Bright & Sunny

It’s a beautiful day! 

I woke up this morning early to a little boy climbing in bed with me. It was 6:30 and the sun wasn’t even up yet. We both curled up and went back to sleep until almost 9. It was good for both of us. I’m stiff and sore today and I still need to clean house.

I started on the baby’s room Friday night by moving out the furniture (except for the bunk beds) and the toys. I did as much of the prep work as I could. Saturday morning, I woke up at 5:30 am! WHY?? I don’t know what was up with that. I went back to sleep until 8 when someone woke me up, hungry for cinnamon rolls.

I told Sweetie Boy he could help me paint but he had to follow all the rules. He promised he would. The rules were (1) no painting anything but the walls, (2) stay on the drop cloth with the paint brush, and (3) paint ONLY where Mom says to paint on the wall.

The first order of business was to take down the crummy, old blinds. The previous owner really did a number of these blinds. All over the house. When I took down the old ones in my bedroom, it was dismayed to discover they were hung up with duct tape and screws – no lie! The blinds in the baby’s room…well, the brackets has about EIGHT screws each AND they were glued into the window frame! HELLO! I swear they must have used JB Weld because I couldn’t get them out. I DID manage to get all the screws out after a lot of cussing and mashing.

The brackets, you see, were plastic and brittle and literally broke into when I tried to pull the first screw out. It’s amazing they were even still hanging in the window. So. I used a hammer and busted out the pieces sticking out and decided to hell with it – I’d just paint over them.

Meanwhile, the baby was dying to help me paint. I had found an old t-shirt and shorts for him to wear. He thought that was so awesome. So I moved the bunk beds to the other side of the room, put down the drop cloth and away we went.

I drew a big square on the wall and showed him how to paint with the brush. His assignment was to paint the entire square until there was no more white showing. He did a pretty good job. Then he decided he wanted to paint a diamond. And stick figures. He told me we were like “artists” and it was so much fun. After about 10 minutes, though, he got bored with the whole project. So I changed his clothes and he went and watched a movie.

At about noonish, he came and said he was hungry and it was a good time to take a break for me. Plus I was running out of paint, so we headed to Lowe’s (I just love the lady at the paint counter, she’s so nice and so helpful!) and then to McDonald’s. Sweetie Boy asked me, “Mom, you ARE going to wash your hands before you eat? Right?” It disturbed him that I had paint on my hands. hehe I assured him that I would.

It took me a total of 10 hours to get the entire room done. And he was so good the whole time. He watched cartoons, or a movie, or played on the computer. He came in his room every now and then and asked if I was finished yet. By about 5, I had finished all the painting and was ready to hang the new blinds.

And this began THE most frustrating part of the day. The blinds nearly kicked my butt. Mostly because (a) the sun was shining RIGHT in the window while I was trying to do this (the house faces west) and (b) I didn’t get the brackets up straight the first time around. Oh and (c) the screws ripped right out of the drywall.

So, my first attempt at getting the blinds up failed miserably. And I cussed. A lot. I measured where the brackets were suppoed to go but the screws don’t always cooperate. And it’s very difficult to get them in with my battery-powered screw driver (what the hell is that thing called?) because the brackets get in the way! I got the brackets up but the blinds wouldn’t snap in and it was because one was a scant hair off. ARGH. So when I tried to take them back down again, the right backet ripped right out of the wall. Screws and all.

It was time for anchors. Luckily, I havea whole box of wall anchors for just such an occasion. So I trudge to the garage for my anchors. By this time, my arms are aching and I’m sweating and have I mentioned the sun is RIGHT in my eyes while I’m trying to do this?

Back to the room, I have a pencil, tape measure, hammer, screw driver, powered screw driver, anchors, brackets, and screws. And everything fell off the bloody ladder at least once. It was driving me insane. I even knocked the entire box of wall anchors on the floor – spilling them everywhere. Getting the anchors in for the right and left brackets was a breeze. I got them screwed into the window no problem (it’s quite difficult to screw UP – which sounds very bad but you know what I mean). The middle bracket was a pain in the arse. The anchors did not want to go in the hole, no matter how easily I tapped them into place with the hammer. The anchors kept bending. I think I killed about four before I finally got the drill out and drilled a bigger hole.

At last, I got the anchors in the hole. And the brackets screwed in. And then it was time to hang the blinds. They snapped right in. HOORAY! But I had broken into a sweat and my arms were like rubber. I still had the curtains to hang, though.

They were a breeze compared to the nightmare of the blinds. Got them up in less than five minutes. They look great, too. My mommy made them. And I love them!

I vacuumed, moved all the furniture back into his room, and then cooked dinner. And by the time I sat down on the couch after he went to bed, I was beyon exhausted. Oh sure, I could have done the blinds and curtains today – but what fun is that? And I’m such a here-and-now person, I need everything done at once. And today is laundry and clean house day anyway.

Anyway. The room looks wonderful and I’m very pleased with the way it came out. The blue is rather dark – but it was a compromise on the color the baby want (DARK BLUE) and I talked him into this. Any darker would make the room like a cave. And if I was really creative, I’d figure how to do that red checkerboard pattern across the middle of the wall. Wouldn’t that be cute? (See pictures below.)

And now today… I’ve done two loads of laundry, played a game with the baby in his new room, made the beds, cooked breakfast…and now I need to sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, vacuum the rest of the house, get the baby to do his homework, finish the laundry…and…whew. I guess I better get busy.

Happy Sunday!

Before:

After: