paing {your suggestions, please}

I need your help.

Help me, please.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

I am wanting to paint our basement family room area.
I would show you a picture but I don't have one.
And I'm lying in bed as I type this
and I'm not about to get up and go take a pic.
I'm just too lazy.
Plus I'd have to explain to my husband what I was doing
and that's just way too much effort.
I like to keep my craziness to myself.
And you guys.


So, just imagine a family room.
With a couch.
An entertainment center.
A treadmill.
A side table.
Lamp.
Goats and chickens.
Just kidding.

Alright, now that I've set the stage,
tell me what color to paint it.

Go.

I'm thinking gold-ish.
But not yellow.
Or orangey.


This is blue, I do realize.
But that's not what I want.
I just liked the picture.

Though I am thinking of a lovely orange for a wall in my
entry way.

But that's another post for another day.

Back to the basement.

I'm open to all suggestions.
Just nothing bright and crazy.
I'll save that for my eyeshadow.

I need something neutral, yet stunning.
Warm and jaw-dropping.
But not, reach-out-and-smack-ya when you walk in the room.
You know exactly what I'm talking about.

I want to buy it at Home Depot or Lowe's
so don't be tellin' me 'bout some fancy color over
at a design center that I wouldn't dream of dragging my
children into.
I must have a shopping cart to harness these rascals.



So, tell me of your painting success stories.
Your rich colors that bring you joy every single day.
Colors that give you hope.
And soothe you after a stressful afternoon.
If it happens to babysit children, well, I will buy
eleven drums of it.

Thank you.

You are wonderful.

And if I pick YOUR color, I'll send you a prize.
Actually, probably not.
But maybe.

Love Nest...and Neglected Children

All I wanted was a fresh coat of paint. Why does such a simple task twist into such a complicated event? Paint on the walls turned into the need to first paint our woodwork....which triggered K-man's idea to replace our boring little baseboard with a much wider, more sophisticated trim. Then there's that old ugly ceiling fan that just had to go. The list goes on....you get the idea.

Well, K-man and I made it our mission to finally finish our love nest yesterday. Though there were times during the process that the love was feeling more like ummm......well, you know.

This sweet man and I have run a business together now for umpteen years. It all works out just fine (usually). But there's something about being in a room together painting that brings out the animal in a person and I don't mean in a fun marital kind of way. At one point I decided to just lay down on the floor to watch him paint the ceiling (after I announced that it was too hard for me to do). He wasn't amused. Good thing I didn't voice what was racing through my mind about his painting methods. Hard as it was for ME....almost 22 years of marriage under my belt has taught me to keep.my.mouth.shut.

Well being that my union demands frequent breaks, I then went to the kitchen for tea and a scone (oh I wish. Doesn't that sound quaint? No, I had a FiberOne poptart). Again, K-man...not amused. I'm here to admit, the man has a much better work ethic than little ol' me.

I guess I need to back up a bit to set up the beginning of the frustration scene. Of course, the bed had to be moved before the meat of the painting could be tackled. I have always tried to encourage the offspring to keep their under-beds clean and clear. But being a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do kinda Mama, there was a whole other world under my slumbering place. Let me tell ya....the things we found were shocking. Old pillows, old pictures (no joke, there was a picture of me in acid-wash jeans), CASSETTE tapes! An old laptop that I swear weighed about 22 lbs and was about 4 inches thick. I found books, notebooks, magazines, clutter, clutter, clutter!! Yeah, that took a good hour to clean up. Neither of us could blame the other because the junk was equally divided. From now until Jesus comes will I ever, ever, ever put one single thing under my bed again.

The children were pretty much neglected during the dreaded day-long process. I did check in once in a while and here's what I found......

Seriously...I have no idea what is going on here. I've learned not to ask questions. When boredom sets in, anything can happen with this child.

Neglect....when one's diaper ends up down one's leg. *sigh* Please don't tell our social worker.
So not to leave you thinking that we are horrible parents who secretly want to scratch each other's eyes out, I will leave you with a happier time from earlier this week....

Here we see Lucy being gently guided by her caring Mama on how to make a delicious salad for dinner. That's spinach in her freshly washed hands. Tell my social worker that.

And look...a loving father playing with his daughter!She's SO happy!!

And look...even one of the big ones gets a ride! The biggest one refused to join the fun (turd). I mean, shucks that little stinker!
Happy, happy family! :)

Another Busy Spring Break Day

Well my ambition to have a fabulously made-over boudoir by the end of the week is fizzling quickly. I'm just pooped. And looking around at how my other household chores have gone undone makes me sink even deeper into despair. Oh well. What's a girl to do?

I am having coffee with two good friends and former clients of mine this morning and after that I'm heading back to the fabric store to make a final decision on pillow fabric. I hope that I will be energized after that and geared up for a second go at Operation Bedroom Makeover. As burned out as I already am with it....I can't walk away now...it's completely a wreck and the only excuse I have is that I'm working on it. So I need to keep that verb in the present tense.

And if you were sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for my final decision on my paint color...LaFonda Sagebrush it is. And I'm lovin' me some LaFonda! I tried it on a little section and it's gonna look delicious (thought it's a little dark...)! I will take pics once I'm all finished with it! I hope it all ties together nicely. I really, really hope.

How was my Webinar?? Ha. Considering there was no AUDIO, it was a waste of time! They gave us instructions to have a headset on and ready to chat & listen. There was some great information to READ. But no chatting with other families....turns out there was a glitch (really?) and thankfully it wasn't on my end.

Before all that nonsense began though I put the boys in charge of Lucy. I gave them stern instructions that I was NOT to be disturbed in my bedroom since I would be busy on my webinar (my spell check doesn't like that new word). I told them that they were the baby sitters and not parents....they weren't to teach her valuable lessons, just keep her quiet and happy at any cost (including candy, endless TV...whatever). So as I'm online trying to do this new up and coming way to communicate, I hear B say..."No Nick, don't shoot fireworks at it!" What's going on out there (I'm wondering)? And should I have put Lucy in charge of them instead of the other way around? **sigh** Since I wasn't smelling sulfur I assumed that no fireworks were being used as weapons. And it turns out that all was well (or they just hid the evidence convincingly well).


Call NOW and we will send you not one, but two...that's right TWO for the low price of $19.99! But WAIT! Call in the next ten minutes and we'll throw a third! All for the price of one! Operators are standing by... **You pay shipping and handling.
Zero shame, that's what that is. Sorry...I was bored during my web "chat" and snapped this pic of myself with my cell phone. Sad, really sad.

Where's Lucy?

This little (huge) painting project was put on the back burner for a long time because I knew (based on experience with two very curious little boys) Lucy would want to be involved with every step. But not being able to tolerate my Restoration-Hardware-Wannabe-Green (do you know what I mean?? I loved the cool green/grayish color at R*storation Hardware but was too darn frugal to pay $42 a gallon to buy it there. Seriously, who would pay that much for paint? So I tried to match it best I could and failed miserably and have lived with it all these years)...where was I? Oh yes, I couldn't stand it any longer so I decided to just do it. Repaint (and sin no more).

But much to my surprise, Miss Lucy Goosey has no interest in picking up a paint brush and "helping" me. She just disappears into her room and plays. And it's quite comical at times as I listen to her through the monitor. I went to check on her and very hesitantly opened her tightly closed door (red flag), unsure of what I would find her doing. Well, much NOT to my surprise, here is what I found.....


And where are the boys and why aren't they helping me?? Well, they have learned that painting isn't all that fun after all, especially with a controlling mother who wants it done her way (you know, like....painting in an even fashion...not sloppily and certainly not on each other). So here is what Brenden is doing today.....

WAIT...stop all cleaning...I got a text!

And Nick? Unless he shows his handsome face here soon, he's not makin' it in this post. He is probably downstairs watching some golf tournament on TV and I'm not going to look for him. It's every man for himself around here.

So as you can see, I have taken a break from painting at the moment. K-man told me he was on his way home from work early so I jumped in the shower and plan to haul him to L*wes & the fabric store. He's my best shoppin' buddy so I'm all atwitter about going out with him this BEAUTIFUL afternoon!

LaFonda Sagebrush

Woo hoo! It's Spring Break and I'm just giddy about it! No, I'm no in an exotic location soaking up rays....or hittin' the slopes in a quaint Colorado village. I'm just sitting in my kitchen, happy-happy that my kiddos are home and that I have no school-related responsibilities! I've got a mega-long list of honey-do's (in this case, I'm the honey since K-man's work responsibilities do continue as usual).

Our date Saturday night was fabulous! We went to a Thai restaurant....it was OK, but after a high-dollar dinner like that I always regret not going to my favorite Mexican joint to fill up on chips, salsa and a gigantic burrito, ya know?

Then we went to look at paint colors for our bedroom. I can't think of anything more romantic than being at H*me Depot with my man! I'm serious. Oh and the evening was made extra special because we went to L*wes too. Back off girls, he's all mine.

But as wonderful as it is being in a mega-hardware store with my main squeeze, picking out paint is painful for me....I like so much, and I hate so much. But I've got it narrowed down to a couple of great shades, one being, "LaFonda Sagebrush".....isn't that hilarious! One of my all-time favorite movies is Napoleon Dynamite so I am having a hard time resisting this color, just for the name alone. I'll let you know what I decide.

Ok, I gotta go get busy & pick up where I left off on Saturday painting our woodwork. Today I will only have one little helper (Lucy), unlike when I had K-man laying on the bed watching TV AND watching me paint. He even made a comment about how sexy I looked painting. Flattery will get you nowhere big guy (ok, well maybe it will).