Paint and Stuff
No pics this time, just a quick post as I pass the time with my laptop (I've downloaded our photos onto the big computer). I'm waiting for the children to quiet down for their naps before I resume painting in our front room. If I start moving around in the living room before they're asleep they'll hear me and never go down.
I'm almost done with our third color of paint in, oh, about three weeks. I'll post photos of the new room (paint, furniture and all) soon. After our first two color choices were a bust for one reason or another, we finally decided to go with the same color we have in our bedroom since we know we like it. We first painted the room a dark chocolate, almost the exact color we had in Auburn. I think it worked in the front room, but it made the hallway going up the stairs to the bedrooms pretty dark. We lived with that for two weeks before deciding to try something different.
Last weekend was spent painting the room a buttery gold color. But on Sunday evening we decided we were going to change it because it felt really bold. It's a beautiful rich color on the paint chip. Maybe it's our lighting or something, but up on the walls it just felt a bit too shockingly yellow at times, especially up in the hallway where all the light is artificial. The front room has been a wreck since last Friday, almost a full week. I wasn't about to rip up the painter's tape and remove the plastic covers from the floors and furniture once we knew we would not be going with the buttery gold. I knew we'd have to go right into the third round of painting or else it would never get done.
I can't tell you how much money we have thrown away on gallons of paint (especially the second color which was Martha Stewart and about 50 percent more expensive than a non-signature color) and the rollers. And I have to get the good rollers, too, so that nappy stuff doesn't stay on the walls with the paint. I use to try to wash my paint rollers so that I could reuse them. But what a pain that is! Plus, we're out of town now and are on a septic system, so I'm trying to be very careful about what goes down the drain. I mean, I don't even think I'm supposed to use bleach, as it would kill off the bacteria that breaks down our sewage and make everything run smoothly.
Some non-painting notes:
* I took Alexander through the car wash again yesterday on our way to pick up Anna from school. He had a fit. As the guys were spraying the soap and high-pressure water on the front grill and back bumper areas during the prewash, I could tell he was going to get upset. Then, as the car started moving through the automatic car wash tunnel thingy he put his hands together like he was praying and cried, "No More!" All red faced and teary. All I could do was take off my seatbelt, rip off my winter hat and contort my body around so that I could rub his arms and legs and try to ease his fears. The first time I took the children through a car wash he was scared. But the second time, Mikel was driving the whole family and he wasn't scared at all. Heck, I remember he even applauded at the end. Maybe his father's presence makes him feel more comforted or less afraid than mine does!
* On Sunday I performed in a concert with a local choral group. It was a Veteran's Day performance and all patriotic stuff. We had a section that fell more into a USO show category and was not necessarily patriotic but more Broadway tunes and that sort of thing. Boy the place was packed! The venue held more than 600 people and they were bringing in folding chairs and even set up rows of them outside the doors. I never thought of myself as that patriotic or anything, but it did bring tears to my eyes when we sang a medly of songs from each of the armed services divisions ("Off we go into the wild blue yonder," etc....) and veterans from each of those branches proudly stood up and received loud applause from the audience. Mikel brought the children, and they behaved beautifully throughout the whole two hours. I'm sure it helped that there was an intermission. He even got comments on their good behavior from others around them. Granted, I think they colored and flipped through brochures a good portion of the time. I wasn't sure about this group at first but am very glad I decided to stick with it. We practice one night a week and will also perform two holiday shows on Dec. 16. When in New York I sang with the Syracuse University Oratorio Society and was extremely honored to have been able to sing with that group. We always perfomed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in big venues. I was constantly challenged and grew so much as a musician, and the pieces were difficult. No patriotic stuff for that group. In fact, our first performance that season was Alexander Nevsky, all sung in Russian! I sang Russian before I spoke it, not that I really speak it.
Well, it's about 2:40 p.m. here and it sounds as if the children have decided not to nap today, which means I can't paint until later tonight after they're in bed. Darn. I'm very anxious for the house to be in order again. Stuff is strewn everywhere.
I'm almost done with our third color of paint in, oh, about three weeks. I'll post photos of the new room (paint, furniture and all) soon. After our first two color choices were a bust for one reason or another, we finally decided to go with the same color we have in our bedroom since we know we like it. We first painted the room a dark chocolate, almost the exact color we had in Auburn. I think it worked in the front room, but it made the hallway going up the stairs to the bedrooms pretty dark. We lived with that for two weeks before deciding to try something different.
Last weekend was spent painting the room a buttery gold color. But on Sunday evening we decided we were going to change it because it felt really bold. It's a beautiful rich color on the paint chip. Maybe it's our lighting or something, but up on the walls it just felt a bit too shockingly yellow at times, especially up in the hallway where all the light is artificial. The front room has been a wreck since last Friday, almost a full week. I wasn't about to rip up the painter's tape and remove the plastic covers from the floors and furniture once we knew we would not be going with the buttery gold. I knew we'd have to go right into the third round of painting or else it would never get done.
I can't tell you how much money we have thrown away on gallons of paint (especially the second color which was Martha Stewart and about 50 percent more expensive than a non-signature color) and the rollers. And I have to get the good rollers, too, so that nappy stuff doesn't stay on the walls with the paint. I use to try to wash my paint rollers so that I could reuse them. But what a pain that is! Plus, we're out of town now and are on a septic system, so I'm trying to be very careful about what goes down the drain. I mean, I don't even think I'm supposed to use bleach, as it would kill off the bacteria that breaks down our sewage and make everything run smoothly.
Some non-painting notes:
* I took Alexander through the car wash again yesterday on our way to pick up Anna from school. He had a fit. As the guys were spraying the soap and high-pressure water on the front grill and back bumper areas during the prewash, I could tell he was going to get upset. Then, as the car started moving through the automatic car wash tunnel thingy he put his hands together like he was praying and cried, "No More!" All red faced and teary. All I could do was take off my seatbelt, rip off my winter hat and contort my body around so that I could rub his arms and legs and try to ease his fears. The first time I took the children through a car wash he was scared. But the second time, Mikel was driving the whole family and he wasn't scared at all. Heck, I remember he even applauded at the end. Maybe his father's presence makes him feel more comforted or less afraid than mine does!
* On Sunday I performed in a concert with a local choral group. It was a Veteran's Day performance and all patriotic stuff. We had a section that fell more into a USO show category and was not necessarily patriotic but more Broadway tunes and that sort of thing. Boy the place was packed! The venue held more than 600 people and they were bringing in folding chairs and even set up rows of them outside the doors. I never thought of myself as that patriotic or anything, but it did bring tears to my eyes when we sang a medly of songs from each of the armed services divisions ("Off we go into the wild blue yonder," etc....) and veterans from each of those branches proudly stood up and received loud applause from the audience. Mikel brought the children, and they behaved beautifully throughout the whole two hours. I'm sure it helped that there was an intermission. He even got comments on their good behavior from others around them. Granted, I think they colored and flipped through brochures a good portion of the time. I wasn't sure about this group at first but am very glad I decided to stick with it. We practice one night a week and will also perform two holiday shows on Dec. 16. When in New York I sang with the Syracuse University Oratorio Society and was extremely honored to have been able to sing with that group. We always perfomed with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra in big venues. I was constantly challenged and grew so much as a musician, and the pieces were difficult. No patriotic stuff for that group. In fact, our first performance that season was Alexander Nevsky, all sung in Russian! I sang Russian before I spoke it, not that I really speak it.
Well, it's about 2:40 p.m. here and it sounds as if the children have decided not to nap today, which means I can't paint until later tonight after they're in bed. Darn. I'm very anxious for the house to be in order again. Stuff is strewn everywhere.
posted by The LeForts | 12:46 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home