Speedy weekends these days! Today, here in the northeast USA, we are hot. We are humid, and sticky, and sweaty hot. We do not have air conditioning here, except for a window unit in Jon's room. We do have a few windows units we could install, but then we hang a curtain at the hallway, and have to keep all the windows closed...it's nice and refreshing, but we must gain some sort of satisfaction in toughing it out. We DO have a pool, too. You feel all cool and fresh for like ten seconds after getting out.
Charlotte Claire and Camille Anaya are painting their room. The ceiling in there hasn't been painted probably since we built the house, and we moved in back in 1992. So when they started in on upgrading their room, I jumped right on that. I am going to help them, of course. We'll paint the ceiling, then they get to buy the wall paint. Sadly, I am hooked on expensive paint. All the rooms I've painted through the years, and now I know that Sherwin Williams is such good stuff, and no, I'm not getting a red cent to say so. I just like it. When they have their sales, it's not exorbitantly expensive. Now, I used to just go to Lowe's or Walmart even, and get paint. But when I painted my kitchen cabinets, I wanted something really good and durable, so I went with their Emerald paint...wow. I painted my bedroom with it, and it goes on so smoothly. Love covers a multitude of sins, so does this paint. It is 25% off right now, and they have a ten dollar off fifty coupon, so....
They want to paint the walls white. To me, white is an apartment color. I don't see the fascination with it these days. But I'm letting them choose, because it'll be nice to upgrade the room. I did let Joe paint a room dark brown once....
The years go by, slowly, then faster, then you realize you're getting close to the end of the ride, and things like paint colors are just tiny little drops in the ocean of life. If we'd realized at the start how quickly the years would actually pass, we would have let so many more things go... Those older kids of mine don't quite need me anymore. That's the point, I push them into that upright position, then they walk away. It's how it's supposed to be. They still call me and ask me how much spaghetti to make, and if a fever is normal with teething, and thankfully they still like to visit and hang out with me, but day to day life...they're good.
The chaos and the hubbub and the busyness have all faded away, now we have four kids at home. To some people, wow, four kids! To us, it's way too quiet.
Anyway, it's nice on the weekends when the older kids visit, and the house gets some of it's old vibe back, when the grandkids scatter the toys and get on the ride-ons, it's so good.
Today is not a good day for painting. No sir, but I'll do it anyway. I've done my share of begging and cajoling the kids to help me with projects, it's the least I can do. One thing's for sure, our kids have grown up and headed out into life knowing how to paint a room, because they've all done it!
Tomorrow, we might take a little break and go to the beach...are we lucky or what?! We live half hour from Lake Ontario! If you want to drive for an hour and 20 minutes, you will land on the eastern shore of that beautiful lake, and there are beautiful sandy beaches that rival any ocean beach I've been to, without the salt water and crabs. The waves are sometimes huge and fun, too. Abigail, our second oldest, is starting a new job, and has a little time off between, so we need to do the fun summer stuff!
The girls have started, and here I am, sipping the second cup of coffee and procrastinating....the temperature here in the living room is 86...ugh.
7 comments:
I am so glad to hear someone else thinks white is for apartment walls. I also hate the trend for white walls. Reminds me of apartments and hospitals.
We have 5 window ac's strategically placed throughout the house. I.not.be.brave.and.not.use.them. I remember when we first moved to Hudson, NY all those years ago and went the 1st summer without ac, NO MORE. Then we moved to Alabama, again, no more and now we are back again this time in the Southern Tier, no way, no thank you-our first summer back here and it was miserable. 8 years being here and I have to say, summers might not last long here, but I will be comfortable though, lol. I am to darn old to care to be hot and sticky, LOL. And since I work in a warehouse now where the ac can barely keep up with the hot temps outside, I now invest in taking 2 showers a day, just saying. Who wants to come home from working all day/icky sticky and get on clean bed linens? Ok, I am sounding way to pompous even for my own liking, lol. Have fun at the Lake Ontario, it is quite beautiful up there, I'll be thinking of you as I am 6 days working and suffering through the heat, LOLOLOL.
It is hot and sticky humid here in Florida, too, but I do have central air and can't imagine life without it anymore. I did grow up in Ohio with no AC. My dad let me pick lavender for my room when I was a young teen, but he did the painting. I grew up in a family of six and we had one bathroom, which was on the second floor. Not sure how we managed that either, but we did. Love catching up on your news here! xo
‘ If we'd realized at the start how quickly the years would actually pass, we would have let so many more things go...’ Yes, this!! I once told my aunt that if I could go back, I would do some things differently. (Sleep more! Really, get to bed when the kids did, instead of cleaning up and reading and putting around in the quietness, after so much stimulation during the day. I know that quiet time was sometimes super needed- therapeutic. But …) Be aide if I had slept more, I would have been more patient. But she told me that if you could go back and I do the mistakes you feel you made, you would just make different mistakes. Because we humans are imperfect.
Anyway- I haven’t commented here for a long time. But I come here every couple weeks or so to read up on your blog. I just love your perspectives, your humor, your love for your family…. We only have 7 kids (born in 7 years, and then only one miscarriage after that, andGod decided that our quiver was full! But I know many large families, so can totally relate and understand how it is with so many things you blog about. You are amazing, and I can’t wait j til you write a book!!
My girls don't get my aversion to white...but shh, they're painting the room and it'll be all clean and fresh, so I'll take it! They've cleared out so much stuff they've outgrown, donated to the thrift store.
Linda, I hear you. This afternoon was HOT. Our thermostat read 90, that's in the house, in the living room! That is TOO hot. We keep saying this, us New Yorkers, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity!", but oh my goodness it's true. We were painting that ceiling today, and I was absolutely drenched. The pool wasn't even cool enough, man. I agree though, a shower before bed, ESPECIALLY in the heat. I totally agree.
Terri, you had a nice dad! I grew up with nine in the house, 7 kids and my parents, in a cute Cape Cod with an attached garage, one bathroom too, but we had an extra toilet in the basement. Just a toilet, in the corner of the basement, with a curtain around it. It was useful in emergencies though!
Joni, I tried to sleep as much as I could, and still needed more patience. Oh dear. It's like the most challenging thing, to parent small children! I think we do what we think is right as we're doing it, and there's obviously no going back...but maybe you would have had less patience if things were more out of order, if you had slept instead of straightening...? I have always loved that quiet time, and there were nights I squandered with a good book, my eyes like sandpaper all the next day, but I never learned, ha.
" If we'd realized at the start how quickly the years would actually pass, we would have let so many more things go... "
Amen to that!
I love Sherwin Williams paint. One thing I have learned over the years- when my BIL (who is a contractor bought the paint once for a job in our house) is that the ProMar200 version is just as good as their $80 a gallon paint- and it's only $25-35 a gallon! I've never looked back! I bought their best paint once and it was so expensive, I was like wow- I've never doing that again! Then he used the ProMar200 version and I'm hooked!
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