Painting Week

This past week was enjoyable. Monday I worked on trying to finish up some writing assignments.  I finished the e-book I was writing for the executive coach.  It was to be about 7000 words but weighed in a little more than 9000.  One of my friends said I should be working ON my business as much as I was working IN my business.  I thought that was important.  So I started trying to get my website set up and I’m working more on marketing.

Tuesday Tom had his normal Wednesday meeting and then we drove to Miranda’s. Our goal was to help her paint the trim on her house. Yikes!  That house has a lot of trim.  The good news is that painting the trim really made the house look better.  Here is the original color:

Tuesday we looked at paint colors and even borrowed some paint from the neighbors to see if it would look good as a trim color.  We chose a dark brown—Chocolate swirl- and decided we liked it best of all.  It matched the roof, the stone and contrasted well with the tan/cream base color of the house.

Wednesday was a great painting day.  The sun was out.  It was warm, and we got a lot done.  All of us—Miranda, Tom and I—came in with muscles that told us they’d been working.  Dan had to work and travel that day.  It was so cute.  Camden really wanted to help paint. Miranda is rolling where Camden helped roll.

I was like, EEK! You’re kidding!  But Miranda gave him a little roller and he did an excellent job painting the flat cement surface between the trim and the stonework. He was so pleased with himself. And we were all impressed with his careful work.

That night the temperature dropped.  By morning it was in the 30’s with rain forecasted.  We went out and painted as much as we could.  We’d tried to paint areas that were unprotected.  By the time it started spattering rain, most of the places left to paint were under the porch and patio roofs. Dan and Tom addressed those and worked on painting the replacement for the side garage door.

I had worked hard, and so went off to shopping therapy at Half of Half. I’m pleased to say I kept up with tradition and looked at every purse there. I choose a green fabric one I think I’ll like.  I got a few pants and a top… and a bathroom rug.

That evening we enjoyed a rousing game of Five Crowns… at which I lost miserably.

Friday continued to be chilly. Tom got up early and took Dan to the airport to go visit Melinda. Tom spent the morning working on installing the garage side door. Then he went around and finished painting all places we’d missed and all the trim he could reach.  Where the roof peaks… that was just too high without a long extension ladder or scaffolding. 

Here is the finished trim (except for the peaks on the sides.)

While Tom painted, I worked on two articles that needed to be finished and gotten out.  Miranda and I labeled clothes and items for her “Just Between Friends” sale.  I also got sucked into watching “Monsters Inc.” which I had never watched all the way through before.  Movie watching made writing the articles a bit slower.

We left Miranda’s a little before 5 pm Friday night.  The Brett Family was having a free show on Saturday morning at 10 am. and I really wanted to go to that.  So we drove to Branson via Joplin and Springfield.  It started raining an hour into the drive and between Joplin and Springfield it turned into snow.  SNOW!  In May!  It covered the fields, but didn’t really stay on the roads.  By the time we dropped south to Branson it was back to rain.   

Here's a photo of the snow.  Sorry it's so blurry.

I really enjoyed the Brett show.  Good singing and dancing.  They had a tribute to our veterans and I realized how much patriotism we have lost. And how seldom we as a nation honor families and the roles of mother and father.  The people in our nation are moving in a selfish, hedonistic direction.

I came home to happy chickens, a Dan Kennedy training call, sending out the article, unpacking, and finding something is cutting off my onions right at the dirt line. Cutworms?  Solutions anyone?

Dan had generously offered first pick of his extra DVD’s so we came home with a stash and watched a movie Saturday night.

Today we had a good sacrament meeting and a great relief society lesson on the “tough doctrines” and how the trials may be difficult, but the Lord promises to always be with us and help us get through them with his power, love, and mercy.  The sister teaching it has a daughter that is fighting cancer so clearly she is speaking from experience.