Friday, January 02, 2009

How to cure flappy arms

My "vacation" has been quite productive, thank you very much! As you may recall, I bought a couple of gallons of blue paint for the stairwell and upstairs hall which were the last vestiges of the hideous green/gray color in the house. I painted the stairway and the hall and was so thrilled with the color that I kept going.

Over the course of three days, I painted the stairway, the hall, the livingroom and the diningroom. I also moved the piano twice (once out from the wall and once most of the way back). By the time New Year's Day night rolled around, I could barely lift my arms and I'd managed to also stretch the tendons that run up my left ankle from going up and down the stairs and ladders so much.

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However, I believe the aches, pains, and tightened arms were well worth the results.

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You wouldn't think so, but the blue is so much brighter and lighter than the crescent moon yellow that was in here before. The whole downstairs looks so much happier! I still need to do woodwork in white and repaint the ceiling, but I can wait a little bit for that. I also want to repaint the family room and kitchen over in crescent moon again, but with semi-gloss this time hoping for a slightly more durable and reflective surface. It's starting to look like a cave in there with all the handprints on the wall.

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When I wasn't painting, I was redecorating the master bedroom. In the year and a half that we've lived here, I hadn't managed to get the curtains up in there. Now there are curtains and a matching comforter and sheet set. I also cleaned the carpet (it smelled a bit too much like dog) and dusted everything. It's a much more pleasant room to be in now.

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And just for the heck of it, my two brother cats French (white paws) and Yoda snuggled up together on the couch. Aren't they cute?

I go back to work on Tuesday (same day as school gets back in) and I feel like this was a most satisfactory time off. I still have three days off to go. I wonder what I can accomplish next?

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What is up with this new year already? Not one but TWO children of celebrities died today. The first one was the 16 year old son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston. The second was the 35 year old daughter of Mia Farrow and Andre Previn. And today isn't over yet.

I feel so sorry for the families of these two. It's never easy to lose a child, but to do so with publicity must be really, really awful. Say a little prayer for their families tonight as you go to sleep.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read the John Travolta one and I was very saddened. I like John Travolta and it is very very hard to lose a child. My doctor mentioned that if my baby is still sick on Monday , we will have to test for the disease that their child had and that is scaring the daylight out of me(my baby is sick right now)

Patience said...

Wow! Will you come paint my house?

Yes it is sad about those who were lost. It's never easy, but when it's so unexpected, it's just that much harder.

Anonymous said...

I also heard of those two young people, gone before their time. It is so very sad, and it must be doubly difficult to have to deal with your grief while under public scrutiny!

On a happier note - could you come up and paint my house? :-) You did a beautiful job!

karisma said...

Very nice paint job! And yes its always sad when someone loses a child.

Anonymous said...

I feel sad for the Travoltas. I used to see John T in Maine alot, off and around.

on another note, that picture on you wall of the two walking away is awesome

Anonymous said...

I feel sad for the Travoltas. I used to see John T in Maine alot, off and around.

on another note, that picture on you wall of the two walking away is awesome