And So It Begins

Hi. My name is Rae Ann and I am a redecoration/remodeling addict. Hi, Rae Ann!

In every house I have ever lived in as an adult, I have been a redecorating fiend. I can hardly wait to start putting my mark on the place I live - even if it is pretty nice when I move in. Such is the case with my current new house. The previous owners' choices were not hideous. Some I am keeping, like the green walls in the living room and the beige wallpaper in the entry way. Some I can hardly wait to change, like the striped wallpaper in the guest bath and the pink porcelains in the master bath.

I am so eager to make my mark on the house that I put Sister K to work as soon as she arrived plotting a new layout for my strangely long and skinny master bath. Such is my obsession that my dad won't even play with us - in spite of the fact that he is a spatial master - because he doesn't want to encourage my sickness. Perhaps being a veteran of the studs-out remodel of my first kitchen has something to do with this!

Since we are maintaining two houses right now, any work that I can do rightthisminute is necessarily small time. So last week I started painting. I had the perfect opportunity: T was away at his training for a whole week! What better time to paint the master bedroom? T would be gone and would not witness my spazziness with paint! And what an easy place to start! I had just gotten the master the way I wanted it before we moved from Small Town, so all I have to do here is recreate it! Score!

I should have known I was doomed when Q turned up with a high fever on the first day T was gone. All he wanted to do was sit in my lap all. day. long. For two days. That is a lot of hot preschooler, let me tell you! Finally, on Wednesday he was feeling better. I got to work edging as soon as I got the chillies down for naps. What with removing face plates and window coverings (such as they are) I managed to get two walls edged before everyone was awake again. I figured that I could knock the rest of the edging out that night after the kiddos went to sleep.

Little did I know what evil germ warfare was brewing in my unsuspecting person. By dinner time that evening I was knocked on my a$. It was all I could do to prepare some preservative-laden child-friendly meal before I passed out. Now all I wanted to do was drape myself on someone's lap! Anyhoo, with the family arriving and the festivities all weekend, T was grumbling that he would paint it on his day off. On the outside I was all, "Score!" But on the inside I knew that he always plans about 12 hours more of stuff than he can possibly fit into a simple earth day. So I knew it was never going to happen.

It didn't.

So today, over a week later, I finally got back to it. My edging tool was dried into the paint tray. Unsalvageable. (I had covered the whole lot with plastic wrap, anticipating getting back to it in a more timely manner. Whoops.) But the paint was still okay apart from a dead fly. During nap time today I managed to get the first coat on two walls about 7 feet up. I will have to get out a real ladder to get the last three feet to the ceiling. I made an effort to give the paint around the window a double coat so I can get my classy bedspread back up as soon as possible. At this rate it will only take me six more days to paint a 12x14-ish room! I am on fire. But none the less, it is a start.