The Weekend

1. Painting.

When our house was built years and years ago the entrance, stairwell, and upstairs hallway were wallpapered. Over the years various owners wanted to change the look of these areas, so they simply slopped on a coat of paint without bothering to take off the original wallpaper (because these people were lazy scum, obviously -- that's the only reason I can think why someone would paint over wallpaper -- LAZY SCUM!). Eventually the wallpaper had so many coats of paint it looked like it was going to fall down if anyone tried to paint over it. The final color was a sort of brownish pink that looked like a really disturbing flesh tone.

Here's a look at the original wallpaper; to the right is the final color of paint:



By the way, originally the entrance floor was vinyl that coordinated with the wallpaper, yellow flowers and all. It boggles the mind.

Anyway, now all of the old, old wallpaper is torn down, the walls repaired, primed, and painted a NEUTRAL color. A huge, huge job, done mostly by Rick, with assistance from Thalia, AnnaBeth, and the neighbor's really cool ladder. Next stop: ripping up carpet in the family room.

3. Sewing.

I made a quick, cheap version of Burda 7656. They are wicked ugly. Also, for the record, the Burda zipper installation instructions are really insane. Anyway, I'm sorry I strayed from Ottobre (which also has really bizarro zipper instructions, but their instructions for EVERYTHING are so terse that they seem to be written for people who don't read the instructions anyway). I'm gonna take the zipper back out and throw the rest in the trash. Sigh. A weekend of sewing, and nothing to show for it.

4. What the kids did.

Aside from helping with the painting project: Dance class. Sang at church. As a matter of fact, I nixed the idea of Thalia going to attend a dance concert with a friend because I thought they'd get home too late considering how early she had to get up on Sunday -- then we ended up watching the Cardinals (Rick was really upset that he didn't catch on the game was on until the 10th inning, but, hey, he still got to watch 10 innings!) until late, late, late. More dance class on Sunday -- I happened to walk AnnaBeth into the studio and stopped dead in my tracks when I realized we were in close-enough proximity to another a Scent Enthusiast. Oh, my nose! It had barely recovered from church! Oh, my poor kids, having to stay there in the studio -- the Scent Enthusiast was the guest teacher! But, hey, maybe it took their minds off of the blisters forming on their feet.

5. Walking.

AnnaBeth is working on the Junior Girl Scout Walking Badge (called "Walking for Fitness"), so we've been walking a lot. Plus, it was a pleasant evening, frankly -- the sort that EVERYONE should be out taking a walk (and many people were). We walked in a different direction than we have ever gone before, and discovered new things about our neighborhood. Spindly little redbuds that had just been planted (redbuds are such sweet trees), a Christmas wreath still up on the side of a house, a big field full of dandelions, a stretch where the trees formed a canopy over our heads as though the sidewalk was going through a green tunnel. Great ending to the weekend.