To Do and Do and Do and Do List

Just the taping, the trim, the ceiling, and the touch ups...

It all seems so manageable until you throw in a puppy, a holiday, a few other overlooked chores, and every little school thing we put off until the end of break.

Just the ceiling, the touch ups, the clean up, and the school stuff...

That seems manageable!

Oh,
and the fire place,
and the bills,
and the laundry...

Black and White and Read Occasionally

Recently I've been wrestling with whether or not I should curtail my newspaper subscriptions. As we have for years, we receive the local paper daily and the Sunday New York Times.

Years ago opening the front door each morning and retrieving the news of the world was a small miracle. I turned every page, skimming it all and reading a lot, and my inky fingers were smudgy emblems of gratitude.

These days, though, when headlines are pushed to my phone 24 hours a day, I read a bit of both the local paper and the Times online, listen to the radio in the morning and feel relatively well-informed. Too often my newspapers pile up in the basket untouched before they are used to line the litter box or set out to the curb for recycling. (But never before I pull the Food Section!)

On weeks like this one when a messy DIY home improvement project has taken over our lives, I'm happy I haven't canceled the papers. They have come in very handy in keeping paint off the new floors and furniture. And every day as I spread them out or lift a tray from their protection, I find an article I haven't seen that seems so fascinating that I have to stop what I'm doing and read it.

Obviously? I'm missing a lot.

Perhaps that should be the warning label for life in the 21st century.

Feline Delinquents

When you're a hammer, the whole world's a nail, and when you're a kitten, well...

We only thought our place had a Peewee's Playhouse vibe before. When we got a new floor several weeks ago, we decided to leave most of our stuff packed up in anticipation of our Spring Break painting project. The empty bookshelves and temporary foam mats on the floor were so inviting to our 2 kittens that they happily chased each other through the open spaces, leaping on the furniture and littering the entire area with all sorts of toys. the bookcases were like a little jungle gym for the kittens, too, and they scrambled from shelf to chair to couch to next shelf up.

I must have assumed that the painting would put an end to all that, but I was wrong. Not only have they been using the drop cloths like giant slip-n-slides, but having the furniture draped in plastic and pushed to the center of the room is like creating the most awesome indoor fort in the world. They scale the furniture both from above and beneath the plastic, and they also hide at its edges, waiting for some unsuspecting painter to pass by so they can attack her feet.

As for the paint itself, they gave it a sniff and then left it alone. Maybe they'll decide to dabble in the arts tomorrow.

There is a Season

It's the National Cherry Blossom Festival this week, but until today? You'd have been hard pressed to know it, but for the big white tent down by the Tidal Basin. A much colder-than-usual March has pushed the peak prediction back about 2 weeks and bare trees still line those famous walkways. But oh! Even though there's a chill in the air, those days are getting longer. And, friends? There is a certain softness beneath even the most frigid day.

Just this morning I stood at my window and could almost see the buds on the crabapple right outside swelling to open. Nature may be delayed, but never denied. Thank goodness.

Break it Down

There's an old joke: How do you eat an elephant?

And on the Tuesday night of Spring Break when all of our living room and dining room stuff is in the guest room, and color samples emblazon the walls like war paint, and plastic shrouds the furniture as spackling cures in the cracks and holes, and masking tape actually masks the edges of our built-ins, and the walls and trim are cleaner than they have been in years, and all the paint and sponges and mud and pans and rollers and brushes and edgers and knives and 7-in-ones and rags and drop cloths are organized and ready to deploy, but not one single wall is finished, I know the answer.

One bite at a time.

Night Shift

At times I can be a restless sleeper. Then my dreams feature loops of school-related scenarios-- wouldas, couldas, and hey!-I-shouldas. Sometimes productive, sometimes not, I figure those nights push my work week to about 100 hours.

Just last night I dreamed again and again of using an app to reach a student with autism through his iPad. I should try that! I thought, every time I woke up. Finally, around 4 AM I fell into a restful sleep, and not waking until 7:30, I felt relatively refreshed. Even though my subconscious doesn't know I'm on spring break, my alarm clock does! 

Here's hoping the two will sync up before next Sunday.

First Things Last

Plymouth Rock, Coastal Fog, Raccoon Hollow, Cotton Tail, Simple Pleasure, Rock Candy, Vintage Pewter, Short Bread, Crisp Linen, Wedding Veil, White Wisp, November Rain.

The walls are bare, the furniture moved, and the rooms cleared out. We are ready to begin our Spring Break painting project, but...

We can't decide on the colors!