Saturday, January 29, 2011

Before


I can't believe I am posting a "before" picture for all the world to see but here it is. This weekend I am painting our office and kitchen - finally! They were the only rooms that weren't painted when we bought the house (6 years ago!) and not only are they in bad shape, but they have had "test" paint spots on the wall for the last few months. I could not pick a color.

Some of it had to do with the color of the floor which may or may not be replaced, an ill-chosen countertop color and kitchen cabinets that I hate. I could not figure out what wall color would make all those things come together and be the kitchen that I wanted.  However, my in-laws have visited the house several times with the paint splotches on the wall and as they are coming again in March, it had to be done. The color was chosen and this weekend Peter is working and the kids and I don't have anything scheduled so it seemed like as good a time as any. Today I got the shelves down, the wall cleaned and taped, a first coat of paint on, played with the kids, fixed a huge toilet issue, did about 5 loads of laundry, helped the kids build a ton of forts and had them try sushi for the first time (they didn't like it).

It was all going well and fine until the toilet imploded. We have probably the original pipes in the house, coupled with what is probably the cheapest toilet from Home Depot (thank you previous home owners) so when, say, a child puts a TON of toilet paper in it, then flushes and runs out of the bathroom while it's  flushing not telling anyone it's clogged, the water overflows and flows and flows. The only way to stop it is to open up the tank and pull up the thing-a-ma-jig with one hand while plunging with another hand. Today, for some reason, as I found myself standing there in a toilet-water flooded bathroom, trying desperately and in vain to unclog the overflowing toilet I completely lost it. Lost it as in yelling very loudly. Yelling for the kids to help and get towels and then just yelling in frustration. The kids scattered to their rooms and in some part of my head a voice was quietly telling me "you're losing it. Sarah, you're completely losing it in front of the kids, this isn't helping, it's scaring them a bit....". Finally I listened to that voice and calmed down. Then I had to tell Miss E that "mommy shouldn't have yelled 'god dammit' really loudly and I'm sorry I did that." I apologized several times to both the kids and explained that I wasn't mad at them, just frustrated and that I shouldn't have either said those words or yelled them. Ooops. Not one of my finer parenting moments.

After that though, we all kind of recovered, did a little more painting and read some books. I can't wait until this project is over!

1 comment:

  1. Ohhhhh, life just does get in the way! Hey--you sure don't have to paint for these in laws of yours! We don't come to see your house--we come to love YOU! Sorry for alllllll those dang trials--hopefully this week will bring you blessings! Really--no more problems!

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