The Nap Time Decorator

I kind of didn't make a big deal about the biggest news in our lives lately: WE SOLD OUR HOUSE! Whew! It is a great house, so I knew it would sell eventually, but I'm glad 'eventually' came sooner rather than later. So now that the news has sunk in and I've had time to catch my breath, it must be time to... PANIC!!!

The movers are coming on September 7th to pack everything up. They will drive out the next day and unload the next. Yikes! That gives me just under a week to get the kids rooms painted. But have you ever tried to paint with a two- and four-year-old running around trying to 'help'? Let's just say that Q managed to get paint on his new shorts in under three minutes. Z thus far remains paintless, but she buzzes around me pestering me to let her paint, too. Now this is the kid who can somehow manage to get finger paints on the middle of the back of her dress while wearing a paint smock. I shudder to think about what damage she might do if given a bucket of pale pink primer paint. Eeek!

This leaves me with approximately 90 minutes of daylight in which to get my house painted. As soon as I get the kids settled down for naps, I put on my paint clothes (I am a très messy painter) and bust out the rollers. It took me over a week's worth of (non-consecutive) nap-times to get my room painted. I am hopeful that Z's room will go a little more quickly. She doesn't have 10-foot ceilings and the new Behr paint and primer combo is amazing. It even covers the hideous '80's burgundy/navy/hunter green design on the wallpaper. Huzzah!

Today's nap time yielded most of the edge work. I just have to edge the ceilings and I will be ready for rollers. I am a total spaz with a paint brush, so it is a miracle that Z is not now the proud owner of pink spotted carpet. I am finally getting the hang of painting around the trim - it only took me four implements to find my groove. Sigh. So much touch-up work to do!

When I think about it, I pretty much decorated my entire house in Small Town during nap times. I painted, tiled, sewed curtains, hung curtains, painted and installed wainscoting and constructed furniture (I built a kick-a$$ ottoman that looks like it came from a furniture store). Nap time is also when I work on design stuff, take care of my internet commitments, clean house (Ha!), bathe, call my friends, email and waste time on Facebook.

I'm pretty sure I could rule the world in under two hours per day. And I know I am not alone. Just think what we could accomplish if we focused our collective nap time energy on world domination!