Painting

I feel like my life has revolved around two things lately – painting the townhouse and trying to do my classwork.  Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? 

Painting… two weekends ago, my mom, Jeremy, and I went to Columbus to paint.  We painted from 8pm-2am and 7am-2pm (13 hours).  We were able to put the primer coat pretty much everywhere.  Our project was slightly delayed because when we got there the thermostat in the townhouse read 49F.  A little chilly… even too cold to paint - according to the paint can it must be at least 50F.  We had to call the furnace people to come out for an after hours service call; the guy cleaned the pilot light sensor and was out the door in about 15 minutes.  Thankfully, it was a small problem.  We left that weekend with mom and Jeremy pushing the van up the road in about 8-9 inches of snow!  We were all sore, exhausted, and ready to be done with paint.  Thankfully, the girls were not there underfoot.  The Yohs kept them for an overnight adventure; they had a blast with Grandma and Papa – a Frozen movie night, making snowmen rice krispie treats, and playing in the snow.

Last weekend, mom and I went to paint on Friday about 1.  The girls started with my dad, who took them to Yohs, who kept them overnight.  (Does this remind you of the nursery rhyme, “This is the house that Jack built”?)  Mom and I started painting at 3pm and ended at 2am.  We top coated the upstairs and main floor by the end of that.  Mom woke up at 6am; I slept til 7am.  We just kept going til 6pm… a second top coat in the kitchen, a top coat down the stairs, and in the basement.  Jeremy joined us on Saturday about 10am.  He put a layer on paint in the master bedroom with the cathedral ceilings; there are benefits to being tall!  We kept painting the insides of each closet.  We were done (except a small pantry recess, the unfinished basement wall, and the basement bathroom…which just needs a lot of love).  If you lost count of the hours, it was 22 hours of painting and 5 hours of sleep in 27 hours time.  It was also almost 4 gallons of primer, 6 gallons of top coat, and 3 more gallons of just white paint; we are thankful that Sherwin-Williams was having a 30% off sale!  Relief, exhaustion, and wishing someone would just buy it.

Grad classes are hard for me this session.  It is not as much the content, but the time requirements.  We are needing to be in the classroom a lot.  The problems with this are 1) I don’t have a classroom and 2) I can’t take my kids to school with me.  Thankfully, Dalton is letting me come in and do some work at their school , and I have amazing parents and in-laws who are willing to watch the girls for bits and pieces of time while I get to the school.  It is a juggling aact that involves more than just Jeremy and me! 

In other news… Jeremy was gone for 4 days in Nevada for work.  He traveled about 1000miles in the middle of nowhere, maybe somewhere near Reno.  He managed to hit the ski slopes at the end of the time.  He said they were jealous of all the snow we have been getting out east; strangely, we have more snow than Lake Tahoe area.  The girls and I hung out together, visited Grandma and Papa DeeDee, invited Luke, Steph, Lilli, and Sam for supper, and played.  I think we did pretty well surviving.  The house, however, is just surviving.  After cleaning and painting elsewhere, there is little motivation for taking care of here.  (Although I think tomorrow it will happen!)  This is one room heavily influenced by days of imaginative play as Jeremy and I try to get caught up from being gone.

   

We have had time to make snow ice cream for the first time.

We did a few of our Once a Day activities – birthday card to Ashel (our Compassion friend), book and outing (Mabel the tooth fairy and a trip to the dentist), and dancing.  We have kept up with our Bible memory.  They are doing a great job and so proud to recite it.  This last week was “Do not be afraid” Isaiah 43:5.

Today, the dresses for weddings came out.  It was quite fancy!

    

That’s the two week update.  Hope everyone is finding some joy in the beautiful snow God has gifted us with.  I know we are all ready for spring, but you have to admit snow is not all that bad…  Blessings in the week ahead.