentrate....today was a long day...but a nice day. After tucking the two little girls in, I told stories to Jonathan and Sonja and Suze...they got all brushed and flushed and tucked in, and I told them about when I was little......the sweet little perks of having children....