As You Wish

Last night on our way home from a lovely trip to Wal-Mart I was involved in a very interesting conversation. It went as follows:

"You know...if I put my hands in my pockets they would be considered consealed weapons?"

"You're silly!"

"If silly means awesome...then yes I am."

On a completely different note...I think I am suffering from Wii elbow. It can be closely related to tennis elbow I'm sure because I was playing tennis on our new Wii last night. It is a ton of fun, but my shoulder and elbow hate me today. Yes we were playing video games, so what. I read here that senior citizens are enjoying the benefits of playing the Wii. We are far from being senior citizens, but we, like these geriatrics, know how much fun it can be to partake in game playing. I will be so happy if I can still move, let alone be alive, at the age of these people. I would probably play the Wii at that age, or better yet take out my old school Nintendo and play Mario Brothers 1, 2, or 3. Can we say Duck Hunt?

Yesterday I went in to get my hair cut by my friend Tovi. I have known Tovi for several years and we always have a pretty good time when I go in to get my hair cut. I didn't know exactly what I wanted going in, so I cut several pictures from a magazine and took them hoping she could work with it. Apparently all my pictures were different in some way. Thankfully she knows me well enough that she didn't just go to town wacking off my hair. She did a good job of dumbing down what was going to happen and we came to an agreement at the end. I am very happy with my hair. It has been a long time since someone has cut my hair and I have been happy with the outcome. Usually I have to leave saying I like it knowing in the back of my mind that it is going to take me a while to get used to it.

While sitting in the chair, Tovi was cutting my hair and I was looking at a hair magazine she had on her counter. When I was done I thought I would be nice and put the magazine back where it belongs. When I did this I leaned forward pulling my cape off the back of the chair. I didn't think anything of it and I replaced the cape around the back of the chair. Tovi stood back watching me and when she saw I was done she said, "You know you just let a big chunk of hair fall down onto your back?" Of course I did. I reached behind me and felt the newly cut hair on my bare skin. My shirt came up a bit in the back exposing my skin making a perfect place for my hair to land. As I was wiping the hair away I felt it slip down my back into my buttcrack. Not cool. Not cool at all. Tovi being the good friend that she is took her blow dryer and blew the hair off of my back and she pulled my pants back and blasted my butt with air. I have to say I was not expecting that.

This has nothing to do with the previous story, but I have to say something about it before I forget. Last night Andrew and I stopped at a convenience store to get some drinks to hide in my purse to go to a movie. I know we are naughty, but that's ok. While paying for our drinks a lady with a tracheostomy came in. A tracheostomy is a tube that protrudes from your throat to help you breathe. As I was walking out I heard her ask for a pack of cigarettes. You know...if you have trouble breathing to begin with...why smoke?

No thanks to our anal retentiveness we finished painting. (Yes that's right I said anal. Let's take a second to compose ourselves...) Andrew and I each have our own way of being anal retentive. Andrew wanted to make sure every square inch of the house was doused in primer (excluding the roof of course), he made sure to do a thorough job with the base coat, and when he added the house numbers he had to precise. I really like doing the detailed work (the trim), although I probably looked like an idiot standing 2 inches from the house trying to make sure I didn't make a mistake. On the rare occasion that I did make a mistake (Can you sense my sarcasm?) I had to go back and fix it.

I know you may be thinking to yourself it didn't seem like it took that long, but really it only took about a month. (Only?!!) I am so happy to be done with it.

Here is a list of the reasons it only took about a month:

• Prep
• Weather
• Laziness
• Paint sprayer (Yet another thing I shake my fist at.)

I know it doesn't seem long, but when you are actually in the process of using the list it takes quite a while to complete. I didn't post any pictures because we are waiting for the "house jewelry" (lights) to arrive. We are hoping they will be here by the weekend or early next week. Once we get those hung I will take some pictures and post them.

Yesterday my mom turned 50 years old. Andrew and I joined my dad, aunt, and grandma over at their house for a dinner and cupcake celebration. It was full of laughs, snorts, and crying. Don't worry the only reason for the crying was because we were laughing so hard. (Yes I snort when I laugh...so what?)

Here are a few pictures from the fun...

At the end of the night she was sporting an awesome comb over.

It was a pretty good time. We enjoyed ourselves. Happy 50th Mom!

It is quite apparent that summer is coming to an end. The past few days have been a little colder and it has been windy. The wind has kept me from being able to paint since Monday (picture me shaking my fist at the wind). This is the part I actually want to do, I don't have to be carried outside kicking and screaming to get it done. Not to give you the wrong impression, Andrew hasn't actually picked me up and carried me outside to work on the house, but sometimes I over exaggerate. I just want the weather to behave itself long enough for us to finish our painting project. Is that so much to ask for?

It looks like the weather is ok right now, so hopefully later today when I am ready to paint I will be able to. I won't hold my breath, but I will keep my fingers crossed.

I'm not looking forward to the weather getting colder. Being cold is definitely one of my least favorite things ever. The only good thing about this time of year is the holidays and spending time with friends and family. Christmas is my favorite holiday by far and I am looking forward to it. Andrew and I will probably go back to Montana to spend Christmas with his family and friends. That should be fun...cold, but fun. I will be the one that looks like an Eskimo in all of the layers I will drag along. Who am I kidding I look like an Eskimo at home because I wear so many pieces of clothing. What?...I like to be warm.

Anyway...goodbye summer, hello winter. Now lets get it over with so we can get back to summer. I want to go camping again.

Painting is coming along very nicely now. We finally have the house painted we just need to finish the trim. This is my favorite part. I really enjoy painting and I can finally do something. The primer and the base coat were primarily done by Andrew because he used the paint sprayer, so I was not really able to do any painting. Now it is my turn.

Last night I got home from work, I put the primer coat on the shed, and then I started painting the trim. I like trying to be precise, I told Andrew it is like I am a little kid again trying to color inside the lines. Unfortunately, like when I was a kid, I make mistakes. Thankfully with the help of the base color it can be fixed.

I am finally getting to the point that I am happy we started this project. In the beginning I hated it, the prep was horrible and I was sorry I volunteered to do this. The other night I almost had a breaking point during clean up. I absolutely hate to be sprayed in the face with water, it doesn't matter who does it or if it is meant in fun...I HATE IT. I was cleaning the buckets and I sprayed the hose inside to clean it out. The water came right back up in my face. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I hate that. I had to stop cleaning and attend to my soaked face. I walked into the garage and grabbed a rag from the car and wiped my face with it. At this point is when I realized this is the rag I wiped up some Mineral Spirits with. Mineral Spirits is paint thinner. It stinks and I'm sure it isn't good for your complexion. I felt my eyes welling up with tears and Andrew told me it was ok I should go inside and wash my face. He finished cleaning up my buckets and gave me a hug. I started to feel better and I don't think I completely lost it.

It is all slowly paying off and I'm happy we decided to paint the house ourselves. By the way our house looks like a giant chocolate milkshake. Our color choices, in my opinion, were great.

Just a quick update of our progress. We were finally able to start painting last night. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it the whole way around the house before dark, but we will be able to finish the primer tonight. After we finish we have to go to my parent's house to help set up for a yard sale they are having tomorrow. Yay yard sale! Making money is never a bad thing, but parting with all of our good junk is.

After the yard sale we will have to pack everything up and return home to start the base coat. I think things are finally coming together and we just might have this house painted before winter. Once again I am not holding my breath, but it is starting to look good.

Quick story: the other night Andrew and I went to my parent's house and my aunt is in town to help with the yard sale. She is hilarious and I really enjoy our visits when she is in town. She asked Andrew what color we are painting the house and he told her in all seriousness, "Purple with orange trim." She sorta cringed and said, "Really?" Andrew replied, "Yeah why not? I think those colors go quite well together." He then looked at me with my aunt sitting right there and said, "I think she really believed me for a second."