Almost done

My bathroom is almost done. I have stripped and painted 3 walls. The fourth is covered primarily in a mirror so it should be done soon. The only problem is that the sections yet undone are the highest in the bathroom. Maybe I can talk some 6'5" man into taking care of that part...

My normal

I'll take the challenge from Kim's blog and post my "normal":

Silas climbs into my bed for a "snuggle"
I hear Emma singing to Abigail through the monitor
Three cups of milk
Chocolate chip pancakes
PB&J in a zip-loc bag
"Get your clothes on please, daddy is almost ready"
Two out the door
TV on - "We're going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship"
Shower, interrupted
Drive thru and drop off - one more out the door
Clean diaper, find plug
Two hours
Drive thru and pick up
Speech therapy
Carpool
Snacks
TV on - time to make dinner
Daddy's home
Phonics time
Play outside and get dirty
Go inside and wash clean
PJs
Stories
Night-Night
Snack
Blog
Jon Stewart
Dishwasher on

Now tell me about your normal....

The master bath

I started to do some redecorating in my master bath today. Well, truth be told, I started several years ago when the wallpaper started peeling. Each time I took a bath, I would pull another piece of the wallpaper off. It had gotten to the point where the bathroom looked really bad! So this morning I woke up with resolve - get the wallpaper off and paint. Emma and Silas were my helpers. They went with me to Lowe's where we got a wallpaper scorer, empty spray bottles and scrapers. First, we scored the walls (my job), then they each sprayed the wallpaper with a mixture of hot water and fabric softener. After letting that soak in, we scraped the wallpaper right off. It was not really fun, but very rewarding. Good bye 10 year old floral wallpaper. We were able to get one side of the bathroom painted this evening:

The 3rd child

When I only had one child, I used to say things like:

"That is your 30 minutes of TV for this morning, let's do an art project" or "Let's clean up this mess before we get anything else out" or "We need to wipe off your face before we go out for our errands" or "What kind of a mother lets her toddler dig a giant box of candy out of her purse at 9:00 a.m. and eat it as they walk around Wal-Mart?"

Now that I have three, I say things like:

"Has anyone seen Abigail?" and "What is this wet spot in the living room?" and "Whatever your name is..." and "Where is that giant box of candy...Oh, here you go Abby".

The floral solution

I brought the flowers in from the garage this morning (mainly because every time I stepped out to get in the van my eyes started watering). I was just sure I could still enjoy some of the flowers if I were able to endure a few moments of being uncomfortable. With Silas asking 20 questions, I pulled out all the lilies and put them in a separate vase. That vase is sitting out on the front porch, sure to come back in with the housekeeper who will think they were lovingly delivered...

A funny thing happened on the way to the allergist...

Jeff sent me these beautiful flowers for our anniversary. May I say without bragging...aren't they gorgeous?

When we first got married, I got flowers every month on the 23rd. No kidding, I used to have about 50 vases. It went on for several years. Then Emma came and money got tighter and well, you know the rest. So this delivery yesterday was a special treat for me. It reminded me of those monthly deliveries that became so routine. I appreciate the flowers much more now than I did then.

Unfortunately, I am having to appreciate them from a little further off than I used to. When we got home from our date last night, I started having an allergy attack - eyes, nose, skin, throat - the whole bit. I quickly figured out it was the flowers and they were banished to the entry hall. By the time we headed off to bed, I was in search of eye drops and benedryl and Jeff had to put the flowers out in the garage. Not only did I have to give up my beautiful flowers...it also had a negative impact on the rest of our evening (do I need to say more?). What's a girl to do?

Back to Beaumont

My grandparents have gone back to Beaumont. The power is back on at their house and they were anxious to leave this morning. Pray for all those who have lost so much.

Today is my 8th anniversary. Jeff and I are going out tonight for dinner and a movie.