Painting Endeavors and Sam Tales

As you can see from the above picture, I did get my kitchen painted this week. What a horrendous job! I will never, never, never paint again...at least not for a really long time. I haven't decided yet if I like that grouping of things I have there by the stove. When I got my new cupboards in May I had to take down some of my wall decorations and I'd never found new spots for them because I knew I'd eventually be painting the kitchen. Once I get my fiestaware back up, I'll have to snap a photo of that. I went all out with that. I spray painted the varnished shelf I use to hold my monthly displays. I'm kind of excited to see how that looks against the yellow walls. It took me two full days to paint. I used muscles that were in semi-retirement and they definitely let me know their displeasure. But the room is quite a bit brighter, which I think is good. I still need to get some fabric and make new valences, so I'll have a better idea of how the kitchen will look after I get those up. So, anyway, that was my big project this week.

I sure am feeling grainy today - not enough sleep. We had a nasty thunderstorm last night around 8:30 - again! A tornado actually touched down in Indianola, where we attend church. I heard that some houses were damaged/destroyed. So, it was pretty close. We lost power around 8:45. David was absolutely terrified. I spent a good deal of time calming him down. Then, all the boys insisted on sleeping in the living room. And then, my allergies started acting up. So, I took an allergy pill, which really made me groggy. The lights all came back on at 12:15 am. So, I stumbled out of bed to go turn them off, when they shut off again, just as quickly as they had come on. So, I fell asleep. But then an hour later, the power came back on for good, so I had to get out of bed again and turn the rest of the lights off. Then, Paul's radio came on this morning at 7 am. I thought it was 8, which meant I really needed to be getting up. So, I was trying to force myself to wake up - not successfully. Then, I realized it was only 7:24, so I fell back asleep. Then, of course, I slept too late and I had to jump out of bed and help Ben get ready to go to Kids' Club (respite care).

When I'm tired I'm irritable and while I didn't say anything, it just annoyed me that Ben is outside, happily swinging, listening to his headset and eating an ice pop. He has no concept of time and it never occurred to him that he needed to be getting ready to go. So, I had to call him in, direct him to his clothing, unbutton his shorts because he never thinks to do that before he tries to pull them over his hips and then they get stuck. I had to yank his headphones off his head and shoo him into the bathroom so I could comb his hair and put deodorant on him. Then, Paul wasn't ready to go yet (no surprise there - he also has no concept of time - well, not as much as I do anyway - can you tell I'm irritated?!) so I told Ben to sit on the couch and wait for his dad. Oh, and I also told him to eat a muffin. Then, I went back to bed and Paul comes in complaining that I don't have the boys ready to go (he was taking Will to work on a couple of side jobs, dropping Ben off at ChildServe first). He's lucky I didn't hurt him. But of course, I then found Ben's lunch bag still on the table. It would not occur to him to bring something like that with him until he needed it. I just get tired of his complete spaciness. How is he ever going to work a job someday when he has to be continually pulled back into the real world? So I stuffed the bag into Paul's arms and he left. I hope Ben got his lunch. So now I've been attempting to get stuff done on my to-do list and trying to keep Sam and David from wrestling all over the living room. I think I need a do-over on this morning!

There's not a whole lot else to report on. Will came home yesterday afternoon from his last week of working at camp. He informed me that next year he wants to try out for position of lifeguard. Apparently, they earn more money. So, I'll have to see if I can get him into a CPR class sometime this next school year. He's pretty beat. I think all his weeks of work are catching up with him. He leaves Monday, bright and early, for Sr. High camp. But this will be a week for fun. Then he'll get back and football practice will start in earnest.

I hurt my leg this week. We have these antique jacks that Paul borrowed from my parents for the house. My great grandpa used them a century ago for his house moving business. They were in the backroom and I walked right into one. I tore a chunk out of thigh and it's all swollen around that. Plus I've got a bruise with about a 4" radius. Not nice - I can't even cross my legs with that leg underneath.

Some Sam-isms from this week: "I wub you!" That's nice. I've waited a long time to hear that for the first time. He gets that from sensitive David who has to say it every night before he goes to bed. I'm not convinced Sam knows what it means, but it's still nice to hear.

All week long: "What you doing, Mom?" It doesn't matter if I'm brushing my teeth or at the computer, the question is still the same.

Sam has become obsessed by Veggie Tales. He used to call them "Bob" as in Bob and Larry. Now, they're "Beggie Tales." It has resulted in more than one disagreement between he and his brothers over whether or not it's time for Sam to watch an episode, or whether his brothers get to watch their shows.

I was a good painter this time and actually took all the outlet covers off the wall instead of painting around them. I still don't have them back on. Sam gazed at one cover less outlet and exclaimed, "You broke dat!"

I've gotten 3 really, really nice comments already on my latest FaithWriters piece. I was feeling hopeful that that meant I had done something well and I might even find myself in the top 5 this next Thurs. when judging is announced. But then I started reading the other entries at the Advanced Level. Wow, oh wow! I'm just a minnow in a pond of really big fish! These writers are incredible! So my confidence is nowhere to be found these days. But, honestly, what I wrote this time is good. It may not be as good as the competition, but I know it's one of my better pieces. Right now I need to be coming up with an article, though, for our new topic of "see." I am just coming up blank. Usually I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to write within a couple of days of learning the new topic. I know I'd like to do something humorous because I've been on a dramatic/pathos kick lately. So I need to get my brain in gear.

Well, it's past time for lunch. I am trying to get Sam settled down for a nap (so far, unsuccessfully, but he's tired, I can tell). Then, I think I'll feed myself and chug down a liter or two of Mt. Dew - I have got to wake up these sluggish brain cells. Of course, it might help if I had eaten something today other than just a muffin and a handful of Hy-Vee brand sandwich cookies. Think I need to do some cooking, today, too...