The Red Room

All week long I've been painting my bedroom. I've been painting it RED. If you've never painted red before, let me just tell you, it's the hardest color EVER. It's so hard to get good coverage. I've painted navy blue before, and that covers in one coat. I've painted beige, tan, purple, light blue, all of those cover in one coat. I have now painted two master bedrooms and an accent fireplace wall, and red just doesn't cover without more than one coat. I've even primed with tinted primer on two of those jobs, and it ALWAYS requires more than one coat to get decent coverage. Even after 2 coats, it looks like another would be better, but I'm just so out of patience with the project that I'm calling it good enough, and done.

To say that it's taken me all week is really no exaggeration. I painted all day Monday, took a break Tuesday for dance class and my hair appointment (more on that in a minute), painted all day Wednesday, and then half the day on Thursday and Friday. I'm so sick of my hands, feet, arms and legs being covered in paint and/or primer. I'm also sore from getting down on the floor and back up a bagillion times. Seriously, my quads are killing me. That may also be a product of the furniture moving I've done this week too. I had Hubby help move the bed, but I did the dresser all alone. I had to get on the floor and push it with my feet. I couldn't lift it. As Dwight Shrute would say, that's the problem with women- weak arms.

I do feel kinda powerful when I'm at the end of a big project. I have something to look at a think, I did that. I have a whole folder of pictures on my Facebook profile dedicated to all the projects I've done in the last two or three years. My home's transformation has been well documented. It makes me a little sad that I didn't keep track of all the things I did to our last house, especially since Little Girl doesn't really remember that house. We moved when she was only 2 years old.

The RED room was a much bigger project than I anticipated. The last time I painted a room red, I had many friends help me. My best painting buddy and I painted 4 rooms together in my last house, and 4 rooms together in her houses (I've painted in 3 different houses of hers over the years), plus wallpaper removal. She's the friend I took the girls to visit last week out of town. I miss her so much, especially when there's work like this that we would be sharing if she were still here. *Sniff, sniff*

Anyway, red is finally painted. That's one coat of primer, and two coats of paint on all the walls in the biggest room I've ever painted. (I'm sitting her with my computer on my lap, still in my painting clothes, with red paint splatter all over my right arm.) Major sigh...

About the hair, it's been several days since the new cut, and yesterday I tried the wavy hair look. I think I must have the wrong products for it, because it looked OK at first, but then it just looked messy by the end of the day. I still haven't had a chance to really fix it straight, but I think it'll be OK. It's not been the best week to judge a new haircut, as I've been tying it up in a ponytail to work for the three days since getting it cut.

The song in my head for the last several days is "Keep Fishin," by Weezer. The girls have been into watching a DVD of the Muppet Show lately, and Hubby showed them this video, since they now have an appreciation for it. So good. Very catchy. It'll definitely stick with ya!

*** UPDATE - Saturday, July 17 ***

This morning while Hubby was mowing the yard, I moved the BED back into place ALL BY MYSELF!! It's not that he wouldn't have helped me, it's just that I was impatient and didn't want to wait for him to get finished, and then get himself cleaned up. I am woman. I am strong. Don't worry, I'm not going to roar!

New Hair Cut

I know it's completely superficial, but hey, we live in a physical world where we are judged by what we look like before we can be judged by anything else. Here's my new do:

I like it so far, but I haven't had a chance to wash it, play with it, or fix it yet, so the jury is still out on whether this is a good cut. It's supposed to be easy to fix, but it seems like they always say that when you're at the salon.

That picture doesn't show the cut very well. Here's one that shows it better:

Uh oh, I tipped my hand. The shirt is really red. I blued it up in the first picture to bring out my eyes... That was completely superficial. :o)

Summer of Firsts

I think this summer is the "Summer of Firsts" for my girls. They've already tubed down the river for the first time in their lives, and then this last week we did a couple more things for their first time.

On Monday we had some friends come down and stay with us overnight, and then Tuesday both families went together to a water park. Hubby and I think it's the best one anywhere, and it happens to be not too terribly far from home, certainly close enough for a day trip. We've been before, but we had never taken the kids, and after seeing how they did on the river, we knew they were ready. It was so much fun. Little Girl is my dare-devil, and she did EVERYTHING. Big Girl did most everything, and had a great time. They both are looking forward to going back next year, which we'll probably do if I take my choirs there again next Spring. We got a great deal on our tickets because I had taken my choirs there in May.

Then Thursday I took both the girls to go visit a friend out of town. This friend of mine is a very dear friend, one who was there for me when I had my babies, and my miscarriage back in 2004, and it broke my heart when she moved out of town with her family back in 2006. At least they are only two and a half hours away, and I can go visit her during the summer when our kids aren't in school and I'm not working. Anyway, that's what we did. While we were there, we all went to the movies. We saw "Toy Story 3." It's a very cute movie. We opted to not pay an extra $3 per ticket to see it in 3D.

So what's the big deal? That was the first time my girls had ever seen a movie in the theater. I had been afraid to take them when they were littler, and Hubby hates going, and I didn't want to take them by myself, because if one of them needed to go potty, then the other would miss the movie too. They did great, loved the experience, and no one needed to go during the movie.

I think later this summer I'll go back and visit my friend again, and we'll take all the kids to the beach. My girls have never been.

I hate that there are so many things I haven't done with my kids yet. I can't beat myself up too much though. It's not that I'm depriving my kids of experiences on purpose. We just haven't been there/done that YET. They'll get to do it some time. Maybe even sooner than later.

The longer I wait, the more likely they are to remember the experience anyway.

Borderline Disrespect?

Big Girl is growing up. She's closer to 8 years old now than 7, and her intellect is maturing so much. She is understanding humor in a brand new way, and even getting many of the jokes in her VeggieTales videos she had missed as a little girl. As a result, they're getting more play in recent days than they did in the last few years.

Another thing that's happening is she's getting a little bit of an attitude. I can see that in a typical child her age (like her sister will be in a couple years) that the attitude factor would be major. With Big Girl it's like a very subtle undercurrent. Big Girl is the most indirect individual I have ever known in my whole life. So when she's developing an attitude, she doesn't come out and mouth off. That's not her style.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. A few weeks ago, after school was out, and I had been going back up to the school cleaning out the choir room storage closet. In the late afternoon on just such a day, I was sitting on the couch with my computer on my lap, watching TV. I had worked at school for about 5 hours, with both of my girls playing in the room while I worked. Big Girl was wanting to watch one of her shows on the DVR, which is only on the TV I was watching. She sits on the couch a little ways down from me and says, "I've noticed that you've been watching TV a lot and playing on your computer a lot. That's kind of lazy."

"Really??" It was just about all I could do to not either laugh or yell at her. Instead of yelling, I calmly asked her, "What was I doing this morning? Didn't we go to [insert school name here] this morning and you played while I worked cleaning out the closet? Was that lazy?"

"No." Her blunder began to register, and she was on the edge of crying.

"Yes, I'm watching TV and playing computer right now, but I've worked for 5 hours today. What work have you done today? Don't you just want me to stop watching TV so YOU can watch what you want?"

She went away crying just a little. At dinner that evening, Hubby made sure to ask Big Girl if I was being lazy when I made the dinner she was eating. Big Girl got very upset and started crying. "Why are you crying?" he asked her.

"I'm so ashamed." And rightfully so. It was a big lesson.

This scene has unfolded a few different times in a few different ways, but each time, I am careful to call a spade a spade pretty gently. Sometimes I'll let her have the remote control, and sometimes I won't, but I'll let her know when she's doing that indirect, manipulative thing. Her most common approach is to ask me if I'm really watching whatever is on the TV. That's a pretty polite way to go about it, I suppose.

I love my Big Girl so very much.

The Best Kind of Excitement

I have a friend from years back, Angie, who has come back into my life in the last year or two since I've been on Facebook, and we chat several times a week. We are sisters in Christ who have picked up our relationship where we left it as high school girls, watching Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies, and taken it to a much more mature level now that we are both wives and moms with real adult lives.

Tonight I saw that she was online around 7:30 or so this evening (yesterday now), the first time we were both online in several days. She suggested we could chat after her kids went to bed. For some reason I felt compelled to go to her house instead, so I invited myself over while her husband was working late, and we had a face-to-face chat instead of a Facebook chat, which was much better. (I did get approval to do this from both Angie and Hubby before I headed over there!)

It was pretty late when I left Angie's house, and I was listening to music on my iPod in Hubby's car as I drove home. His is the car with the auxiliary audio input jack. I am so jealous... Anyway, Hubby cranks up the volume pretty loud in his car, and I didn't touch any of the buttons or knobs, I just plugged in my iPod and pushed play on it, playing my music.

I am someone who believes that God is in the details. The shuffle playlist in my iPod is not beyond God's reach. He can orchestrate when certain songs will come up, and I believe He did that tonight.

The first one of note (no pun intended - REALLY!) was "Keep Me in Mind," by Dig Hay Zoose. I can't find any audio files of it online, sadly, but you can see the disc and all the tracks on it here. My husband has this CD, and it is one I have largely ignored, except for this song. It has a very laid back Latin guitar vibe, and the gist of the song is God singing to the listener that He'll be patiently waiting until the person decides to invite Him into his/her heart and life.

Keep me in mind, soon you will find

All is for naught, and I'll be waiting...

Keep me in mind, soon you will find

All is for naught, and I'll be waiting to sing with you... And kiss you

The song sounds like any old love song until you really hear the bridge:

And when you say it's OK,

I will come into your heart

And when you say it's OK,

I will come into your heart and we will never part

Anyway, it's so hard to get the feeling for just how fun that song is if all you can do is read the lyrics. Hubby says that this song by Dig Hay Zoose is nothing like their other stuff, and I probably wouldn't like much of their other offerings, so if you go looking for them online (like I just did), and you do run across an audio file here or there, you probably won't get a decent feeling for what this song is really like. It's so light and syncopated, and infectious. And I know God meant for me to hear it tonight.

So I mentioned a few posts back about feeling like I'm wandering in the desert. Sometimes we hit a dry spell and can't really feel God. I know He's all around, working in my life, but I just can't FEEL him... well, tonight in the car, God let me have one of those wonderful little touches from Him where he let me FEEL just how close He is.

A song or two later came "God Will Lift Up Your Head," by Jars of Clay.

Give to the wind your fear
Hope and be undismayed
God hears your sighs and counts your tears
God will lift up, God will lift up, lift up your head

God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head

Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command
Then shall we wandering on His way
Know how wise and how strong
How wise and how strong

God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
Lift up your head

Through waves and clouds and storms, He gently clears the way
Wait because in His time, so shall this night
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy
Soon end in joy, soon end in joy

God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head
God will lift up your head

You've got to know that it was BLASTING in the car. I was overtaken by the song, by the words, by the strength of my God and how he let me FEEL Him. My hand (singular because I was driving) was up, and tears were streaming down my face. God does not owe me that kind of emotional connection to Him, but I am so very grateful that He did allow it in that moment.*

I may or may not be finished with this current desert, but at least I know for sure that I am not alone, wherever I am, and wherever I'm headed.

*Disclaimer: Relationships of any kind are not to be based on feelings. Feelings are fleeting, and just because you feel a thing, or experience an emotional response to something, does not make it real. Remaining faithful to God (or a marriage for that matter) despite feelings that would lead a person to the contrary is the definition of faithfulness and love. Love is a choice, not a feeling. This is probably a topic for a future post.

A Little Late Night Excitement

Nothing has the power to give me a jolt of adrenaline and make my skin crawl simultaneously like the sight of a 2" roach in my house. Last night as we were about to retire for the evening, our pre-bedtime routine was interrupted by the most vile of God's creations in our bathroom. As Hubby was trying to kill it, I saw it crawl from his side of the counter to mine, where it crawled on my bottle of facial cleanser and my toothpaste. MY TOOTHPASTE!! I am telling myself that I don't have to throw away everything on the counter. I can spray it with Lysol and then wash it with soap and water. I don't have to waste the products. I will be brave. (Maybe if I say it enough, I'll start to believe it?)

Time to give our pest control people a call.

*Shudder*

Summer Blahs

Since getting back from vacation on Sunday, this week has been a hard one for me. I hadn't realized just how much I need a reason to get up every day and get out of the house (which requires me to put on clothes and brush my hair). Busyness definitely keeps away the blahs.

It seems like when I'm busy I wish for more time to do the things I don't have time to do. But here I am with time to do things, and I'm struggling for motivation to do them. Maybe it's because I'm not too excited about doing all of those things I don't usually have time to do. One of the things that really needs to happen this month (it's JULY already!?) is the cleaning out of the closet under the stairs. It's a very big, deep closet, and it has been a catch-all for children's artwork, scrapbooking supplies, and various electronic chords and wires, the stuff from our former house's office closet, and the coats. If that were all that was in there, it wouldn't be so bad. There are also a few things I need to locate for work that I just didn't bother even trying to find until I had the time to get things out in an orderly way and put things back in a way that made a little more sense than how it's currently configured. Boy, that makes me tired just thinking about it. (I know I have a conducting baton in there somewhere, I'm just sure of it.)

The rest of this week is going to be eaten up by laundry. I still haven't done laundry since vacation, and the regular laundry is piling up too. So I'm dodging the closet for this week.

Next week we are planning to go to a waterpark with some friends on Tuesday, and then I'm taking the girls to visit a friend and her son out of town Thursday through Saturday. No closet next week either.

Then the week after that I think I'll be painting our master bedroom. We currently have a 19" TV mounted on the wall, and it looks like a hospital TV. It's the TV my grandparents gave me when I graduated high school and went off to college. It's so old the only input is has on the back is a coax cable input. Anyway, we mounted it there when we moved in because it was the best solution at the time. Nowadays (don't I sound old saying that?!) with flat-screen TV's there are better options available. All that to say painting the room has been waiting on working a better TV solution. Hubby was waiting for the size he wanted to drop below a particular price point, and that happened yesterday. He ordered the TV online, and it shipped yesterday. He bought the mounting bracket and HDMI cables from monoprice.com a couple weeks ago. Once the cables are run through the wall, we'll have a nice set-up with no wires showing. The way we have it with the old TV, there are 2 chords running up the wall. It will be a very welcome change.

Yesterday I didn't do very much. It was one of the most blah days of the summer yet. I did manage to run over to the grocery store (at 4:30 PM) to buy some stuff to make dinner. Last night's dinner was a bright spot in the otherwise completely blah day. I made pork tenderloin, asparagus and roasted potatoes. Big Girl loved the pork tenderloin and declared it her new favorite meal. I'd give the asparagus an A+, but the tenderloin could have been better. It was a meal designed around things I wanted to eat rather than things that would have been easy to make. I've already had enough of mac & cheese and chicken nuggets to last me all summer.

The song in my head right now is the theme from "WordGirl." My girls have watched so much TV this week... I'm failing as a mother... Anyway, at least they're not watching commercial TV. And at least they're not eating an exclusive diet of mac & cheese and chicken nuggets. It could be worse.