Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

I love to paint.

I do.

Really.

Just not things I’ve painted already.

Rooms that I thought were done.

I busted my a$$ and painted the main area of our new house in 15 hours (over 2 days).  This included living room, dining room, kitchen and entrance.  As I was applying the first coat of paint, I kept thinking, “This color looks awfully green.  I don’t remember the paint chip being so green.  I don’t actually WANT green. Green doesn’t match my flooring, my accent color, my cabinets, my curtains…” (I was going for more of a grey-brown color)

But I kept painting.

I finished two coats and I’d almost convinced myself that it was NOT green.

“Look, in this light it doesn’t look so green, does it?!”

DENIAL!!

Then my dad (whom I’ve always thought is somewhat color blind) comes in and says, “Oh, nice color.  Kind of sage, right?”

NOOOOOOOO!!!!

Reality set in.  My color was definitely green.

I went back to the place where I got my paint and talked to someone else about my dilemma.  She looked at the paint I was given and told me what I already knew in my heart.  It WAS wrong.

So she mixed me a new pail of paint.  I took it back to the house and hesitantly and with mild foreboding, applied some on my already finished wall.  It wasn’t even close to the same color.  But it was the perfect color.

And I repainted.  The. Whole. Room!!!

Jer tried to console me by telling me to think of it as a really good base coat, or a “practice round.”  Not so much funny.

But…now it looks wonderful.  Exactly the way I’d envisioned.  Next time, I’ll rely on my instincts and act a bit quicker.  Although I pray there isn’t another next time.

Progress update:  I have the 2 bathrooms and the hallway left to paint.  The closet shelving is going in tomorrow, the carpet on Wednesday.  The hardwood is done in the main area, just needs to be done in the hall.  The tile is started in the entrance and we still have to do tile in the bathrooms.  Cabinets should be installed a few days after we move in.  We are WAY ahead of schedule.

And we’re moving in 9 days.

And the “Great Paint Project” has begun!!

Again!

Seriously, it feels like I was just here…doing this.  Incredibly, it’s been almost 2 years since we built our house!  TWO YEARS!  Where has the time gone?!

I’m lucky not to have had to prime the house or paint the ceilings this time.  We put it in our budget to hire that stuff out.  So I thought I had it easy to just have to paint the walls, even though I only have about 2 weeks to do it.

I must have tucked away a few important details into the recesses of my brain.  Like how much work all the preparation is to actually paint the walls.   Oh no…you can’t just take out your paint brush and roller and begin.

NOOOOO…

(Sidenote: we do things a bit differently in the houses we build.  We put up our  casings around our windows and doors first and spray them on, thereby eliminating painting casings, putting them up and then doing touch-ups and repainting them.)

So there I am in our new house, surrounded by nicely primed walls and freshly painted ceilings, excited to start, when I’m told that I need to start caulking around all the doors and windows.  SEVEN and a HALF HOURS later, I somewhat dejectedly left our new house wondering where in tarnation I put THAT particular memory.

Today Jer and I spent another 11 1/2 hours sanding down where we touched up nail holes on the casings, priming the door jambs, putting plastic in the windows, and finally, spraying all the casings.  Which means tomorrow, after 18 1/2 hours of prep work, I can start painting.

Whew!

So now, to unwind after a long day of working in the house, I’m watching the CMA’s…say what?!  Erin?  Watching country music stuff?  BWAHAHAHA!!!

Yeah, I’ve gone over to the dark side, it seems.  I went to see Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum in September (purely because I’m in love with Lady A!!!) and had a BLAST!  I’ve got tickets to see them with Tim McGraw in March and I’m counting down the months to that show.  And now I’m sitting here clapping happily when Lady A won their 2 awards and very much enjoying someone singing about a big green tractor…

SERIOUSLY!?!  What the eff is wrong with me?

It must be the end times or something.

Literally.  I’ve been doing a lot of happy dancing around here lately.

For starters we are 3 weeks from moving into our new house (complete or not).

*insert happy dance*

It’s drywalled and we are waiting to for the painter to come in and prime and paint the ceilings so that the OTHER painter (me) can go in and paint the walls.  Then we are going to get flooring in and move in regardless of the rest of it being finished.  It just means we’re going to be doing a lot of eating out for a week or two

Second.  I FINALLY did my reflexology exam.   Yep.  Done.

*insert another happy dance*

And what did I get on my exam, you may ask?

97%

That deserved a line all to itself.

To say I’m happy with the mark is the understatement of the century!  I’m ecstatic!  It reminds me why I’m doing this.  It feels so natural and like it was meant to be.

*insert very frantic happy dance*

Then to add to all the reasons to dance happily, today I went to our town office and got my license to conduct business in our town.  I’m officially allowed to work!  Haha.

*another happy dance*

And just when I thought the day was as happy as it could be, I got notification that the name for my business was approved!!!

*yet more happy dancing*

“Head Over Heels Reflexology” is officially in business.

Now I just need to get into my new office in our new house and I will be all set.  Happy sigh.

(Yes, there’s happy sighing right alongside the happy dancing.  It’s one big happy place!)